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Ian clears his throat, and I turn my attention on him to see his eyes darting between the other men and the stones in my arms. He reaches up and tugs at the collar of his shirt with a slight grimace. “That feels a little hypocritical to say at this point, don’t you think?”
Mason walks closer to me until he’s close enough to block everyone else from my view. He reaches up and cups my face gently, thumbs caressing my cheeks as he stares down at me with an intensity I’ve come to associate with his more serious side. “Is that true?” he asks quietly, the question only for me even though the others can still hear him. “Did your wolf recognize a bond with Jakob’s brother?”
Yes.I can’t bear to say it out loud, and shame fills my gut as his hands fall away from me. What the heck is wrong with me? Sailor has to be right—surely Ishouldn’thave this many mate bonds.
Mason drops his head and purses his lips. After taking a second to gather himself, he puts his arms around me and tugs me to his chest in a long hug. It’s a comfort I’m not sure we have time for, but I soak it in anyway. I think he needs it as much as I do. About a hundred confusing thoughts race through my head as he holds me, and I feel so beyond lost about everything.
“What do you want to do?” Mason asks as he pulls slightly away.
“I don’t think I want anything to do with any of the MacKays after what I’ve seen.” I ignore my wolf latching onto the wordthink. “We need to deal with Jakob right now. We don’t have the luxury of worrying about any of my mate bonds until we’ve dealt with my first one.”
“She’s right,” Willem says, and I glance up to see him hovering just behind Mason, hooded eyes intense as he stares at me. A reassuring smile crosses his lips, though it feels maybe just a little forced as he says, “That’s not what’s important right now. We should deal with Jakob first and then talk about… everything else.”
“Then can we stop standing around and actually do something?” Sailor snarls. “Every second we spend here, Jakob’s advantage is growing. We’re sitting ducks here waiting him out while he figures out a way to get what he wants without the Luna Sovereign coming down on him for breaking neutral ground laws.”
I pull out of Mason’s grip completely and point to him, Ian, and Sailor. “You three talk about what we should do. Willem, you come with me.”
I point my thumb at the bedroom and Sailor groans.
“This is hardly time for a sex break,” Sailor snaps, an angry scowl coloring his features as his eyes dart between me and Willem. Already, Mason and Ian are crossing the living room in the direction of the front door Sailor still hovers in. I’m lucky to have them, and I should spend more time telling them that.
I can feel my cheeks flaming red at Sailor’s insinuation, though, and that’s what I focus on instead of my gratitude for my steadfast mates. “That’s not what we’re doing,” I say simply, waving him off. I don't want to waste any more time explaining myself. He’s being a jerk, and I don’t have the patience for it.
Willem follows me to the bedroom, and I close the door behind us before thrusting my heart stone at him.
“Hide this,” I tell him urgently as he cocks an eyebrow at me. “And I’ll hide the other. Somewhere where no one would think to look or notice it.”
He doesn’t question me, though. “Okay.” He turns and scans the room, looking for options.
I know I’m probably being paranoid, but part of me is worried that Jakob might try to use the heart stones against me. Hiding them separately gives me a greater chance of no one finding the stones if they come looking for us in the cabin.
For now, the stones are safer hidden than staying with me. Never once since my dad gave me my heart stone have I considered that it wasn’t safe with me. My heart pangs at the thought, but I have to do what’s right, not what’s comfortable.
Willem walks into the connected bathroom, and I tell him I’m going to close the door between us for a minute. As quietly as possible, I move to the center of the room and stand on my toes to reach the string for the attic door. It only creaks lightly as the door releases a ladder, and I pull that down to step up. I only go halfway before setting Arielle’s heart stone on the ledge.
“I’m coming back for you just like I’m going back for my sister,” I whisper to the stone. Then, I push it as hard as I can to roll it across the attic, hoping like hell Willem is distracted enough with hiding my heart stone not to be fully paying attention to the muted noise. I can hear it stop rolling somewhere several feet away, which I know is as good as it’s going to get.
I can’t picture Jakob being willing to search a dirty attic. Not when he’s already been so single-mindedly focused on chasing me. I can’t imagine that’s going to change. Even if one of Jakob’s pack opens the attic, they’ll hopefully give up without a full search.
It’s the best I can do on such short notice.
I carefully put the ladder up, double-checking that the attic door is closed firmly against the ceiling. As if I was never up there. Only then do I knock on the bathroom door.
“Are you done?” I whisper-yell through the door.
“Yep, just waiting for you.” His hands are deep in his pockets when I swing the door open.
There’s a bad feeling rising up the back of my throat as we go to rejoin the others. Ian and Mason both turn with tight-lipped expressions at the sound of our footsteps. The front door is closed.
“Where’s Sailor?” I ask.
Mason and Ian look at each other, and they stay that way for long enough that I know they’re speaking silently across mind link. Willem rubs my back as if to comfort me, but the sensation barely registers.
“Someone tell me where Sailor went, right now.” My voice wavers around the emotion welling in my throat. I’m not sure when he started to mean as much to me as the others, but the evidence is clear in the way my eyes tear up.
I’m not surprised that Ian is the one who breaks first. With a grimace, he says, “He wouldn’t listen to us, Quinn. He decided to go after Jakob’s brother by himself. We tried to get him to wait and let all of us go, but he wouldn’t.”
Anger and fear war for their place in my heart.
