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“That sounds nice, doesn’t it, Dylan?” I asked brightly.
Dylan was quickly turning out to be the master of side-eye for a kid whose grasp of the alphabet was a bit shaky.
“Get dressed,” Stone ordered me brusquely.
“You know, you could just ask. Not everything has to be an order.” Maybe no one had ever told him.
“I like ordering.” Stone leaned close to me, and despite myself, a strange sense of desire squeezed between my thighs. “And I like when people obey.”
The air crackled between us. His gaze on mine was hard to tear myself away from. But I finally dragged my eyes from his, ushering Dylan ahead of me. The two of us quickly got ready for the day, then made our way back into the quiet hall.
Downstairs, the eat-in kitchen smelled of coffee, bacon, and maple syrup. Karissa still looked sleepy, sitting cross-legged on the counter and sipping her coffee. It was Shaw who was bustling around making breakfast for us all.
Maybe I could come to like him. If he resisted the urge to accuse me of murder again.
As we were finishing up breakfast, the door opened and yet another half-naked, overgrown man with dark hair and light eyes loped in. This one must be Liam. There was no mistaking the resemblance that Stone, Shaw, and Liam all shared with each other—and with Brennan.
But this one had tousled hair, a feral edge, and a deep sexiness that surprised me for even noticing it was there. I hadn’t felt any desire for the last five years since losing Brennan. I’d thought that my ability to be interested, let alone to orgasm, had died with my mate. But it felt as if my body was coming back to life.
And I didn’t know why. I didn’t like these men; I didn’t even trust them.
So, why did my body respond to them?
“This is Liam,” Karissa said into the awkward silence that was caused by Liam ignoring me.
“Nice to meet you, Liam,” I said.
He whirled and stared at me, his eyes wide.
“What is it?” I asked.
Stone cut in, “Nope. We don’t have time for Liam’s . . .” He gestured at him but cut himself off from whatever he was going to say next, perhaps because Karissa was glaring at him.
“Say something again,” Liam demanded, staring at me curiously. He came over and shouldered Stone aside so he could get closer to me, his eyes blazing with intensity. “What does it sound like when you scream?”
Well, that was creepy. So much for the hot guy.
Voices rose around the table; Karissa shooed Liam off, and Stone reached for me as if he was going to grab my arm, only to stop abruptly. The two of us shared a charged look before he growled, “Come on,” before hustling Dylan and me out the door.
“I don’t have a backpack for him or lunch packed,” I protested.
“The village school has everything he needs,” Stone promised me. “Dylan will have a great day there.”
“Do I have to go?” Dylan asked.
I glanced at Stone.
“No,” Stone said, his voice softer and kinder than any time he spoke to me. “No, you don’t have to go. But your mother has work to do, and I think you’ll have more fun there with the other kids. I promise we’ll be back to pick you up at four o’clock.”
Dylan seemed to think it over, chewing his lower lip as we walked, but in the end, he let me kiss him goodbye and ran off into the school. He turned back and made eye contact with Stone. “Four o’clock.”
“We’ll be here,” Stone promised.
It was hard to reconcile the monster who had killed his way through my pack, silhouetted in fog and splattered with blood, with this man in a flannel shirt and rolled-up sleeves making promises to my son. He sounded kind, but I wouldn’t allow myself to be swayed by that small detail.
I turned to face him when Dylan had gone into the school and the two of us had started down the forest path that led back toward the alpha’s house. “Now what?”
His kindness seemed to dry up immediately, his face and posture changing. He drew himself to his full, intimidating height. “Now you’re going to tell me what happened to your face, to begin with. Who beat you?”
