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He blinked rapidly. “I know. But I can’t have… my mom and…. Joe, just. And Kelly? Oh god, Gordo. Kelly is so… he’s not like us. He’s not an Alpha. He’s not a second. He needs… just, please. Please just do it. For me. I can’t be like that. I can’t take the chance that I’ll hurt anyone. It’s not—”
I hugged him.
He was surprised. I’d never initiated anything like this before. Not with him. He felt… strange, pressed up against me, and I remembered the look on Elizabeth’s face when I’d gone into her room that first time after he’d been born.
Would you look at that, she’d said. He likes you, Gordo.
And I’d promised him something then. As his little fist curled in my hair, I’d made him a promise.
You will be safe. I’ll help keep you safe.
His arms came up around me, and he hugged me back.
Eventually he let me go.
He rolled his eyes as the wolf snarled behind him. “Yeah, yeah, you asshole. Shut up already.”
He kissed his mother on the cheek as he headed toward the house, a gigantic feral wolf trailing behind him.
Only Elizabeth and I remained out in the snow, the morning light weak around us.
I didn’t know what to say to her. What was right. What was wrong. Her son had just asked me to end his life if it came down to it, and she’d stood silent in the face of it.
In the end, it didn’t matter. She spoke first.
She said, “The others are at the bar still. Robbie too, though he wasn’t very happy to let Kelly out of his sight.”
“Of course he wasn’t,” I muttered. “How are the humans taking it?”
“Disbelief, I think. Most of them. I think they’re trying to convince themselves it wasn’t what it appeared. Some of them, though. They’re not… afraid. They’re curious. Bambi especially. I think I like that girl.”
“Rico’s got his hands full, that’s for sure.”
“Quite. But they’re handling it, for now. No one is trying to leave the Lighthouse, and there haven’t been any threats against us. If anything, we had to stop them from trying to leave to take on the hunters themselves. I don’t know what it is about this place, but it certainly fosters men to behave like fools. Robbie argued with Ox about being separated from Kelly. Threatened him, even. I’m not sure Kelly knew what to do with that.”
“Kid is kind of an idiot that way.”
“He’s not the only one.”
“Yeah, about that. How long do you think it’s going to be before Carter figures it out?”
A little smile appeared on her face. “Oh, I expect it’ll take some time. I love my children, but they can be a bit naïve when it comes to certain things. But I wasn’t talking about Carter.”
I scowled at her. “Do we really have to do this now?”
“You’re Mark’s mate. Of course we do.”
“I didn’t—I thought it would—I didn’t mean to—”
“I know,” she said. “But leave it to you to wait until the last possible second to pull your head out of your ass.”
“He’s… he didn’t mean it. When he hit you. He would never—”
“Of course he didn’t,” she said, not unkindly. “And once everything is good again, I will make sure to have my revenge.”
I deflated slightly. “He’s all I’ve got left.”
She huffed out a breath. “I know you’re stupid, Gordo, but you can’t possibly be that stupid.”
