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“Then you can prove yourself tonight," Stone said. "If you survive, you’ll be one of us. I’m not letting any enemy of Amelia’s live past tonight.”
"Amelia," Shaw said quietly, I turned to find him holding out his own t-shirt for me to wear. I'd almost forgotten I was naked. He pulled it over my head, and I breathed in his scent clinging to the soft fabric.
It made me think of Brennan's anger that I smelled like these men in my dream. Why had my mind imagined Brennan as jealous? As if their scents weren't almost the same?
Shaw scooped me up, and I reminded him, “I can walk.”
“But with us around, you never have to.” He gave me one of those smiles that made his eyes twinkle. Then into my ear more quietly he said, “Give me a little bit of a break. When we got back and you had sleepwalked away from us again? I was so scared.”
I let out a gasp. “Dylan…” He was so afraid of being abandoned.
“He was still sleeping, last I saw him. And he has Karissa standing guard ready to go into him if he wakes up and he’s afraid.” His eyes were tender. “You’re not alone anymore, Amelia. You don’t have to take care of him all on your own. Lean on us.”
I put my arm around his neck. “How can I lean on you when you’re already carrying me?”
He just pressed a kiss to my forehead in response.
CHAPTER44
Liam
Within minutes,King soldiers were massed around Stone, Cole and Teresa, who were already forming battle plans.
“I need to go too,” Amelia told Shaw. She struggled out of his arms, and he reluctantly set her down, looking as if the separation ached. “It’s still my pack… for tonight. As awful as the pack has been… there are good people there too, innocent people.”
She looked troubled, since the Longroad pack wouldn’t exist tomorrow.
Shaw scoffed. “It’s hard for me to believe anyone is particularly good who didn’t defend you.”
The situation rapidly devolved from there, especially once Stone strode over. He immediately opened with, “Amelia, don’t be ridiculous.”
Stone gripped her upper arm as she pulled away from him, her eyes flashing furiously up at him. “You are not invading my pack–in my name–without me!”
“You need to be back on King territory, watching over Dylan in case Nathan attacks,” Stone told her sternly. “Protect our boy.”
Her lips parted in surprise at the wordsour boy,and her face seemed to soften. More quietly, she asked, “Stone… have you been re-building this?”
She pointed at the half-finished cottage.
“A home for you.” Stone released her, and I put together the pieces as I studied Stone’s battered hands. He’d always had cuts and bruises lately. Now I understood.
He’d been rebuilding the home Amelia was supposed to have with Brennan.
“Explain.” Amelia’s brows drew together over luminous violet-blue eyes. “This is what you meant when you said I’d have a home?”
“When I’ve killed your enemies, when your pack has becomemypack, when I’ve pissed on Nathan’s grave…” He sounded confident when he talked about revenge, but then his voice softened, slightly uncertain. “Then this will be your home, if you want it. I’ll always consider you mine, Amelia. But that doesn’t mean you have to stay with me.”
“Do you really mean…” Her eyes filled with wonder as she looked up the hill at the house. Although it was half-finished, it looked magical at the moment, sheltered by the swaying pines and softly lit by the moonlight. It seemed to rise above the blood-soaked scene at its base, where King shifters were sliding Longroad corpses into body bags. “This will be mine?”
“Yes.” Stone folded his arms over his chest. “You’ll have a place of your own. This is my attempt at an apology.”
Amelia’s gaze caught on his hands, since they were in his line of vision now folded over his biceps. She must have realized the same thing I did, because she smiled slowly.
“It’s a good start,” she told him, resting her hands on his corded forearms.
“A start?” He looked down at her with a frown. “You still don’t forgive me?”
“Well, you keep doing new things to piss me off, so you aren’t giving me much of a chance.” She rose onto her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek.
