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“Why don’t you think about it, Stone?” As I stared up at the big brute, wild heat flickered to life in my chest. It was anger, and it was… more. He stared down at me, looking distant and imposing, but I also knew how his body felt against mine, how soft his lips could be. I wished all those memories didn’t press in on me.
I wished part of me didn’t ache to kiss him again.
“Do you really think that you're in danger with me by your side?”
“I know I'm not in danger because I'm on King pack territory, and I have Liam King to protect me.” I told him. He looked taken aback. “But that doesn't change the fact that you're the one who hurt me, Stone. Not like Nathan did, but in your own way.”
His jaw flexed. “I do want to talk about that with you, Amelia. But we should focus on sorting out what just happened so that we know how to protect you and Dylan going forward.”
I let out a laugh. “Sure.”
Some of the older grades were having recess, playing soccer and tag in the field outside the schoolhouse. Their laughter and voices rose in the air, and something in my heart ached. My biggest dream wasn’t for me. It was a happy childhood for Dylan.
The halls of the school were bright, and student art decorated the walls. The preschool and lower elementary kids were down their own wing, where little hooks outside each classroom held their rain jackets. Stone stopped in the doorway of one classroom, where the kids were singing. I could hear Dylan’s voice among them, sounding happy, and tears pricked my eyes.
I blinked them away as Dylan came racing out into the hallway. I hugged him tight, picking him up off the ground.
“You came back,” he said with a sigh, putting his head down on my shoulder. It was an echo of the way he used to put his head down on my shoulder when he was a baby and toddler instead of this long-legged little boy whose feet banged into my thighs.
I almost promised him,always, before I remembered that I never lied. I couldn’t promise Dylan always. Not yet. “I love you.”
Once Dylan had gone back to class, I went with Stone to the command center. He looked at me in a way I couldn’t quite read as we walked the paths, and I glared at him.
“What?”
“You’re a good mom,” Stone said. “He’s lucky to have you.”
The words were unexpected, disarming, which just made me feel unsettled. “Thanks. I’m lucky to have him.”
It might have been a tender moment between us, but just then, Joshua walked past us on the path.
There was a split second flash of fear across his face.
“Good afternoon, alpha. Amelia,” he said, and he sounded confident again. He flashed me a smile that made my stomach tighten.
Stone gave him a curtafternoonin response, but I couldn’t say a word.
Not until it was just Stone and me on the path, when he had faded into the distance, and then I had all the words. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to keep an unruly pack and an even more unruly woman safe.”
I scoffed a laugh—I hadso muchI could say in response—but instead I focused on what mattered. “Joshua is going to betray you.”
“I know,” he said. “Which means that betrayal isn’t very effective.”
“Stone! You have to be careful.”
“I’ll be careful when you are,” he said. “Running off pack territory like an insane cat…”
“This isn’t my pack territory.”
Stone held the door of the library open for me. I ducked under his big arm as he looked down at me and said, “Bullshit. This is your home, your pack. You’re being stubborn.”
Imaginethisman sayingIwas stubborn. For a second, it was ridiculous I could barely breathe.
“It’s not,” I said, but then I was in the cool of the library, and Cole’s familiar broad shoulders and black hair were bent over a book, and I didn’t care enough to argue with Stone anymore. Not right now.
When Cole saw me, his face brightened and he rushed toward me. He pulled me into a tight hug, and I clasped him hard.
