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"We should talk..." I began, even though I sure as hell didn't want to talk.
I wanted to be alone.
To make sense of how I could possibly be marked by another man.
Of how I couldwantto be marked.
"It's late," Shaw said. "And we've both... had a very long day. Week. Life."
"But we'll talk soon?"
"Of course," he said.
Side by side, we walked back to the house.
But we didn't touch.
CHAPTER31
Stone
It was almostimpossible for anyone else to find Liam when he didn’t want to be found.
But I always did, in the end. I could send a dozen of my best trackers to find him, and they would fail. Liam could make himself into a ghost. It seemed like a natural extension of who he’d become in the Longroad pack.
I always thought it was a weakness. My brother, expert in hiding.
All the other times I’d pushed through the woods, calling his name when everyone else had failed, he’d emerged for me. I’d imagined it was because of my alpha power.
Now, as he finally stepped out into the clearing, I asked, “Why do you always come when I call you?”
Eventually. Liam’s sense of time was always questionable.
“Because you always sound so afraid.” Liam’s voice was as soft as the shadows that draped him, but his words still felt like a punch in the gut.
I didn’t bother to argue with him. Not today.
“Come back to the house,” I said. Amelia seemed so wracked with guilt over what it cost Liam to protect her. She needed to see he was whole and healthy.
“Is Dad still angry?”
For a split second, Liam’s own anxiety flashed through me, like a fear buried so deep I’d never entirely root it out. I could picture my father’s face, red with anger though those blue eyes only grew colder, his voice lower and icier.
So much for thewhole and healthyidea. He was slipping through time again.
“Dad’s dead. He’ll never hurt you again.”
Liam shook his head. “Did you do it? For me?”
“No.” My voice came out raw as I realized in Liam’s world, at the moment, Brennan was still alive. “Brennan did.”
“He’s lost in the woods too.” Liam looked away through the forest. “We should call him back.”
For a second, I wanted to pretend with Liam. To slip into another time. To believe Brennan could be just hidden by the trees, still close enough to come when his brothers needed him.
“I wish we could.” My voice came out in a low growl because I was afraid otherwise, it would break.
“I’m supposed to be the oldest brother.” Liam stepped closer, though the shadows still obscured his face, casting it in even harder angles than usual. His eyes were pools of darkness. “To take care of you all.”
