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As soon as the bell jangled on the door, Tavish left the cleaning in the back and raced to the front. Twice it wasn’t January. Rory the first time, dropping off a package of steaks for all of them in thanks for stitching up his wound the day before. Sam the second time, checking in to see how it was going.
This time, it was January. The sight of her melted him.
She smiled at him and he found himself letting out another long breath of relief. “What’s that?”
“Just a package that Glendy made for u—for me.”
Had she been about to sayus? It made his heart gallop and pleasure burst in his veins like fireworks. “I can put it down for you.”
“Sure.” Her eyes flicked around the empty waiting room. “Are you busy right now?”
“Not particularly. If it stays like this, I can head out for lunch and Josephine will just call me in if she needs me.” He took the bag from her hand, and then, at the last minute, he dared to run his thumb over her knuckles, one bump and ridge at a time.
Even that mundane touch felt sacred to him. She sucked in a sharp breath. It wasn’t a reaction of displeasure. She looked like she wanted to say something. She looked a little bit tired, a little bit uncertain, and more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. “Tavish, I—”
The door burst open behind them, the bell going off so violently it sounded like it was going to rip out of the bracket that kept it in place. Tavish immediately grabbed January’s hand and thrust her behind him, shielding her with his frame.
“Where is he?”
Tavish’s brain was so scrambled, adrenaline bursting and flowing, his instincts kicking in, that he could barely make his eyes focus. He was half feral beast, and that was even without immediately shifting. His brain slowly caught up, filling him in on the huge shifter blocking the doorway. He was feral too. Beastly feral. Close cropped hair, scars dotting a hard, chiselled face. A frame even larger and broader than his own, menace and murder flashing in his dark eyes.
Clay.Oh, fuck.It was a small mercy that he didn’t say that out loud.
“What are you doing here, Clay?” He forced his voice to be level and calm. He had to diffuse this. January was right behind him. She’d be in harm’s way if Clay lost his head.
“I know he works here. That fucker. He has ten seconds to get out here and face me now, or it’s going to be outside and I’m not going to bother being civil. Not for the sake of Glendy or my daughter. I want Kier out here. Now.”
“He’s not here,” Tavish lied smoothly.
“That’s bullshit and you know it. I know he’s here. I stopped and asked Glendy just now.”
“She was mistaken. He’s usually here, but today is his day off.”
Even by some miracle, if Kier didn’t hear what was going on and make an appearance, that still left January in the clinic. Right now, the best outcome was to make Clay leave. Get him outside and try to talk him down outside. Get Josephine to take January to the back of the clinic, lock the door, and maybe even leave out the back door. Drive away from here.
Get her as far away from the threat, this grenade of a person with a pin that felt so brutally temporary, as possible.
She’d voiced concerns about Greenacre not being safe for their child and he’d scoffed them away. But it was also her right because she didn’t know this place like he did. She hadn’t been raised here. He thought he could prove her wrong. But were her fears warranted? She was only being a mother, trying to protect a child that hadn’t even been born before he ever got into a situation that Tavish didn’t even want to think about hypothetically.
January saw monsters where he saw shadows, but maybe those monsters were real.
“He’s here,” Clay growled. “I can smell him.” He looked wild. Out of control. He cracked his knuckles, then shook them out. “If he doesn’t want a fight to the death, then he better come and face me. Right. Now.”
“We can’t have violence in here,” Tavish said. He could feel January shaking behind him. This man had scared her, and that made him want to tear him apart, one bloody piece at a time.
He shut that down immediately. Clay didn’t need any more provocation. He wanted a fight, and Tavish wasn’t going to give it to him.
“The fucker got my sister pregnant. He has five seconds. I’m going to count down like I do with Emma because he’s obviously a child sneaking around behind our backs. Five. Four. Three.”
“I’m here.” Kier brushed past them. He put out a hand to stop Clay from racing over and pounding him into a bloody pulp. “Let’s go outside or somewhere we can talk. Not in here. Tavish is right. This is a clinic. There are women here and one of them is pregnant.”
At least that seemed to get through to Clay. He looked a bit stunned.
Tavish didn’t know much about the man other than that he’d do anything to protect his daughter. Glendy talked about her ex as a man who had been distant, not at peace with himself or the world, someone who was troubled. He was an ex-cage fighter, and he looked every single bit of a fearsome warrior. Tavish had seen him in his bear form, protecting Emma, fighting the shifter who had kidnapped her to make a point. Clay had nearly killed him and probably would have if they hadn’t stepped in to stop him.
He felt a shiver go through him. He tried to understand. Clay was defending his sister. She was pregnant. Did Kier even know?
One look at his chalk-white pallor and Tavish didn’t think so.
