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“Just like that. I’ll get a realtor who can pack what I want and ship it here, use the rest to stage the place, and offer it to a buyer at a good price. The rest can go to charity. Of course, I’m assuming you’re going to let me move in with you.”
“If you’re even questioning that, you and I are going to have a long talk, which we need to do anyway, but not about us or living arrangements for the moment.”
“The Master knows where I live, so the sooner it’s out of my name, the better.”
“He probably knows where you are…”
“I have little doubt about that, and he’s smart enough to know that if I’m staying, I’m staying here with you or someone else in the resistance.”
“The resistance is one of the things we need to discuss…”
“No need. I’m all in. I have no other choice. I suspect you’re in it up to your neck. The Shadow League wants you dead. My new job is making sure that doesn’t happen. I also have a lot to offer the resistance.”
“I think we’re a lot further along than the League thinks we are, but I think it’s best we talk to Colby up at Windsong.”
“He’s the head of the resistance, right?”
Hutch grinned. “Not really. There’s a command structure in place, and Colby’s the head of the intelligence divisions. The overall guy is a cave lion-shifter named Deke Campbell…”
“The Finder? Interesting. I don’t think the Master saw that one coming.”
Hutch chuckled. “I think that was part of the idea.”
The door opened, and Colby Reynolds walked in.
“Speak of the devil,” said Hutch.
“The devil, am I?” the lynx-shifter teased. “Word has it I’m looking at Mystic River’s newest pair of fated mates. I take it, then, the Ghost here has decided not to kill you.”
“How did you know?” she asked.
“I didn’t. At least not until this morning. Hamish reported the two of you had become an item after trying to kill each other. Coupled with the rumors Deke had been picking up, it seemed the logical thing to assume. If even half the things whispered about you throughout the intelligence networks of the world are true, combined with the skills Hutch brings to the table, the League has got to be worried.”
Hutch nodded. “And Nora brings more to the table than just her lethal skill set. She has vital information.”
“Then why don’t the two of you plan to have supper and stay up at Windsong. I’ll send an SUV with a driver. We’ll figure out a way to keep the two of you safe. I don’t think that’ll mean you should be staying upstairs.” Colby waited and let Nora and Hutch look at one another as if confirming something. “Then we’re agreed. I think I’ll leave my driver here in town with you and either get Jax to give me a lift or have someone from Windsong come into town.”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit?” asked Hutch.
“Well, Nora—it is Nora, right?” She nodded, surprised at how much he knew. “Do you think I’m overreacting?”
She shook her head. “Not one damn bit. I don’t know if the Master has someone in town, in Otter Cove, or just camping out, but I suspect there’s someone here in town already.”
“As do I,” said Colby.
“I don’t think he’s someone who could move against me and think to win. The Master plays a long game. He isn’t ready to sacrifice that pawn yet just to take me out. But once it’s clear I’ve switched sides, he’ll have no choice.”
“We’ll be ready for them,” Colby assured her.
And somehow, she knew they would be. The future wasn’t strewn with rose petals and fairy dust; there would be plenty of blood, but she was beginning to understand why it was that the Master feared this group and Reynolds in particular.
“You two take care of each other,” Colby said. “We’ll see you at dinner.”
He left the bakery almost as quickly and quietly as he had appeared, and she watched him walk away. “Fascinating,” she said. “I don’t think the League or the Master have a clue as to what they’re up against.”
“We’ll get through this, and we will prevail. I promise,” Hutch said, and she believed him.
In that moment, Nora committed herself to the resistance and to keeping Hutch alive. But more than that, she vowed to end the Master—because as long as he breathed, she and Hutch would never be truly safe.
