Lynn shot him a glance. “What if I want to go first?”
“I’ll point out that if there’s a room full of hostile wolf shifters in there, I want to be the one they’re looking at, because I’m a Marine veteran and my shifter form is scarier than yours,” Ken shot back.
Lynn sighed. “Fair enough. I just don’t like the idea of you putting yourself in danger.”
“Well, neither do I, and I have a better argument so I win,” Ken said, with an air of finality.
Lynn had to laugh. How could he make such a serious situation seem funny? And there wasn’t any sense of—ignoring it, or making fun of how worried she was. She knew he was taking this absolutely seriously, that he did want to protect her, and that he was depending on his combat experience to see this through.
And yet somehow, he knew exactly when to turn the conversation lighthearted, so anxiety didn’t completely take over her body, leave her tense and shaky and too scared for Stella to think things through.
“Anyway, this works tactically as well. Because I’ll come through the door, and the wolves won’t be expecting me, and they’ll see me as a threat and not you, because I’m willing to bet they’re sexist as hell, right? So they’ll be staring at me, and meanwhile you can hustle Stella and Eva right out the door, and we can all run away like little bunnies before they even know anything’s wrong,” Ken finished.
Lynn glanced over. “Like little bunnies?”
“Terrified little bunnies,” he confirmed. “That’s the smartest tactical choice, unless they make a real move to stop us leaving.”
Suddenly, another thing to worry about. “You think they will?”
Ken shrugged. “Not sure. I’ll have a better idea when I meet them. And if they do, just keep back and don’t worry. They won’t be expecting a fight, and I’ve stayed in good practice since I left the Corps. How far out are we?”
“Still a ways,” she said. Despite all of his cheerful optimism, a chill was starting to seep into her bones. “Will you—?” She stopped.
“Will I what?”
“Nothing. It’s stupid.”
“Don’t you call my mate’s ideas stupid,” he said with gentle reproof. “What?”
She sighed. “Will you just—talk? About something silly? I need a distraction.”
“That is so far from stupid, Lynn,” he said, still in that gentle tone. “Getting worked up and scared before doing something dangerous is a bad idea. It makes you reactive and dumb, in the moment. You want to be calm and relaxed, and sometimes the best way to be calm and relaxed is to tell silly stories. Very well-established Marine training technique.”
She smiled. “Oh, yes?”
“Oh, yes,” he said. “Here, I can tell you about some more well-established Marine training techniques. You’ll appreciate them, I’m sure.”
And he launched into a series of stories about Marine recruits doing the dumbest things she had ever personally heard of. Each one was sillier than the last.
“Balancing it on his head,” she repeated once, not sure if she could quite believe it.
“Did his entire drill that way,” Ken confirmed. “Which reminds me of the time that Rafferty dared Jansen to eat an entire MRE off the top of Kowalski’s head—”
Marines, Lynn eventually had to conclude, were a crazy bunch.
The stories passed the time so well, they were pulling onto the street where Todd lived almost before Lynn realized it.
“This is it,” she interrupted a tale of Vandalization By Condom Balloons. “Coming up here.”
Ken peered out into the gloom. “He lives down here? He has a house?”
“Yep,” Lynn confirmed. She’d memorized the address when Stella had given it to her, a couple of months ago. Just in case something like this happened.
“Okay. Pull up a little ways away—not into the driveway, far enough that he won’t be alerted we’re right outside. Then text your sister that we’re here, ask if she can get out fast and easy.”
Lynn nodded. It was such a relief to have someone with her who knew how best to handle this situation, who would be prepared if something went wrong.
It was more of a relief that that person was Ken. Her mate. Whose warm, encouraging voice told her that he trusted her, too.