“I’m sure. You focus on your mate and your family. But watch your backs. Without knowing this person’s motives, we don’t know who they could target next.”
They said their goodbyes, and Ian sat for a moment in silence, fingering his phone. He was a lucky bastard to have the kinds of friends he did, but the last thing he wanted to do was put any of them in danger. Garret’s shifter gift was hearing thoughts, though, and that could be immensely helpful.
“So I definitely think it’s time to talk now. What in the world is going on, Ian?”
Head whipping to the side, he saw Holly standing by the wall, leaning against it like she’d been there the whole time. Shit, how much had she heard? Searching her eyes, he knew however much it was, it had been enough, and he wasn’t going to be able to put this conversation off any longer.
Waving her forward, he said, “Come on in and have a seat.”
HOLLY STARTED TO SETTLE INTO THE ARM CHAIR across from the couch where Ian was sitting, but he patted the seat next to him. Hesitating for a moment because she was sure she needed a clear head for the conversation ahead, and sitting next to him pretty much guaranteed she wouldn’t, she finally gave in. Moving to the couch, she sank into the farthest corner from him, hoping every little bit of distance would help her keep her focus.
She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop on his phone call. When she came to the living room and found him on the phone, she was just going to stand quietly until he’d finished, but she hadn’t been able to help listening. She hadn’t understood a lot of the things he said, but she understood enough to realize whatever was going on was bigger than she initially thought.
“So, what’s going on? And don’t try to protect me by sugar coating things, or downplaying them. Tell me straight.”
Nodding, he turned sideways to face her, blue eyes bright and silver specs glinting in the light. “The blunt, honest truth, is that someone’s trying to kill me.”
She stared at him in shock, mind racing to process what he just said. “Someone’s trying to kill you? Did I hear that right?”
Exhaling, he ran his fingers through his hair, disheveling the long strands. “Yes. Remember when I told you the barn roof caved in? What I didn’t mention was that someone gave it a little help, sawing the beams directly over our sparring area. I wasn’t too sure what to think at that point. I mean, it was obvious someone was messing with us, but I thought it was with the fighters in general.
“Then last week, we were all gathered here to eat. Seth and Amelia picked up dinner for all of us from the diner. Mine and Kian’s were both poisoned. Luckily, Alex is familiar with that sort of thing and noticed it before we ate any. Kian and I always order the same thing, so we think that’s why both were poisoned. One of us was the target, the other just the casualty.”
“And that’s when you pulled away from me,” she said softly, trying to take everything in. She badly wanted to ask how Alex knew enough about poison to recognize it, but she had too many other things to think of.
“Yeah. If I was the target, I didn’t want to bring attention to you. The last thing I wanted to do was stop seeing you, Holly. And I definitely didn’t want to give you time to overthink things and decide to fight what’s between us even harder. But your safety was more important. It’s the most important thing to me, aside from Shelby’s. But I was watching over you from a distance. I followed you to school and back every day, made sure you were safe.”
“And then someone messed with my car today.”
“I thought you’d be safe at school, so I left once you were inside, and came back when school was over. So I wasn’t there when someone vandalized your car. I’m so sorry about that. And I know you think that was kids, but the timing doesn’t add up. Yeah, kids do stupid shit like that, but how often does it happen in Eagle Creek? Add in what was written on your back window, and it seems targeted at you specifically. And it feels like more than a coincidence.”
“And that’s why you didn’t want me to stay in my apartment by myself,” she said softly, thoughts chaotic.
“You’re in danger because of me. Whoever is doing this clearly knows what and who I care about. I can’t let you be hurt because of me.” He swallowed hard, staring into her eyes. “I can’t let you be hurt for any reason. Losing you would gut me, Holly, and I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”
His words washed over her, and her heart warmed for a just a moment. And then cold, hard fear drenched her body, turning her blood to ice in her veins. Mouth turning to ash, she swallowed painfully around a dry throat. He might be worrying about what could happen to her, but she wasn’t the one someone was trying to kill. He was.
Oh, God, she couldn’t do this. Risking her heart and soul on him under normal circumstances was nearly impossible. But with the chances of something happening to him skyrocketing, with someone trying to kill him—how could she take the chance?
She felt sick at the thought of him getting hurt, or worse, and bile crept up her throat. And it was then she knew. There was no more worrying about whether she could take the risk anymore. She was in this, for better or worse. They’d only grow closer now, and the possibility of her breaking if she lost him was only going to get bigger, especially with her staying here, but there was no going back.
“Hey,” he said softly. “What are you thinking? I can protect you. You’ll be safe, I promise.”
“I’m not worried about me,” she replied, looking into his eyes. “I’m worrying about you. If something happened to you…”
“It won’t. I’m strong, Holly. I’m a fighter. And even more than that, I have a whole crew of fighters watching my back, and Alex is a damn genius. We’ll get this figured out soon, and no one here is going to let anything happen to any one of us. I promise you that.”
Searching his gaze, his conviction to keep that promise blazing from his eyes, she finally nodded. Scooting closer to him, she laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist, snuggling in close. He started in surprise and his heart pounded in his chest under her palm, but it took him no time at all to catch up. Kissing the top of her head, he put a big, warm hand over her arm, rubbing softly.
“Please keep yourself safe. I wouldn’t be able to stand it if something happened to you, or to Shelby. I’d lose it, Ian, and that’s not an exaggeration.”
“I’ll keep all of us safe, sweetheart,” he said, squeezing her arm before continuing with his soothing strokes. “And that includes you. Everything’s going to work out. You’ll see.”
“Oh. My. God. Does this mean you two are together now?” came Shelby’s excited voice from the doorway.
Holly glanced over to see the little girl bouncing on her feet, practically vibrating with excitement. Looking over at Ian, she saw him watching at her with his eyebrow cocked, waiting to see what she said. She searched his eyes, a slow smile breaking free and curling her lips up.
Taking a deep breath, she looked back at Shelby and gave her a tiny nod. “I guess it does, sweetie.”