sighed. There was no point in arguing with this. I’d rather not let the rangers see the weapons, although how he was going to explain the kids…
Erin’s eyes rounded in surprise as she watched me fade away. The girl shifter barely seemed to notice. I think she was in shock. Doyle, though…he still watched me. Even though he couldn’t see me. The utter hunger in his eyes froze me.
Damon managed to get dressed before anybody saw the small group and I stayed at their back as he headed over to the car. All that weird power mantled down, too. Good job, I thought absently, still keeping Doyle in my sight. He was tracking my scent, the sound of my heart. Scaring the hell out of me.
“Hey there,” Damon said. “Sorry, guys. Brought my stepson and his friends out here and they wanted to go out for a while on their own. I was stupid enough to let them and they got lost. Took me a few hours to find them—I was about to call you all when I finally caught up with them an hour ago.”
Good way to play it…
It took another twenty minutes to get out of there before the park rangers were convinced everything was all good and nice and normal.
They did ask about his shoes. He confessed he was a shifter and that he’d ended up shifting to track them down. He’d lost his shoes somewhere, but he’d been so worried about the kids, he hadn’t realized it until later.
The rangers’ reactions were mixed. Two were okay with it. One stared at him with disgust—that wasn’t an unusual response for humans.
Finally, they nodded and let them pack up their gear. It was awkward, scrambling into the back. Damon’s order had come through clear—All you girls into the back. Me and the boy are up front. I worked the keys out of my pocket and dropped them into the seat, hoping the rangers didn’t notice.
Once we were on the road, they headed out.
A few minutes later, I let myself fade back in. Immediately, I wanted to hide again because as I shifted in the seat, I saw Doyle turn around, staring at me.
Wide, hungry eyes. His nostrils flared and his lips parted as he breathed the air in.
Damon hit the windows and a blast of cool night flooded the car.
“Doyle, turn around.”
The kid didn’t.
“Doyle,” Damon said quietly. “If you don’t turn around and look away from her right now, I’m going to get pissed. Please don’t force my hand on this.”
A hungry, miserable little whine escaped the kid.
But he turned away.
I continued to watch him the entire way.
It was the longest damn drive of my life.
So miserably, achingly long that I couldn’t even breathe a sigh of relief at finishing the damn job.
“You’ll stay here for now,” the mother said as she stared at the abused teens being tended to by the healers.
“Is…is that wise?” I swallowed, thinking of the intensity on Doyle’s face.
That kid, around all these women? Many of them pacifists?
“Yes. This was an organized thing, Kitasa and you know it. Nowhere around here will you find a place with the protection I can offer you.”
Reluctantly, I had to admit she was right. But this boy…
I flicked him a look. One of the few men in the house was tending him and the boy was back to watching me. Damon was between us—I don’t think he’d given up that position once since we’d found the kid and I was painfully aware of the fact that I was relying on this guy to protect me…from a kid.
If Doyle lost it and came for me, I’d kill him. If he went after any of these witches, I’d kill him or Kori would.
She could do it easily in his current state. And I probably could. I thought I probably could. He was still weak. He was malnourished and more, the spike had making him uncontrollable. I could see it in the fluctuations of his energy.
But I didn’t want to kill a kid.
Especially not one who meant something to Damon. But I’d be damned if I took the hurt I suspected this boy could bring.
“He doesn’t mean harm,” the mother said tiredly. “He…”
Eyes cut our way.
She gestured to the wall and I followed her through, trusting Damon and Kori to control whatever happened in the hall for a few minutes.
“He had to control everything for nearly two weeks,” she said, staring at the mirror as though she could see everything