The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,106

answered. “I love you, Ben.”

“Love you, Rhianne.” Ben rumbled, and thunder answered him. “My mate.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ben soaked in the sunshine on Liam’s back porch, Rhianne squashed next to him on the padded porch swing. Connor sat cross-legged on the wooden deck, close enough to touch Ben and make sure he was really there. Tiger-girl perched on the railing above Connor, watching all with her assessing gaze.

The storm had broken and rolled away as swiftly as it had arrived. Blue sky arched over Shiftertown once more, tattered clouds drifting on a soft breeze. The same air moved wind chimes, which gave off a silvery note.

Funny, Ben never remembered those wind chimes being there before. Maybe Jazz had brought some here from the haunted house.

Rhianne hadn’t let go of Ben since he’d woken a few hours ago, which was fine with him. He’d made all the other Shifters go away once he realized he was starkers under the sheet. Embarrassing.

He’d dressed in sweats that were too big for him, with Rhianne assisting. Okay, so they’d spent some time on the bed kissing and caressing. A little crying too, on both their parts. Ben had been too weak to do much more, darn it. He’d had to put in great effort just to reach the porch, but he hadn’t wanted to stay in bed.

Millie stepped out from the house, bearing a tray filled with glasses of iced tea. Ben would have preferred something stronger, but decided that this soon after death, maybe caffeine was better than alcohol.

Millie’s handbag swung from her arm, such a small thing in which to carry the elixir of life.

She set out iced tea for everyone, including Connor and Tiger-girl, then stood back, tray pressed to her abdomen as she peered at Ben.

“You appear to be on the mend,” she announced.

“Hell of a lot better than I was.” Ben had known only darkness, thick and strange, for a long time. He hadn’t been afraid, just … unsettled. In all this darkness, he’d seen one slender glow of light beckoning to him. He’d made his way to it, wrapped a hand around it, and held on.

Ben had realized after he woke what he’d clung to had been a thread of the mate bond. It wove around him now and stretched to Rhianne, who was satisfyingly close against his side.

“You wouldn’t have died all the way,” Millie told him, in a tone that was meant to be reassuring.

“Sure.” Ben didn’t believe her. He’d certainly felt dead. “What was that thing you put on me? It was heavy.” It had weighed on his chest until he’d sat up. Millie had caught it before it rolled off the bed.

“I don’t know.” Millie set the tray on the railing, opened her handbag, and removed the iron statue. Light played on the molded lines, which didn’t tell Ben much. “I picked it up when we fled Faerie. It had been abandoned on a vendor’s cart. It has always brought my family good luck, sped our healing, things like that. I figured it couldn’t hurt to try it on you.”

Ben studied the statue, its long shape rounded at one end. He winced. “I hope it’s not a … you know. A personal pleasuring device.”

Millie lifted the statue and scanned it in all seriousness while Connor went off into gales of laughter.

“No.” Millie dropped the statue back into her purse. “Those are quite different.”

Connor’s laughter trailed down to chortles, while Tiger-girl watched him in puzzlement.

“Why do you say he wouldn’t have died all the way?” Rhianne asked. “Because of the mate bond?”

Millie shook her head. “The mate bond helped, of course, to keep him from drifting too far. But I knew he’d come back. He’s the last warrior.”

“So everyone keeps telling me,” Ben said impatiently. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“It means that you will not perish until the last battle.” Millie folded her hands. “Until you’ve saved your people or lost them entirely.”

Whatever the hell that meant.

“That’s cheerful,” Ben said, rubbing his hand over his hair. “Something to look forward to.”

Rhianne lifted her head from Ben’s shoulder. “How do you know that, Millie? When we first met you, you wanted to kill him.”

Millie’s lips pinched. “I have apologized for that already. After I went home, I looked you up, Ben, and realized who you truly were. That is why I wanted to meet with you again.”

“Looked me up where?” Ben asked in suspicion. “The Goblin Encyclopedia?”

Millie didn’t laugh. “The Shifter Guardians have a database they call the