"I promised him I'd take care of him." And Dorian kept his promises.
Nate scowled. "He's Pack now. You don't think we have rights over him?"
Man and leopard both calmed at the mention of the solid strength of Pack. "Yeah, you do." He thrust a hand through his hair. "Kid's got a grip on my heart, Nate."
"They have a way of doing that." The other sentinel slapped him on the back. "You'll get over it sometime in the next hundred years or so."
Strangely, that made him feel better. Because there was no way he was letting his mate, and the boy he already considered his own, go.
Lucas and Sascha arrived less than an hour later, and Dorian ran upstairs to fetch Keenan - he'd reawakened on his own twenty minutes earlier, stomach rumbling. It had given Dorian the opportunity to make sure Ashaya ate as well before she headed up to prepare Keenan for the change in location.
"Keep your mind quiet," she was saying now as she zipped up Keenan's insulated jacket. "Don't listen to her."
"I won't." Keenan shifted from foot to foot. "It's getting fuzzy anyway. Her voice."
"That's good. Don't be scared, baby. This is only for a little while."
Keenan threw his arms around Ashaya. "I'm not scared, Mommy. I can feel you inside my head. If I need you, I'll call. I know you'll come."
Ashaya's face was a study in wonder as she hugged her son. "Yes, I will."
Walking over, Dorian picked up the little knapsack she'd packed for Keenan. "We'll keep him safe, Shaya. I give you my word."
She glanced up, a silent trust in her eyes that the leopard accepted as its due. Nodding, she kissed Keenan and rose. "Come on, little man. You're going for a ride."
Instead of following her, Keenan turned and pulled on Dorian's pant leg with a confidence that clearly startled Ashaya. What appeared to startle her even more was that Dorian simply bent down and picked the boy up. "Go on, Shaya. I need to chat with Keenan."
Her forehead wrinkled. "He's - "
Dorian shook his head slightly, gratified when she left the room. "You have to trust me with your mom," he said to the boy in his arms.
"She's mean." A ferocious protectiveness filled that small face. "She wants to hurt my mommy."
"I know. But I'm pretty mean myself." He let Keenan see the lethal edge in his eyes, something most children wouldn't have understood. But Keenan Aleine was no more a child than Dorian had been at his age. "No one will get close to her."
A small nod. "Dorian?"
"Yeah?"
"I want my mommy in our web."
Dorian's heart kicked in his chest. "She will be." It was the one thing he wouldn't compromise on. And if that made him animal in his possessiveness, so be it.
After Keenan left, Ashaya went back upstairs and began to pack her stuff. "I have to move as well. Nate and Tammy's cubs returned tonight, didn't they?"
"Yeah." He'd already made the same decision, but the leopard was proud of her instinctive need to protect the pack's young. "We definitely need to get out of here if Amara's hunting."
Ashaya halted in the act of closing up her bag. "You're angry."
Angry didn't even come close. "Tell me about Amara being Keenan's mother."
"I don't know if I want to with you growling at me."
His hands clenched. "Sugar, I'm this close to tearing off your clothes and teaching you exactly how badly I take you keeping secrets from me. Your choice. Talk or get naked."
Ashaya felt her throat dry up. "You won't hurt me."
"No. But I bet I can make you whimper."