kissing his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere. Not for a long, long time.”
She meant it. Peigi had found safety here, and peace. She wouldn’t jeopardize that.
“Will Stuart stay too?” Kevin asked from the far bed. “We need him to make pancakes and teach us football.”
Peigi couldn’t lie to them, but they wanted reassurance. “I’ll talk to him. I know he doesn’t want to leave either.” She was reasonably sure that was the truth.
It was a while before Peigi could turn off the light and leave them, then she repeated the good nights in the girls’ room, answering the same questions.
Finally she shut out their light, closed the door, and crept down the hall to the kitchen. She didn’t stop walking until she’d grabbed a heavier jacket and was out the back door, off the porch, and into the yard. There she halted, letting out a long breath.
“It’s good to be back.” Stuart materialized from the shadows of the porch. He stepped down to join Peigi, lacing his arms around her from behind.
Peigi leaned into him, enjoying his strength, his arms encircling her protectively. She rested her head on his shoulder, the wall of his body firm behind her. The night was clear and dry, the stars a wash of light in the darkness.
“I didn’t know what to tell them,” she said softly. “When they asked whether you would be leaving again, I didn’t know what to say.”
Stuart was silent a long time, then he released his breath, brushing Peigi’s ear. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Peigi thought that might be his answer. “Cian has you worried.”
Stuart unwound himself to turn Peigi to face him. “Cian’s not wrong. If the talisman isn’t returned, it will lead to a long and bloody war. I liked your idea of making another one, but we can’t count on persuading Lady Aisling to do it. The spells might be lost in any case.”
“Won’t know until we ask.”
Stuart gave her a faint smile. “I always like how you think.”
“When you have to take care of twenty cubs in a basement, you become resourceful.” Peigi studied the half globe of the moon above them. “You know we left Crispin and Miguel bound in iron in Cian’s house.”
“Yeah.” Stuart chuckled. “I feel so bad about that.”
“I suppose Cian will find some way to cut them free.”
“Possibly. He might decide to leave them as decoration.”
Peigi’s laughter swelled, years of fear and anger flowing out with it. “If I’d known, when Michael kept me prisoner, that he’d end up as an iron-bound ornament in the house of a dark Fae, courtesy of you …” Peigi’s laughter died on a sob. “I wouldn’t have been so scared of him. Or angry. Not angry at him—at me. Well, him too. But I loathed myself for deciding to stay with him.”
Stuart slid his hands up her arms to her shoulders, his touch both comforting and awakening need too near the surface.
“You never talk about it,” he said quietly. “You don’t have to.”
“Because I was ashamed.” Peigi stepped closer to him. “I believed in him. I thought he’d rescue me from my empty life. No one wanted me around, but Michael did. He made me feel good, included.”
“It’s understandable. Though I’m surprised you say no one wanted you around. What idiots were they?”
“My clan—extended clan, that is. I was orphaned as a cub, and the rest of my clan kind of passed me around—who gets the cub today? They made sure I was taken care of, but they weren’t interested in me for myself—I wasn’t very high in the hierarchy, and I knew that. Plus, Shifters can’t mate within their own clans, so I wasn’t mate potential. When I ran off with Michael, who at that time was calling himself Michelangelo, they were relieved.”
“I’m sorry.” Stuart closed his arms around her again, the solidness of him an anchor in the darkness. “Michelangelo?”
“He liked being grandiose. He changed his name to suit the occasion and the locale, which I thought was romantic. See? The idiot is me.”
“No.” Reid drew her into him, his lips brushing her forehead. “You were young and needed to be needed. Michael is an alpha Shifter. I’ve seen how Eric and Graham can make anyone think the way they want just by looking at them. You were in a position of vulnerability, and Michael took advantage.”
“So were you.” Peigi lifted her head, enjoying the darkness of his eyes. “You were alone and vulnerable when you came to Shiftertown. But