the corrupted part of his soul to seize control of him when he was around her, she carried on talking.
“Besides, I’ve noticed you have a glaring weak spot when using your armour.” She leaned towards him and tapped him on his forehead.
It didn’t go down well with Fuery. He snarled at her, baring fangs, his eyes rapidly verging on black, like storm clouds racing in to blot out the light.
“She did not mean it.” Hartt turned to him and held his right hand out to halt him before he could attack Mackenzie. “Apparently, her tongue has become more caustic since…”
He grimaced as he almost mentioned her rebirth, issued her an apologetic look when she gaped at him, her golden eyes wide. Revealing what she was to others wasn’t a great way of gaining her trust, and he wanted her trust, so he was going to have to be more careful.
Fuery eyed her closely.
Hartt went to step in front of her to shield her from his friend’s inquisitive gaze, but she moved around him, coming to stand in front of him instead. Her eyes locked on Fuery, and gods, Hartt wanted to growl and flash fangs at the male, wanted to seize her arm and drag her behind him again, where his friend wouldn’t be able to see her.
“He trusts you?” She tilted her chin up a little, squared her shoulders in a way that part of him admired while the rest found oddly adorable. She was strong, didn’t need to act that way in front of him or Fuery. Both of them knew she could handle herself and anything life threw at her.
Fuery nodded.
Mackenzie looked over her shoulder at Hartt. “You trust him?”
He nodded too. “With my life. Fuery is like a brother to me. He saved my life once, a long time ago. I owe him everything.”
She gave him a look that said she would be asking about that later. If she did, he would gladly tell her about what had happened to bring him and Fuery together. He would share the pain of his past with her just as she had shared hers with him, and hopefully he would feel that deep connection to her again and it would calm the primal part of himself that needed to keep her close to him, her eyes on him and only him.
She pulled down a breath that stretched her black shirt tight across her breasts and sighed it out.
“Fine.” Her golden gaze locked on Fuery, narrowed and brightened. “But if you tell a soul, I will end you.”
Fuery didn’t look amused by that threat, and Hartt wondered if he was going to have to intervene again. His friend looked at him, a curious glimmer in his eyes that told him that Mackenzie wasn’t the only one who wanted to question him about some things. Hartt had the feeling it wasn’t only Mackenzie that Fuery would be asking about the next time they were alone either.
Hartt wasn’t ready to analyse the things that had happened between him and Mackenzie, or how he felt about her. Not yet. When he was sure everyone was safe, he would take a moment to think about everything that had happened.
“I’m a shifter,” Mackenzie said with another stern look in Fuery’s direction. She hesitated and Hartt wanted to place his hand on her shoulder and tell her that she could trust them. She could trust him. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, would deal with anyone who placed her in danger, even Fuery. She glanced back at him and he felt sure she had sensed his need to reassure her when she smiled softly, and then she looked at Fuery again. “A phoenix.”
Fuery furtively looked around them, at the closed door behind him and the windows behind Hartt, and then murmured, “A phoenix?”
She nodded.
The male placed his right hand on his chest. “I swear, I will not tell a soul.”
That pledge seemed to be enough for Mackenzie because she instantly relaxed, her shoulders drooping as all of the tension bled from her.
“I need to warn the others,” Hartt said, and Fuery shifted his gaze to meet his, concern growing in it. He knew what his friend was going to say. “I have this. I need you to do something else for me. Track Harbin down and bring him back to the guild. I need to know he’s safe.”
Because Hartt wouldn’t put it past the witch to target the snow leopard shifter now that they knew he