Technical Threat (Westin Force #4) - Julie Trettel Page 0,34
right?”
She looked panicked as she sought my help. We’d never talked about this outside of the family. Mom made us all swear we’d never tell a sole that Sage was special.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said softly to her as he reached out and touched my arm in the process.
I sucked in a sharp breath as the warmth flooded me again and I squeezed my thighs together to try to ease a bit of the pressure down there. I could feel him relax from the contact, but he otherwise looked entirely unaffected by it. It wasn’t fair and more than a little irritating.
When neither Sage nor I spoke again, he continued. “Tell me what you saw,” he said giving her an encouraging hundred watt smile.
Sage shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know how to explain it exactly. It wasn’t like I could actually see you specifically, I just knew that’s all.”
“What did you know?” he pressed.
“That it was time. Susan’s one true mate was coming to save her.”
“Sage,” I barked unable to believe she’d been so candid with him. “I don’t need saving,” I said through gritted teeth.
She ignored me and kept talking to him. “Mom kicked her out of the house today. She’s got nowhere to go. You have to help her. It’s your job. You have to keep her safe. Promise me. She takes care of everyone. No one ever takes care of her. She’s stubborn and she won’t admit it, but she needs you.”
I stood there in shock. I didn’t even know how to react. She was airing all of our family’s dirty laundry to a complete stranger. He was going to run for the hills now knowing we were all insane.
“That’s enough, Sage,” I managed to say in a small voice.
I was braced for him to bolt. The ache that caused in my chest was disturbing. I knew I would miss him, too. How could I miss someone I didn’t even know?
Instead of leaving, he wrapped Sage up into his arms and held her.
“I’m here. I’ve got her now,” he said.
“What?” I shrieked.
He just pinned me with a stare.
“You believe me?” Sage asked as she pulled back to look into his face. Her lower lip trembled. I reached out instinctively and rubbed her back.
“Of course. You think I can’t feel it? I’m a bit shocked, I won’t lie. I certainly didn’t expect it to happen to me and definitely not here, but we’ll deal with it.”
She snorted. “Deal with it? That’s very romantic.”
His eyes shot to me with a look of desperation. “I didn’t mean…”
I cut him off with the raise of my hand a shake of my head.
I was still surprised he’d seemed so easily accepting of this. Maybe he was insane.
He turned his focus back to my little sister. “What kind of shifter are you?”
I was surprised by his question. If he was my true mate and I wasn’t saying he was, wouldn’t he have to be a fox too?
“Fox,” she said. “You?”
He grinned. “Fox.”
He looked at me and I nodded answering his unspoken question.
“To be honest, I haven’t met a lot of fox shifters before.”
“Really?” Sage asked. “They’re everywhere around here. Probably more than humans even in this area.”
“I had no idea. Really. The company I work for tracks a lot of shifters worldwide and there was no knowledge of activity in this area.” He laughed.
“What?”
“Just thinking how pissed Archie’s going to be when he finds out about this.”
“Who’s Archie?” Sage asked while I quietly listened and observed.
“Just someone I work with who prides himself on knowing these things. I must say it’s a pleasant surprise.” His eyes cut towards me.
I could get lost in those eyes. They were brown with just a hint of red that matched his dark auburn hair. I didn’t think I was much of a beard girl, but I had a hard time imagining him without it. He kept it tightly groomed. I wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. Would it scratch or tickle my inner thighs if he…?
My cheeks started to burn. I shut the thoughts out of my mind quickly, but it hadn’t gone entirely unnoticed. Sage giggled and he was still watching me with an intensity that made me squirm. There was no way they could possibly know what I was thinking. It wasn’t like he could read my mind or anything, could he?
My eyes widened as color started draining from my face.