Page 21 of Shifters Unifying
“I would like to make a request of you,” I said. “I am impressed with your long-life, and your ability to fight. You demonstrated such skill as a warrior for Ville Platte. Would you be willing to come to Six-Mile to help train others for our army?”
Tossle nearly tripped on his own feet as he hurried to my side. His chest swelled, and he preened to any cat shifter who would make eye contact with him. “I would be most honored, most honored.”
“However, I must make one request, and your agreement will be necessary.”
“Name it,” he said. “Anything for the prophesied unifier.”
“The old Red Tail vixen believes she’s close to death, and she would like to construct a den on the edge of your property in the spot where her home once was. When she passes, this den willbecome her grave. Marcus will summon me, and we will bury her beside her mate by collapsing the den.” My emotions surged and threatened to turn my tone harsh, and I paused long enough to compose myself. “Then you must agree to never disturb their bones.”
His eyes went wide, and he hummed to himself, talking under his breath for long moments, trying to find a way out of agreeing. “And in exchange for this, I will help the multimorph. Tsk, tsk.”
I moved closer, smiling as charmingly as possible. “You’ll come to Six-Mile and probably earn a spot in the histories. They’ll tell your story whenever they tell mine.”
He clapped his hands, the sound weak in the clearing. “Done.” He sneered toward Giselda. “But I don’t have to like it, and our alpha must still agree. He’ll be a harder one to convince.”
Marcus materialized beside us, his movements as stealthy as the large black panther he morphed into. “Not true, Tossle. I’ve given Emma the jurisdiction that is her right, and I’ve already agreed to abide by her ruling.” He crossed his arms. “I hope you don’t intend to try to use me as the way out of the agreement you’ve struck, Tossle. If you go back on your word, whatever the multimorph’s punishment is will be much easier than mine.”
Tossle’s eyes bulged, and he sputtered. That hadn’t been what he’d expected at all, but his upset with my ruling wasn’t my concern, and I didn’t care what the old coward had a problem with.
Without waiting for his sputtering to turn into something intelligible, I marched toward my mate and covered my giddy smile with my hand. Relieved wasn’t the half of it. Olivia and Jasper beamed at me from behind Logan. Tossle had agreed, they’d all agreed, and the conflict had been resolved for all involved.
Yet the eyes of the other shifters followed me, too, some filled with respect and others burned with anger and resentment.
I flashed Giselda a thumbs up, and her cackling laughter answered. But a pang of sorrow shot through me, nearly taking my breath. It knocked into the grief I still felt over the death of my adoptive father—the whole reason I had been at Site 52, gotten attacked, and first learned I could shift.
Giselda would die. Sooner rather than later. We’d secured her home for her final days and, by doing that, her burial plot. I didn’t know how I felt about that, but I couldn’t spare the time to process it.
“You did well, mate,” Logan murmured, pulling me into his arms and kissing my neck. “The first of many tests, I’m afraid, but this is anafter, and I’m here for it.”
Olivia stuck her arm between us. “None of that now.”
I nipped Logan’s chin. “She thinks she can keep us apart.”
“Fat chance,” he murmured, rubbing his cheek against mine. He laced his fingers through mine, dragged me back toward the Six-Mile SUV, and opened the rear door, groping my ass as I climbed into the soft leather seat.
When he hopped in, I wrapped my arms around him, leaned back, and pulled him in on top of me, gratified his dick was already hard.
I arched against him, but the driver’s door opened.
Olivia stuck her head inside, grunting in disgust when she caught sight of our activities. “Not in my car,” she wailed. “Can’t you wait for an hour or two?”
“This is notyourcar,” Logan snapped, stopping long enough to glare at Olivia. “You are my beta, and it is for the use of whoever I appoint as beta.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Jasper, get in the back seat with them.”
He snickered. “Do ye think it will stop ‘em?”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
“Close the door, lass.”
The front door slammed, and we lost ourselves in one another.
Eventually, the rear passenger door opened a crack. “Are ye two done? The SUV stopped shaking, and Olivia’s in a hurry to get on to Acheron’s no-longer-hidden encampment.”
Logan snorted, startling awake, still in the spot where he had collapsed with his head between my breasts. “What?”
I tapped his shoulder and tried to adjust my position beneath him. “My ass went to sleep after you did, and I didn’t want to wake you, but it’s killing me.”
