Page 71 of The Return
“Bodyguard again?” Jonas snapped, his anger rolling off him. “I’m his fucking bodyguard.”
“Jonas—” I started, hoping to cool him down.
“No!” he barked, slashing a hand through the air. “This is all bullshit. You are my mate. You are mine to protect. I trust no one else with your safety.”
“Baby…,” I cajoled, putting a hand on his chest. “The pack needs you right now. You’re their center.”
He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes. I shivered at the intensity I saw there. “You don’t listen. You never did.Weare their center. Together we make the pack stronger. You alone or me alone, we’re only half a person. Neither is complete without the other.”
His expression tore through me. He was pleading with me to understand, to agree with what he was telling me.
“Jonas has to know,” I said. “He’s right. He’s my mate, and I won’t have him splitting his attention worrying about me. I dealt with that when we were kids, and I won’t have him go through the same thing.”
“It’s already been decided,” she said.
“Then undecide it,” I insisted. “If Jonas doesn’t know where I am, then I don’t go.”
He kissed me on the forehead. “Thank you.”
“You need to listen to reason, Corey,” she said.
“I am. I’m listening to every reason Jonas has ever given me to trust in him implicitly. He has always been there for me, standing up to others, holding me when I thought for sure I’d fly apart. Even when we were separated, he never stopped thinking about me, just like I kept him in my thoughts. He’s my mate. Mytruemate, whatever that means. He said that Fate was the one who brought us together. Are you so willing to go against that?”
Her lips thinned out and her eyes narrowed. “You should have been a politician,” she said, her tone defeated. “You speak the language well.”
“No, but thank you for saying so. I only want to help my pack prosper, and to love my mate.”
Jonas beamed at me, and mouthed, “I love you.”
She sighed. “We’ll be moving him to Fort Andres.”
When Jonas gasped, I figured that meant it wasn’t a good thing.
“That’s a prison!” He turned to me. “When shifters went feral, they used to be put down immediately. Then the law was changed where those who hadn’t hurt anyone were sent to Fort Andres and locked away for their safety, as well as that of humans.”
“It’s also the safest place we can find. Firstly, it’s surrounded on three sides by water, and the only access to the place requires someone to come down a two-mile road, which means they’ll be spotted as they approach. There’s been no one there since it was closed five years ago. It would be Corey and a cadre of guards. That’s it.”
“And you honestly think no one will know he’s there?”
“I can guarantee it,” she said firmly, but then her features softened. “Jonas, we need Corey. He represents our future, and we’re scared to death that something will happen to him. I understand this isn’t fair to either of you, and believe me, no one here likes the fact that we have no options, but his safety must be paramount.”
Jonas sulked, his lower lip jutted out slightly. I believed he was starting to see wisdom in the plan, and he hated it. I reached out and put a hand on his wrist. He startled, then peered into my eyes. There was such sadness in his.
“Core, what do you think?”
I was honestly hoping he wouldn’t ask me, because I didn’t want to be away from him, but thinking about DD, Sawyer, and Kinsey.… If I stayed, who else would be hurt?
“I think… I think I have to go. I don’t want anyone else to be a target to get to me.”
He nodded. “That’s what I was figuring you’d say.” His shoulders slumped. “I hate every fucking part about this, but I can’t have you hurt.”
That meant he was going to agree to this insanity. How stupid was it that we’d finally gotten back to each other, and now we were going to be torn apart again?
“Please tell me it won’t be six years this time.”
He gave a weak smile. “I sure as hell hope not.”
“We’ll get this figured out as soon as we can,” Delray promised. “We’ll leave in two hours.”
