Page 63 of Sweethearts and Savages
The Hounds. These guys came from the European branch of The Hounds.
“They believe that sardines are the Devil’s food?”
Neither of them so much as twitched an eyebrow. “Hilarious, Mr. Arborson.”
I shook my head. “Look, I think you guys have the wrong person. My surname is Arnold. Close, I know, but not quite the same. I have no fucking idea what you guys are talking about.”
The second goon huffed, but Fancy Watch just stared at me. “Please, don’t insult our intelligence. There are whispers in the wind that you found Eden.”
I snorted. “All I found was a pretty girl and the end of an angry father’s shotgun. Proverbially speaking.”
Technically true.
“You’re trying to say you ran to the middle of fucking nowhere to escape an angry father? I’m calling bullshit.” Goon Two was super irritating.
I shrugged. “Her Daddy was rich, paid me very well, and was very graphic about what would happen to my balls if I didn’t leave the country. I happen to like my balls. Besides, I wanted to see the homeland of my mother.”
They stared at me. “Your father was once a member of our organization.”
This time, I dropped the congenial act. “Your organization abandoned him. He beat my mother until she committed suicide and then beat me instead. Trust me, my father isn’t the way to garner my cooperation.”
Neither of them twitched again. “You don’t want to be our enemy, Mr. Arborson.”
I pushed off the wall and grabbed my gun. I was done with this shit. “I don’t want to be your anything, asshole. I want to rot away in this tiny village and forget my life up until this point even happened. I’m not interested. Find yourself another spy or mole or fucking patsy.”
Mr. Fancy Watch laughed. “Oh, we have, Mr. Arborson. But you know what they say—a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.” He turned and strolled back down the cobbled streets like he was a tourist. “Leave Europe, Mr. Arborson. If we see you again, it won’t just be your balls you have to worry about.”
Goon Two stepped close and nailed me in the stomach. “I hear Australia is nice this time of year.”
Then he walked away whistling, as I gasped for breath. I walked quickly back to my B&B and started throwing all my shit into my bag. Those fuckers might have sounded like a fortune cookie, but their meaning was clear. They had someone on the inside of Eden Academy, hell maybe they’d always had someone on the inside.
I had to warn Enit. The rest of those bastards were on their own, but the idea of anything happening to Enit made my chest feel like it was being torn apart. I got online, booking a ticket to Australia as The Hounds had suggested. I’d change ID too, become someone else. Last thing I wanted to do was lead them straight to Enit.
Did my heart beat faster at the idea of seeing her again?
Yeah, it did, and that scared the fucking shit out of me.
32
Enit
Carmen looked beautiful. In a sapphire blue dress that matched her eyes, she grinned up at Bobby like she was exactly where she wanted to be. I snuggled in closer to Bohdie, who kissed my head. I held Stacey’s hand on my other side.
Bohdie knew what this meant in the shifter world. Mating with someone, especially another shifter, was more than a human marriage. It was like twining your soul with someone else's. The way her other mates were looking at her though, I knew that we’d be attending a few more of these ceremonies for her in the next year or two. But the first one, this first moment, would cement them all as a Pack.
My dad, as Alpha of the Nîso Pack, performed the ceremony, and he looked overwhelmingly proud. “Carmen, Bobby, today you bind your lives, your hearts, and your souls together for eternity. As fated mates, there was never any doubt that you would be together; separately, you were merely parts searching for their whole. Together, your bond will make you both, as well as your Pack, strong. You’ll produce strong cubs that will carry on the lines of Nîso. But not for a while yet, okay?” he added quickly and everyone laughed. “Carmen, do you take Bobby as your mate, to run with under the light of the full moon and to stand shoulder to shoulder with during life’s battles?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” she basically shouted, and I laughed, even if Mom ran a hand down her face in exasperation.
Dad shook his head. “Bobby, do you take Carmen as your mate, to run with under the light of the full moon, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with during life’s battles?”
The look the Alpha-Heir gave his new mate made tears pool at the corners of my eyes.
“I promise. I will love you every day I draw breath, Carmen Baxter,” he whispered.
Brody cleared his throat. I might have been mistaken, but even he looked a little misty. “Pack, I present to you Nîso’s newest mated pair.”
Stacey squeezed my hand and that was when I realized I was openly crying. Tears of happiness mostly, because Bobby and Carmen had been destined to be together since they were teenagers; they’d both just been way too stubborn to get out of their own way for a long time. Carmen had been there for me through everything, had protected me long before she had any concept of what an Omega was, had loved me unconditionally. She deserved happiness with her mates, who were as fiery and intense as she was—and that wasn’t hyperbole in the case of Flint, her Ifrit mate. He was literally fiery.
