Page 49 of Sweethearts and Savages
I knew what he smelled, and I began to shake. Heat flooded my cheeks, shame at what I’d done, and guilt that I didn’t regret it. I could almost hear the questions rotating through Bohdie’s mind, but he stayed blissfully silent. He stood, lifting me easily into his arms. I snuggled my face into his neck and breathed in his reassuring smell. The smell of home and safety. The smell of happiness.
“I found her,” he yelled into the snow white tundra around us, trudging us both barefoot and naked through the snow. I wiggled to get down so we could both shift, but he just held me tighter. “It’s okay, Princess. I don't want to let you go yet. Just want to hold you and convince myself you’re really back in my arms,” he murmured, his breath fogging over my cheek. “Even if my dick freezes off.”
“The snow isn’t that deep and your dick isn’t that big, Lion,” a voice said from behind us, and I looked over at X.
His trademark snark was there, but the relief in his eyes was so immense it was like a physical wave. He shucked a backpack and threw me and Bohdie clothes. “We figured you’d probably escaped as a wolf, so we brought you clothes.” He turned his back while we both changed.
I got dressed quickly, and then threw myself into the arms of my dad. He gathered me close, like I was a tiny pup again.
“Don’t do that again.”
“Get abducted?”
He nodded. “You and your sister are going to give me grey balls. I’m too young for frosted testes.”
I screwed up my face. “Ew, Dad.”
He kissed the top of my head a couple of more times, and then passed me back into the arms of Bohdie. But by then, more people had appeared out of the woods, including Christopher and Carmen.
They barreled out of the woods, twin streaks, and didn’t stop until they were on top of me, knocking me onto my ass in the snow, licking and kissing my face, whines rumbling from their chests. Happiness and relief came off them in waves. Then I was dragged out of the puppy pile and into the arms of my parents. All of them.
Raine smooshed me into her arms, even though I was a few inches taller than her now. “God, baby girl, I thought you were gone forever. Did he hurt you? Are you okay?”
Brody emerged from the woods as a tiger, and I knew shit was serious. Like there was any doubt, but the tiger was Brody’s power animal, the one that let the world know the Alpha of Nîso meant business.
He curled around my legs, chuffing, and then he stilled, sniffing the air around me.
He let out a roar that was one hundred percent outrage on my behalf. He leapt into the woods before I could say another word.
He had Kell’s scent and the wrong idea. Brody was the best tracker in North America; he would catch Kell and tear him to pieces.
I turned to X, whose face was hard. You didn’t need to be Dr. Doolitle to know what had made the tiger so outraged. “Dad, no. I wanted to.”
Bohdie stiffened behind me, and the guilt threatened to eat me alive. I tried to step away, but Bohdie wouldn’t relinquish his hold on me. But he held his own body like marble behind me.
X narrowed his eyes. “I don’t give a shit. I hope Brody tears him into a million pieces. No one takes one of ours. No one,” he growled, his eyes dead and his lip pulled back in a snarl.
Yeah, pleading with the Executioner was not my brightest idea. I turned my eyes to my Mom.
“Mom… Please.”
Her eyes searched my face, like she was looking for damning evidence of my mistreatment or something. Finally, she nodded. “I’ll try to intervene. But he’s coming back to Eden, and letting Brody kill him might seem like a mercy if Lucius gets hold of him,” she warned.
I had to take that risk. Hopefully he was well and truly gone, but if he was still in North America, Brody would find him. Then he’d kill him.
My knees finally gave out and Bohdie scooped me into his arms. He didn’t look at me, but he held me close. Carmen reached out and grabbed my hand. She’d shifted and put clothes on at some point. “Come on, E. Let’s get you home, back where you belong.”
Yeah, I belonged back in Dark River. But a small part of me was worried I was leaving a chunk of myself behind in a tiny cabin in the wilds of Canada.
25
Stacey
Although the guards outside the interrogation room stared at me with cold, hard eyes, I walked into the room like I owned it. Which I guess in the big scheme of things, I perhaps did. When I was a child, they’d called me the Duchess of Eden. A completely ridiculous moniker—it made me sound like a poodle—but elementary school kids were cruel. My parents had seemed like the Monarchs of this place—they were the first teachers, the first disciplinary council, the first everything. If there was a ruling family of Eden, it would be mine.
It had set me apart even more so as a child; I’d had little chance of fitting in anyway.
Still, I channeled the ideal as I walked in, doctor’s bag in hand.
