Page 110 of Stubborn as a Shadow

My heart sank.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Morgan pulled me into his arms. “I won’t look at it if it will upset you. I don’t need to see it.”

I pressed my face into his hair. I knew he’d used my shampoo earlier, but he still smelled of candy and sugar. I sucked in his scent.

“I can’t let anything happen to you, Sweet,” I whispered.

“Hey, you know what? I found out today that my mom is pretty badass,” he said as he rubbed my back. “I’m pretty much as magical as you can get. Nothing is going to happen to me.”

I prayed he was right.

“Where is he?” someone shouted from the entrance.

I pulled away from Morgan to assess the threat. I was already pushing him under the table. Another second and I’d have him cloaked in my shadows. With any luck, that’d be enough protection.

“Uh oh.” Morgan struggled out of my hold and jumped up. He waved his hand through the air at the couple standing in the threshold.

The woman scowled as she stalked forward. “You fucking jerk.”

I jumped in front of Morgan, blocking her before she could get to my mate.

“Who are you?” I wasn’t a shifter, but my growl still made the woman pause.

“This is my cousin.” Morgan patted my back.

“Get out of my way,” Violet said, trying to skirt around me. She waggled her finger at Morgan. “I love you, you asshole. But if you ever pull something like that again, I’ll kill you.”

Yeah. If she kept threatening Morgan, she wasn’t getting anywhere near him.

“That’s her way of saying she loves me,” Morgan said, as if reading my mind.

“She just threatened to kill you.” I didn’t move.

“Aw…” Jeremy said. “You guys must be close. My brothers are the same way.”

“We are,” Violet said. Then she came right up to my face. “Now move out of my way.”

“It’s okay,” Morgan said. “She’s family.”

He’d talked so fondly of his cousin, and I knew he loved her. That was the only reason I let him push me to the side. A moment later, they were hugging. Violet was squeezing him so tightly I wondered if he could breathe, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I was so worried,” she whispered. “When you didn’t answer your phone…”

“I know, I’m sorry. We got stuck out in the middle of nowhere in the blizzard, and my phone didn’t work. We just got here today, I swear to you.”

She sniffled. “You’re all I have, you asshole. You can’t leave me.”

“Rude,” the man who’d arrived with Violet said. “I’m right here.”

Morgan opened his eyes to scowl at the man who had spoken. As soon as the cousins stepped apart, Morgan crossed his arms over his chest.

“What is Gary doing here?”

Violet shrugged. “He was there when you didn’t answer your phone. He offered to drive me to the hotel so I could keep phoning you while we travelled.”

“Hey, little dude,” Gary said. “Your cousin was really worried about you. I told her not to worry, but you know how she gets.”

Something about his words didn’t sit right with me. Was he lying? I glanced over at Dillon to see if the hellhound heard any lies. He was watching Gary closely, but when he caught my eye, he shook his head slightly. So, not a lie. But then again, what had he said? That he told Violet not to worry. He probably had donethat. Still, I couldn’t shake the idea that something was going on, so I turned to Gage next. His eyes were pools of red.