Page 91 of Stubborn as a Shadow

We’d find out soon if that was true or not.

When Gage met Keenan, the demon would sus out Keenan’s biggest desire. Then we’d know for sure if the vampire could be trusted or if we needed to turn him in to the SC. The Supernatural Council didn’t execute people anymore, not usually anyway, but most supes would see being incarcerated in one of their prisons as a punishment worse than death.

Humans might think that, since he’d killed the wolf and the mage, he should already be sent to prison, but that wasn’t how the supe world worked. Pack or coven leaders could mete out justice as they saw fit, if their subordinate was a threat to the lives of others. Most leaders just weren’t comfortable doing that nowadays, and they’d become increasingly reliant on the SC for justice.

I wasn’t sure that was the right decision, but it wasn’t up to me.

In the meantime, I supposed if Morgan was willing to accept the vamp’s offer to help, I could too. Conditionally. I reserved the right to change my mind if he stepped out of line. But since he already seemed familiar with Willow Lake, taking him backwith us wouldn’t put us at any greater risk than we already were. Still…

“Do you swear you mean us no harm?”

Keenan’s gaze met mine and held it for a moment. “I do not plan to harm anyone who does not try to harm me first.”

“That’s the truth,” Morgan whispered in my ear.

“Fine,” I said. “I promise the same thing. If you don’t try to hurt anyone, I won’t hurt you.”

Keenan’s mouth twitched. “Interesting that you think you could.”

The smug asshole. I wanted to prove him wrong. I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from arguing with him.

“If you’re serious about getting the SUV, you should know they put a tracker on the rental,” Morgan said, obviously deciding Keenan and I were done.

Turning in his seat to face forward again, Keenan hummed as he pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen. It looked like we’d come out of the dead zone. I fished my phone out of my pocket and sure enough, messages popped up one after another. I scrolled through them quickly, not bothering to answer any of them. Most of them were unimportant now anyway.

As I did that, Morgan leaned closer to Eric.

“Hey, you look a little uncomfortable, but it’s okay,” he whispered and patted the man on the knee. “You’re safe. Nelson and I will make sure of it.”

The guy shrank down even lower in his seat. He was too big to make himself small though, despite his best efforts.

“I’m Morgan, by the way. You’re Eric, right?”

Eric rubbed his thumb along the edge of the seat.

“And this is Nelson.” Morgan patted my leg. “And we’re mates, which is super cool. I didn’t know I could have a mate.”

A surge of warmth flooded my chest when Morgan claimed me as his mate to this stranger.

Eric’s gaze darted up to us. His attention lingered on Morgan, and I understood why. The intersection we were approaching was lit up by bright lights. Under the glow of the lights, Morgan’s unique traits became obvious.

Sure, everyone in this vehicle had seen Morgan’s unicorn side, but even in his human form, he wasn’t like anyone else. The back windows may have been tinted, but the light came through brightly enough to make the iridescent sheen to Morgan’s hair gleam. It really was stunning.Hewas stunning.

Morgan smiled at Eric, but the other man didn’t speak.

“Did you know that the first time Nelson introduced himself to me, he said his name was Eric?” He snorted, and a couple of bubbles popped out of his mouth. “Ridiculous, right? He doesn’t look anything like an Eric. But you do. One hundred percent.”

Eric’s gaze darted to me, then back to Morgan.

“I’ve never been to Willow Lake,” Morgan said, “but Nelson says it’s nice. I’m super curious about it. Have you been there?”

Eric shook his head with such a tiny movement that if I hadn’t been watching I might have missed it. But Morgan seemed pleased with the response.

“So, it’ll be new to both of us then.” Morgan bounced in his seat.

If he’d been standing, I knew that little bounce would have been one of his full-body shimmies. My mate loved dancing and moving. That was just one more difference between us, because I could sit or stand without moving for hours at a time.

“We can help each other out while we’re there.” Morgan tilted his head. “You are staying, right? I guess I made an assumption there. But you should definitely stay for a little while.” Morgan looked at me at the same moment Eric looked at Carter. “He can, right?”