Page 21 of Found Objects

“My family?”

Shit. “I mean, living on the same land as your aunt and uncle, and your cousin.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I thought you meant Evan. I should’ve followed that, but you’re shorting out my brain just a bit.”

I was? He was the one turning me into an idiot.

“I’m back,” Justin announced, as though there should have been fanfare, slipping around the other side of me. “Now, Merritt, please do tell me what kind of⁠—”

“It’s interesting,” Cole murmured, slipping a hand around the back of my neck, easing me closer to him. “What you said to Narah about your land being under a spell. Most people might be frightened by that.”

I cleared my throat. “My ancestors found it comforting, and so do I.”

“I would too.” His hand slipped down to the slope of my back. “This sweater is really thin. If you’re cold, I can run to my place and grab you a jacket.”

“Thank you, but I’m fine.”

“My brother was pretty freaked out when the rest of the guys with him just flopped down in the grass once they crossed the border of your land.”

“I’m sorry about that.” I cleared my throat again, trying to get my voice to work properly. “But I did warn Justin, Reggie, and Fletcher that hunting on my land wasn’t permitted.”

“Evan’s fine now that he understands what happened,” Cole assured me. “I think he was relieved, actually. He’s not a hunter.”

“And you are?”

“What’s happening right now?” Justin muttered.

“Oh no.” Cole grinned at me, his eyes glinting. “Hunting’s not something I have any interest in.”

“No thrill of the chase for you?”

“That is not what I said,” he replied, and his voice got low and silky. “Chasing something, catching a prize, keeping it…that interests me.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Justin rushed out, grabbing Cole’s bicep, wrenching him away from me, yanking him around to face him. “I told you about him. I said I was interested in seeing him and spending time with him and⁠—”

“Watch yourself,” Cole warned him, grabbing hold of Justin’s wrist and peeling his fingers off his arm before shoving him a couple feet back. “You know better than that. You don’t put your hands on me. Ever.”

“Is that right?” Justin asked, baiting him, glaring at Cole.

“You know it is.” Cole’s voice was flat as he held his cousin’s stare.

After a moment, Justin glanced away.

“I’m sorry about that.” Cole smiled at me. “I would never mean to embarrass you.”

But it wasn’t embarrassing, and his display of dominance over Justin made my pulse quicken. At heart, I was a primal creature, and the challenge, though small, added to the bigger picture of who Cole was. And he was not subordinate to Justin, that was crystal clear, no matter where Justin stood in the hierarchy of the pack.

My breath caught, and I was probably blushing, which, horribly, happened on occasion, even as old as I was. No doubt my pupils were dilated too as I stared at something I wanted.

“Huh.” Cole gave me a grin that told me he was enjoying my reaction to him. “Your scent changed, did you know?”

Now I was embarrassed, and suddenly the floor had all my interest.

“Stop. Look at me.”

But there was no way.

“Mere,” he husked, and my shortened name sounded the best it ever had. “Now.”