Caden was the first to recover, dragging me onto his lap and clutching me like I was a lover just returned from war. “Logan, holy fucking shit.”
I leaned into him, breathing in his vetiver scent to steady myself. Yelena burned hot in my chest. Another bond? I didn’t know what to do with this one. I’d wanted Seth to stay with me for years, but Yelena was so new and now we were inextricably bound forever.
I’m so sorry, precious.Yelena eased herself up, resting against Caden and me.I didn’t mean to bond you.
“It’s okay. It saved us.”
“Hopefully it’s not a temporary measure with permanent consequences.” Yelena sighed and planted a kiss on my shoulder.
My hand snaked out for Seth, pawing for him and Haru to get closer. We rested together until my head stopped spinning, despite the monster’s fury.
“Where did Kendrick go?”
Yelena scoffed. “He ran off the second he could.”
That didn’t make any sense. Kendrick had stood with me at the wards, offering his magic and his support. Had I hallucinated that in my moment of panic? “I need to talk to him.”
“About what?” Caden asked.
“I just do. I’ll meet everyone in the suite and we can figure out next steps.” I used my annoyance to push me to my feet. Had he actually bolted and left everyone else to deal with the fallout? He was nowhere to be seen as I marched through the chaos.
Where are you?I shouted the words in my head, even though I knew the odds of them actually reaching him were basically nonexistent.KENDRICK! Where the fuck are you?I screamed the words on repeat until finally he replied.
In my suite.
I growled, throwing myself into the elevator to go up to the top floor. Why the hell was he already in his suite? We had so much work to be do to reset the nest and he was just skipping out on all of it? Fuck that. I had just nearly died and I was going to give him shit for this.
When I arrived in front of his door, I pounded my fist against it until it swung open, a little jackrabbit staring up at me, standing on its hind feet with its paw on the handle. I stopped short, seeing Kendrick sitting in the corner on the floor with nearly two dozen small animals all over him.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Lower your voice.
The jackrabbit hopped over to him, burrowing under his arm with a pile of others. I traced my gaze over all of them: rabbits, squirrels, ducks, a guinea pig, a chinchilla. All of them were so little and all… “Prey. You came back for them?”
I’m the only one who does.
I stood frozen for a few moments, soaking in the scene and trying to process it while exhaustion limited my capacity.
Who bit you?
I pressed my lips into a thin line, not wanting to say it out loud in front of the nest residents when I was still figuring out what it meant myself.
I see your telepathy still only works when you’re screaming at me. Nod if I’m right. Your other panther? Yelena’s wolf? Yelena?
I nodded stiffly.
Sit down, witch.
The chinchilla climbed from his lap to mine, the space on his immediately taken as the others cuddled closer. I stroked over the cloud-soft fur and reached my other hand so my fingertips could brush Kendrick’s skin.Do the others know the reason you always disappear is for this?
No.
Wouldn’t that make things easier?
He shrugged.They expect everyone to follow orders and they have no fucking clue how difficult that can be when you’re fighting a prey drive. Their instinct is to hide or to panic and bolt. They could run straight through the wards and into the mouth of that beast because they can’t think straight. The predators will never understand that.
I stared down at every tiny shaking animal tucked against him.Are they all ones you claimed?
