Page 92 of Stubborn as a Shadow

“That’s up to him,” I said, trying not to panic about the idea that Morgan also had a choice. Just because we’d completed a mate bond, it didn’t mean we had to stay together.

What if Morgan wanted to live somewhere else?

Sure, a week or so back, I’d dreamed of leaving Willow Lake, but that was before. Now, I couldn’t imagine it. Morgan would be safest surrounded by other supes. Powerful supes.

“Excellent.” Morgan nodded, as if that settled everything, and that obviously Eric would stay if given the choice. Did that mean he’d already decided to stay too? “We should totally get matching cloaks!”

He wiggled again, as if dancing in his seat. That was the thing about Morgan. He was never still for long. But maybe that was just one other way we complemented one another. If we were both in constant motion, it’d be chaos. And if we were both as motionless as statues, it’d be boring.

“We’ll be back at Willow Lake by dawn,” Carter said.

“Excellent,” Morgan said. He patted his stomach. “Just in time for breakfast.”

That drew my eyes off Eric. “Are you hungry? We can stop. We should have eaten before we left.”

Morgan dropped a quick kiss on my lips. “I’m good. I don’t like to eat as soon as I wake up. This will be perfect timing.”

That reminded me. He’d been sound asleep when the others had arrived at our cabin. “If you’re tired, you can sleep. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know.” He yawned and cuddled closer to me. “But I’m okay. I swear.”

Eric watched Morgan snuggle close to me. I wrapped my arm around my mate to hold him tight and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Eric’s gaze darted quickly to Carter. The shy man’s cheeks darkened, before he dropped his gaze to where his hands were clenched in his lap.

Interesting. Were those two mates?

I wished I knew what kind of supe Eric was. I had a few ideas, but I wasn’t as good at figuring that out as some of the others on my team. Adrian, as a wolf shifter, was really good at it. His sense of smell was amazing.

Shadow magic didn’t work that way.

I considered asking him, demanding he tell me what kind of supe he was. But he didn’t feel like a threat. So, for the moment, I let him keep his secrets. I’d get answers soon enough.

When Morgan didn’t speak for a few minutes, I realized he’d fallen asleep. A wave of contentment rushed over me with the knowledge that he trusted me to keep him safe amongst these strangers. Maybe I wouldn’t fuck up this whole mate thing after all.

The rest of the journey to Willow Lake passed in silence. When we passed the little town where Gage and the rest of the team had been holed up, their familiar cars pulled onto the road and surrounded us, protecting us in a little convoy made up of my family.

I used the last of my phone’s charge to text an update to Van and Gage. When I hit send, a little more of my tension receded.

A deep layer of snow covered the landscape we travelled through. The storm we’d been caught in must have swept down from the mountains to cover the foothills too. It was good I hadn’t pressed on during the blizzard. I doubted we would have gotten ahead of it, and it would have been a treacherous ride.

By the time Carter guided the limo over the town boundary, Morgan was stirring again.

“Oh,” Morgan gasped. His eyes fluttered open. “What was that? Where are we?”

“Willow Lake, finally. You probably felt the magic. There’s a lot of it here.”

A slow smile settled over Morgan’s face. “This… It feels like home.”

Huh. Gage had said the same thing the first time he’d come here. It didn’t feel like that to me, but everyone sensed things differently. Still, it made me wonder why a unicorn would feel the same thing a demon had. As far as I knew, they didn’t have much in common.

Carter drove straight to the Willow Lake Inn. My team’s vehicles parked around us. As soon as the engines died and everything was quiet, I exhaled slowly. For the first time in days, my chest didn’t feel so tight. We were home. Finally.

Morgan was safe.

“Come on.” I wanted to get him inside and up to my room where he could sleep a little longer if he needed.

Although, looking at all the faces peering at us from the inn’s windows, it could take us a little longer to get to my room than I’d anticipated. Half the pack was in there. The light over the inn door came on as the door was flung open. Jake and Jeremy ran outside.

Jake was wearing pajama pants with ice cream cones on them, winter boots, and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He scanned the vehicles before racing toward the one with his mate. Gage scrambled out of the car and swept his mate into his arms.