Page 44 of Filthy Fae

“Mack,” I whispered against his ear. “You are my pack. If you told me that you needed me to run away with you tomorrow, it would break my heart to leave my mates and everyone else behind, it would crush me, but I would do it for you. I love them all, but you’re my always and forever. My best friend. I would do anything for you.”

Leaning back, he gazed down, and I could see the heartbreak in his expression. Up until this moment, I had never actually wanted to kill the Queen of Spring. Seeing what she did to my Mack, I wanted her dead.

It was only a passing moment, though, before reality hit. As much as she deserved it, I couldn’t kill my best friend’s mother.

“I love you, Scar,” he said, his voice gruff.

“I love you, too.”

He shook his head. “No, Scar. I’m in love with you. I have been since high school.”

Shock slammed into me with his words, and I had to run over them again in my mind to make sure that I heard him right. Mack was in love with me? In love?

I knew that our relationship had pushed past the boundaries of simple friendship, but I still hadn’t guessed it was anything more than a friends-with-benefits arrangement. It had only happened a few times, and except for the first time, Aaron was always there, too.

Mack was studying my expression, as if looking for something, and fear shot through me as I realized that I was supposed to tell him that I was in love with him, too.

Was I?

The depth of love I felt for him was deeper than anything I’d ever felt for anyone else. But what kind of love was it? My thoughts were too hopelessly tangled.

“Since high school? What took you so long to tell me?”

“I guess I was just…waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“For you,” he said, looking uncomfortable as he scanned the woods. “For you to be ready.”

Leaning forward, I nuzzled my face against Mack’s bare chest. After a second, I peeked up at him, “God, Mack. You sure know how to make a girl’s head spin.” I kissed his skin once, finding it cool under my lips. “Let’s go somewhere we can talk about this without getting murdered?”

A small smile played on his lips, though his gaze still seemed troubled. “Fair enough. Aaron, you can stop pretending to still be passed out now.”

A moment later, Aaron stood and shook the dirt off his pelt.

Chapter Eighteen

Scarlet

It had just started to get light out when we dragged ourselves out of the woods.

Mack whistled. “Toto, we are not in Arcata anymore.”

I actually had no idea where we were, but from the beautiful lake glimmering the colors of the sunrise, I was guessing either Ruth Lake or Crescent Lake. Both towns were nestled deep in Heartland Forest and were mostly inhabited by humans.

After another mile of walking, we spotted a sign beside the road advertising a vacation rental. Mack tapped the sign, pointing to a spot where there was a complicated leaf design. “Even out here. This is one of my mother’s companies catering to humans,” Mack said. “We can crash here for a few hours and get some rest.”

“Won’t she have security?” The house was a beautiful A-frame lakeshore property with a wrap-around porch.

“She does, but it’s the kind I can disarm. My mother probably doesn’t even know what a security camera is.” I was relieved to see a spark of mischief light Mack’s eye.

We snuck along the winding gravel driveway to the house. A large padlock hung from the doorknob.

“I’ll take care of that,” Mack said. Before I could protest, he punched his fist through the glass window beside the door.

“Mack,” I protested. “You’ll cut yourself.”

“To be honest, that felt pretty good,” he said with a grin. He knocked the rest of the glass out and gave us a shrug before swiping some glass from the sill and climbing through. While he went to get a broom, Aaron shifted.