Page 48 of Robb

“And then you decided to fly literally one thousand kilometers home.” Liam shook his head. “Must’ve been one hell of a fuck-up.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Tahnee protested, before she deflated a little. “But it was bad enough, yeah.”

“Well, that sucks,” Liam said blithely. “But I have confidence in your ability to unfuck it. And I mean it. Mate bonds aren’t that fragile.” He grimaced a little. “Okay, well, if there’s one person I know who does have the power to fuck up a mate bond permanently, it’s you. But that’s why I also think you’re powerful enough to fix whatever it was you did in the first place.”

“Thanks,” Tahnee muttered. But she was thankful. It was good that someone had confidence in her at the moment, because she was in a bit of an emotional muddle, and she needed good people around her to work things through. Especially if Hargreaves were involved.

She’d given Liam and her security team a sanitized rundown of what had happened in the alley as soon as she’d arrived back home, telling them that her attackers had been arrested by the Agency, while leaving Robb’s name out of it. Clearly the fact that she’d been so vague about the Agency’s involvement had been yet another dead giveaway that Robb had been a key player.

Now that the dingo was out of the bag, she supposed that she should give Liam the details.

Well. Not all the details. Just the most pertinent ones.

She gave him the rundown – the fact that she and Robb had both been lured there separately by someone with an obvious intent to kill or capture them both, that they’d been poisoned and barely escaped with their lives, that they’d had to hide out in a safehouse until their powers had returned and the Agency had confirmed that the suspects were in custody. That Robb was now presumably interrogating the suspects. And that maybe by now he had a few leads on where to go next.

She didn’t mention the part where she was dying to know what Robb had discovered, but she figured Liam could probably work that part out for himself, given he seemed to have worked out everything else already.

“Well, that sounds like it sucked,” Liam said when she finally got done talking.

“It did suck,” Tahnee said. “At first, anyway. And also at the end. But the middle was pretty nice.”

“I’ll bet,” Liam said mildly, and Tahnee felt her face turning hot.

“Anyway,” Liam went on, apparently deciding to take mercy on her, “we’ve completed those security upgrades you recommended.”

“Thank you,” Tahnee said sincerely. All teasing aside, her team were the top of their field, and there was no one she would trust more with the sanctuary.

There was a pause, a slight awkwardness coming over them that had nothing to do with her lingering embarrassment over having basically admitted that she’d slept with Robb and enjoyed it.

Enjoy was not the word, she thought, swallowing, but she quickly pushed all thoughts of that nature to one side, or she wasn’t going to get anything done.

“What do you want us to do about the Agency situation?” Liam asked quietly. “Do we need to work together with them?”

Tahnee honestly wasn’t quite sure herself. On the one hand, she thought that both the sanctuary and the Agency would benefit from working together in this instance, given that clearly she was caught up in this as a target as well. On the other hand, she still didn’t trust them to not arrest her on sight, let alone work with her or listen to what she had to say.

If it had just been Robb’s team that might be one thing, but the Melbourne office was another beast entirely. Robb wasn’t in charge there, and she didn’t know how much sway his word had. And she’d have to go through them if she wanted access to the shifters who’d attacked her.

“Leave them for now,” she said. “I’ll wait and see whether Robb gets in contact with me first, and we can work from there. And if he doesn’t contact me, well, I’ll just have to make contact with him.” She frowned at Liam’s sly look and eyebrow raise. “Professionally, I mean. Don’t get the wrong idea. I might manage that. But I don’t even know where he is, beyond ‘Melbourne’.”

Liam grinned. “If you need him hunted down, let me know. My big-city mate Michael – you know him, the quokka shifter nerd with the cassowary girlfriend-slash-bodyguard – owes me a favor or two. I’m sure he could hack into Robb’s phone and put your picture as his wallpaper, scare him into calling you.”

“Don’t do that.” Tahnee did her best to sound authoritative, but the laughter crept through anyway. “But I’ll keep Michael’s services in mind in case it becomes absolutely necessary.” Her smile softened. “Thanks, Liam. You always know how to cheer me up.” She paused, before adding, “And how to beef up our security to a scary degree. That’s one of the other things I like about you.”

Liam pouted. “And not my deadly looks?”

“Well, that goes without saying, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“Seriously, though, thank you. I know the sanctuary is in good hands as long as you and the rest of the team are here.”

Liam’s expression turned serious. “That’s how we feel about you. You’re the glue that holds this place together. None of this would exist without you. None of us would even be here today if not for you.”

Tahnee flushed. She’d spent so much of her youth being on not quite the right side of the law that it was sometimes still strange to receive honest praise for honest work.

The soft breeze died down to nothing, and the sound of insects, of birds splashing into the water, of frogs calling to each other – of life – filled the air.

“I’d die for this place, Tahnee,” Liam said quietly. “We all would.”