23. Shep

Istand outside, staring toward the mountains as the sun rises.

“We should have gone after him last night,” Isaiah says from beside me.

I’d considered it. We both had. None of us wants to put Jade at risk, and going into those mountains with her would be tantamount to handing her back to Atticus.

So we stayed up, taking turns to get a couple of hours of shut-eye between making sure Almeth and Atticus didn’t attack during the night.

A man like Atticus would have covered everything up. Probably within an hour of us having left. There’d be nothing but faded scents, boot tracks ground into the dirt, bullet holes pockmarking white stone, and the sense that whoever had been there left a long time before.

“Why has Almeth stayed away? He knows where we are, knows where Jade is. What is his game?” Isaiah asks.

I’d initially tried to get him to talk about the guard he killed. He’d smiled faintly and changed the subject. I hadn’t pushed him again.

“I think whatever he told us, he told us for his own benefit.”

“People were in those cells.” We passed so many cells on our way to rescue Dominik. I’d planned on opening them all up on our way out. Then we stepped into Atticus’s trap. “Maybe some died when Brennan blasted this place, but not all would have.”

Do we take Jade—and her dad—back to Chicago, hoping Brennan survives the long drive? Or do we venture into those mountains where Atticus is likely re-building another compound and take him out once and for all?

“She would be safer with me in New York.” Dominik steps outside, letting the door swing shut behind him. “You know it, and so do I.”

Isaiah looks at Dominik and, shaking his head, mutters a French curse and walks toward the door. “I’m going inside. I have no patience for this argument.”

I wait until Isaiah is inside before I look at Dominik. This isn’t an argument I want to keep re-hashing either, but Dominik isn’t getting it. “Because you want to keep her safe, or because you want her to yourself?”

“Those two things are not mutually exclusive.”

“And what about Jade? How about what she wants? Have you asked her? Do you even care?”

“She wants to be safe, and she wants to be happy, like all women.”

“And you think you can give her those things?”

“I do.”

“How?”

“I can protect her. Get her anything she needs.”

I nod. “And make her happy? How do you intend to do that?”

Dominik’s eyes narrow. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“You misunderstand me. I’m not asking you to explain yourself to me. I’m asking you to think about how you would explain those things to Jade. If all women want the things you’re offering, Jade would be on her way to New York right this second, wouldn’t she?”

He stares at me. “She isn’t yours.”

“You keep saying that like Jade is a cushion.” I told myself I wouldn’t, but his refusal to use his eyes, ears, and his common sense sparks my anger.

“That isn’t what I said.”

“Then maybe it’s the way you say it.”

Isaiah was right to go inside. It’s been a long night on edge with not nearly enough sleep to want to argue with a bull-headed firedrake. I move to go inside before my wolf swipes him.

“So, you share her?” Dominik asks as I’m reaching for the door.

I peer over my shoulder. “Do we share her?” I echo.

Dominik meets my gaze. “You share Jade. How does that work?”

His expression is blank and his tone flat, making it impossible to gauge what he thinks about it.

“Exactly how it sounds. We all care about her, want to be with her, and she wants to be with us.”

“So, you have a schedule?”

“No.”

“And if one of you wants her but the other?—”

“We compromise.”

“And what if?—”

I turn from the back door and face him head on. “Look, you’re clearly not getting this. Jade isn’t a thing we pass from person to person. She has wants and needs. Sometimes she will want to be with me, or Patten, or Isaiah. Sometimes one of us will want to be with her. Do you know how this compromise thing works?”

He peers back at me, curious. “How?”

“We talk.”

A sudden gust of wind whips through the trees, stirring the leaves and drawing the scent of the fox my way. The little shit came back to do more marking during the night.

“She’s going to be giving birth to my child.”

“And your point is?”

“She won’t be available for?—”

I growl. Not a human one. The sound that emerges from my mouth is all wolf.

“You are still not getting it. Jade isn’t an object. Isn’t just someone we fuck. She is ours. That means we take care of her. Listen to her needs. And that means we intend to make sure she and the baby have everything they need.”

“Even though that child isn’t yours.”

I swallow my next growl. Maybe Dominik is a lone wolf who cannot understand because he is alone. Or used to being alone. “Do you have a pack?” Shit, I’m tired. “I meant family.”

The briefest flicker of amusement is there one second and gone the next. “No.”

“Then maybe that’s why you don’t get it. We don’t just care about Jade, and she doesn’t just care about us. We care about each other.”

That’s why I haven’t thought about going home to Florida. My life is in Chicago with Patten, Isaiah, and with Jade. I’ve found something with them that I didn’t have with my pack, and I don’t want to give it up.

I ask myself why Dominik hasn’t walked away yet. He’s had plenty of chances to do it. But he’s still here.

“Have you tried apologizing to her?” I ask.

His expression shutters. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do. I’ve found Jade to be surprisingly forgiving.”

Interest stirs in his eyes. “You did something wrong, and she forgave you.”

“Not me. Isaiah.”

“Ah, he fed on her.” His tone hardens.

“Which he apologized for, and as you can see, Jade forgave. I wouldn’t have been so quick to forgive, but that’s the difference between us.”

He turns away. “She doesn’t trust anything I say to her. She won’t even listen to what I have to tell her about her powers.”

“I ask again, did you apologize?”

He doesn’t respond.

I pull open the backdoor, leaving him outside as I ask myself why I’m bothering. I’m tired, hungry, and I need a shower.