Luca shifted in his chair, just a small, subtle movement, but all attention in the room turned to him. “I haven’t heard anyone ask Mackenna what she wants.” His piercing gaze cut across the room to land on Cade’s mate. “What do you think?”
“I think…” There was an apology in her expression when she looked up at Cade. “I think I can do this. I want to help, and they’re right. I’m the best one for the job.”
Sacrifice the few to save the many.
He couldn’t count the number of times he’d said those words. It had been his motto, the creed he’d lived and led by when he had commanded just a small faction of human rebels. If one of them fell behind or was captured, they were on their own. He couldn’t risk the entire group to save one person.
That had all changed when he’d—unwillingly and unofficially—joined the Revenant. They never left anyone behind, something they’d proven time and time again. No life was more or less valuable than another. The Revenant had saved him from the Abraxas coven. They’d risked everything to rescue Abby from a pride of lion shifters.
They protected everyone the moon touched, fought for every person who couldn’t fight for themselves. Every member of the group knew what they were getting themselves into. They all lived with the understanding that the next mission might be their last.
Mackenna wasn’t naïve or ignorant. She knew the risks. Like the rest of them, she knew what she was signing up for, and she’d made her decision with eyes wide open. To deny her that right, especially in front of the entire group, was to say that he didn’t trust her. He would essentially be telling her that he didn’t think she could do the job, that she was weak and incapable.
Nothing could have been further from the truth. He had no doubt that she could accomplish anything. It was only his fear of losing her that held her back.
“I need some air.”
Mackenna didn’t follow when he left the room, but he hadn’t expected her to. Christ, he didn’t know how the others dealt with it. He didn’t know how Deke and Rhys watched their mates race into battle and not completely lose their shit. Maybe they were just more evolved than him. Maybe they weren’t as selfish.
He truly believed everyone had the right to fight for what they believed in, even his mate. He just wished what she believed in was rescuing kittens or eating an organic diet.
Wandering toward the rec room, he stopped at the mouth of the hallway when he noticed Abby seated at a large, round table with three of the children who still remained at the safe house. Crayons and markers had been scattered across the tabletop, and the kids chattered excitedly about their works of art while Abby listened and nodded. She smiled often and exclaimed over their drawings with genuine enthusiasm. It was the most relaxed, the most normal Cade had seen her since her rescue.
“Look!” A little boy no older than six with a mop of golden hair held up his drawing. “Do you like it?”
Cade couldn’t see the picture, but he did see Abby’s eyebrows pull together briefly before her face transformed into a brilliant smile.
“I love it! Just look at those wings. Good job, Conner.”
A little girl about the same age wrinkled her nose. “What’s that supposed to be?”
“It’s the Others,” the boy, Conner, responded, and he sounded utterly exasperated with her lack of knowledge. “They bring you presents if you’re good.”
“That’s Santa Claus,” the girl shot back with a roll of her eyes.
Cade coughed to cover his laughter, but no one seemed to notice him.
“My mom says the Others are bad,” the other girl at the table whispered. “She says that when you die, they come and steal your gold!”
Over the years, Cade had heard various and creative tales about these so-called boogeymen of the paranormal world. From what he could piece together, they were nothing more than the stuff of myth, told to children to frighten them into eating their vegetables and cleaning their rooms. He’d never heard anything about them stealing gold, though.
“Your soul,” Abby corrected the child gently. “They don’t steal it, though. The Others come and take your soul when you die, and they lead you to the next life.”
She had the children’s full attention now, and even Cade held his breath as he waited for her to elaborate. He’d heard her mention the Others once before, just in passing, but never like this. Her tone held confidence and authority, a certainty that what she said could and should be accepted as truth.
For about the dozenth time since her rescue, he wondered what the hell had happened to her during those missing weeks. She looked like Abby. On the rare occasion that she talked to anyone other than Luca, she sounded like Abby. Yet, at the same time, everything about her had changed.
She hadn’t changed in the way Mackenna’s experience had changed her. Not in the way Roux had become stronger and braver. There had been a fundamental change at Abby’s core that frankly made a lot of people uneasy these days.
“What do they look like?” the first little girl asked.
Conner held his drawing up again. “Do they really have wings?”
“Some of them.” Abby nodded slowly as if carefully choosing what she wanted to say next. “They’re not from our world, but they come here sometimes to help us. You don’t have to be afraid of them.” Her smile returned with a little more
