Chapter 29

Bruin stood next to his mate, leaning on the police truck he’d come in. The shiften were still celebrating in the parking lot, guzzling wine and beer and maybe the harder stuff, bringing gifts for the young, one by one, and placing them in the pile by the door that was already over Willow’s head. He, Willow, Mac, and Rogue had done a bit of celebrating themselves, but the darkness was falling again and Willow was overwhelmed, and Bruin was tired. The bone-deep tired of a job well done, but still enough to make him want to retire to his house with his mate.

Mac was there, he and Rogue sitting on the tailgate of the truck, their legs swinging.

Rogue spoke. “It feels different now.”

Willow nodded quickly. “It does to me, too, and I haven’t even been around for long. But something changed when those babies were born.”

Bruin didn’t say a word. He’d felt it, too, and now he was trying to figure out exactly what it meant. Just what was different?

He yawned and stretched. He would sleep on it. But as his next words came out of his mouth, he knew. “We’re going to head home. We need a guard…” He trailed off. Because they didn’t. He cocked his head. “Actually, I think we're ok. Can't you feel it?” Willow nodded then Rogue nodded too.

Mac was the only holdout. He swung his legs and stared out at the crowd. Finally he spoke. “The power? Is that what you mean?”

Bruin rubbed a hand down the side of his neck. His energy was positively humming, his tiredness gone. “The four of us,” he said simply.

Willow hugged her arms around herself. “But someone is missing.”

“Right.” Bruin looked around. “Maybe two someones.”

Bruin frowned. The moment was broken, but when they left, they left alone, only the four of them heading toward Bruin’s house.

***

Willow sighed as Bruin pulled into his driveway, anticipation lighting her up from the inside. It had been a long night and day, and she was ready for some quiet time.

But at the bottom of the steep driveway, before Bruin was able to turn the corner and make it around the boundary of bushes and trees that separated his house from the road, a woman appeared out of nowhere like a ghost, eyes wild, hair flying around her face like she was in her own personal windstorm. She was less than five feet from the truck and Bruin was going to run her over.

Willow yelped and pointed. “Bruin, stop!”

He slammed on the brakes. He hadn’t been going fast and he was able to stop just in time. The woman reached out a hand and touched the front of the truck. Mac and Rogue, in the truck behind them, slammed to their own stop, barely missing rear-ending Bruin and pushing the truck he was driving into the woman.

Willow twisted in her seat to see behind them. Mac turned off his vehicle and jumped out, striding up to Bruin’s window, his eyes on the woman in the middle of Bruin’s driveway.

Willow took the time to appraise her while she caught her breath. She was tall, with long, thick, brown hair that hung to her waist, and Polynesian features and coloring. Willow liked her immediately, even though she looked desperate and scared. She didn’t move, only held up her hands. “Wait,” she cried, no hint of an accent to her words. “You must wait here until it is over. It won’t be long.” Willow realized that the air around her shimmered, and behind her was not the rest of Bruin’s driveway, but rather a small, non-descript room, like she was really in another world, and they were seeing her holographic image projected on the very air. She looked so real, though.

Mac leaned in Bruin’s window, talking softly. “I’ve seen her before, exactly like this. She came to see Harlan last time. She might be a One True Mate. Leilani is her name.”

Willow leaned forward, ready to get out, to go talk to her, but before she could, the woman spoke again. “I’ve been sent to tell you that it was Bane and Zane who planted the bomb. Also, Grey is working with Khain. Do not underestimate them. I should not say more, lest you change too much. We are only to change this one thing.” She shimmered, like she was about to disappear. Panic crossed her face. “If I go, do not drive on! You’ll die! Swear to me that you won’t go to your house, Bruin.”

Mac and Bruin exchanged looks. Mac took a few steps toward her. “Who told you all of this?”

Leilani swung her gaze from Bruin to Mac and stared him straight in his face. “You did, Mac.”

Thunderous noise and light so bright it almost baked Willow’s eyes shredded through the quiet evening. She threw an arm over her eyes.

“Holy shit!” Mac yelled, as he fell to the ground, pressed by some invisible hand.

The truck they were in rocked backward by the percussion of the explosion, and the sound and smells of burning filled the air.

Hesitantly, Willow took her arm down from her face. Bruin had taken his seatbelt off and was touching her arms. “Are you ok?” he said. She nodded, her eardrums pulsing.

Bruin got out to help Mac, but Mac had already scrambled back to his truck to check on Rogue. Bruin stepped a few feet away from the truck so that he could see around the curve in the driveway, his mouth falling open.

Willow got out, joining him. Bruin’s house was fully engulfed, flames shooting out a massive hole that had eaten the entire front of it.

Willow realized that Leilani was gone. Winked out of existence the same way she had come in.

Mac and Rogue walked up to them, their faces shocked, their eyes on Bruin’s house, which would soon be nothing but a pile of smoking wood. “Motherfuck,” Mac breathed.

“Who did you piss off?” Rogue asked.

Bruin was quiet for a long time as he watched his house burn, then he turned to them all. “This ends now,” he said his voice unwavering. “Come on, we’ve got someone to talk to.”

Mac cursed. “Finally,” he said.

Rogue smiled happily. “Ooh, awesome. Someone is about to get terminated, aren't they?”

Mac grinned. “Oh yeah, someone’s walking papers are about to get served.”

Rogue slashed her hand through the air. “Fired.”

Mac turned to Rogue. “Wait. You aren't coming. Me and Bruin will handle this. You neither,” he said, turning to Willow. “We’ll take you back to Trevor’s first.”

Rogue was about to protest, when Bruin spoke quietly, flames dancing in his eyes. “They come, both of them.”

Mac turned to him, about to argue but Bruin cut him off, more new lines settling into his face, bringing wisdom and surety. “They're as much a part of this as we are. We fool ourselves by thinking we are protecting them when we hide them away, lock them up and protect them with our lives. They may need to be the protectors one day. Life comes. We cannot hide from it.”

The truth of her mate’s words washed over Willow. They were all in this together.