and held her tightly.
“All right, Sera. If you want me to go home with you, you’d better spill it. You won’t tell us where you live now, and you just dropped this bombshell about you being engaged. I’m sorry, but this is all really unsettling,” Damion said.
“C’mon, y’all! You know I’d never do anything to put any of you in danger. The only reason I haven’t told you where we’re going is because I want it to be a surprise. Just please trust me.”
“Of course we trust you , Sera,” Faith said. She stood but lowered her gaze. “It’s them we don’t trust.”
“Just try to see it from our perspective, okay? Our best friends disappears for almost two full weeks, then comes back with some wicked tattoos all over her body, white hair, and freakin’ engaged! To top it all off, she wants us to run off to God-knows-where with her, with two strange men who look like they’d be happy to use us as toothpicks,” Richard said.
“All right, all right. I get it. I know this all looks…strange. I promise to explain as much as I can to you, but just not here okay? Please?”
“Fine,” Richard finally conceded. “I trust you, Sera.”
“Thank you.” She smiled.
“Well, I don’t know about y’all, but I’m way past ready to call it a day,” Ally said.
“She’s right. I’ve got horses to feed,” Cameron chimed in.
“I’ll take you home,” Faolan said, bowing slightly before rushing from the room.
After they all said their goodbyes, Sera sagged against Koda, feeling drained.
“Why did that male rush off like that?” Koda asked, sitting on the loveseat with Sera in his lap.
“Faolan has always had it bad for Sera,” Lowell answered. He plopped down in a chair. “He already knew she’s mated, but I guess it didn’t really hit him till he saw you with her.”
“Poor kid,” Trisha said.
“I had no idea,” Sera said honestly, with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Koda growled, sensing her thoughts.
“Calm down, lover. It would never change anything. I was made to love you and only you,” she whispered into his mind.
“Of course you didn’t know,” Trisha said with a nervous laugh.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Simple. You’re completely oblivious to how hot you are. Everyone in our pack salivates over you! You don’t know how many fights I’ve had to stop. All the males wanted to claim you when you came of age.”
Sera’s mouth dropped open as Koda snarled. “You’re kidding,” she said. “I find that hard to believe. I mean, I’m just…me.”
“Nope. She’s right,” Lowell said. “Why do you think Faolan was so protective? Even he was staking his claim on you, so to speak.”
Koda began to tremble with silent rage.
Sera turned and looked into the bright eyes of a wolf. “Koda, outside,” she quickly commanded, jumping from his lap to pull him.
Once they were safely outside, he pulled her to the side of the house, beyond the view from the sliding glass door. He lifted her shirt, desperately needing to see his markings that were etched in her side. Sera knew enough to stand still and loose, allowing her mate to sniff her, to blow his own scent over her skin, to stake his claim again. He fell to his knees before her, rested his head on her stomach, and took deep breaths as he tried to rein in his wolf. She ran her fingers gently through his hair, enjoying