Page 167 of Gift from the Stone

A small rumble starts in her chest, quiet like a hum. As her purr gets louder, more audible, it has a much bigger effect.

Caspian shoves out of his chair at the same moment me and Corentin take a step toward her, all three of us laying a hand on her. The need to comfort her and care for her overwhelms me. I feel like I’ll suffocate if I don’t do that for her.

“What is that?” Caspian asks.

“I just called you all to me,” she whispers as tears gather in her eyes again. I have no clue why she’s upset about it, though. This is amazing.

Just as I go to pull her into my arms, Corentin beats me, tugging her out of Draken’s lap and into his.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Corentin asks softly.

“Nothing, I’m just emotional. You all felt me,” she mumbles.

“Why did you use a distress call, little wanderer?” Draken asks, standing from his seat and looking down at her with a worried look that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“A what?” Me, Corentin, and Caspian ask at the same time.

“That need you all felt. The overwhelming sense to get to her, make her feel better. That was her distress call. Why did you use that purr, Willow?” he asks a little more forcefully.

I guess because I’m not a shifter, I didn’t pick up the distress part. I only felt overwhelmed to get to her. But that makes sense.

“I think my purr was feeding off my emotions right now and I wanted you, all of you. I didn’t mean for it to come off as a distress,” she tells him calmly.

He stares at her for a long moment. The seriousness of his mood right now has me on edge because he’s never like this. I mean, unless it comes to her, but never with her. He’s never so growly, domineering toward her. It makes me worry even more that she’s not sassing him, just staring back with a trembling lip.

“Draken, give it a rest,” I tell him, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

He sneers and shrugs me off, walking to the lawn and pacing. Willow’s eyes, filling with water by the second, follow his every step the whole time. He’s getting more and more worked up and it’s making her even more upset.

“We should just leave. We should make Gaster take us to the nonmagical realm. I mean, I know our power will die out in a hundred or so years. Well, maybe not, since Willow lived there with power, but regardless, one hundred years is a long time for us to have a nice life. I say we leave, fuck all this,” Draken rambles, clenching and unclenching his fist as he paces.

“I’m with Draken,” Caspian mutters, crossing his arms over his chest.

Corentin passes Willow over to me and stands from his seat, jumping straight into an argument with both of them. Back and forth they go, yelling and fussing about how she shouldn’t have to deal with stuff like this.

My heart rate continues to climb, and I feel my anger bubbling to the surface. Not because of their ridiculous fucking fight, but because my little warrior is shaking like a leaf in my arms, her sobs only audible to me since the other three won’t shut the fuck up for five seconds to notice.

I can hear both their shouting and their furious thoughts about the situation. It’s feeding into my own fear, my own fucking worry, but it’s not helping the most important thing right now.

Her.

The more my shirt grows wet with her tears, the more fury builds. She has enough going on and these fucking idiots are making it worse.

So much worse.

Covering Willow’s ear so I don’t startle her, I pull her by her waist until she’s firmly pressed against me.

“Stop,” I command loudly. My voice comes out deep, powerful, and the echo of it continues through the woods.

Will still hears it and turns her body toward the silence, gasping.

There they stand in front of us, frozen.

Not moving, not yelling. They just…stopped.

For a full five seconds, me and Willow stare at their still forms. Draken’s arm is raised with a finger pointed at Corentin’s chest, a sneer plastered on his face. Caspian’s standing next to him with his eyes narrowed and arms crossed. And Corentin was in mid-motion of throwing his hands in the air, mouth opened, preparing to yell.

As if time catches up, they begin to move again, right where they left off, until clarity seeps in and they all silence themselves and turn to us.

---