Page 10 of Bloodline Unbound

I’d take the embarrassing names too. They made her happy, and that was what my whole existence had come to revolve around. I flopped down against her chest and she arranged us so my head was on the pillow with her, and her arm tucked around me. She scratched my cheeks and I purred freely, both because it felt amazing and because I knew how much she loved the sound.

“Good night, Caden,” she whispered and kissed the top of my head.

Good night, my love.

Icouldn’t sleep.

I gave up on even trying around four in the morning and wandered through my home in the dark even though I knew it would keep the boys up. Packing needed to be done and we had no idea how long we’d be gone. I hauled out a few backpacks from a tote in the garage, prepared to dedicate one to clothes, one to food and toiletries, and one to comfort items. If I was going to leave everything I knew, then I was going to keep the most important things with me.

Caden abandoned sleep to help me, turning on a load of laundry, and packing what he knew were my favorite pieces that were already clean. While I gathered up toiletries, he made us an absolutely monstrous omelet, using up as many ingredients from the fridge as he could. There would still be a lot of waste but that couldn’t be helped. At least I had a compost bin in the yard to deal with most of what we couldn’t take. The pantry and freezer would be fine, but I couldn’t leave the fridge full.

Seth watched helplessly for a while, unsure what to do, so I gave him my credit card and sent him to go fill up the car with gas. I had already decided he was going to come with us, at least for part of the journey. Seth might be able to get some good distance as a shifter, but a black panther was conspicuous and he could only get so far if he were stuck as a house cat. I knew Caden wouldn’t be pleased, but I could put my foot down about a few things.

“How long do you think we’ll be gone for?” I asked.

“No idea,” Caden replied. “I hate that we’re leaving at all.”

I hadn’t really expected him to have an answer, as nice as one would have been. The safest bet would be to assume we had to leave long term, so I would pack enough for about three weeks and manage anything that wouldn’t last until the end of that time.

Clothing was the easiest to deal with. While I wasn’t certain of our destination, it would be smartest to pack for all climates. Toiletries were easy too since I tended to pack the same whether I was going for a weekend or a month.

By the time Seth returned, we were sitting down at the table, eating our middle-of-the-night feast. Shifters could pack away a lot in a short amount of time, so I let the boys eat their fill while I polished off a package of strawberries.

Caden had packed all of the travel-ready snacks from the pantry, sending Seth to load up the car with what we had available.

Exhaustion and anxiety were a steady pulse through my body, one driving me back to bed, the other demanding that everything be ready. Preparedness was the only way I could deal with the uncertainty. I hated not knowing what was coming, or even if it was coming specifically for us. Whatever it was had already killed multiple shifters.

I was only a human.

I couldn’t do anything if something wanted to come after Caden or Seth, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t go down swinging.

I paused in front of my altar to give myself a moment to breathe and to cherish it in this state. My birch wreath I’d woven as a teen hung above the altar. I traced my fingertips over the rim of my bowl of hazelnuts, the string of dried rowan berries, and the dried branches of bay laurel. All plants for protection. I never quite knew if they worked, but it didn’t hurt to keep them around if we were headed into danger. I tucked them in velvet bags and then into my totes.

A good portion of the altar was dedicated to Hecate. I’d been following her since I’d first dreamed of a woman made of starlight and heard her whisper her name to me in the dark.

“Hecate,” I whispered, “whatever this is…don’t let it take them from me.”

I pressed my palm against the smooth wood. My dad had built the altar for me when I’d asked for one as a teen. He’d worked as a carpenter for years and had taken the opportunity to carve tons of flourishes—leaves, flowers, even a snake coiling up one of the legs. Mom had been super into wood-burning art at the time; I still had several items on the walls that she’d done, and she’d burned in protective runes and other symbols I’d chosen before we did the final polish. It was far too big to take on the road and was the one item in my home I didn’t want to leave. All of the things my parents had left me was irreplaceable.

Grief closed off my throat. It hit me at random times that they were gone, and being forced to abandon the home they’d left me was dragging it all up to the surface. If whatever this was found us, if it wanted Seth or Caden, then this home wouldn’t be safe for them anymore. The refuge I’d welcomed them into would be a danger. If we couldn’t come back here, I’d have to leave my last connection to my parents to stay with Caden, and leaving him would be like tearing off my own arm.

It was probably silly to worry about all of that now, but I couldn’t stop the thoughts from coming. I had no reason but sentimentality to stay where I was. I’d been working remotely since before Caden and I met so that I could foster kittens and be at home for them. I’d never lived anywhere except for this house, where the walls were steeped with memories.

A sob snuck out before I could silence it and Caden appeared in the doorway, instantly gathering me into his arms. I curled into his embrace, trying to ground myself with the heat of his body and the earthy scent that sank into my senses.

“I’m here,” he whispered against my hair.

A tiny paw tapped my knee, and I adjusted so Seth could climb onto my lap in his house cat form. Seth’s purr was loud, and he shoved his little head under my chin, paws kneading my shoulders. I let out a hiccuping laugh and kissed his forehead, tucking tighter against Caden.

This was how things were supposed to be. Seth was supposed to be here with us.

Please let me come with you.

Caden’s low growl rippled through me. “Fuck no. You’re the reason we have to run in the first place.”

“Of course you can come,” I replied, cuddling him to my chest. “How else will I know you’re safe unless you’re with us?”

Caden tensed like he wanted to argue, but it wasn’t a fight he would win and we both knew it.

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