Page 48 of Whispered Warnings: Part Two

“They know that you’re back and . . .” Evander starts.

I can’t help but interrupt as I ask, “Shit, are they pissed at me?”

Evander shakes his head, “No, the opposite, they miss you. Ever since I told them that you were here, they have been bugging me to take you back to the compound.”

“Really?” I ask.

Evander’s parents raised me as if I were their own. They loved me and gave me the home that I wanted and needed. It was really difficult to walk away from them, but by the time that Evander had got into the academy, and I didn’t, I was already in too deep with people that I probably shouldn’t have been associating with, and I needed to distance myself for their safety.

After I got out of that situation and started working for HID, technically I could have gotten back in contact, but I had fallen so far from what I was that I didn’t want them to see me like that and be disappointed in me. I’m also not the person that they remember, I was never all love, light and rainbows but I wasn’t quite as jaded as I am now. I didn’t want to answer the question that they would have when they realized that.

I guess, when it really comes down to it, I just want them to still love me.

Evander’s worried gaze softens, “Yeah, of course they do. I didn’t know how you would feel about it, and so much has happened since you turned up half-dead on the doorstep that I haven’t gotten around to asking you about it either. Plus, Sully told us that they knew your parents, and I didn’t know how you felt about that either, so I have been putting them off.” He winces, “Mom sent a message this morning that they had enough and that they’re going to turn up if I don’t let them see you.”

My eyes widen, and then I laugh, “Yeah, that sounds like them. I don’t mind going to see them. Actually, I would love to see them. I have definitely missed them.”

I don’t mention just how nervous those words make me, but I think he probably realizes, because he double checks with me that I’m really okay with it.

“Are you sure?” he asks, “I can put them off for longer if you need more time. We are working a case, and you have been through a lot recently, I can make them wait. They won’t actually show up at the house, they don’t know where it is.”

My nose wrinkles with confusion, “They don’t? Why not?”

Evander’s eyebrows dip slightly, “Well, mostly because we need it to stay one hundred percent secure and the only way that we can ensure that is if we’re the only ones who know where it is.”

I nod, “Yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense actually.”

“None of our families know where we live,” Griff adds.

“Although for most of us, we wouldn’t want our families to be able to easily find us anyway,” Raiden adds.

“Damn right,” Doc mutters in agreement, and I’m somewhat surprised when River nods too.

I already know that there’s an issue with Reed’s family, not necessarily because they are really shitty, but more because they are just absent. However, if they have lied to him about his magic and, as a result, have caused him years and years of misery because of it, then I imagine that their relationship is about to get a little bit strained.

“It means that you know for certain that it’s safe, and that no one can use your families to find out information about you.” I reply, showing them that I understand what they are saying. Looking back at Van I say, “Tell them that as soon as we get a free moment that we will come and see them.”

Van nods, “Okay. We’re nearly at the training academy now. I will send them a text when we get there just so they stop calling. We won’t have the time to ring them.”

I chuckle, “If they are anything like they used to be then we definitely won’t.”

“They haven’t changed, they will still talk for hours about everything and anything,” Van confirms as we pull into a long and sweeping driveway.

Trees line both sides of it, and massive expanses of manicured lawns spread out behind them. I am about to ask about security, or the lack thereof, but my skin buzzes as we drive through a ward. Right, the ward. Reed mentioned it earlier and that’s why I need my badge.

“Shouldn’t the ward at the training academy be stronger than the ward at the house?” I ask.

The guys look shocked by my question, all of them except for Raiden.

He grins, “You made our ward extremely strong.”

I shake my head, “No, I know that. But your ward was stronger than this one.”

Ransom’s eyebrows dip, “It was?”

I nod, “Yeah. You didn’t realize?”

“I can’t feel magic like you can. I knew that it was strong, possibly even stronger than this one, but I didn’t realize that it was noticeably so.”

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