Page 28 of Wolf of the Storm
"And you?" Jax asks.
"I stay with Eliza." Declan's tone brooks no argument. "She's my mate. My responsibility. I'm not letting her out of my sight until this is over."
I should probably object to being treated like I need a bodyguard. But given that I apparently have a target painted on my back for dark ritual sacrifice, I'll take the protection.
"One more thing," I say as they start to disperse. "If I'm going to be part of this, I need you to promise me something."
They pause, waiting.
"If this goes wrong—if whoever's doing this comes for me—you don't make deals to save me. You don't give up what my aunt died protecting. My life isn't worth more than stopping this thing."
"No." Declan's voice is absolute. "That's not happening."
"Declan...”
"No. We’ve already lost too much to this thing. I'm not losing you too." He steps close, cups my face in his hands. "You want to help? Fine. You want to investigate? I'll support that. But you will not sacrifice yourself. That's not negotiable."
The intensity in his eyes, the raw need, steals my breath. This isn't just the mate bond talking. This is a man who's carried the weight of his pack's safety for too long, who knows the cost of the old magic, who's terrified of losing one more person to the darkness.
"Okay," I whisper. "No unnecessary heroics. I promise."
He kisses my forehead, gentle despite the ferocity I can feel thrumming through him. "Good. Because I just found you. I'm not ready to let you go."
The men melt away, leaving us alone among the standing stones. Declan pulls me close, and I let myself lean into his warmth, his strength.
"This is insane," I murmur against his chest.
"Welcome to my world."
"Our world," I correct. "I'm part of it now, apparently."
"Are you okay with that?"
I think about my aunt, about the life she led walking between worlds. About the courage it took to document the truth, to protect people from shadows they didn't know existed. Aboutthe fact that she died doing it, and someone out there thinks they can use her death to wake something terrible.
"No," I say honestly. "I'm not okay. I'm terrified, grieving, completely in over my head. But I'm also not running. So I guess we'll see where that gets me."
"It'll get you exactly where you need to be." Declan tilts my chin up, meets my eyes. "Your aunt knew what she was doing when she left you Clifftop House. She was preparing for this, even if she didn't know when or how it would happen."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." He brushes a strand of auburn hair from my face. "Watchers aren't born, Eliza. They're called. And you just answered."
We walk back to his truck hand in hand. Stormhaven looks peaceful below. Idyllic. Like a postcard of coastal perfection.
But I know better now. I know what lurks beneath the surface. And I know that somewhere in my aunt's house, hidden in a place only I can find, are the answers we need to stop it.
I just hope we find them before four more people die.
As we drive away from the stone circle, I catch movement in my peripheral vision. A figure standing at the edge of the cliffs, watching us. Too far to make out details, but the way they hold themselves sets off alarms in my head.
"Declan," I say quietly. "We're being watched."
His eyes flick to the rearview mirror. His jaw tightens. "I know. I can smell them."
"Should we...”
"No. Let them watch. Let them see that you're under pack protection now." His hand finds mine, squeezes. "But from now on, you don't go anywhere alone. Understood?"
