Shifting Boundaries

Chapter 34

Everett

Would Griffin ever learn to trust us?

So far, Felix and I hadn't been able to offer him any kind of stability. We brought him into our home, then moved to another. He'd suffered through two bouts of intruder sirens, which terrified him. He had watched as Felix fought his biological father. Griffin wouldn't know exactly what a biological father was, but he would have scented Marcus and would have instinctively associated him with family.

Because it had been Marcus who broke into our house and pointed a gun at my head. It had been Marcus who, we later found out, learned when a patrol of two unmated wolves would be going through the Southern border. He attacked when those wolves were in range and because they were unmated, they had no mind link, no way to warn the rest of the pack that there were intruders before they died. Marcus found our house by tracing Magnus' scent to it, who they knew to follow from my file, since it listed relatives. They had come equipped to cut through the bars on the windows, killed our guard, and would have killed myself, Felix, and Magnus if Felix hadn't been so strong.

During the fight, I had kept myself wrapped around Griffin and had kept tapped into Felix's mind. As hard as it had been to follow the fight from his perspective, I couldn't bear not knowing what was going on out there.

Because I had been in Felix's mind, I had understood why he offered the invaders surrender. He didn't like mindless killing, he wanted information, and he frankly didn't have the time to kill everyone while still helping his brother. In the end, having Stella and Ryan subdued but alive had been a very good thing. They were the reason we were able to piece together the story of how Marcus made it into the bunker.

After the sirens started blaring, Spencer had sent two members of the defense team to collect Felix's prisoners. Felix could have taken them both to the holding cells, but no one expected him to leave my side. Spencer also came, himself, to escort us to the safe room in his own house, where the sound of sirens was muffled enough for Griffin to calm down. He still clung to me, but that was okay. I was feeling clingy, too.

Felix, Griffin, and I were alone in the saferoom while we waited for news. I called my mother, who had thankfully not been with us today – I hated to think of how she would have handled the break-in and Felix would have been left with another defenseless civilian to protect. She was fine, of course, and was relieved to hear that we were okay, too. The sirens had terrified her since she knew Griffin was a target.

Felix called Meleri, who worked as a paralegal in the nearest city. She insisted on coming home even though Felix pled with her to stay at work. Since Magnus was still out there – Felix didn't know what had happened to him after he went chasing Marcus – she wouldn't hear of it. I respected her choice even as it worried me, and I could see the same worry painted across Felix's face. Worry for Magnus, worry that Mel would stumble on more intruders while she looked for him. Worry that Magnus would try again and get even closer than he did this time.

I couldn't comfort him, not when I was worried about the same things. So we held each other on the couch, Griffin snuggled in between us, while we waited for news. The bunker had a television, which we turned on to keep Griffin distracted, but Felix and I didn't pay the show any mind. We passed images back and forth across our mind link, playing out our worries. It wasn't healthy, and it definitely only fed my fear to know what Felix was worrying over, but I couldn't help it.

Finally, the saferoom door opened and a wild-eyed Magnus stumbled through it, supported by Spencer. Felix threw himself from the couch and rushed to his brother, putting his palms on Magnus' blood-smeared face and examining him closely.

"Are you hurt?" Felix demanded.

"I'm fine," Magnus said. "Nothing that won't heal just fine on its own. How are you?"