GAME ON - GoM 2

15

However, she did smile when she saw the Challenger parked outside the church, behind the Yukon. As soon as the Hilux and the F100 pulled over, Father Jason's front door opened and Claire ran out, with the priests and the brothers on her heels. Alex glanced at Tom and smiled a little wider. He wore his best poker face as he grabbed their weapons from the backseat.

"Oh, my! You okay?" cried Claire, holding Ollie tight.

"I'm fine, baby. Don't worry," he said, trying to smile.

Alex and Tom got out of the Hilux in no hurry, while the others headed back into the house. Only Aidan waited for them, hands in his pockets and his trademark smug smirk on his face. Alex swallowed a chuckle, hearing Tom breath in as they stopped before the hunter.

Aidan looked her up and down and shook his head. "Same old, Princess," he said in his rough way. "You always end up a mess whenever I'm not around."

Alex scoffed. It was so great, hearing Aidan's smartass bragging again. She would've hugged him, but she knew he'd rather shoot her before having such a sentimental moment.

"Go figure. Tom, this is Aidan Holster. Aidan, Tom Sutton."

She appreciated the break of the comic relief when the other two didn't shake hands, but traded a proud alpha nod.

Tom narrowed his eyes when Aidan turned to Alex, raising his eyebrows. She held his eyes and lifted her chin. The hunter tilted his head a little to face Tom once more. And Tom realized that their silent exchange was all it'd taken to clarify his status in her life. They hadn't needed a single word to understand each other.

In a flash, Tom recalled a time when the Corbans had told him more about their adventures in Montana with the Holsters.

"Al and Aidan? A frigging mirror, Tom!" Claire had said, laughing. "But you gotta see it to believe it."

Now Aidan said, "C'mon in, Princess. I'll patch you up."

Before they took a step, they heard tires screech around the corner. Graham's Jeep joined the line of vehicles outside the church. The sheriff and Bass jumped out of it.

"Al! You guys okay?" Graham asked, hurrying to them.

"Yeah, Dave, we're..." Alex trailed off when she saw Bass. "How's Jack?"

"In surgery," Bass growled, striding to the open door.

Graham followed and Alex started after him, flanked by Tom and Aidan.

"Where's Mark?" she asked.

"Inside. Flapping his tail at Thames." Aidan scoffed. "So the holy priest, Askaroth, the Cross. You roll big, Princess."

"Feel free to take'em all away, Aidan-Knight. This is all such a huge mess."

"Well, we're here, aren't we. I can see you have your own militia. Even the sheriff?"

"You know me. Only you hunters like it solo. And see what good it did to Bormstone."

"You didn't find'im."

"We were too late."

"You think he's still alive?"

"Maybe for a few more hours, if we're lucky."

"Shit."

Alex walked in and Aidan waved for Tom to go next. Their eyes met and Tom clearly felt how the hunter assessed him. Yet it wasn't about daring him. Aidan studied him as if making sure he cut it to be Alex's man. It was an affectionate concern—which in Aidan looked like a bully threat: "don't you dare mess with my chick, or else." This, and the way he and Alex behaved, as if they'd last met a couple of days ago instead of a year ago, only underscored what Claire had said that night about them.

Inside, Mark helped Father Jason to bring beer and snacks to the living room. To everybody's surprise, he dropped it as soon as Alex set foot in the room. They hugged, chuckling.

"Gosh, kiddo. I'm so happy to see you again!"

"Me too, Al!" Mark turned to Tom, already stretching out his hand. "You must be Tom. I'm Mark, nice to meet you."

They were sitting down on every available spot when Phil and Sean joined them, dressed for hunting. Aidan had Alex sit on the armrest of his armchair, to clean and tend to her cuts and bruises. She saw Thames frown when more people kept coming and waited for him to meet her eyes.

"This isn't supposed to be a town hall, child," the pries said, lowering his voice.

She raised her eyebrows. Once more, she enjoyed shattering his habit of secrecy. "If you don't want them here, feel free to tell'em so."

Thames set his jaw and shook his head.