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My wolf makes his impatience known with every single minute we spend away from our mate. I fully understand the compulsion to storm Caine’s house and make sure she is safe, but I need to give her time to acclimate to her new surroundings. None of this is going to be easy for her.
Goddess only knows what those monsters have put her through in the time she was held captive. If what Rose said is true, she has spent years in captivity living through horrors that most people can’t even imagine. It drives me insane just thinking about someone hurting her. And those are only the things I can imagine.
“I know this is difficult,” Calum says as he walks up to the porch of my house.
I’ve been sitting out here staring in the general direction of my Alpha’s house. The building that holds my mate. Constantly debating what I should or should not be doing.
I stare at him in disbelief before I remember all the drama that followed once he and Talon found out they were fated mates. I may have it a little easier. After all, my mate isn’t already bound to another as Talon was.
“I hate not knowing if she is okay,” I say dejectedly.
“You could always go over there,” he says taking a seat beside me.
From the cooler between the seats, he draws two cold beers before handing one to me.
“I can’t. I don’t have control over my wolf or myself at the moment. I don’t want to scare her,” I explain. “Peyton promised to let me know if there is any change. At least I know she is awake and eating.”
Calum nods, sipping his beer. We sit in silence for long moments, both lost in our own thoughts before I ask the questions that have been haunting me since the moment I found Emmaleigh in that prison.
“What if whatever they’ve done to her has broken her? What if she can’t ever trust anyone again and chooses to refuse me?”
It feels like my rib cage is constricting as every word passes my lips. Like my own body is trying to kill me for simply thinking these thoughts. My wolf howls in utter pain, denying my thoughts. He wants to find our mate and prove to her that he can protect her from any danger out there, but I know we need to wait. We don’t know what she has been through, and being faced with an irate wolf may have her running from us instead of toward.
“What if she is strong? What if everything she went through has made her a survivor and not a victim? What if she is a fighter?”
Shock courses through me. I never took into account that whatever happened to her didn’t break her. I simply assumed that after five years of torture, she would be broken inside. But what Calum says could be true. After all, the same things that break some make others that much stronger.
“I don’t have the answers or the reassurance you need from me, my friend,” Calum replies. “What I do know is that the Goddess always has a plan. Neither of us would be where we are now if it wasn’t meant to be.” Calum nods as he speaks, convinced by the truth in his own words.
I nod as well but my heart doesn’t believe a word he is saying. Why would the Goddess put my poor mate through all this suffering? It just doesn’t make any sense.
My phone chimes in my pocket and I check the message, hoping for more news on Emmaleigh. But it’s something more pressing.
“We need to head to Godrick’s. There is something wrong with Thomas.” I say, already standing. My beer discarded on the little wooden table.
Calum is quick to follow my lead and we hastily make our way toward Godrick and Keela’s home.
Outside, Keela stands holding the twins, laughing like a loon. She hands one of the boys to Calum and leads us inside.
“Will you stop laughing!” Godrick shouts from the kitchen. “It’s not funny.”
Rounding the corner I almost swallow my tongue. Behind the counter is a grey wolf the size of a horse. And on his back is Joy, Keela’s two-year-old toddler. She is giggling and smiling, clearly unaware of the danger she is in.
“Damn woman,” Calum whistles behind me. “What are you feeding these kids? He’s huge!”
Thomas has been staying with them since arriving at the compound. He hasn’t spoken a single word since arriving and the consensus is that he doesn’t speak at all. And now he is a giant wolf and it’s clear that none of us are prepared to handle a situation like this.
Keela shakes her head as another round of laughter peels out of her.
“What happened?” I ask Godrick, hoping for some clarity because this sure as shit isn’t a normal situation.
“I have no clue!” He throws his hands up in the air and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him frazzled. The big man is always cool, calm, and in control, but this development seems to have thrown him off his game.
Thomas growls lowly at the movement and Godrick lowers his hands and his voice. “From the moment he came to stay with us three days ago, he has shown insane protective instincts toward the children. It’s understandable, if he grew up in the compounds he would want to protect those younger and smaller than him.” He sighs and takes a seat at the kitchen table, never taking his gaze off the wolf and his adopted daughter.
“What’s this, then?” Calum asks, gesturing to the scene.
“Godrick was playing with Joy,” Keela interjects. “She was running and shrieking…” Another bout of laughter cuts off her words.
