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I felt his arms tighten around my neck, making me rub my palm along his back.
“It’s OK, baby,” I said. “Have people here been looking after you?”
He nodded, about to say something, when I heard an imperious little voice.
“Kade? Are you here?”
A young girl with long black hair and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen strode in, the blond-haired man from the car at her heels.
“Kiralee! We’ve got to be…” he hissed, his voice falling away as he saw the two of us. He straightened, blinking a few times, as if unable to believe what he saw. “Oh, hi.”
“Kade, are we going to play with the action men again?” the little girl said, coming to the edge of the bed and completely ignoring me. “Kade?”
“Action figures,” came the muffled reply, his fingers slowly unwinding. “Hi, Kiralee.”
“Hello, Kade. Can we play now? Aidan made me wait until after I had breakfast, and my mother said it was OK.”
This earned her a snort from the man himself as he shook his head with a smile. The girl held out a hand to Kade, and I was shocked to see him take it. She pulled him down beside her, then drew him towards the room.
“My mother was treated badly as well, and she’s all better now. I told you she would be fine. Everyone gets better in Sanctuary.”
I shook my head, realising now I was sitting in front of four s
trangers in just a hospital gown. My fingers plucked at the sheet and then drew it up higher. This dislodged the blanket that had been draped across my legs, something that had the blond-haired man, Aidan, and Peter moving to pick it up. Aidan’s mouth twisted into a rueful smile, and he backed off, but Peter scooped it up in those massive hands and then moved closer, forcing me to look up, up to catch all of him as he laid it over the railing.
Jules watched the whole thing somewhat misty eyed, which was just weird.
“Look,” I said, trying to keep things calm but probably failing, “I really appreciate you looking after a complete stranger and her child, but I need to get going. People will be worried sick—”
“That’s what we’re worried about,” Ophelia said. “Someone determined enough to harm a woman and child like this is often determined enough to try and track you down. We want to protect you. No woman should ever have to go through what the two of you have obviously endured” —this drew growls from the two men— “but especially not in my town. Sanctuary was founded by women who had suffered like you have. We built it as a haven for women and the men who love them. You must…” Her voice was imperious, even as it trailed away. Her eyes dropped for a moment as she reconsidered what she was going to say. “We would very much like to help you. Please, Flick.”
I just stared at them all. Jules was all bright eyed and bushy tailed, like the idea excited her or something. Ophelia looked like she was running for president and the guys? Aidan stood like a soldier, with a kind of coiled intensity just waiting to be called upon. And Peter? His ham sized hands had balled into fists, the muscles in his forearms trembling with the effort of holding them back, something that curiously did not scare me.
He is pack, the voice inside me insisted. He will use those hands to strike our enemies, not us or the cub. He will fight to the last breath to protect our pack, pummel that useless excuse for an impregnator into a bloody smear on the ground.
And how, oh delusional thought construct, do you know that? He’s just as likely to snap my neck with those great big mitts of his.
No, he can’t. He is pack.
My little internal dialogue had created an embarrassing pause in the conversation, something I hoped I could pass off as trauma, but when I looked at the two women, their eyes had gone wide and staring, their eyes trailing over me, then to Peter, and stopped when they reached the bite on his neck, partially hidden by the collar of his shirt. You could have heard a pin drop while they studied it.
“Well, this complicates things,” Jules said with a sigh.
“Doesn’t it?” Ophelia said. “Now, Flick, tell me, when did you start seeing the wolf?”
6
I laughed, because that seemed as good a cover as any, but it came out loud and forced, cutting through the silence like a knife. And it convinced no one.
“Have you ever looked in the mirror when you see her?” Jules asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I see a wolf in a hospital?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, going over to a set of drawers on one side of the room and ruffling through the contents. “I didn’t see mine until I changed, so you’re lucky.”
“Jules…” Ophelia said.
“What? She’s going to find out, anyway. Ah, this will do.” She pulled out a small circular mirror and then walked over to hand it to me. “Watch your eyes as I do this.”
