Page 20 of The Wolf's Surrogate
I felt like such a coward for sprinting inside without trying to see if Phil was breathing. The guy might have hurt me years ago, but that didn’t mean he needed to die.
Go inside. Pack an overnight bag.
A few cleansing breaths later, I rinsed the sink and swished some water in my mouth. I wiped my lips with a towel and tossed it aside, not caring if it hit the counter or the ground. That wasn’t important right now. I had to figure out what to do next.
Pack a bag.
Muscle memory took me to the dresser. I grabbed a handful of cartoon print blouses and a pair of jeans. I grabbed my scrubs, underwear, and a few bras. Everything got shovedinto a bag on the bed. Memphis jumped onto the comforter, trotting curiously toward me.
I scooped him up. “Buddy, I am so sorry. Mommy is just freaking out because—”
“You have a cat.”
Memphis hissed when I jumped. He dug his nails into my arms and growled so long it felt like a low vibration setting on a phone.
Liam stared at Memphis like a dog with his hackles raised. “You can’t bring him with you.”
“Why not?” I snapped as I reached for my packed bag. “I don’t leave him behind. I’veneverleft him behind.”
“I don’t like cats.”
I squinted at him. “Maybe cats don’t like you.”
“We don’t have time for this. Just…keep him out of the way, okay?”
Car doors slammed outside. That noise was way too sharp for it to be anything else. An engine turned over. Tires peeled.
By the time I got to the window, the car was long gone—and so was Phil.
“Who was that?” I turned to find Liam grabbing a bag of cat food. “Liam, where’s Phil?”
“He’s fine. I had a couple of friends pick him up. They’ll take him to the sheriff’s station.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. “Friends?”
“Anita, we have to go. Come on.”
At the urgency in his voice, I didn’t delay any longer. I dashed after him with my cat in my arms like my life depended on it. And for so many reasons, that felt like it was true. In so many more ways than one.
Chapter 7 - Liam
Thirty minutes later, I pulled into the Hayden pack entrance where I waved at Jermaine sitting in the security booth. Anita didn’t speak while she cradled her cat, an orange ball of irritating fluff she calledMemphis.
The cat kept eyeing me with sharp pupils and a grimace that only cats could make when they were sizing somebody up. Cats didn’t exactly like wolf shifters, and I couldn’t say I liked cats either. Though that was pretty clear, she’d insisted on bringing him. And I couldn’t tell her no.
When I parked in the driveway of my home, Anita whimpered. I noticed the fresh tears staining Memphis’s fur. I saw the way her hands trembled as she kept hold of him. She’d done this before, hadn’t she? Probably many times. I was too familiar with that shocked reaction, and I reached out for her before I could remember that I didn’t like cats.
I touched her arm. “Hey, you’re safe now.”
She looked at me through a glossy gaze. “You sure?”
“Yeah, he was totally knocked out. He’s at the sheriff’s station.” My phone buzzed. I nodded to my pocket. “That’s probably them saying he’s good now.”
“You didn’t kill him?”
I released her arm and motioned for her to follow me inside. “If you thought that, you wouldn’t have come home with me.”
Home. That word felt weird on my tongue. I got a feeling Anita probably felt the same way about her apartment. With what little she had, she gave me nomadic vibes. I led her up the steps of the porch, grabbing her bag when it slipped from her fingers. She was still shaking.
