“I’m no politician, Liam, but maybe you shouldn’t designate only Original Boulders for the job.”
“I was thinking of making Sarah a Beta.”
I smiled. “She’ll make a great Beta. And so would Lucas. Now you just need a Creek, and you’ll have a holy trinity.”
His expression gentled. “You’re right. So wise, Miss Clark.”
“Why thank you, Mr. Kolane.”
We smiled at each other a moment, and then his gaze dropped to my abdomen.
Worried he might mention the tether, I said, “Morgan mentioned they were six. Well, five, because Aidan wasn’t living with his pack back then.”
He raised his gaze back to my face. “Huh?”
“Original Creeks.” When he frowned, I added, “Did the others have tainted blood too, or was she the only one?”
“Oh.” His nostrils flared. “Funny you should ask. I just had a long chat with Lori about that.”
“You trust her?”
“I trust she wants to live.” He rubbed his palms against his thighs. “One of them was Cassandra’s father-the one supposedly murdered by Julian. The other was her grandmother; she died of old age two years back. And then there was Lori and Alex, but they were never exposed to the toxic spring since they were born years later. However”-he rested his hands on the bed-“they were exposed to something else.”
I frowned.”The heavy dose of Sillin Cassandra ingested after the poisoning, it transferred to them during the pregnancy, which gave them a very high tolerance to silver.”
How interesting . . . “Like a new and improved race of shifters.”
“Exactly.”
“So the only OC left is Lori?” I asked.
“Yes.””And you’re sure she has no silver in her blood?”
“I had Greg run tests on her. No silver showed up. Besides, Lucas killed Alex, and his blood didn’t poison him, so it’s safe to assume Lori’s silver-free.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “How did Cassandra survive when the rest of her pack died?”
“Because she was the Alpha’s niece. He reserved the highest doses for his surviving relatives. Him and his mother never shifted again, but Cassandra somehow managed to tap into her werewolf magic. Took her years, according to Lori.”
“So it is possible to shift with Sillin in our blood?”
“Lori thinks it was the combination of silver and Sillin. Cassandra never got rid of either.”
I frowned. “It stayed in her system? So she wasn’t still taking it?”
“No.””Then why did they steal our Sillin?”
“Because they didn’t want us to have it.”
My frown deepened.
“As long as we had it, we could heal from her silver blood.”
My eyebrows shot up so fast it tugged on my left cheek.
“Cassandra’s plan was to annex us because we had a good foothold in the region. That’s why she had Everest take our stock.”
“So she didn’t come in peace?”
“No.”I stared a long minute at Liam, trying to arrange all this information inside my slow-firing brain. I didn’t know if it was the medication they’d given me or my week-long coma, but my head felt wadded up with cotton. “Why did they go after ours instead of the Pines?”
“Apparently it was next up on their to-do list. Lori said her mother wanted to start with ours because we were more dissipated, and therefore, easier to take over.”
I fingered a crease in my bedsheet, trying desperately to smooth it out. To think I’d once longed to meet this woman. To think I’d once been impressed with her. I’d sink my fangs into her neck all over again if I had to.
Liam reached over and trapped my hand in his. “I can’t do this without you, Ness.”
“This?”
“Reorganize three packs and make them one.”
“Of course you can.”
“I don’t want to do it without you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I promised him, easing my fingers out of his grip.
He made a fist, his knuckles turning paler then redder as he tightened and released them. “I heard the mating link’s gone.”
My heart stilled a moment. After several breaths, I said softly, “Doesn’t change how I feel about August, though.”
He shut his eyes. “Maybe, in time, it will.”
“Liam,” I whispered, “you have a pack to take care of, a son on the way, a woman who adores you, friends who would do anything for you. You don’t need me.”
His lids flew up, and his amber gaze flared. “You’re wrong!”
I let the intensity of the emotions rolling off him settle before adding, “Guilt and gratitude are coloring the way you think of me.”
“Guilt and gratitude?” he scoffed.
“Yes. Guilt because, for some reason, you feel like you took this position from me. And gratitude for saving your ass. ‘Cause I sort of did save it, didn’t I?” A corner of my mouth tugged up, in turn yanking on my injured cheek. “Could you call Greg? I’d really like to get this bandage off.”
Adam’s apple bobbing, Liam stood to extract his phone from the pocket of his jeans. As he phoned the doctor, the door to my room flew open.
“Ness!” Sarah raced to me. Her arms went around my shoulders and pulled me into the fiercest hug. After a couple long seconds, she pressed me away. “I’ll have you know, I’m really pissed at you! You can’t go playing hero and dying on me like that.”
“Says the girl who dated Alex Morgan to gather info.” I inspected what I could see of her body. “Did he hurt you? Are you okay?”