WINIFRED…
Clay’s mind touched mine as I watched Olivia slowly sit on the bed across from Michelle.
Winifred, I’m bleeding again. I may have torn a few of the stitches.
What happened?
Gabby was finally ready.
Ah. I didn’t say anything further. Instead, I picked up my supply bag.
“I need to check on Clay. Perhaps the two of you would like to see if the hotel offers a breakfast?”
“Sure,” Michelle said, getting out of bed. “I’ll just use the bathroom real quick.”
While Michelle walked to the bathroom, I slipped out the door and hurried down the hall. Gabby opened the door on the first knock. Blood painted the hem of her shirt. She stepped aside and let me in without a word of explanation.
Clay lay on the bed, slightly at an angle. The scent of arousal clogged the air.
“Gabby, honey, Michelle and Olivia are going to check our breakfast options. Perhaps you’d like to go with them?” I said.
“Yeah. Sure. I’m just going to wash up and change real quick.” She hurried to shut herself in the bathroom.
“How many stitches do you think you tore?” I asked Clay, approaching the bed.
“I can’t really feel it.”
I tilted my head in concern until he clarified.
“Other parts hurt worse.”
I patted his shoulder and peeled back the first bandage. Several of the stitches had torn into the skin, but not completely out. The bathroom door opened, and Gabby left with a soft farewell.
Clay sighed but held still as I checked the other gashes, which seemed about the same.
“No more stitches needed. But you need to keep your distance from Gabby for the rest of today. Sam should probably stay with you two tonight, too.”
“You’re killing me.”
I chuckled.
“You’ve been patient for so long. Hold on for a few more days. Try to rest. And avoid cold showers. They’re not good for the stitches.”
He closed his eyes and threw his arms over his face. I left the room and my humor quickly vanished. Clay wasn’t the only male suffering because of a Mate. I walked a few doors down to Jim and Olivia’s room.
When I knocked, Sam answered the door.
“How is he?” I asked, not stepping in.
“He’s fine,” Sam said.
“You need to get it through your thick skull,” Emmitt said from inside. “When you took the oath, you gave up your right to cookies. You can’t think of cookies. You can’t smell cookies. And you sure as hell can’t eat cookies.”
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Jim asked in a bored tone.
“Yes. The only thing that could top this is if you could do something that would get her to kick you in the balls so I can throw a bag of peas at you.”
“Emmitt’s helping distract him,” Sam said.
I nodded and stepped back so he could join me in the hall. His scent tickled my nose as it always did when we were close. An ache started in my chest, and I quickly thought of Jim, Clay, and everyone else under our care.
“Clay ripped a few of his stitches. I think it would be best if you stayed in their room tonight to prevent any further damage. We need him to heal as quickly as possible.”
“I’ll move my things back before breakfast,” Sam said, walking with me toward my room.
When we reached the door, we both stopped.
“What are we doing, Winifred?”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head slightly.
“All of this. Another werewolf race, six women with irrefutable gifts, two of whom claim they need to do something to maintain a balance between races we didn’t even know existed six months ago, exposing our race to humans…what are we doing? Is this really the best course for us?”
I calmed my mind and listened to my heart.
“It is. You know as well as I do that even with Charlene’s help, our people were barely existing. We couldn’t have continued like that for another fifty years, not when Blake and his kind have been secretly killing families and taking female cubs.
“All those years ago, we needed change and change was forced upon us. I don’t believe that was a coincidence, just like I don’t believe the events of the past year have been a coincidence. I’ll never admit this to Jim,” I said with a half-smile, “but he’s right. There’s a reason for all of this. We just need to figure out what.”
He frowned and looked away, absently rubbing his chest right where mine ached, too. It hurt both of us to be this close; yet, I would change nothing. My heart belonged to my people. The oath demanded that. But we both knew it only beat for Sam.
“I’ll see you at breakfast,” he said before turning away.
Exhaling shakily, I went inside my room to compose myself before joining the others for breakfast. Sam’s question continued to echo in my mind. What were we doing? We weren’t just saving our people; we were saving the world from a threat greater than any we’d knowingly faced before, and these girls were the keys to our survival.
“Don’t doubt yourself now, Sam. I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”
JIM…
“Don’t you have something better to do?” I asked Emmitt after Sam left with Winifred.
“Not really,” he said, lounging on the bed. He wore his sleep shorts and nothing else. The idea of Olivia walking in with him dressed like that set my teeth on edge. And the ass knew it. I could tell by the way he folded his hands behind his head and grinned at me.
I could play his game.
“Christmas is only a few days away, and the boys are in a strange hotel without their family. Are you having gifts sent over to them so they have something to open Christmas morning?” I asked.
Emmitt frowned, and I almost grinned. He was too easy to read and distract.
“That’s below the belt,” he said.
“I hear that’s where you like being hit.”
He sat up and ran a hand through his hair.
“I’m hoping we’ll be done with this before then. I miss the cubs. Michelle goes into the bathroom and cries at night. She thinks I don’t know, but I can feel it.”
“Is she calling them?”
“Yes. They’re having a blast with Paul. They swim and eat whatever they want and watch cartoons.”
“They’re safe. That’s the most important thing, even if this does take a while. Olivia keeps saying that Bethi has the answer. I’ll talk to Carlos and Isabelle and see if Isabelle can help Bethi figure out what that answer might be.”
Emmitt nodded and stood.
“I was being serious, you know,” he said.
“I know.”
“It would be better if you stayed away from Olivia. Sam told me he avoided being near Winifred for ten years after he saw her. Feeling her in his head was a comfort, but seeing her caused pain.”
I sighed.
“Maybe if things were different, that would be an option.” But we both knew I couldn’t avoid Olivia. Not with what Bethi and Olivia said was coming.
“Yeah. Just be careful. The boys need their Uncle Jim.”
After Emmitt left, I showered and changed. The pain in my chest had eased enough that I could breathe normally. It was getting harder to convince myself that what I felt for Olivia in some way benefited the pack. The way she’d touched me, what she’d said, the burst of interest in her scent, the way she’d leaned in and sighed like she’d found home…it had all pushed me too far. I wanted her and knew that want had nothing to do with helping the pack. And, I’d almost died because of it.
But now, I couldn’t get a new thought out of my head. Olivia said the Lady stacked the deck. Wouldn’t that then mean everything that was happening was supposed to happen? Not just with the girls, but with each of us, individually.
I frowned as I left the room and made my way to Isabelle’s. My mind circled back to the same questions. Why me? Why now?
Isabelle opened the door on the first knock.
“Do you have to be so damn loud with your emotion? Turn it off or I’m stealing it then kicking your ass.”
I grinned and immediately closed myself off.
“Sorry, Isabelle. Could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure. Come in.”
I stepped just inside the door but didn’t follow her as she walked further into the room and slid back into bed next to Carlos. The man watched me intently as he slid his arms around Isabelle.
“Olivia said Bethi’s dreamed the answer. Bethi’s saying all she’s dreaming is about death. I think she’s focusing on the wrong parts of the dreams because they are so upsetting. Could you talk to her? Calm her enough that she can maybe see past the death?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said, not even hesitating. “Carlos and I will need to take her somewhere else, though. I can’t spar for a while.” She lifted her arms to show the colorful array of bruises lining her forearms.
Taking Bethi somewhere else meant a remote location where Isabelle could release the emotions she pulled in, without risking hurting anyone else. It almost meant separating the group. They’d need an Elder to go with them.
“All right. Let me know, and I’ll go, too. The sooner the better,” I said.
She was already shaking her head before I finished.
“Not you. Grey’s better at blocking. We’ll take him. Probably Luke, too.” She grinned slightly. “He likes it when I hit him.”
“I doubt that,” Carlos said. “I’ve reached out to Grey. He’ll talk to Bethi and Luke. If they agree, we’ll leave in a bit.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as I stepped into the hall, I smelled muffins. My stomach growled, a reminder that I hadn’t eaten since before seeing Olivia.
Following my nose, I discovered most of the group in the breakfast area. Olivia, Michelle, and Gabby sat at a table of four near the window. The morning sun glinted off Olivia’s hair, a blonde so pale it almost seemed white. A small smile tugged at her lips as she listened to whatever Gabby was saying. If not for my heart thundering in my ears, I would have heard every word.
Thoughts of eating vanished. Like a man in a dream, I moved toward their table, seeing nothing else but my Mate.
Olivia turned, her gaze falling on me.
“Jim, are you all right now?”
“Yes.” I pulled out the open chair and sat across from her.
“I was just telling Olivia about the time you got me drunk in a bar,” Michelle said.
“That technically happened twice, didn’t it?” Gabby added.
“I was more careful the second time. I think most of that was Isabelle,” Michelle said.
The pair grinned at me. I smiled and leaned back in my chair.
“I’m pretty sure Emmitt’s on your tablet ordering Christmas gifts for the boys right now,” I said.
Michelle frowned, pushed her half-finished plate at me, then quickly left.
Gabby watched me with a hint of amusement.
“How are you going to get rid of me?” she asked.
I laughed.
“I’m going to ask you nicely. Can I please have a moment with Olivia?”
“I could use a nap anyway.” She stood, picking up her plate. “I know it’ll be hard for you, but be good, Jim.”
She walked away with her plate, heading back toward the rooms. From a table near the hall, Sam stood to follow her, giving me a parting look of warning. I noticed Henry sitting with Mom, Dad, and Uncle Grey. Grey winked at me and went back to his waffle.
“I’m sorry I hurt you,” Olivia said, drawing my attention again.
“You didn’t. The oath I took hurt me.”
Saying those words brought me back to the moment that I took the oath and the voice.
Power is granted until worthiness is lost. Death rewards self-interest.
The words hadn’t come from Winifred. I hadn’t given who the voice belonged to any thought at the time. The need to get to Mary’s family and the boys had consumed me. Yet, now, after everything that had happened and everything Olivia had said, I began to wonder. Had it been the Lady?
If so, what did it mean that she granted a few of our race the power and strength to guide our people?
“I’m still sorry you were hurt,” Olivia said.
I stared at her.
Death rewards self-interest.
My interest in Olivia was fated, orchestrated by a being that seemed to influence all. How then, could it be self-interest? It couldn’t.
I grinned widely.