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Morgan sucked in a breath, his face pinched. “I have full faith that our healers will do all they can, and that Nathan will be a fighter. But I’m not going to force him to talk when he regains consciousness. It will be his decision.”
And that was why Morgan was the leader our pride needed.
“Should we worry about Beckett? He didn’t seem too enthused about doing a real investigation.”
Morgan sighed, “He’s young, relatively new to Steelwick, and he has a lot to learn about the order of operations.”
Being an enforcer was far from an easy job. You really weren’t a part of the shifter community, more outsiders looking in. You were expected to keep councils and packs in order without meddling where you didn’t belong. You had to see the ugliest sides of our kind. And you did all of this in a pride that wasn’t consistent, new enforcers joining and changing the dynamics. Steelwick handled it well as a whole. I wasn’t sure the same was true for the others.
“You don’t think Silas did the damage to Nathan?” I asked Morgan.
He shrugged. “It’s not for me to determine. I have no information besides what we just got right then. But I know as an investigator, he should not make assumptions.”
“It does seem odd that the Beta had to call it in anonymously. And also, how was it anonymous and yet they knew a lot about the situation? All of it seems off. Kind of looks like that pride might have something to hide,” I talked my way through my thought process.
The more I thought about it, the less I believed my mate was involved in Nathan’s injuries. Their actions only made me trust my mate more and them pretty much not at all. He was innocent, I could feel it in my bones. But just like Beckett, I had to remember my place. Feelings weren’t the only thing to consider. And while I had facts, I didn’t have enough of them.
“I agree. If they were on the up and up, this entire situation would look very different.” He wasn’t saying that Nathan would be fine. But the omega probably would’ve had a better shot had they called it in the way they should have instead of these contrived back doors.
“Since we hadn’t planned for another omega arriving, do you need me to stay?” As much as I didn’t want to leave my mate, he was currently in a better position than Nathan.
Morgan put a hand on my shoulder, his gaze softening. His little toddler peeked over from around his shoulder, no longer showing signs of sleepiness. They waved at me, and I waved back.
“Absolutely not. It is your turn for time off, and you will take it. We are not anywhere near capacity here,” he said. “If you were a healer, that would be a different story. But you aren’t, and you will be of far more use to our pride with your time to decompress than pushing through to possibly save us from a task or two.”
If he only knew. There was going to be no decompressing. I itched to tell him about my mate and the predicament he was in. But I’d promised Silas I’d not tell Steelwick, and the only way to ensure that would be to tell no one, not even Morgan.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Are you leaving now? I know you took one load of your things out to your cave. Is your camp all set up?” he asked.
I nodded but averted my gaze. I wasn’t usually one to hide anything from Morgan. Asilo might not have an Alpha, but he was my Forerunner, my leader, and one of my closest friends. “Yes, everything is in order. The cave looks good.”
“You’ll have to show me this cave sometime.”
I’d kept its location secret less out of not wanting anyone to know and more out of not being ready to bring anyone there yet. I hadn’t considered that it might hurt feelings, if that was what this was. Maybe it was just small talk.
“Sure,” I said. “I realized that I need to refill my first-aid kit.” I already had, but I wasn’t sharing that just yet. I rationalized that I was telling the truth, not all of it. It still made my stomach turn. Morgan didn’t deserve my deception. “Can I take the supplies from the storeroom? I don’t want to invade the clinic right now.”
“Of course, all the extras are kept in the closet in my house. We ought to find a new solution for this. Maybe build an actual storage shed.” And just like that Morgan was focused on something new. I was happy for it, not wanting to lie to him again. “I’ll talk with Gideon. But either way, of course, help yourself to whatever you need.”
“Thanks,” I said.
It was a bit of a blessing that I had his permission to go in and take what I needed. It would avoid unwanted questions, ones I wouldn’t have a good answer for. He probably thought I would grab a few antiseptics and some gauze, when really I needed a whole lot more than that. It would be quite a while before they realized just how much I took, and I might even be able to replace whatever I needed before they realized what was gone.
And by then, he would know everything anyway. This secret was temporary. It wasn’t like I could hide a whole-ass mate forever. And if it ever came to the point where hiding was necessary, the two of us would leave together. Aisilo couldn’t have a target on its back. Too many people relied on us for safety.
I made quick work of gathering the supplies, as well as grabbing a change of clothes for me and all the bandages for Silas. We kept extras around for anyone who might need them. Omegas arrived from a lot of different situations with just the clothes on their back, sometimes not even that. It was best for us to be prepared. I grabbed the biggest pair of jeans and a shirt that I could find. Silas would need them. His were destroyed.
Once my gear was packed, I put it over my shoulder and made my way back toward my mate, wishing I could take my beast back for speed. But I had too much to carry for that. This would have to do.
Chapter 7
Silas
It was dark the next time I awoke. This time I wasn’t alone. My nose was greeted by the scent of crackling fire. The warmth reached the mouth of the cave without smoking us out. This wasn’t the first time my mate had built a fire here. Not if he managed that feat.
In the dim light, I could barely make out a figure, but that didn’t stop me from recognizing him. He was my mate, and he’d come back to me. How long he was gone, I had no idea. But that didn’t matter. All that did was that he came back to me.
