Sure, Nimue had called Rowan‘Wolf’— not justawolf, buttheWolf — and said he has been, since the dawn of time, and Jay had thought it made sense. They all had, although to Jay’s knowledge, no one had said so to Rowan.
So many of Rowan’s characteristics are instinctual, after all, and he’s always struggled with controlling his wolf — since they found Nix especially.
This is nothing that Jay could have expected — not in a million years.
Gideon is leaning in the doorway, preventing onlookers from getting a look at the Rowan-wolf, while Finn smooths thingsover with the nurses and those bowled over by his run through the unit.
“He’s cute, eh?” Gideon asks teasingly as Leo wrinkles his nose.
“You okay, Leo? You’re not exactly a dog person,” Grayson jokes quietly.
“Iama Rowan-person,” Leo insists. “Doesn’t matter to me what he looks like.”
“Yeah, but can we get him to turn back?” Jay asks, scratching down the back of Rowan-wolf’s neck and over a thick, muscled shoulder. He must weigh 175 pounds, and when he stands up, he must be at least four feet tall at the shoulder.
Grayson slides into the bed beside them again, running his hand down Rowan-wolf’s flank. “It’s pure magic,” he whispers, eyes closed. “Like he’s tangible, but I can see this…aura…all over him. It’s pretty. He’s pretty.”
There’s a huff of moist breath under his arm.
Grayson’s voice is fainter yet, and when Jay checks in, his mate’s eyes are twitching behind his eyelids, and his lips are so pale that they look blue. “Hey, Pretty, look at me.”
“Shit. Gray, you okay? You look much worse,” Leo asks, taking their mate’s wrist in his hand.
“M’okay. Just missing Nix. Using magic is harder when he’s so far away.”
Using magic?
Jay’s stomach drops. “What were you using magic for, baby? At The Guild? Before?”
Grayson doesn’t answer, he just runs his hand up and over Jay’s shoulder. When he does, it occurs to Jay that his shoulder feels exponentially better than it did an hour ago.
“Gray, what did you do?” He grabs a cup of water off the table and offers it to his mate. “Come on, drink some water for me.”
Grayson accepts the water gratefully, and Jay vows to get him some sugar at the earliest opportunity. That had helped at the safe house and again at Nimue’s place—something about how the sugar helps fill his soul.
“Gray, did you heal Jay? With magic?” Finn asks with a touch of awe. “Ignatius said you had a Talent, but you’ve no training, and this isn’t a tiny leaf on a dead plant. You could have really hurt yourself, and–”
And Nixgoes unsaid.
“He what now?” Gideon growls.
Grayson groans at being thrown under the magical school bus.
Pulling his head out, Rowan-wolf looks at Grayson, and Jay has a front-row seat for the small baring of teeth.
It’s crazy impressive, and Jay wonders what it feels like.
Still, they need to get the Rowan back who can use his words and not his teeth to express himself.
“Okay, let’s give Gray a break for a bit. Rowan, could you come back to us, please? I miss your face…yourotherface,” Jay says as gently as possible. He would never want Rowan to think he didn’t love all of him, and if the wolf was going to be a regular fixture in their life, he’s going to be damned sure Rowan feels welcome.
Just not with his wolfy tongue in Jay’s mouth.
With a wild shake of his head, Rowan-wolf pushes his nose back under Jay’s arm like a toddler hiding his eyes, thinking,If I can’t see you, you can’t see me.
“Rowan Foster. We need to know what you know about Luca and Nix, and as cute as you are like this, it is not conducive to communication. Now, please,” Gideon tries.
Still, Rowan shakes his head, and his whimpers start up in earnest.
