“See Langdon about that. He’s our Supply Coordinator.”
“I can’t believe Garrett just dumped me with you.” My eyes shoot to Kiera. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that?—”
“Never expect much from a male who spends more time away from the pack than with it. Garrett’s a loner. Good at his job, but not much else.”
“What does that mean?” My voice is higher than I intend, but she has no reason to insult Garrett. “He rescued me.”
“I was in the compound when he brought you in. Saw it all. Not saying he’s a mean guy or anything, just not someone you want to get tangled up with. He’s emotionally… what’s the word I’m looking for?”
“Dead,” Olivia supplies.
“That’s it. Emotionally dead.”
“He’s a bit closed off,” I say, then clamp my mouth shut. There’s a lot to Garrett that they can’t see. A flash of him standing naked in that cabin strikes, and I know it’s my wolf screwing with me, because I wasn’t even thinking along those lines.
But now that I’m there, my cheeks heat. More than once, I took the liberty of checking him out in that cabin and the other times we shifted to human form. I couldn’t help myself, which is odd because I’ve always avoided looking at males when they’renaked, at least below the chest. I’ve never found any of it appealing, but with Garrett I had trouble looking away. Everything from his muscular thighs to the rather enticing V that tempted me to look lower. Forcing myself to meet his eyes again hadn’t been hard, but I still wonder what would have happened if I’d let my gaze drop.
“She’s blushing,” Olivia says. “She has a thing for Garrett!”
“I do not. He saved me.”
Kiera’s grinning. “You said that already.”
“She’s hot for him,” another woman says from atop a bunk.
“That’s Ellis,” Kiera points to the closest bunk. “I forgot she’s up there. She only shows up when she’s had a fight with her mate.”
“Boyfriend. We’re not mated. And at this rate, we never will be.” The shifter turns onto her side and pulls the blanket over her head, distancing herself from us.
“No wonder you thought I’m an outcast. This is where the cast-offs go.”
Kiera slams a pillow against my chest. “A bad attitude will get you nowhere.”
“Stay away from Garrett,” Olivia adds as she flips pages. “He’s trouble. Got Marla killed. Didn’t mean to, but she’s just as dead.”
“Maybe that’s why he lives on the outskirts. He feels guilty about what happened.”
“He should.” Kiera grabs a towel. “I’m heading for the showers. Wanna see where they are?”
“Sure.”
I follow her to a building down by the river, the silence between us growing increasingly awkward. I’m not here to make friends, but it’s feeding my anxiety. And Garrett’s not here to calm me.
“What did Olivia mean when she said Garrett got Marla killed?”
“He trained her for infiltration but never took her seriously.”
“Things happen. Even to shifters with experience.” It’s hard not to think of how my entire pack was slaughtered even though we had well-trained border guards.
“She wanted to earn a place on a rescue team, but Garrett never took her seriously. Sure, he trained her, at least some of the skills she’d need. Enough to pacify her and make her think she had a shot. It’s why she followed the rescue team on one of their ops. Her skills were good enough that they never knew she was following them. They weren’t enough to save her when the team engaged the humans.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say, because I’m not sure what else I can say. Whether she or Garrett was wrong, or neither, doesn’t change the fact that Marla died.
“She wasn’t ready to go into the field, but she did, to prove herself to Garrett,” Kiera continues. “He thought this was just another whim of hers, like wanting to be a tracker, and before that, wanting to be an enforcer. She was looking for meaning. He never understood that about her.”
“Garrett wouldn’t send anyone into a dangerous situation who wasn’t ready for it,” I say, my instinct to defend him too strong to ignore, even though he led me into his camp without giving them any warning he’d put my past on display. I understand why he did it, but still, he didn’t prepare me for that.
“You’re only siding with him because he’s handsome,” Kiera accuses.
