She nodded again and looked up at him. “Can you understand that?”
“Understand it? Hah! I lived it, but in a different way. Imagine walking confidently onto the land of a Pride that is sheltering your Reigna and Alpha as your Reigna heals. You’re looking forward to seeing them again, looking forward to meeting new people, maybe even making new friends and strengthening bonds to be able to support each other in the future. The first thing you see is your mate. The mate you never knew for sure you’d find, and she’s mated to the Alpha of the other Pride. Not only that, they’ve got babies, and they’re all deliriously happy. To make matters worse, you actually like the Alpha. He’s a good male. And he knows what you are to his mate, and what she is to you. But he treats you with respect. Hebehaves honorably. And all you can do is imagine taking him out because he’s standing between you and what belongs to you.” Rance closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “It’s why I stayed out of the house. It’s why I stayed away from you. It’s why I left as soon as I could. You were happy and you deserved to be happy. Those boys deserved to grow up with their father. And their father deserved to maintain his rightful place beside the three of you. I exerted more self-control over those hours than I ever have in my life.”
“And Grail knew that. I wasn’t sure if you’d spoken of it of not, but I knew that he knew about the connection between us, just like I did. It wasn’t something he and I discussed, I just knew he knew, especially at the end, why else would he send me to you?”
“We spoke around it, rather than about it. We both knew, neither of us said anything about it. But we knew. You were happy and that was important to me. He thanked me for my integrity, and the whole while I was wishing he’d…”
“Drop dead?” she asked.
“I didn’t feel like I had much integrity then. I still question it today. How excited can I be that I have an opportunity I never thought I would, if it’s a result of so much tragedy? So, yeah, I feel a lot of guilt.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m thankful you’re here. I feel stronger knowing that you’re beside us. I’m grateful you didn’t turn us away.”
“Never. I will protect you for as long as I live, no matter what happens or doesn’t happen between us.”
Gwen took a deep breath and let it out slowly, almost as though she was relieved.
“Can I just say one more thing?” Rance asked.
“Please,” she said.
“Whatever happens between us, if anything ever happens, it’s got to come from you. I will not insult the bond you had with your mate, nor the bond they had with their father. You’ll have to be the one to let me know you want this to go further than it is now. And if all you want is my friendship, me watching over the three of you,” he said, stopping to choose his next words carefully with a shrug, “it’s more than I ever had before and I’m grateful for even that much.”
“Knock, knock!” a male called through the closed door.
“It’s Frenzy,” Rance said, walking over to open the door. He pulled the door open and smiled at the grinning goofball on the other side of it. “Morning, Frenzy.”
“Good morning, my buuuudy! How goes it?” Frenzy asked.
“Well. Gwen’s getting stronger, boys are happy, and I’m learning about taking care of injured females. Males I got, females, not so much.”
“Isn’t it freaky how just a little thing like gender can change your whole response from, ‘shake it off and get your ass back to the car’ to ‘tell me what I can do make you more comfortable, baby’,” Frenzy said.
Rance laughed. “You have never been more right.”
“Here’s your coffee,” Frenzy said. “Bonnie sent me up with it when I told her I was coming up to see you.”
“Thanks,” Rance said, taking the cup from him. “Want to come in?”
“Thought you’d never ask. I gotta check Ms. Gwen’s injury.” Frenzy looked over to Gwen. “If that’s okay with you.”
“Please do,” she said, reaching out her hand to put her smoothie on the bedside table.
Rance hurried to take it from her and set it on the table for her.
“Alright,” Frenzy said, taking hold of the covers, but pausing to look at her before pulling them back, “you dressed under here,right? Because the last thing any of us need is Rance starting all that growly shi….. stuff again.” Frenzy threw a glance at the boys over his shoulder.
“I’m dressed, I think,” she said.
“She’s dressed,” Rance confirmed.
“Let’s get this dressing off and take a look,” Frenzy said, as he moved the covers off of her body. He folded her shirt up under her breasts, then very carefully unwound the dressing from around her body while Rance supported her. Once they got her wound exposed Frenzy and Rance rolled her toward Rance so Frenzy could get a good look at the wound. “I tell you what… you people heal like I’ve never seen before. I thought we healed quickly. Nothing like y’all. It’s clean, there’s no blood, there’s fresh, new skin growing in. I think it’s going to be just fine.”
“Thank you so much for all you and your people did,” Gwen said, her voice muffled because she was lying on her side with her face half pressed into a pillow.
“You are very welcome,” Frenzy said. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up again, fresh bandages, and you’ll be good until tomorrow. I’ll leave some meds and instructions for Bonnie and she’ll do you up just fine, I’m sure.”
“You leaving?” Rance asked.
