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Then he carried me out of the forest.

Chapter 24

Willow

I dried off, then stared at my naked reflection in the bathroom mirror. I barely recognized myself. My hair was wild, my eyes bright, lips swollen. My gaze traveled lower, taking in the now colorful thorny vines decorating my skin. Bruises from fighting, and other things—I looked down at my hips, at the massive handprints marking my flesh where Warrick had held me tight.

I liked them, the bruises he’d given me. I liked the way they looked on my skin.

And I liked him—more than liked him—but how I felt didn’t matter. There were bigger things at stake.

I turned and looked at my shoulder. His bite had completely healed, only two dark pink marks remained where his canines had sunk deep. He’d marked me.

Marks like these, they were what Rebecca would have seen on Jane’s shoulder. The marks Maddox had given to Jane, his mate. I shivered, then shoved the thought from my mind.

That’s not what this is.

Of course, it wasn’t.

Last night, he’d brought me home, laid me in bed, and left.

That said it all, really.

I mean, I assumed he went to talk with his brothers to let them know what happened with Edric. But he hadn’t come back. I’d laid awake waiting for him for hours. I guess I should be relieved he hadn’t returned. It made what I had to do today a lot easier. I told myself that, anyway.

We’d had sex, that’s all. That’s all it was. I swallowed hard when my stupid heart clenched in denial. I ignored it and reminded myself that Warrick spoke of animal attraction, of his need for me, never affection, never more than the physical.

At least there was no chance of pregnancy since I was on the pill, and with the way the hounds healed, they didn’t have diseases of any kind.

Quickly dressing, I checked in on Rose before I left.

She was propped up in bed, a mountain of pillows behind her, and Mom was feeding her oatmeal. My sister was struggling to choke it down.

“Hey,” she said when she saw me, her voice as weak as the rest of her.

I strode in and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “I have to head out for a while, but if you’re up for it later, maybe we could watch a movie?”

She smiled up at me. “I’d…I’d love that.”

I forced a smile in return when all the while I was shattering on the inside seeing her like this.

Warrick wasn’t downstairs either when I got there.

“Yo,” Relic called after me. “Where you going? War will want to know what you’re doing.”

“Just lunch with a friend. I’ll be back in a couple hours.” Then I walked out, got in the Morris and tore out of there.

The alpha would know where I was, of course, but hopefully, if he thought I was just with a friend, he wouldn’t come looking for me. Him showing up was the last thing I needed.

The restaurant Clayton chose for us to meet was frequented by the who’s who of our world, and an uneasy feeling hit me as soon as I walked in. Had he chosen this place for a reason?

Of course he hadn’t, he was grieving. Could I be anymore paranoid? I doubted he’d given the location a second thought.

I spotted him across the room, and he stood, lifting a hand, waving me over.

When I reached him, he pulled me in for a friendly hug and pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek. “Wills, I’m so glad you asked to meet.”

“How have you been?”