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Will she do it?
Chapter Five
Wilson
Reece is looking rough for wear by the time we reach the clinic. We get him some medication to help him calm down. Fortunately, the drugs seem to work. Soon he’s much more relaxed and able to control his breathing, at the very least. I hate to rely on medication to help someone, but Reece needs more than I can emotionally offer right now. I simply don’t have the training to help him. Donald gets him something that helps him start to relax, however, so Reece can focus on getting through today. Soon we’ll have a therapist for him. I’m calling in some favors, but that is going to take a little bit of time. Hopefully we’ll have someone by the end of the day, but there are no promises in this type of situation.
Going against medical advice, I decide not to leave him with medical professionals and instead bring him back to my house, at least until we can get someone who can come talk with him about his trauma. I should have done this before, should have recognized his pain, but I didn’t, and I’m kicking myself for it. As clan leader, it’s my job to prepare for everything, and I feel like I really let Reece down this time. Hell, I let the whole clan down.
What would have happened to Nicole if Lee hadn’t been there this morning?
What would have happened if someone hadn’t stopped Reece’s attack?
He could have slaughtered her, and then I would have been the clan leader who let a human die while in his care. That’s what I would have been known for. That’s how I would be remembered. That’s not the legacy I want. It’s not the way I want to be remembered by anyone: least of all my clan.
We walk quietly up to the front door.
“Are you sure about this?” Reece asks. He was silent the entire walk, lost in his own thoughts. I gave him that silence, that freedom. He doesn’t need to have me breathing down his neck right now, peppering him with questions. When we get a mental health professional here, she’ll be able to ask him the right questions.
I don’t want to ask him the wrong thing and ruin his fragile state. I don’t want to disrupt him and hurt him. If he feels stressed or anxious, terrified or cornered, he’s going to shut down. Then she’ll have even more difficulty getting through to him. I already have enough weighing on my heart. I don’t need that, too.
“Reece, you’re my brother.”
“Am I?” The tiger shifter stiffens beside me. He doesn’t make a move to the door. He just stands there tensely. He’s waiting for something. Rejection, maybe? Is he waiting for me to change my mind and decide that he’s not worth the trouble? Is he pausing because he’s giving me an out?
“Yes,” I growl. “For better or worse.”
“We’re not fucking married,” he spits out.
“We might as well be, after this,” I say, turning the knob and pushing the door open. “It’s been a long time since I’ve lived with someone. I may have forgotten how this whole thing works.”
“How long?” He asks, warily glancing toward the door, as if her ghost is going to walk out of it. Maybe he doesn’t know I was married before. Maybe he doesn’t know what happened to me, and I don’t really feel like diving into it. Not with Reece. Not with anyone. My clan has been nothing but supportive of me, but still, I don’t talk about the past. It’s not going to help any of us now. Not at this point.
“Long enough,” I say gruffly, and walk inside ahead of him. He can follow me or not. I head indoors and start turning on lights as I make my way to the kitchen. After the day I’ve had, I’m fucking starving. I go into the kitchen and start rummaging around, pulling out ingredients. One thing that always helps me calm down is having a good meal. I love cooking. I have her to thank for that love. She taught me that when nothing else is going my way, I can cook. I can make a meal. I can be creative, I can take some time for myself, and I can craft something delicious while I calm myself down.
Even now, years after she’s been gone, I still think of her words and I hold them to my heart.
I start cooking and, as I suspected, I soon hear the front door close. There are still no footsteps. Reece is likely standing in the doorway, making up his mind as to whether he’s actually going to go through with this and stay with me.
He probably thinks he’s going to inconvenience me somehow. Or maybe he thinks I just don’t trust him. Neither of those things is accurate. If anything, he’s doing me a favor since I don’t have to be alone tonight. Besides, what was I going to do? Leave him in the medical clinic? Or medical team members are fantastic, especially now that Donald is back. We actually have a real clinic again instead of just using the veterinarian’s office for everything. Still, I know that the team there is limited with what they can do and how they can treat a specific illness or disorder.
A mental problem?
Severe post-traumatic stress?
What are they going to do?
Strap him down when they go home for the night?
The last thing Reece needs is to feel like an animal locked in a cage. He doesn’t need to feel like a monster. He doesn’t need to be treated like he’s going to cause problems for anyone else. If Reece is treated poorly, he’s going to react poorly. I should have paid closer attention to him before. I should have realized how he was doing, how he was functioning with his pain.
But I didn’t.
Now I’m realizing that not only do I need to take care of Reece, but I need to check on the other shifters we rescued that night. Everyone else seems to have mostly integrated into life at the clan. A few of the shifters have actually taken mates. Others have found jobs they love in the clan that they’ve poured their hearts and souls into.
Reece, though, he’s kind of a loner.
And that can be a good thing, but it can also be dangerous and isolating.
