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He looks at me as though he stares right into my soul. I hand back the empty glass and smile, fighting back the pain that leaves me groggy and exhausted. Normally, I’d stay in bed a few days to wait for the sickness to pass, but I’ve lost that luxury.
“Are you sick?” he asks, refusing to let go of the topic. Of course, he won’t.
I shake my head. “Hadn’t eaten for a while. I think it was just hunger pains.”
He nods, but the way he studies me makes it clear he doesn’t believe me. “We suspected that, so I gave you a small injection that should help.”
My gaze instinctively goes to my arms and I look down a small bandage on the inside of my elbow. I try not to overthink what he gave me, not wanting him to suspect me of panicking. But I have no clue how that will impact my illness.
With the small towel in his hand, he reaches over and moistens my brow. There’s a tenderness in his strokes, in the way he looks at me.
Yet panic crawls up my spine.
“It’s a bit hot in here,” I say jokingly, but he isn’t smiling.
I blink hard, and my thoughts seem to stutter.
“Don’t worry. The injection was nothing more than vitamins to help boost your immune system.”
Is that all it really was?
“And why am I in Dušan’s bed?” The room has a warmth to it, a coziness, and it’s been a long time since I felt this way. Sleeping on splintered logs can never replace the softness of a mattress.
“He insisted on it as soon as he heard you had passed out.” Lucien is on his feet. “Let me get you some food.”
When he turns to leave, I ask, “How long have I been sleeping for?”
“Two full days without waking.”
I quickly steel myself and half-laugh, as I usually sleep for several days, which isn’t normal by any standard. “I was clearly exhausted.”
“Yeah, that must be it.” He walks out and shuts the door, and the click of a lock resonates through the room.
Shit!I collapse back down in bed, my body throttling with pain. Curling in on myself, I bury my face in the pillow and want to cry.
Fear shakes me. This is why I avoided being caught for so long. The sickness makes me vulnerable, so how long before Dušan realizes this and works out that I’ve never shifted into my wolf? I’ve never been able to be whole. I’ll be cast aside, and not even those starved males will want to touch me. I’ll be locked up because someone like me shouldn’t exist.
I draw the blanket to my chest and clasp my eyes shut, praying for the aches to leave. Then I’m finding a way out of here.
On the bright side, I didn’t get shipped out to the other pack. Maybe that’s a good omen. I ignore the mocking laughter in my head and cling on to the last threads of hope I have left.
Lucien
The color of her bronze eyes reminds me of a sunset after a storm. They stay with me, refusing to leave my mind. As does her heady scent, along with the smell of blood. I can’t work it out, but she is definitely hiding something. Any other shifter, and I’d have forced the answers out of them by now. But Meira does something to me. My beast calms in my chest, but she makes me anxious. Secrets get you killed in this world, so what secrets is the little wolf keeping?
I find myself standing outside the door to the bedroom she’s in, like I don’t have control of my own actions because my wolf insists I stay near. When she touched my hand, a buzz shot up my arm, slamming into me. She stole my breath away… My body went tight, and my wolf pressed forward as I curled my fists. An automatic reaction to protect her overwhelmed me.
Shock filled her eyes, and I burned to reach across the bed and take her into my arms. All I could think about was how beautiful she was, how I needed to taste her lips.
Fuck!My head is a heaping mess.
I still feel her presence. Now I understand Dušan’s response to keep her safe in his bedroom, of all places. He feels what I do around Meira. Except, I’ve never heard of there being two or more soulmates for a wolf.
I push from her door and still feel the pull as I walk away. From deep inside, my wolf surges forward, aching for the shift.
Meira.
He calls to her…but I can’t allow myself to want her. She’ll be sent away, and if she doesn’t, my Alpha gets first pick and first decision if he’ll share.
