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Panting, I washed my hands in the sink, flinching when I glanced at the mirror. My hollow-eyed reflection looked right back at me. Death in my eyes. Death wavering around me. Death’s caress on my cheek. A growing shadow threatened to engulf me, there and then.
I looked behind me. Everything appeared normal. Was I going mad? What was going to happen next?
Somebody knocked softly on the bathroom door.
I had to shake it off. “I’ll be right out!” The false cheeriness in my voice sounded so obvious to me. I dried my hands then pinched my cheeks before stepping outside.
Mam was waiting, a worried expression furrowing her brow. “Are you okay? I thought I heard you get sick.”
“Ah.” I decided to be as truthful as I could be without scaring her. “Yeah. I’m a bit nervous.”
“Nervous?”
“About the baby, and the show, and… everything else.”
“Right.” She hesitated. “Are you hurting? Did helping the baby do something? I mean, other than fainting and almost breaking your face.”
“I’m fine,” I said managing a faint laugh. “I’m a little overwhelmed, you know? I need rest, but I’m too excited about the baby to sleep.”
She looked suspicious. “Since when are you excited about babies?”
Only since never. “This one is different,” I lied. “I’ve been around for everything, so of course I’m excited.”
“Well, we can visit when they get home. It must be exhausting for that poor girl to have so many visitors.”
I was barely listening. I was back to thinking about the confrontation with Eli. If I had blocked him once, I could do it again. The vomiting was a reaction to doing too much too soon, but I could learn over time. That's what I desperately wanted to believe.
“Margo?” Mam’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Are you even listening?”
“Yeah.” I faked a yawn. “I should go lie down for a bit. Sorry for worrying you.”
I turned to leave, but she caught hold of my wrist to stop me.
“You’re not worrying me,” she said firmly. “So keep talking to me, okay?”
I nodded, but I was too tired to keep talking. I headed to my room, pausing at the window to check on the car parked outside. Somebody from the pack was inside, but I couldn’t see who. They had been taking turns since Eli attacked, making sure they were obvious about it.
The baby had already been born, so the pack had other priorities, but they hadn’t forgotten about me.
After a brief nap, I woke up restless. I needed to get out of the house. I had promised Dorian I would go over to help out with the nursery, so after letting Mam know I was leaving, I headed outside to talk to my latest guard.
I stopped short when I realised who he was—Jorge, the wolf who had challenged Byron, the wolf whose family had been sent away because of me. Would things change now that I had admitted what happened between me and his brother?
He stared at me, his dark brown eyes unreadable. “Going somewhere?”
“I thought I would go and help out with the nursery.” I backed up. “Dorian asked me, but maybe I should—”
“I’ll take you,” he said. “Get in the car.” When I hesitated, he sighed. “There’s no need to be frightened of me. I won’t harm you.”
“It’s not that.” I closed the space between us to prove it. “I’m sorry about what happened with your family. I feel bad.”
He held my gaze for a long moment. “Why would you feel bad? You saved my brother’s life. Not that he deserved it, the big idiot.”
“He made a mistake.” I shrugged. “I think he regretted it at the last second. Held himself back. He was scared, but it was my fault he was scared, so I’m sorry.”
He looked away, exhaling sharply. “Get in the car.”
I obeyed that time, but he took a minute before he joined me. He rested his hands on the steering wheel. “He was terrified of your kind. You were the scary stories we told each other as children late at night. I should have known, should have stopped him, but I was too busy doing my own thing.”
