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I trail off, not wanting to offend her butalsofinding that I’ve talked myself into a corner.
“We’re both what?”
Grant snickers from behind me, and Tilda’s gaze snaps up to find him. He goes silent instantly, and I wonder if she has some kind of power of her own or if she’s just naturally intimidating.
I wouldn’t mind going toe to toe with her. Stubborn as all hell…just like me.
“Something funny?” Tilda says, tossing her hair back over her shoulders.
“Uh, no,” he says. “It’s just that, uh…”
It’s only when she takes her focus off me to point it at Grant that I’m able to take her in, and notice the large scar on her thigh. Last night, she was wrapped in full-length jeans the whole time, but now the ugly red scar wrapped around her leg is clearly visible.
She sees me looking and blanches.
“Anyway, I just wanted to ask you to call off your hounds,” she says, cocking her eyebrow. “I’m not going anywhere—not until you help me get that medicine, anyway.”
“Understood,” I say. “I’ll talk to Arden.”
She doesn’t thank me; she just tosses her braid back over her shoulder and spins on her heel to go, re-joining Peaches at another table. The two of them sit alone, the rest of the pack giving them plenty of space. I wonder if I should ask people to treat her with kindness…but my own kindness is all used up for the time being.
I’m going to have to saysomething. And it has to be tonight—it can’t wait until my homily and usual announcements on Sunday morning.
I stand and step up onto my chair, towering so close to the ceiling that my hair brushes a wooden beam. The others—about thirty of us, though some people are still filtering in and about a dozen are on watch around the edges of the wall—quickly notice me, honing in on my energy as Alpha Prime.
“I wanted to introduce you all to our guest,” I announce. “I’m sure you noticed her come in with Peaches.”
All eyes go to Tilda now that I’ve given them permission to openly look at her. Her face flushes bright red and she ducks her head to stare at the wood grain of the table in front of her, her shoulders hunched.
I didn’t expect her to be shy after how fiery she’s been.
“Tilda is going to be helping us establish a farm plot so we can start growing our own food,” I tell the others. “I know she came here under…somewhat unusual circumstances, but I expect you all to treat her as you would a member of the pack. And if any of you would like to help her out, please go and talk to her.”
She shakes her head subtly, and I don’t quite know what to do. “Or come to me,” I say. “And I’ll put you in touch.”
I step down, kicking myself for not asking. She’s been so stubborn and strong-willed that I figured she would be more of an extrovert—but the way she huddled into herself leads me to believe I’ve made a severe miscalculation in sending people her way.
Luckily—or perhapsnot—only a couple people approach her, including a cautious Suyin. Meanwhile, I’m mobbed by curious lycans, all wondering what I’m going to do to keep them safe from the crusader…from my mate.
A few people even ask if I’m going to keep her here, since she already bears my scent.
I was a fool to think I was going to be able to keep any of this secret. And the more people that figure it out, the more I’m going to have to ask to keep this quiet.
Even if I’ve bitten her, I can’t tell her about how our fates are intertwined. Not because I’m afraid she’ll be angry—she’s angry enough already—but because the only way I’ll be able to keep my wolf in check is to deny that anything is going on between us.
I only have to last three weeks…then we can go our separate ways.
And hopefully, once I have my farm and she has her medicine, I’ll never see Tilda Bingham again.
CHAPTER TEN
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TILDA
There are a lot of critical things I could say about the Austin pack, but I definitely can’t accuse them of being lazy. I’m woken up on Peaches’ sofa early the next morning, someone hammering their fist on the door. I crack my eyes open to find it completely dark in the room, the only light a golden beam under the door.
I miss the big, open sky. I didn’t get enough of it yesterday.
