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I shook my head. “I’ll tell you later. Right now, focus.”
I peeked into the window and saw that it was a kitchen with a small wooden table in the middle. Two men surrounded it, a can of beer in each hand. I closed my eyes and told my wolf now was not the time. We were just doing reconnaissance work. Thank goodness he’d been able to change and come out to play a little, because he calmed down enough for me to crawl to the window on the other side of the back door and see two more men sitting on the sofa watching television. If anything, it reiterated the fact that I needed to wait for my pack to arrive before I bulldozed inside and looked for Becca.
It was at this point in time I noticed Thomas was not next to me anymore. I looked around and found him balanced on a pile of crates, looking into the third-floor window. When he saw me looking at him, he climbed down, then beckoned for me to follow. We climbed back over the fences, away from the house, until we were back in the alley.
“The third-floor room had a slight whiff of gardenias coming out of it. There’s a window on the other side of the room. I thought I saw a flash of red hair out of the corner of my eye, but every time I turned my head to see more, I’d find myself looking at the other window.”
“You didn’t get seen, did you? That’s quite a long time to be looking into the room!”
“I stood to the side. I’m not stupid.”
I took a deep breath. My temper was getting worse, and I was starting to tremble. I clamped my head between my hands, hoping I could stay in control until Dad got here. I could feel a panic attack coming on. As soon as that thought registered, my legs gave out, and I fell to the floor. A splitting headache started, and I realized I couldn’t move. My wolf was groaning as well, and a blinding whiteness flashed across my eyes.
I didn’t know how long I was there for, but when the pain dissipated, I was able to sit back and lean against the wall. Thomas was sitting with his back to me, staring into the alley.
“How long was I out?” I asked him.
He jumped at the sound of my voice and was on his feet in defense mode in an instant. When he realized it was me who had spoken, his hands fell back to his sides. “You were out for a little more than an hour.”
I groaned, letting my face fall into my hands. Just what we needed. Me disabled when I needed to be at my best.
“This old lady came by.”
My head shot up, and I groaned again at the crack my head made against the wall. “What did she look like?”
“She had silver hair and a cackling laugh. She totally shoved me aside and wasn’t even scared of me.”
Thomas looked so bewildered I had to laugh. I didn’t care who heard me, because if no one had come to attack us in the last hour we were safe.
“What’s so funny? I’m disturbed because she walked straight through the fences as if they weren’t there.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Miti.”
“Your grandmother?”
“The one and only.” I continued laughing. “Where is she?”
“She already left. She shrouded us in something and said we were safe, but I’m not so sure I believe her. She also said she would come back to take care of the gardenia smell, but—”
“You’re not sure if you believe that either?”
“Yeah. She said she needed one more ingredient she didn’t have, and that she’d catch up with your father to get him moving faster.”
I couldn’t stop laughing. This was so Miti; coming in to help, then dictating everything, as if she’d been part of the action this whole time.
“I don’t get why you’re laughing,” Thomas growled. “What if what she said isn’t true? What if we’ve been sitting ducks, and they’re just waiting for us to move so they can jump us at any moment?”
I willed myself to calm down for Thomas’s sake. “Everything she says is true. Miti doesn’t joke.”
“I know she’s your grandmother and all, but—”
“No, you don’t understand. Miti is not able to joke. She might sound like she’s joking because she likes to play mind games with people sometimes, but she really does mean what she says when it comes to fixing family problems.”
“Okay . . .”
“Look, let’s go test it out.”
Thomas looked at me like I was crazy, but I actually felt good. The nausea had passed, and I had a new surge of energy. I hoped the panic attack wouldn’t come back again, but it wasn’t like I could sit here and do nothing when Becca was with Pac.
