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Leo tugged on my hand and brightened. “It’s Miss Raven!”
This next smile that took hold was far more genuine—and relieved. “Alpha, it’s good to see you.”
Raven pulled me into a hug only an alpha could offer. She patted my back before letting me go, granting a grin to my son while opening her arms. Leo leaped, some patches of fur appearing as he nearly shifted. Some young wolves had trouble controlling their forms, so Leo often sprouted hair or claws at random.
Chuckles resonated between them. Raven propped Leo on her hip as she often did when she lifted him. “How is everything going?” Her eyes darted behind me briefly.
I sighed. “As well as they can go.”
“I’m glad to hear she’s okay.” She stroked Leo’s hair. “I still can’t believe how much you look like your father. The resemblance is amazing.”
Leo puffed up. “Daddy says I’m very handsome.”
“It’s his word of the week,” I said with a chuckle. “He’s learning quickly.”
“I’m glad to hear that as well,” Raven said, “and I’m also wondering if maybe we can make that three for three.”
Curiosity inspired a frown. “On what?”
She nodded toward the door. “Why don’t we take a walk and chat?”
Chapter 2 - Galanthia
Disapproval took me by surprise as I marched away from the wolf man and his pup. Disdain had never been part of my repertoire, but it was never too late to observe the common pack members with a more critical eye, given recent events. Too often, I found many of them sneaking into town when Raven instated safety precautions.
But those judgments should have been reserved for the ones attempting to bend the rules to their favor. Certainly, they’d learned a thing or two when their alpha had been sent into battle in the middle of the woods to a compact two-story house where their newest witch had nearly been assassinated—not to mention one of my own Elderling friends.
One of my dearest compatriots—Izdor—had been held in this particular hospital for a brief time for injuries sustained. Passing a well-kept room housing a woman of frail frame, my sight revealed the aura of the talented Etta who had done everything in her power to heal my dearest friend. Her support was unwavering, and so it stood to reason that I was more discerning with the others.
Though my harsh visual affliction might have been off about that wolf man. Xavier, I thought his name might have been, was recently returning after a five-year hiatus. That was according to Raven, of course, who was usually good about tracking time. The wolf man had joined Silverdawn as a boy with his mother, but that was the extent of my knowledge. The details didn’t matter as much as his energy.
Something about him rubbed me the wrong way. What was this cursed and abysmal feeling that rose in his presence? Was it that he was a stranger to me? Perhaps selfishness had descended upon me during my travels.
A few large strides deposited me at my destination—a room at the far end of the hallway that housed my beloved buddy who had, once again, been injured.
I cleared my throat to announce my presence. “Izdor, what is it this time?”
My friend was thumbing through a magazine. Fashion wasn’t in his realm of interests, but he seemed intrigued enough by the angels of the runway, the ones who were evidently part of a secret that didn’t seem so secret to me. Earth had its oddities, and that company was one of them.
He smiled playfully while peering over the top of the magazine. “That went well, didn’t it?”
Curiosity crushed my brows together. “What are you talking about?”
“That exchange in the lobby,” he replied as he lowered the magazine to reveal the bruise under his left eye. “You seem to have it out for that man.”
“What man?”
He rolled his eyes. “Is your memory that awful since we arrived?”
“Arrived from where?” Truly, there had to be dozens of times when we hadarrivedback at Silverdawn. He had to be more specific than that.
The magazine fell flat to his lap. “Come on, Galanthia. You can’t be that thick.”
I turned about to show off the shorts hugging my bottom. “Are they too revealing? Raven said they were fetching.”
“Now you’re just being deliberately daft.”
Within seconds, I was smiling, and only because I did love to tease Izdor with the latest verbal trends of this dimension.
