Broken Moon by Laken Cane

Chapter Nineteen

As though I’d absorbed some of his vitality, by the time Jared carried me back to town, I was mostly healed from my encounter with the exsoloup. Jared, though, was flagging. He’d taken a bit of that scream, and even though he’d been farther away and had shifted for a while afterward, he was going to be affected.

He carried me into the tiny clinic, and when he lowered me to one of the three beds, I saw that Dr. Hayes and his nurse were already there. They must have been in town when we left, because I didn’t see how they could have arrived from the city that quickly.

Almost unthinkingly, I caught Jared’s hand after he’d placed me on the bed and then straightened. “Thank you,” I murmured.

He stared down at me, a look of frustration in his eyes. He ran his thumb across my palm and my entire body tingled even as his touch awakened my wolf. “When this is over,” he told me, his voice low, “and I have time to devote to you, I will free your wolf, Kait. You’re going to need all of my attention when the time comes—with the next full moon.”

I nodded. “October thirty-first.” And I shivered with an excitement I could not control. Soon. Soon I would be free.

Then the doctor and nurse hurried to my bedside and he kept my stare for a few seconds more before he turned to slip behind the privacy curtain that was pulled around the bed next to mine.

For a second, I got a glimpse of the person in that bed.

Lennon lay there, her already pale skin white and bloodless, her body completely still. She didn’t look like the warm woman she’d been earlier. She looked like a piece of plastic. Then the curtain settled into place, obscuring both her and the alpha from my view.

“Will she be all right?” I asked the doctor, keeping my voice low.

He refused to say. “How are you feeling, Ms. Silver?”

Jared left Lennon’s bedside and strode away without a word, and as soon as he was gone, I sat up. I was sure he’d shift as soon as he was outside, which would hopefully finish healing him.

“I’ll be all right,” I told Dr. Hayes. “I didn’t get a huge hit. My body and mind were just shocked for a while.” I sat up and swung my legs over the bed, and neither he nor Belinda tried to stop me. The injured warriors were starting to trickle in, and they were going to need the bed and the attention.

I needed to go back to the woods to find my lost blade, but those woods were crawling with wolves, and probably the alpha, and I was damn tired. And though I felt much improved, I wasn’t sure I was up for the long jog back to the woods or a search that could take hours.

Tonight, I would go home and recover from the exsoloup’s attack. I needed fuel and sleep, in that order. The blade would still be there tomorrow. But the uneasiness at leaving it alone and unprotected in the woods stayed with me all the way home. I knew I’d feel the loss of it until it was once again in my possession.

When I let myself into my house, the dog came running, his nails clicking on the floor. He made me laugh as he slid and skidded his way to me, and I dropped to my knees and opened my arms, glad I’d taken time to discard my weapons and belts and leave them in my car.

“Hey, buddy,” I crooned, scratching his wiggly body and attempting to keep his tongue out of my mouth as he slobbered all over my face. I laughed again and wrapped my arms around him. “Where’s Lucy, hmmm? She asleep? She’s asleep, yes she is! What a good boy you are…”

He was sporting a new collar, a blue one with little paw prints all over it, and a cute, fuzzy pink shirt that was at least a size too short. He was adorable.

Finally, I forced myself to my feet and followed my nose to the kitchen. My stomach growled and groaned like it hadn’t seen food for hours…then I frowned as I realized it hadn’t. The last thing I’d eaten had been Beth’s cookies, and as tasty as they were, a few carbs were not going to hold my wolf for long.

I needed meat.

Lucy had somehow known, just like she always seemed to know, and she’d put a platter of food in the fridge. I barely took time to nuke it before standing at the countertop to wolf down three fat porkchops and the accompanying vegetables, rolls, and butter.

“Lucy,” I muttered, as I gave the dog—Ash, Lucy had named him—tiny pieces of my porkchops, “you’ve saved my life.”

I was happy. Not long ago I would have come home to an empty house, carrying a bag of greasy burgers to eat in the silence. Even though Lucy was asleep, I could feel her presence, and Ash was staring up at me, begging for scraps, and my wolf was soon to be freed. How quickly my life had turned around and yes, I was happy.

If the Gray Shadow Pack could accept me, I could move on from the treatment I’d received from them not only twelve years ago, but lately. I’d already dropped the grudge I’d carried against their alpha.

But I wasn’t giving them many more chances, the assholes. Next one who mistreated me was going to quickly regret his decision. No more.

Jared texted me as I was cleaning up after my meal.

You should have stayed.

I pursed my lips, then tapped in, Yeah? Why? And when he didn’t reply, I asked, How’s Lennon?

Still unconscious.

Damn. I’m so sorry.

Goodnight, Ms. Silver.

Goodnight, Alpha.

I felt sort of like a high school girl with a crush on her professor—only my crush was darker, more dangerous, and would never be anything other than what it was—my wolf’s perfectly natural and not entirely secret crush on her alpha.

Jared would understand her hero worship, and he would—

Carry me through the woods naked…

—be careful not to be inappropriate and take advantage of my wolf’s innate emotional connection to an alpha. She was claimed by no one, therefore she was eager to jump on the first alpha who looked her way.

He was my potential alpha, and I was his potential…dependent. Student. I was sure he already had his future mate lined up. She was probably in his bed as I stood staring at the wall, thinking about him.

It wasn’t real, whatever I was feeling. I mean, other than the physical attraction, of course. That was pretty damn real. But other than that, my heart was completely and utterly safe. I knew falling for Jared Walker was a bad idea, therefore, I would not fall. Of course I wouldn’t. I was smarter than that, despite my lustful wolf.

Careful not to protest too much…

“Shut up, Lennon,” I muttered, and went to take a hot shower—or a cold one, depending—and get some sleep. I was a little stiff and sore, but honestly, I lived with pain. I’d grown accustomed to it, had been warped by it, and barely thought about it except when it kicked my ass under a full moon. Not even the magic of the exsoloup would keep me down for long.

When I came out of the bathroom, clean, teeth brushed, hair dried and re-braided, Ash was on my bed, sound asleep.

“So you like me better than Lucy after all, hmmm?” I grinned and climbed into bed with my rescue dog, some part of my brain relaxing instantly as I felt his warm weight atop the covers.

Comforted, I slept.