“Fuck them,” Luc said echoing her inner thoughts. “Seriously, you have a shit ton on your plate. Yes, don’t start with the you’re Alpha and failed them, you didn’t. You might have failed yourself and the only person who can forgive that is you. You didn’t back down from protecting them. When the killings got out of hand and you lost your grandfather, you reached out to another pack, hat in hand and humbled yourself to bring in assistance. Most of the yahoos around here may not remember or completely understand what that means. I do. Since some jackass appointed me second, I’m telling you right now, cut yourself some slack or I’ll beat your ass.”
“The love, it fills me with no end of delight.” His unique brand of droll mockery amused her. Lifting her head, she glanced over her shoulder. The firelight played over his features, leaving him more in shadow than light. When she’d refused to come in earlier, he’d built a fire and settled into his chair…the same chair she’d read about her classes in.
Oh crap. Her classes. How would she get her RN if she couldn’t become human again? How would she be able to tug him from the shadows if she didn’t have hands?
“Too bad, dude. You picked me.”
“Actually, you picked you.” Brett’s gaze locked on hers. He hadn’t been looking at Luc at all. The odd weight blanketing her, was it his attention? She tilted her head, then lowered her ears. Her memory seemed…lacking was the best word. Missing pieces. They’d talked for hours about the wolves and he’d told her she was latent. Patiently he answered her questions, then turned them back on her. He wanted to meet her mother.
Oh. Mom. Won’t that be a conversation? Hi Mom, remember me? The errant, bad seed of a daughter. Well, see I have this little problem. Turns out I’m a wolf. What haven’t you been telling me all these years?
“Come again?”
“You said you need to be needed. I need you to be my second. Now you’re needed. See how that works?”
Why didn’t I know this? Somewhere inside her came a shrug. Brett had said something about her wolf sleeping. Did that mean the wolf had been with her all her life? She simply didn’t know it? How weird was that?
“If you want to get some sleep,” Luc said quietly. “I’ll stay and keep an eye on her. No one will bother her. The Hunters are all closer tonight. About a hundred of the pack has already arrived.”
“They’ll all be in by tomorrow. I’m not going anywhere. Where Colby goes, so do I.” The sentence jerked her attention away from her mother. Glancing at Brett again, she wanted to frown. No he didn’t. He’d followed her. Talked to her. Petted her and twice tried to pick her up. Both times she’d snarled at him and growled until he put her ass down. She was not some pansy to be carried around all the time.
But he hadn’t…Wait a damn minute. Standing, she shook her head and it had the effect of shaking the rest of her and damn near through her off balance. Once she steadied, she turned and stalked toward the pair. Though Luc leaned forward, Brett remained in his seat and nothing in his posture changed yet…
She sneezed. Something in his scent had. She couldn’t pinpoint it. Too many scents from the wood smoke to the citronella. Under all those layers, however, was the masculine scent of Brett. She’d know it anywhere. An image of rubbing her nose into the guest pillow the first day she arrived rippled through her.
All her life, she’d possessed a keen sense of smell. Sometimes too keen since she’d suffered from allergies. The first time she met Luc popped through her mind unbidden. His frustration and pain had been palpable as though she could taste it. Switching her attention to Luc for a moment, she took a step toward him.
Her nose quivered. The sensation tickled, but she tried to ignore it. The same things she’d experienced in the hospital room washed over her now. He was in pain and frustrated.
The frustration was his problem, but the pain. Another step brought her within arm’s reach. The tension around her ratcheted, but she shook her head again. The buzzing in her ears returned and she needed something from Brett, but Luc’s pain bugged her.
One more step and she’d be able to rub against his outstretched leg. Images of his x-rays on the light box. His left leg had contained the broken femur, dislocated knee and fractured tibia. The femur had been the worst injury, and they’d done surgery to place a pin to hold steady…sometime after arriving, they’d removed Luc’s casts. The right leg had a fracture as well but minor compared to the damage to his left leg.
At his side, she braced for him to grab her the way Brett had every time she’d approached. While she liked being in Brett’s arms, she couldn’t always control her reaction to the contact. It made her downright bitchy. When Luc’s hands remained where they were, she rubbed her muzzle against his left leg.