She walked over and sat down next to him on the bed. “I don’t know if I’ll ever really want to. It’s really not about the woman.”
“How long ago were you raped?”
“I wasn’t raped.”
Pulling her into his side, he kissed her forehead. “Sure you were.”
“Zack has this rule. He wants all the undesirables dead. He thinks we’re going to pollute the bloodline, but if we volunteer to be the sex partners to one of his wolves then we’re spared. I volunteered in order to stay alive until I could get to Cole.”
“That’s still rape, sweetheart.”
Was it? She hadn’t said no…
“Scarlett, I have a question. Where are all the women? There’s none here but you.
Are they all with Zack?”
“Today is vitamin day.” Now that he mentioned it, she was feeling kind of itchy. It was definitely time to get her injection. “They’re with the pack wielder.”
Michael stood up, hands in pockets. “What is vitamin day and what is a pack wielder?”
She swallowed. “He’s the one who can make it so you’re not mated to me anymore.”
And now that he knew just how screwed up she was, that she might never be better, she wouldn’t blame him if he took that route.
Chapter Five
Michael knew he had to find the right words to use to answer Scarlett. At the moment, talking to her was like running through a minefield blind. Every other sentence gave him a new piece of information that might blow up in his face or make him lose a limb.
“He can’t unmate us. He might be able to do something, some sort of weird magic thing, but you would still be my mate. And in the very, very remote chance that he could and he tried, I would kill him.”
And gods knew he would really like to kill someone after having restrained himself twice now. First with the three amigos, who were rapidly increasing in his estimation, and second with Cole who only got to live because he’d sheltered Scarlett from Zack.
“You don’t want to get a new mate?”
“No! And I think I’ve answered that a few times now.” He wasn’t endlessly patient even if he wished he was. “So the next time you ask or hint that you think that might be the case I’m going to get angry.”
Her neck muscles clenched and she glanced down. “What will my punishment be if you get angry? What will you do to me?”
“I won’t do anything to you. Most likely I’ll stomp around and mutter. I might even, I don’t know, swear a little bit or yell. Then, with a little time, like a few hours maybe, I’ll get over it.”
She looked up. Good, they were making progress on that front. More and more she held his eye contact, even if her first instinct were to stare down.
His wolf spoke. That might always be. It might be a Beta wolf thing.
She doesn’t have a wolf and she’s my mate. She doesn’t belong in the whole Alpha/Beta scenario. Lots of Betas make plenty of eye contact with their Alpha halves.
That’s true. His wolf yawned. It had been a long day for him. But you’re not mated yet.
What difference does that make? I want her to be unafraid of me when we have sex.
Michael, his wolf hmphed. I’m not speaking about sex. I’m talking about mating, genius.
With that, his wolf lay down and went to sleep. Evidently, his canine half was done with their conversation. Although he had certainly given Michael plenty to think about.
All of this was a problem since no one ever discussed their matings. It was the best-kept secret in a pack where everyone knew almost everything.
“Michael, are you talking to your wolf?”
Jolted, he stared back at Scarlett. He’d been staring straight ahead for a few minutes during his exchange.
“Um … yes … sorry. I guess I’m not used to being around other people. I kind of just talk to him whenever I feel like it. It’s rude. My mother would have yelled at me two hundred years ago.”
“No,” she laughed. It was the first time he heard the sound. Scarlett’s laugh was akin to a bird twittering. Adorable, just like the rest of her. “I’m used to it. I wanted to make sure you weren’t having a seizure.”
He stood up. “A seizure?”
Scarlett scratched at her arm. “You just had a big fight. Maybe you were hurt and you didn’t know it. I read about seizures. People sometimes look like they’re just staring straight ahead.”
“Really?” He’d never heard of that. When he thought of seizures he thought…
His mate’s movements caught his attention. She’d just scratched her arm and now she was itching her neck.
“Are you okay?”
Nodding her head, she stood up next to him. “It’s just time for my vitamin shot.”
His wolf senses went on alert. Something was wrong. The hair on the back of his neck stood up straight as his eyes turned wolf. He stepped forward taking a deep breath.
Something was wrong with Scarlett.
He pulled her into his arms and she gasped. “Michael?” Her eyes were huge.
“Not going to hurt you. Would never hurt you.” But he needed to concentrate, needed to figure out what happened.
Her temperature was too high. Not terrible, not so much that she would even notice, but it was at least one degree higher than it had been that morning or since they’d entered the room. He could feel it coming off her skin.
What kind of vitamin shot would do that?
Her heart rate had picked up, but maybe that was just because he had grabbed her abruptly. No, it was her scent that most concerned him. It spoke of pain and he had a taste in his mouth like blood. Scarlett’s pain was becoming his own.
Finally, when he could speak he let the wolf out of his eyes. “This person—this pack wielder—he gives you this shot how often?”
“At my age, I get it once a month. When I was younger it was more frequent. Once a week. But now my body is better able to hold the nutrients.”
This didn’t sound right. Not any of it. He wasn’t a science person; back before life had imploded he’d been a teacher of English and History.
He needed to speak to Azriel immediately. His brother was the go-to guy when it came to this kind of thing. He’d been working on finding a cure for the miscreant wolves for months. The man seemed to know everything.
Letting Scarlett go, he stalked to the other side of the room and picked up the phone he saw there. He’d left his cell phone at the hotel earlier by mistake when he’d been so annoyed at Todd, Barge and Seamus. He supposed he could send one of them to get it, but he didn’t want to encourage whatever this newfound hero-worshiping from them was.
Dialing Az’s number, he decided he didn’t care about making long distance phone calls on Cole’s line. Paying for it could be part of Cole’s punishment.
After two rings someone answered, but it wasn’t the voice he’d expected to hear. It was Theo, not Az.
“Theo, why are you picking up Az’s phone?”
Usually Az was buried in a below ground lab away from any other shifters. “Good to speak to you too, Michael.” Theo paused. “Whose number is this?”
“It’s the phone of this shifter name Cole. Never mind. I need Az.”
“Yeah … that’s going to prove to be a problem.”
Michael didn’t like the sound of that. He put his hand on the wall in front of him.
“Why not?”
“Az is unconscious.”
“What?”
Realizing he yelled, he tried to cool down his nerves. Behind him, he heard Scarlett move closer to the door. Great, he’d raised his voice and now she contemplated escape.