“I don’t know what you’re doing out there.”
He whines, pawing at the ledge. Majestic golden eyes find mine through the smudged panes of glass, begging. Definitely not Caden, then. I lift a brow and his wolf lowers his head to rest on his paws.
“I’m not letting you in.”
He gives a grunt of complaint. I can’t believe I’m arguing with a wolf.
I glance at the door, listening to my sisters’ even breathing. Sliding my lips together, I give in to curiosity and wrestle with the window to get it halfway open.
Caden’s wolf pushes his head through before I’ve moved back, sniffing at my hands, licking my wrist, then wedging his nose in my armpit with a happy rumble.
“Okay, wait, wait,” I hiss when he tries to squeeze his massive body through the tiny window.
He nuzzles into my neck when I hesitantly run my fingers through his fur. I’m surprised to find it’s thick and soft beneath the outer coat. I scratch behind his ears and a laugh bubbles out of me at the way he melts with a groan.
“I hope you don’t remember any of this when you shift back to your usual self.” I smile wryly. “I prefer you this way. You’re way less of a dick.”
I spend far longer than I should petting him. When he finally lets me go back to bed, I hear him pacing outside. I sense it in the bond when he settles on the opposite side of the wall where my bed is.
I cover my chest with a hand, and instead of the constant burning ache, the magic of the bond is warm. Almost comforting.
After three days of enduring kitchen duty, forced mingling with the pack, and Caden’s wolf spending every night outside my window, I’m going stir crazy. I want to shift again, but more than that, I need to get out of here.
The kitchen stores don’t have anything else I need to fight Lena’s cold before it progresses into a full-blown respiratory infection. Yesterday I cornered Alma the first chance I got and buttered her up with the paste I made for her stiff joints. She looked the other way while I took two jars of honey.
I know the town has a fall harvest festival coming up where I could obtain better quality honey from the beekeeper than what the pack imports because it’s cheaper. It’s too risky to try to get all the way to town with the increased patrols and tightening of Caden’s rules since the bonfire—his answer to everything when something threatens order in the pack. Once again, a Morgan is the source of that something.
Going to town might be out, but I do know of some good spots beyond the edges of pack territory that could still have useful plants. The trick will be finding the opening in the patrol schedule now that my usual spot where Caden found me has round the clock supervision from his security team.
Taryn’s fiery red hair snares my interest as she stumbles in late under Alma’s watchful eye. Her reputation for skirting the rules might be just what I need.
She comes over and busies herself with the bag of flour I’m scooping from until Alma’s attention is off us.
“Morning,” I say with a hint of amusement. “Did you get lost?”
She frowns into the flour. “Liam’s the reason I’m late.”
My brows lift. A laugh puffs out of her.
“No, not like that. He shows up to make sure I don’t skip out on my assigned rotation, but then he ends up lecturing me like I’m a misbehaved pup.” She rolls her eyes. “He drives me crazy.”
I hum with a smirk, adding eggs to the bowl to make batter for the pancakes Ace and Emily are cooking on a large griddle. We work quietly for a while until I decide to just ask her outright.
“Hey, uh. I’ve heard you have a way of evading the enforcers,” I whisper.
Taryn’s bright blue eyes sparkle and she lights up with a playful smile. “Yeah, why? You want to sneak out?”
I bite my lip, glancing furtively around to make sure no one overhears before nodding. “It’s important. My usual route is under constant watch.”
“Done.”
“I can—wait, done?”
“You can count on me to get you out. I know a spot that’s always overlooked no matter how many times they switch up the schedule.”
“Thank you.” My shoulders sag with relief.
Alma clears her throat, scrutinizing us as she comes over to collect the pancake batter.
“How’s the medicine working out? Does it help with stiffness and swelling in your knuckles?” I ask her.
Alma flexes her hand, mouth slanted as close to a smile as she gets. “It does the trick.”
Taryn leans in to mutter in my ear when she moves on. “Meet me at the tree with the knot that looks like a face after sunset.”
The rest of our morning shift passes fast enough that I’m hurrying back to the cottage to check on Lena before noon while Beatrix is still at her school lessons. Lena should be attending lessons at her age, too. I’ve been too nervous to let her go. I don’t have to worry about Bea holding her own like I would with Lena.
When I leave the dining pavilion, the main lawn is crawling with young shifters doing training exercises for the pack’s enforcer team. Tryouts must have started.
One group is blindfolded while Liam barks orders at them to scent where he and the other high-ranking lieutenants are. Another group of males and females are being tested on their agility, shifting back and forth between forms. Caden evaluates them with his arms folded while one of the enforcers from his father’s reign marks down times on a clipboard.
I pick up my pace, scolding myself for slowing to observe the stretch of his rolled up flannel sleeves around his magnificent forearms. A spicy hint of sun-baked cedar tickles my nose until I leave the commons.
Once I’m home, I prepare another poultice and smear it on Lena’s chest. She chatters happily about the plot of the book she’s reading. It’s the same one she’s read a hundred times, but I listen with a soft smile.
“The dragon shifter has been cursed to guard the tallest tower, and every year the humans in the provincial town below have to select a maiden to send as a sacrifice to avoid the dragon’s wrath. Except this maiden volunteers to go because she wants to seek revenge for her older sister being the sacrifice the previous year.” She clutches the book and peers over the pages at me. “And guess what happens when she gets to the dragon’s tower?”
I curl her silky hair behind her ears. “You’ve told me before. Sort of spoils the surprise reveal.”
“I know, but guess anyway. It’s more fun.”
I play along. “Does she…slay the dragon and succeed in her revenge?”
Lena gasps for effect. “No! She can’t bring herself to do it because the dragon shifter is her True Mate! Their love is written by the Fates. He’s been waiting for her for over a thousand years after his rival killed her in a previous life.”
“The humans really come up with the wildest ideas about supernatural beings since they learned of us.”
“I love it,” Lena gushes. “They write it so romantically. It makes me want to go on a grand adventure and fall in love with a forbidden fated mate.”
It amazes me that she never complains about her health. When coughing tires her out, I read her book to her until she falls asleep again. Her breathing is still too raspy for my liking.
Sometimes I wish human medicine worked on shifters, but our metabolism flushes it out of our systems too quickly for it to make any difference. Most don’t fall ill the way Lena does, other than those who lose their True Mates and grow heartsick.
If only I could control real magic, like Jade’s. I’ve looked for her coven in the mountains to seek out their help with Lena’s health, but I haven’t seen any signs of them in years.