“Alpha,” Liam shouts. “It’s me.”
Caden rakes a hand through his hair, making my knees buckle with the longing his gaze sears me with. “I’m sorry.”
“Go. He wouldn’t track you down to report if it wasn’t important.”
He surprises me by calling his beta inside instead, including me in pack matters.
“Report,” Caden says.
Liam stands at attention. “Trouble again with another group. This time it’s from masonry. Weston came to get me and Hodge when he ran into them shirking duties on his patrol route shadowing Marissa and Tobin.”
Caden releases a heavy sigh. “Let’s go.” He kisses me. “I’ll come back after I take care of this.”
“I’d like that.”
He cups my cheek with a soul-stirring smile, then follows Liam out the door to handle the situation.
After he leaves, I stop by the lodge to drop off pastries for our sisters. It brings a smile to my face to see the three of them together. Callie’s plaited Bea and Lena’s hair, and they’ve made a pile of blankets and pillows on Callie’s floor where they tell me Lena’s been reading her book to them. My heart lifts with joy to see my sisters in such high spirits.
When I’m done, I go to the healer cabin with the rest of my samples. If I’m going to turn my cottage into a shop for my remedies, I have a lot to assess before getting started. Selling to humans won’t be a problem. They get excited about anything made by supernaturals. If we could get other packs interested, they might trade with us.
Eugene’s out when I arrive. He’s made himself scarce since Caden made me a healer, leaving Alisha to handle most of the packmates who come by. She’s engrossed in a meeting with a pregnant female in one of the consultation rooms.
I rifle through the storeroom for a basket and create a sign declaring the oil vials free along with the benefits and uses. On my way to the front, Nina enters the cabin with her baby on her hip and Cormac’s mate close by her side. Her mate must be back in Cormac’s good graces because they’ve been sitting with his brood’s table in the dining hall.
The two of them fuss over the baby until I put the basket on a side table near the door. Sylvie looks past me warily, twisting her fingers. She never speaks much. Not unless Cormac makes her. My stomach sours. If it were up to me, I’d kick anyone rotten like Cormac, Lorne, and Nina’s mate out of the pack for the way they treat females to turn them into husks of themselves.
“Are you here to see Eugene? He’s not here.”
Nina frowns. “We can return later. I’m sure it’s nothing. Trent will be home soon, anyway. He doesn’t like it if I’m out when he gets in.”
Sylvie shakes her head and feels the baby’s forehead. “Too warm. Something’s not right.” She eyes me again, and something must set her at ease enough to say more to me than she ever has. “I’ve raised enough pups to know.”
“I can check him for you.” I gesture to the second room Alisha appointed me.
Nina chews on her lip and nods. They follow me. I clock fading mottled bruises on Sylvie’s arms when her sweater cuffs ride up as she passes the baby to me. My jaw clenches.
This can’t go on like this. I had no power to change their lives as a pack outcast other than offering larkspur or hemlock as poisonous justice. It’s different now. I could take this to Caden. He won’t stand for this.
Nina’s baby is drowsy and his breathing crackles with mucus. He rubs at his flushed cheeks with a cranky whine. I recognize the symptoms from caring for Lena. I get a basin of cool water and dip a cloth in it, wringing it out before wiping his face. He sighs, turning his big eyes on me.
“Does that feel nice?” I smile when he clutches my hand to keep the cloth on his face.
Sylvie leans over my shoulder. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Don’t worry. He’ll be fine. It’s a cold. Take some of the tea tree and peppermint oil from the basket and rub it on his chest to ease his breathing. He probably won’t like a cold bath, but you can do cold compresses like this to give him some relief. With rest and fluids, he’ll feel better in a few days.”
“A cold,” Sylvie says, astonished. “He’s sick like humans get?”
“Shifters can catch colds, too,” I explain. “It’s just less common. Usually our innate healing abilities ward it off for us.”
“I’ve never heard of it. I thought he was getting moon sick.”
“If you’d like, I have ginger root paste at my place. I can mix in some elderberries, too. Give him that regularly to help keep him strong.”
Nina nods. “Thank you.”
I catch her wrist. “Just so you know, if Eugene were here, he would’ve written it off and called your pup weak. He’s not.”
She slides her lips together, eyes shimmering. “He’s not.”
Sylvie waves her out, taking two vials from the basket on the way. I follow them through the front door.
“If you need anything else, come to me. Anything,” I stress, glancing between them so they understand my meaning. “I’ll help you.”
Nina drops her gaze to the ground. “Don’t talk about that out in the open. You never know who’s around to listen.”
“Hush, girl,” Sylvie mumbles. “Just say thank you and keep your head down.”
She nods to me curtly and bustles down the road with Nina. I’ll need to talk to Caden about their situation. I don’t want females scurrying around in fear.
When I’m finished late in the afternoon, I head home for the night. Caden didn’t come to interrupt my work. He must’ve gotten wrapped up in Alpha duties. Before I reach the split in the road with the trail that leads up to my cabin, five males stop me.
Lorne, Dane, and a handful of the other dimwitted males that hang around them. One leers at me while scratching his ass. Dane and the other two crowd me with smug expressions.
My wolf rumbles in warning, displeased with them encroaching her like this. She rears up, fighting for control. I hold her back with my teeth clenched. If I do as I always have, I’ll get out of this.
I sidestep, but Lorne’s lackeys shove me.
“Not so fast. We saw you at the healer’s with my dam and one of my cousins’ mates,” Lorne says.
They’ve been following me that long? They kept their distance enough that I didn’t sense them.
He leans into my space. “They were supposed to be home with the other females. Family meeting.”
I grit my teeth, giving up ground. It’s either back away, or be assaulted by his stench. It’s not as strong as it was the night of the full moon run, but it still makes my wolf want to puke.
One of his cousins is at my back. I bump into him. Lorne smirks, blocking me in.
“I don’t see how that’s my problem,” I mutter.
“You’re gonna tell us what that little visit was about,” he says.
I pretend to think. “How about… No.”
His annoying amusement burns away in a flash of wrath. “Are you talking back to me?” He turns the question on his cohorts. “Is this brazen female talking back to her better?”
They chortle and call out suggestions to show me my place. Tension winds down my spine. I should’ve held my tongue.
Lorne grabs my chin, lip curling. “You’ve grown bold. You think because the current alpha’s your fated that you can get away with disrespecting his bloodline?”
He winds a lock of my hair around his finger, tugging until I’m forced to bare my throat to him. I struggle, flashing my teeth as I scramble to take hold of the bond. It’s stretched taut with distance. Caden’s far, on the other side of the perimeter. I don’t know if he’ll sense I’m in trouble, but he still might not make it in time if I yank for him to come to me. I have to deal with this myself.