“I’ve got you, Leah. We’re going to take care of you now.”
Although her arm now felt like it weighed a ton, she raised it and touched his cheek.
“What? No more she-wolf?”
He smiled and smoothed the hair off her forehead. “Did you actually like that?”
Her hearing was different outside of her wolf body. It felt strange to hear his voice this way. Az sounded gentler; his intonation held a timbre that spoke of warmth and longing. It sent shivers up her spine. Or, she wondered, maybe that was just the fever she evidently had.
I think we need to sleep now.
“Can you hear her, Az?”
He shook his head. “Hear who?”
“My wolf. She talks to me.”
“No, I can’t hear her, Leah, only you will ever be able to do that. Good or bad she entirely belongs to you.”
The next time Leah opened her eyes darkness assaulted her senses. It had been midday when she’d passed out and now, clearly, it was nighttime. Her last coherent memory was of being in Az’s arms and now she was sprawled out in a soft bed. She wanted to roll around from the sheer joy of the sensation. When was the last time she hadn’t been in a cage?
A cool rag touched her forehead and a woman’s face loomed over hers stealing her gaze from the nothingness of the darkness in the room. “That feels better, doesn’t it? He can stop pacing now.”
The woman cleared her throat. “I’m Jana. We met briefly out on the field. Not that I’d expect you to remember, there was a lot going on.”
The woman’s dark hair was cut in a severe bob that ended exactly at the edge of her chin. Leah took a second to contemplate exactly how Jana achieved that level of perfection with her hair before she realized Jana expected a response. Truth was, Leah knew she had much to say to this woman in particular.
“Az told me I tried to hurt you. I’m so sorry about that. Every once in a while, I’m overcome with the desire to do things that are not my own idea.”
“My mate might disagree with me on this subject but I’ll just say that actually we owe you a debt of gratitude.” Jana pulled the cloth off her forehead. “If things hadn’t happened as they did, we might still be in New York, me trying not to mate him and Malcolm would be out of his mind confused with how to deal with me.”
“So, my being part of a pack of all but insane wolves was a good thing for you?”
Jana nodded. “In the long run.” The small woman chewed on her lip. “Az has made himself nuts worrying about you. He’s in the basement of the building, muttering to himself about infections, suppressed immune systems, and cursing magic to the heavens. He has some sort of makeshift lab down there and he’s been desperately trying to concoct some kind of formula to help you. Ashlee and I felt that you’d probably be fine given a little rest, which you obviously are but he couldn’t be dissuaded from trying.” Jana smiled and Leah thought she might have seen some sadness in the other woman’s eyes.
“He was like that as a child too. If there was a problem, he needed to fix it.”
Leah tried to absorb the plethora of information she’d just been given. Az was trying to make her better, he was most likely making himself sick about, and Jana who looked to be about thirty years old was clearly older than that.
“How old are you exactly?”
Jana raised an eyebrow and cracked up laughing. “A lady never tells her weight or age. I may have just dated myself there. I’m a lot older than Malcolm and that’s all I’ll say.”
Leah swung her legs over the table and tested her feet on the floor. It was then she noticed she was dressed and, she was relieved to realize, so was Jana. Someone had put a pair of comfortable grey cotton sweat pants and a navy blue tee shirt on her after she’d passed out. Her feet seemed to be holding steady and she gave Jana a small grin. The other woman looked glamorous wearing black pants and a tight silver long sleeve turtleneck that tugged at all the right places. Of course, Jana might just be one of those women who looked that good all the time.
Mental note: clearly, she knew something about fashion.
“So tell me why all the women here are so gorgeous.”
Jana raised an eyebrow. “Have you looked in a mirror? How did you get all those colors in your hair? On someone else it might look odd but you are stunning.”
Leah followed Jana’s gaze to a mirror across the room. Forgetting her fears about falling over, she moved forward watching as her reflection got bigger the closer she got to her destination. In the picture, her hair had been streaked with dye—a reddish, purple color—but maybe it had been an out of date snapshot of her because the woman who stared back at her in the mirror had more than just that one shade illuminated in her hair.
The reddish, purple was there but also white, orange, and blue highlights danced back at her. Grabbing her locks in her hands, she wanted to shriek. Why had she done this? It was ridiculous. She closed her eyes in mortification.
“What’s the matter?”
Leah swallowed before she spoke but she never got a chance to answer as the door to the room swung open. The sound of Az’s voice had her opening her eyes.
“Any change?”
Jana indicated where Leah stood by the mirror. “As you can see.”
Nodding to both of them, Jana left the room. Leah eyed Az warily. What did he think of her external appearance? If she really was his ‘mate’ he must feel as if he was saddled with a giant mess not to mention the nightmare of being with someone who still couldn’t remember who they were.
His grin surprised her. “I’m so glad to see you up and about.” He moved forward, his gaze on her eyes; he reached out and touched her forehead. “Nice and cool. That’s a relief.”
“I’m sorry, I really don’t know why that happened and I still don’t know who I am.”
Stop apologizing. None of this is your fault. He knows that. She almost jumped at the sound of her wolf’s voice.
Az shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, you have nothing to be sorry for. Whatever is going on here, we’re going to have to get it figured out…one way or another.”
Leah narrowed her gaze, looking at Az. He really did look worn out. “Jana said you were in the lab in the basement. If there’s a lab here, why did you use the one below ground?”
“When we built the new structure, when Tristan and Ashlee designed it, they made room for a lab here for me. In my Dad’s days, there was never one anywhere where I could use. He got so sick of tripping over my quote “science shit” that he had that lab built for me to get me out of his way.”
Leah rolled her eyes. “Sounds like a real charmer, your dad.”
Az smiled, but it was mirthless. He touched a strand of her hair, a white strand, and she wanted to hide. “He could be. If he’d met you, under different circumstances, he would have known just what to say and do to get you to do what he wanted. Kendrick Kane knew how to charm the ladies…especially our mother who thought the sun rose and set with him. I, by contrast, have no idea what to say to you.”
See, you’re not the only one who is insecure.
“I like what you say to me, Az. I like it now and I liked it when I was walking around on all fours.”
He let go of her hair and looked at the floor, she followed his gaze where he seemed to be watching his feet. “Did you notice that your fur changed colors?”
She had. “It looked more vibrant to me.”
“It might do that again. Faith’s changed several times after her first shift. She started out all black and ended up brown and gold. We have no idea why that happened.”
Her wolf scoffed. I am much more secure than that. I pick colors and I stick with them.