Page 40 of Betrayed By the Wolf

Had it been enough? She hadn’t known what to do, not really, relying on her instinct to guide her. Her heart had known only the temporary ache of a rejection by her mate, but it had been enough to connect her to the poor woman’s spirit.

She leaned her shoulder against Rami and watched as the last piece of house melted away, leaving behind a patch of dead, black grass. Tentatively, she scented the air. For the first time since entering the clearing, the stink of the curse was gone and replaced by the fresh pine scent of the forest.

“What happened in there?” Spencer demanded, pushing his way over to Vera. “You were told to ask before making any rash moves.”

Before Vera could reply, Rami was there. He put himself between Spencer and Vera, hackles raised. Tension crackled in the air. Her Alpha and her mate faced off.

“You’re right, I was told, but I felt something in there, and I had to act. I wasn’t certain the curse would give us a second chance at it.” Vera nudged Rami out of the way and faced her Alpha.

If he was going to punish her for taking the risk, she’d have earned it, and she wasn’t going to let Rami take the heat for her. It was Rosewood business, not Silversands.

Rami was a warm, protective presence at her back. She had no doubt that if it came down to it, he would leap to take any punishment Spencer might dole out, and the relationship between the two packs could break down. It was one of the struggles of having a mate in another pack.

Adria interrupted. “We can discuss this later. For now, we should get out of here. The cabin and the scent might be gone, but there’s no guarantee that the danger is as well. Whatever you two need to work out, it can be done at home.”

Spencer shook the tension from his body. “Fine. Let’s go.”

The two packs turned and headed for town. Vera cast a final look over her shoulder at the place where the cabin had stood, now a hollow in the clearing.

“You did it.” Rami’s voice was tender and proud in her mind, like a caress. “You’re incredible, Vera.”

His words warmed her, the complete opposite of what the vision version of Rami had said to her. In her time of danger, he’d been there for her, protective but never overbearing. He trusted her to handle herself. She resisted the urge to ask him what he’d seen during his own hallucination. Whatever it was, he’d defeated it, and that took emotional fortitude. Perhaps this time around, things would be different.

She trotted ahead of him, tail held high. “Thank you for noticing. I’ll accept your admiration in the form of a back massage later.”

“You know where that will lead.” He didn’t sound displeased about it.

“I’m counting on it.” Vera picked up the pace, eager to get back to their home.

Chapter 18 - Rami

“One day, you’ll get to run with us.” Rami was regaling Jessa with a G-rated version of the events that had occurred in the clearing, crafting a tale that began with the witch and the shifter as he whipped up breakfast. “And you’ll be the fiercest wolf in the pack.”

Jessa clapped her hands together, bouncing in her high chair. Vera was at the table, head bent over her notebook. Rami poured a refill of coffee into her mug. She didn’t look up from her notes.

He could watch her for hours. He loved the glimmer in her eye. When she was puzzling through something, her nose wrinkled when she was deep in thought. He didn’t know his heart could feel as full as it did with his mate and his daughter at the table, waiting for the meal he was cooking.

After they had returned from the cabin that night, she’d gone straight to James. Even after he’d been moved, she’d continued to see him as her patient and remained invested in his recovery. Rami had felt a clench in his gut each time she'd gone. Something about the man unsettled him, but he knew better than to stand in Vera’s way.

She’d found him fully alert and coherent for the first time since they’d found him in the woods, without a hint of the daze that had lingered in his eyes. The dark marks on the back of his neck had vanished. The mood was celebratory, and the tension between himself and Spencer was forgotten.

In the days following, he’d noticed a shift in Vera. A restlessness. Something that wasn’t cured by playing with Jessa, something that pulled her back to her notes over and over. He knew what it was, even if she wasn’t aware of it herself. The cursehad given Vera something to puzzle over. It had kept her mind busy.

He knew his mate. She needed a mental challenge to thrive. As rewarding as caring for Jessa was, he doubted it would satisfy her completely. Rami was just waiting for her to realize it as well.

“Breakfast is ready.” He flipped the last pancake onto a serving plate and brought the stack to the kitchen table, dishing them up with a swirl of maple syrup and a pat of butter. “You need to get something in your stomach before the caffeine burns a hole through it.”

“Ha ha.” Vera rolled her eyes and took a big swig of coffee. Then she forked up a mouthful of pancake and closed her eyes in bliss. “These are really good. I’m impressed. And surprised.”

He put a hand to his chest in mock injury. “I can whip up a batch of pancakes from a box mix with the best of them. Don’t you forget who taught you how to make grilled cheese. What are you working on?”

Vera looked down at the notes and pushed the notebook away, sighing. “Nothing, really. There’s nothing left to do. I was just summarizing everything we’d done, as if it’s some case report people will need to refer to in the future. Like that’s going to happen again.”

“Hey, you never know. If it does, they’ll be grateful to have that report filed appropriately.” Rami grinned in response to her glare. “How are things in the Rosewood pack?”

She arched an eyebrow. “They’re fine. Spencer got over it. Are you going to get over it? I don’t want it to be weird every time you two run into each other because that will happen a lot.”

“If you’d consider a switch to the Silversands pack…” Rami began, not for the first time.

---