Page 58 of Rejected Nanny Mate
Gwen giggled and picked the baby up. There were leaves in both of their hair, and grass stains on the knees of their jeans.
They were both perfect, and they were mine.
Chapter 22 - Gwen
When I heard the scream, I didn't hesitate. It had been foolish to go alone before, but I didn't have Rose, and I'd been practicing for weeks. Just like before, I was sure there was no time to waste calling one of the Alphas. Whoever was screaming needed help, and even if it scared me to the bone, I wasn't going to just leave them behind.
Maybe training with Kiera and Nayeli had given me a false sense of confidence. At first, it had been ridiculously hard, and I was discouraged on a daily basis. Magic seemed to come so effortlessly for them, but for me, it felt like I was dredging it up from the depths of my soul each and every time. My friends were endlessly patient and kind, but that didn't make it any easier.
Bit by bit, I improved, even if it left me drained after each session. I’d come back to the house, feeling like I'd been wrung out like a dishtowel, and Joe was always there to cook dinner and make me feel human again. He was so encouraging, and always so impressed by the small strides that I made, they started to not feel so small after all. I wanted to impress him, and he was so proud that I kept going.
The more I practiced, the better I got. I could call my magic up without fail now, and while it wasn't particularly strong or varied in what it could do, I was able to cast the basics and do it well.
As we'd all suspected, my magic leaned towards healing more than offense, like Mia's. Joe had asked Mia to sit in on a few of my lessons with the Lunas and help if she could, but while she showed up, she rarely offered to help. Mia's magic was different from any of ours, and it seemed tailor-made forattacking. I wasn't sure if Mia was stronger than my friends, but she was scary as hell when she wanted to be.
At least she'd give up on trying to seduce Joe. She still came around for Rose, but while the animosity towards me was growing, she hadn't bothered Joe again. Having her pissed off at me was a decent trade in exchange for knowing she wasn't messing with my chosen Alpha.
Things with the pack had eased up, too. Ever since Joe had to put everyone in their place regarding me after the first surge attack, there had been some grudging respect from the Brokenclaw wolves. They were still more fond of Mia, but I was welcomed, and not just ignored anymore. It felt like a huge step, even if everything looked the same from the outside.
I wasn't scared of them anymore. I wasn't afraid of anything, and it felt like a revelation. I'd been so terrified for so long, but now that I had power and friends, I finally felt safe.
Which was why, when I heard a scream echo through the forest, I knew that I had to go to them. Even if I didn't know who it was, I needed to see if they needed my help.
I'd just clocked out of the cafe, and I'd been the closer, so I'd been the one to lock up and leave the dark restaurant behind. Since the cafe closed early, there were still plenty of people milling around downtown, and the streetlights were nice and bright. I never felt in danger there, which was why the scream had been so shocking.
It came from deeper in the forest, and while it was muffled by the trees, it was loud enough for me to hear it, even from where I was standing on the sidewalk.
There was no question in my mind what I was going to do, and I barely had time to think it through before I shifted, leaping into the air as my paws hit the ground and taking off into thetrees. I hadn't gone far when the awful, burning scent of ozone hit my sensitive nose, and I sneezed even as my blood ran cold.
That was the scent of the moving surge of magic.
I skidded to a stop, unsure of what to do. I couldn't face the surge alone, but someone was clearly out there, either being chased or already injured. I whined, lowering my ears, unsure...
Until the second scent hit me. There, under the sharp scent of the magic, was Rhie. I'd grown familiar with her scent by that point, and while I was baffled about her being in the forest alone after what had happened last time, I wasn't going to let my friend suffer either.
With renewed courage, I took off again, but this time, I reached for Joe, hoping beyond hope that somehow, even if we weren't really mated, he would sense me and know that I needed help. I nearly yelped with surprise when I did feel him, there across some previously unknown bond, and I felt his alarm mirror mine as he reached back down the connection.
Rhie screamed again, but she was so close that the sound made my ears ring. I turned, zeroing in on her, and finally, I saw the shape of her body sprawled out on the leaves. I shifted between one footfall and the next, and by the time I knelt next to her body, I was human once more.
“Rhie—” I started, grabbing her shoulders, but something in her unconscious face shifted. I pulled my hands back, and my mouth fell open as Rhie's visage melted into Mia's face.
She was pale, her lips nearly blue, and her eyes were closed. She didn't respond when I called her name, and it was clear that she was in serious trouble. I couldn't wrap my mind around why she had looked and smelled like Rhie, but it wasn’t the most important thing then, not with the surge so close. Thescent of it was so heavy that I could taste it on the back of my tongue.
Rhie, Mia, it didn't matter. I had to get her out of there. I shook her shoulders, calling her name, and finally, her eyes cracked open, unfocused. “Gwen?” she asked, and her voice was rough. “What are you doing here?”
“Never mind that,” I said, trying to pull her up, but her body was limp, unresponsive. “We have to get you out of here, Mia. I need your help.”
Mia let out a rasping sound that might've been a laugh. Before I could ask what the hell she was laughing about, I felt a familiar, comforting presence, and then the voice that I had come to associate with safety and happiness. But he didn't sound happy.
“Gwen?” Joe snapped, coming through the trees with a group of wolf hunters, looking panicked and furious. “What in the hell were you thinking—”
“Joe!” Mia staggered to her feet and threw herself intomyAlpha's arms. “You got here just in time. Gwen attacked me!”
Chapter 23 - Joe
Chaos reigned in the wake of Mia's accusation, and I had to wield my influence as an Alpha to get everyone to calm down. Gwen was in shock, trying to deny everything that Mia had said. Mia, on the other hand, was sobbing into my chest even as I tried to peel her away, and the rest of my wolves were angrily talking amongst themselves, most of them believing Mia over Gwen.
And that pissed me off.
