Page 47 of Ravaged Wolf
I never thought I’d see her again. I figured I’d know if she was close by, and I’d be able to bail. The bond would warn me somehow, even though the connection is spotty at best. If her emotions are strong enough, I can feel them, but most of the time, I get nothing but a dull gray static. If she picks up on what I send her, there’s no sign.
Is she okay? In the second before I freaked out, she didn’t look okay.
Rosie was there, though. And Nia. They’ll take care of her. The females here are different from those at Salt Mountain or Moon Lake. They don’t give a shit about rank, and they’re not cowed by the males. Kind of the opposite. The males court their favor and give them the best of everything. Like Dad did for Mom.
It’s good that Izzy’s here. I need to get word to her that I’m leaving so that she stays.
I’m staring at a clearly vandalized rabbit hutch, trying to think of what to do next, when I hear a male approaching, his steps intentionally heavy.
“You dropped these,” Cadoc calls out and comes to stand beside me. He eases a stack of two-by-fours from his shoulder and leans them against the hutch. “What happened here? Don’t tell me something ate the damn rabbit.” Cadoc scrubs his neck, and briefly closes his eyes as he blows out a long-suffering sigh.
I never had dealings with Cadoc’s father in person, but Madog Collins is a legend, larger than life, a shifter version of James Bond combined with King Solomon and Iron Man. Cadoc is nothing like him.
Cadoc is one hundred percent about his people. If it concerns them, it concerns him. I’ve seen him fetch old Auntie Madwen her sunflower seeds, rip Danny Powell a new one for disrespecting his mother—and then let the pup get a few good shots in when they sparred. I saw him haul Dewey Kemble’s drunk wolf out of the pool, towel dry him, and put him to bed by the fire. He’s a good alpha. Izzy will be safe here.
“She can stay, right?” I ask. “I’ll leave.”
Cadoc’s brow creases. “Izzy’s only here for a few weeks. She’s part of the exchange program.”
I’m aware of the program, but I never considered Izzy might be one of the representatives from Moon Lake. Cadoc said only medics and tradespeople were coming. Izzy was interning in corporate.
Well, if it’s only a few weeks, I can rough it. “I can patrol until she leaves. I’ll stay away from the den.”
It would be better if she were here to stay permanently. Old Den doesn’t have Moon Lake’s numbers or the high-tech security, but people don’t just disappear. The males don’t terrorize their pups, either, and if they did, the females would call Rosie, and her wolf would eat them, bones and all.
I’ve worried about that every day since I was exiled—males like Izzy’s father don’t change.
“Could she stay if she wanted?” I ask, my wheels turning. I could work something out where I run a shop off-site. Bevan would bring me things to repair. He’s the kind of male who’s always happy to help, even if he does tend to get lost on the way a lot. I could hunt between jobs, and send the meat back with him, too. “I can pay her keep.”
“Trevor—”
I rush to interrupt him before he can say no. “You know I can fix anything. I’ll set up shop past the border. I’ll do repairs, hunt, patrol. Whatever needs doing.”
“Trevor.” Cadoc turns from the hutch to face me. He’s a stone-faced male, so I have no idea what he’s going to say until he says it. “You’re not leaving. This is your pack. Izzy can stay as long as she wants, and no one is going to pay her keep. You’re pack, so she’s pack. But I’m afraid you’re getting way too far ahead of yourself here.”
My brain catches on the first thing he says. “I have to leave. It isn’t right to make her—”
See me. Think about me. Remember.
“Trevor.” He takes a second, glances at the sky, and then, like he’s made a decision he thinks he’ll regret, he looks me in the eye again. “She knew you might be here. She asked Una Kelly about you.”
I open my mouth, but the words don’t come. She meant to come to me? Or was it that she didn’t care that I was here? Or did she come to face me so she can put me behind her forever? Hope and devastation bloom in my chest as I break into a cold sweat.
“How do you know that?” I finally manage to ask.
Cadoc flashes a wry smile. “Female grapevine. Una Kelly told the witch who told my mate. I’d appreciate it if you kept it to yourself. I was sworn to secrecy.” Cadoc snorts. “If only cell service was as reliable out here as the gossip.”
I gape at the busted wall of the hutch and say, more to myself than anything, “What do I do?”
Cadoc crosses his arms and examines the missing slats, too. “Well, I’m not going to pretend that I know what you’ve both gone through. I can’t even imagine. But going by my experience, the mistakes I’ve made in life, I’d say that you can’t go wrong with listening. And patience. If she had the courage to come to you, you can hear her out.” He scratches the back of his head. “Maybe stick to bland foods for a while. Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. That’s what the witch told Rosie to eat for the morning sickness.”
I tilt my head back, close my eyes, and groan. “I’m never living that down, am I?”
“Never,” Cadoc chuckles. “Pups will be reenacting the scene with their sock puppets around the evening fire for years.”
“You could just whack me across the back of the head with that two-by-four now.”
“Nah. You’ve got a hutch to mend. If something gets that rabbit, Flora will be devastated, which means Alec will be off his game, which means we’ll fall behind on the drainage overhaul—yet again—which means the next time it rains more than three inches in an hour, we’ll be in standing water, and guess who’ll be bailing out an old cave like it’s a sinking ship with every elder, female, and pup sitting on top every piece of available furniture, crying and shouting advice and complaining about how they’re hungry and missing tea?”
