Page 95 of Pack Rage
“Flor…?”
I shook my head. Flor hadn’t once spoken about children, and I knew it could be many years before she would be ready for that conversation. There was no rush on my part. “You have two sons, and from what I hear, they’ve both found their true mates. You have reasons to live that haven’t even been born. Come back to the pack. Help the girls.”
I went quiet, watching as her whole body trembled. I thought she was quivering with rage, but when she took a few steps away from Bradley and shook like a leaf, I wasn’t sure.
Would she fall? Of course not. Still, I walked behind her all the way back to the Mansion, where the girls were gathered by a torch, still peppering Flor with questions. Sergeant and the Tenebris boys were watching from the edge of the pines, closer to the back gate.
One of the women was in the middle of a panic attack, her head hanging between her knees as she tried to breathe, while another held onto Flor’s arm. “They might not have caught all the Russians, you know. They’ve been taking calls from them for years, Flor, I heard them talking when I was in the bastard’s room?—”
“Enough!” Margarette stopped at the back of the group. Every single female fell silent and turned to her, mouths hanging open as she plowed through them and laid a hand between thepanicking girl’s shoulder blades. “Breathe,” she ordered, and counted a few breaths with the girl, who relaxed slightly. “Now, listen. We’re sleeping in the woods. I’m going with you. Take fur if you can.” She narrowed her eyes at the group. “Some of these girls can’t shift yet. What do you have for bedding, Sergeant?”
He stepped up. “It’s a clear night, no rain. We have blankets in the van, plenty for the girls. My pack can patrol and sleep in the trees. I’ll set some boys to digging a pit latrine.”
A few boys broke off with yips of, “Yes, Alpha,” at that, and ran toward the back gate.
“Thank you, Sergeant.” They exchanged a long, pain-filled look, before Margarette faced the girls again, who were grumbling about strangers.“Do you believe that I would put you in harm’s way?” she asked one of the girls, just as two more women came out of the Mansion, pushing a cart loaded with food. Margarette lifted her face and let them all take her in. She was nothing like the woman I’d first met, years before. Her face was scarred, her hair short. New lines of pain and fatigue etched her cheeks, and her eyes had gone dull. But her voice had all the power it ever did, and when she pulled a dagger out of her belt and held it up, no one could look away.
“I have left the body of my true mate, your rightful Council Head, to lie alone under the moon, so that I could come and live out the promise we made to the pack. I will protect you with every breath I have, every drop of my blood. I have sacrificed for you, because it is my duty and my privilege. I will keep you safe. Now, follow me.”She turned on one shaky foot and strode to the gate. The girls all followed her instantly, mesmerized by the web of comfort and power she’d spun. The women with the food thanked Flor, then followed as well.
Flor blinked up at me, swaying a little on her feet. “Luke?”
“Time for sleep, little one,” I murmured, lifting her into my arms. “Forest, or bed? I had a guest room with a down?—”
She almost sobbed out the word. “Bed.”
“Bed,” I agreed, carrying her into the Mansion. She was asleep long before we reached the room.
“Good morning.”I opened my eyes to find Flor sitting up beside me, drinking a cup of what smelled like hot mint tea, and wearing chocolate cookie crumbs on her face. She’d showered at some point, and changed into a roomy t-shirt, her hair still damp. She screwed up her nose, and I smiled. She looked far too young to have defeated the world’s wickedest witch on her own. “Well, I suppose it’s technically good afternoon.”
I sat up. “I slept all day?”
She grinned. “Yeah. Finn snuck in around seven and brought me fresh clothes and towels. Brand came in around nine and brought breakfast.” She waved at the bedside table, where a tray sat piled with cookies and carafes of juice, water, and a pot of tea. “Then Glen showed up a half hour ago and caught me up on all the latest. You snored straight through.” She put her teacup down.
I couldn’t believe it. “How…?”
“Brand said it was because you were with me and felt protected.” She fluttered her eyelashes.
“Protected? Who’ll protect you from me, though?” I laughed and grabbed her around the waist, tickling her and nibbling the cookie crumbs from her face and chest, until she begged me to stop.
“I’ll pee!”
I kissed the tip of her nose. “Whatever you’re into, little mate.”
“Ewwww!” She threw herself off the bed and ran to the bathroom. I was debating whether to follow her for a quick shower—there were a million things to do today, and I needed to help the others—when she walked back out, nude.
My mouth went dry, and suddenly, I needed a glass of water more than I needed anything else. Except, perhaps, my mate’s body under me.
“By the moon, you’re perfect. No, don’t roll your eyes at me.”She had more scars than before, all of them made by silver weapons the night before, but they looked years old. She climbed back up on the high, soft bed and lay beside me, so I could trace them all with my fingers. “You’ll have as many as I do if you don’t slow down.”
“I’m done with silver,” she said, stretching her arms over her head. “If I could get rid of it entirely—like, make every pack swear not to use it—I would.”
“If you were the Council Head? Is that all you’d do?”
“First thing, maybe,” she mused, then swiveled her head to me when I hummed. “Don’t even think it.”
I just shrugged. “You’d be great.”
“Are you nuts?” She flipped over so she was straddling me, and held my hands over my head, pressed down on the pillow. She kissed me thoroughly, intently, as if she were trying to memorize my mouth, pulling my taste and my scent into her own. Breathless, she pulled away at last. “Council Alpha. I’d be an absolute despot. Mad with power. I’d force you to lie still while I licked every inch of your body…”
