Page 17 of Pack Witch
“Restitution, maybe?” Julian muttered quietly. “Bo and Leroy, they’re good boys, but I’m pretty sure they were both dropped on their heads a few dozen times before I met them.”
“Sergeant!” Leroy spotted us and jogged closer. He stopped a few feet away and grinned at me, Bo still dragging his feet behind. They were both barefoot, dressed in short, cut-off sweatpants and nothing else, covered with flecks of mud. “Your old lady’s healed up?”
“Old lady?” I grouched, peering down at the calico gown. I didn’t have time to lift my head before Bo was kneeling in front of me, his dark blond head pressed to the ground, his hands clasped like he was praying only a few inches in front of my knees. He had twigs stuck in his messy hair.
“Please forgive me, Miss Zinnia. Please let me make resurrection to ya. I never meant to hurt you, I swear. I’m just a fool like Sergeant always says, a useless fool.” He sobbed as I cut a sharp glance up to Julian, who shuffled his bare feet.
“Like Sergeant always says?” I repeated, arching a brow.
“I don’t call you a fool that often, boy.” The unmistakable, bitter scent of a lie met my nostrils, and he scrubbed at the back of his neck with one hand as Leroy laughed.
“Only on days that end in Y, right, Alpha? Hi there, Miss Zinnia, ma’am.” He nodded his head, a long piece of dark hair falling over his face. He blew it away and took in my appearance. “I’m glad to see you healed up. Grandma Ida said you might not be able to shift and heal yourself, what with your wolf bein’, well, you know.”
“Leroy,” Julian growled. “A little tact?”
“I didn’t shift.” I stood, smoothing the hideous dress around my thighs. “I can’t. But I used my magic to heal. Well, as much as I could.” I ran a hand over the place where Bo’s teeth had torn my skin. It was still puckered and rough, the healing only in the early stages.
Bo had lifted his head and was staring at the red wound on my upper arm. “Oh, sweet Mother Moon, you’re gonna scar? Sergeant’s right. I’m too stupid to live. Ya oughta kill me now, Sarge.” He tucked his head back down, and I had a feeling he was crying in the dirt.
Julian nudged him with one foot. Well, more of a kick than a nudge. “Get up off the dirt, Bo. Nobody’s killing anyone today.”
Grandma Ida called out as she rounded the stand of white-trunked aspens, her smile wide, “I’d hope not. And making restitution is a lot harder than dying, boy. I told you that last night. Get up off the ground now, and help us old ladies get to the cabin.”
Bo stood, his head still hanging like he wasn’t able to look at me. That wouldn’t do. I sighed and reached out my hand. “Bo, I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. You thought you were protecting me from Marta. The bear.” He nodded furiously. “She’s my friend.”
“You’re friends with a bear?” He blinked at me, his light brown eyes growing wide. “Not a bear shifter, right? Alpha Brand says there’s such things in the world, you know. If she’s a bear shifter, that would make a lotta sense.”
I cocked my head. Bear shifters? Maybe he had been dropped on his head. “No, a wounded bear. I’d introduce you, but I’m pretty sure she won’t come back around before you and Julian—your Sergeant—go on your way.”
“What now?” Ida murmured, coming closer. She pulled down the neckline of my dress, then moved my head to each side gently. “That’s odd.” She stepped up to Julian and grabbed his torn shirt, pulling it away from his neck. “There better be a bite mark on both of you somewhere, Julian, or I’m going to be very disappointed.”
Julian made an odd noise. “Later, Ida.”
“Don’t you think you waited too long already, boy?” she snapped. “You two are true mates; I don’t need to have my Brand’s moonblessed eyes to see the tie between you.”
“Ida,” I whispered. “Leave it.” I fought to keep my face from showing my pain, but even if I’d made a life of hiding from pain and the rest of the world, I’d never been good at hiding how I felt. Julian hadn’t tried to claim me, even though he’d given me a memory to last for the rest of my life. I understood why, or suspected I did. Why claim a mate who had nothing to offer your wolf?
Julian wound an arm around me, and I tried not to melt into the warmth of his body. “She’s still wounded, Ida. And you know why I’m on this journey. Don’t force the issue.”
“For now,” she replied, giving Julian a look that made it clear she would circle back later. She wheeled on Bo. “Young one, did you beg forgiveness and offer restitution?”
“I was workin’ on it,” he muttered. “But she’s got magic, Grandma Ida. I don’t know what she’d want from a fool like me.”
Julian snorted, like he agreed. When I frowned at him, he sighed. “Ida’s been working for the past week on teaching the boys how to live honorably. How to make restitution for past wrongs.”
“The old ways,” Leroy jumped in. “Our pack was Southern, and a worse bunch of scum never ran under the moon. But Sergeant folded us into a new pack called Meridion, and your Alpha Brand told us we had a true mate somewhere. Maybe even the same mate, ‘cause he only saw one new golden string, or whatever, connectin’ up with both of ours. That probably means there’s just one mate for the both of us.”
Golden string? Sharing a mate? I blinked at Ida. “Like Flor and her… mate group?” She nodded, her lips pursed like she was trying not to smile. The idea of more than one mate had been a story I’d needed more than one glass of gin to wrap my head around.
Bo shivered. “But we been prayin’ to the moon our mate ain’t as much of a hardass as Miss Fl?—”
“Shut up, Bo. Talk nice about Miss Florida.” Leroy punched his friend, possibly as punctuation for his command.
Bo hit back, and a scuffle began. The fighting was far too close for my comfort, until Julian barked out, “Attention!” Both boys snapped to standing, their cheeks blazing as they realized what they’d done. “You two should know better. It’s almost like you’re asking for punishment.” Two sets of narrow shoulders drooped, and they muttered more apologies.
I didn’t like the hardness in Julian’s voice when he spoke to them, so I used a far gentler tone. “You’re on a search for your true mate? Crossing the entire country?” I fought to hide my smile when they both looked up and nodded, stars in their eyes. “I hope you find her soon. I recommend you wear shoes.”
Ida’s eyes narrowed on Julian, then on me. I knew she was remembering my feet when she’d found me all those years ago.
