Page 76 of Sweethearts and Savages
Bohdie
Ipaced in front of Enit’s door. She’d been in there for three hours by herself, not letting anyone in, and I was trying to respect her privacy. But for every minute that she was in there, the more my lion got riled.
“Calm down, Bohdie.”
I looked over at Stacey, who still had a wide, white bandage on her forehead, and that just made me angry all over again. If anything happened to Stacey, Enit would be devastated. She’d never be the same.
And those fuckers rotting in Dark River’s jail cell didn’t care about that, no matter how much they pretended to like her. They had no idea about the concept of Pack, of Pride, of connections.
“Maybe they’ve never had the chance.”
I hadn’t realized I’d spoken out loud, but still, Stacey’s words had me spinning on my heel in surprise. “Don’t tell me you’re all about forgiveness too? They nearly killed you, Doc. They destroyed your lab, your life’s work. They stole Enit and fucked her up in all sorts of ways we’ll still be trying to work through for years to come. Please don’t tell me you want to forgive and forget?”
She shrugged. “We’ve spent months with Frost. Eating with him, laughing with him, getting to know him. Do you think that guy was all a lie?”
I gritted my teeth. “Yes. Because while we were chatting, he was plotting ways to kill us all.”
She tensed her jaw. “I reject your hypothesis, Alpha. I think he was discovering what true love and friendship should look like. You can’t take a chicken, throw it in a pond, and expect it to become a duck, Bohdie. He needed time to understand what he was missing.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “And Kell? What excuse are we giving him?”
She met my eyes and held them, my Alpha abilities nearly useless on her. “He was abused, Bohdie. If we are using animal analogies, would you blame the dog that had been beaten every day with a stick, when he didn’t understand that it was the man wielding the stick that hurt him and not the stick itself?”
Fuck. I knew she was right. They were both just products of their upbringing. Hell, we all were, even Stacey and Enit. “But they threatened what belongs to me. You don’t understand—the lion wants their blood.”
Stacey stepped toward me, lightly touching my elbow. “You aren’t just the beast, Bohdie. You’re a man too, the kind of man who gently woos a scared Omega, and accepts slightly eccentric humans.”
My lip twitched. “Slightly?” She gave me a droll look, and I huffed a breath. “Fine. Why are you so fucking smart? I thought you were meant to be emotionally stunted?”
Instead of being offended, she just gave me a grin back. “Then I met Enit and your ugly ass. You’ve taught me that feelings don’t need to be understood. They can justbe.”
I bundled her in my arms. “Love you too, Doc. Now get in there. She can never say no to you.”
She moved toward Enit’s door and frowned. “Where are you going?”
I waved a hand as I walked out the back door. The less she knew, the better.
It was the middle of the day, which meant that Dark River was quiet. I strolled across the nearly abandoned public square. It was like a ghost town, giving the whole place an eerie quality. There were people around, but it was quiet. A skeleton crew in case any travelers rolled through and expected the place to be open like any other ordinary town.
Still, when I stepped through the door of the Sheriff’s office, Judge was sitting behind the desk, napping. He opened an eye lazily to let me know he hadn’t really been asleep.
“What can I do for you?”
I stared at him hard. I hadn’t spent enough time with Enit’s parents to predict their responses. I went with honesty. Lay it all out there and at least I could tell Enit I tried.
“I’m going to do something stupid, but I do it to save her heart, okay?”
Judge stared at me for a long moment, until I felt like a bug beneath glass. Finally, he stood, rolling his shoulders, and I tensed.
“I’m going for lunch.”
Then he left, his keys still on the desk. I wondered if he thought I was going to free them or kill them?
In all fairness, I didn’t fucking know yet either.
I grabbed the keys and headed down the hall toward the cells. Kell was up on his feet, and Frost eyed me warily.
It was Frost who spoke first. “What are you doing here?” he asked softly, a slight tremble of fear in there.
