Filed to story: The Healer and The Wolf PDF Free
My eyebrows shot up. While Jason did look younger than me, he certainly didn’t look like a child. “How long ago was this?”
“About four years.”
Moments ago, I had resolved not to get involved, but I couldn’t help the curiosity sizzling through me. “But you’re not…?”
“A kid? No. I ain’t. But most of the kids didn’t go to the lab. They took me and my brother because we were twins.”
“Twins?” Ricky exclaimed. “I didn’t know that. Don’t you want to be with your brother now that he’s out?”
“Aye, I would have liked that, but he never got a chance to escape with us. Died about two years back.”
“Well, shit.” A very apropos statement from Leo, because honestly, I couldn’t imagine it. Yes, I’d lost my mother, but even that couldn’t be as bad as losing a twin. That was a bond I truly would never understand. “Look, I have no problem with either of you joining our pack, but before you do, you should know what you’re getting into. This isn’t an easy road we’re on, and honestly, I can’t promise all of us will survive. Me, Ricky, and Ven here are working to recover the rest of our pack from the brothers’ clutches and break the curses holding them.”
Miranda and Jason looked at us with wide eyes.
“You really want to go up against them? Some of the most powerful warlocks the world has ever heard of, and probably the most powerful ones on this continent?”
“I do,” Leo answered firmly.
“And I do, too,” I said, surprising myself. “I know I’m only a human and a gardener, but I will do my best to break the curses on whoever I can and help on the sidelines like I did with the breakout.”
“Unsurprisingly, I’m dedicated, too,” Ricky finished. “We’re going to get our pack back, one way or another. And it’s completely fine if you don’t want to join us, but our alpha is right. If you want to be a part of our pack, you have to be a part of the fight.”
“I…” Jason took a deep breath and pushed his food around on his plate. I took no offense to it, as to me it seemed like he was taking the entire situation very seriously. “I reckon if we’re going to do something like that, we should also try to find as many allies as we can. I haven’t been out long, but I’ve heard whispers about a shifter pack that’s taken down a few brothers.”
Leo shot him a wolfish grin. “We might have had a hand in that.”
“I figured as much.” With that, Jason stood, and Miranda followed a beat later. “If that’s the case, I pledge my loyalty to you. You will be my alpha, and I will be your follower. Through war, through famine, we are stronger together than apart.”
I could practically feel the crackle of energy in the air as Miranda repeated those words. I definitely got the impression that Jason wasn’t simply saying it off the top off his head, but rather that it was an oath passed down over generations-one that held more weight and meaning than I could understand.
Leo stood. I jolted, but thankfully Ricky was beside him in an instant. “Then, you, Jason, and you, Miranda, are now our blood. I am your alpha, and you are my pack. I swear to protect you, I swear to guide you, and Iwillkeep you safe.
“So mote it be.”
“So mote it be.”
While there was no crack of lightning at the end, no boom of thunder, the air still held a heavy finality, like it had stilled itself to respect the moment. While I made no such pledge, my heart was full of happiness. Yes, there was a lot of evil in the world, but in our own way, it felt like we truly were fighting it.
After all, someone had to stop the brothers.
Why couldn’t it be us?
LEO
My body hurt.
Not that endless agony consuming every moment of my existence like at the lab, but a steady ache still permeated all my bones.
It had only been a week since I had returned, so perhaps it was naïve of me to expect to be fighting fit by now, but even Ven seemed puzzled. A day or two after I’d accepted Miranda and Jason into our pack, she cautiously approached me to ask if I had a theory as to why my healing was taking longer.
I hated that she was walking on eggshells around me. It was as if she was afraid even her voice would rattle me, or perhaps she simply didn’t trust me. Ihadbeen quite violent when I was fighting against being captured, but surely she understood that. At least I hoped she did. Of course, I could ask her outright, but part of me was afraid of the answer.
Then came the matter of me giving Ricky orders behind her back. While she hadn’t brought it up, Ricky had told me he didn’t appreciate being put in the middle like that. I didn’t blame him, but I was immensely grateful he’d gotten Ven out of there. Ascrazy as it sounded, I would go through that entire torturous experience three times over if it meant keeping Ven safe.
I didn’t use the question about my healing taking longer as an opportunity to talk about such heavy topics. Instead, I told them I must have been consistently dosed with wolfsbane so the scientists could test my limits as a wolf. Hopefully, Jason and the others blowing up the lab meant all their research had been destroyed.
One could only hope.
Ven had seemed satisfied with that at the time, but we still tiptoed around each other. I was happy to be around Ven again, and I was sure she felt the same, but we were avoiding very specific conversation. I knew we had to have them eventually, but surely after everything I’d gone through there was no harm in procrastinating a bit.
Well, that was what I told myself.
“You really want me to pluck the heads off your flowers?”
I sipped at my tea as I listened to Ricky and Ven tending her flower patch. It was difficult not to resent Ricky for taking my place as Ven’s helper, and I wondered if I should go out and help. Then again, what if I was more hindrance than an aide?
“Ha-ha. I know it may sound counterintuitive, but dead heading makes sure your flowers continue to reproduce.”
“How’s that work again?”
I leaned toward the window, eager to hear Ven’s explanation. While I was glad to have Ricky back, I missed when Ven and I fooled around in her garden, when she taught me about all the little things I never even knew existed.
“Well, you see, basically all plants want to reproduce. That’s kind of their whole purpose. The way most flowers reproduce is by the seeds that come once their flowers dry up and die. Not all, but a majority. So, if you cut off the blooms right before theystart to dry out, it tells the plant it needs to make more flowers in order to produce more seeds and make more babies.”
“Huh. That’s so crazy. I never would have thought of that.”
Ven chuckled. “Plantsarefascinating.”