Filed to story: The Healer and The Wolf PDF Free
I smiled. That was one problem down. “You really don’t have to.”
“I’m not doing anything. She insisted. Says it’s the least she can do for the pack that brought her niece and nephew back to her. Honestly, you’re gonna have to get used to this stuff. Those warlocks have been wreaking havoc over several states ever since your pack first went ‘poof’. I don’t think you quite understand how many people you’re helping.”
I didn’t really know how to respond to that-words still weren’t exactly my strong suit-but I did feel my face flush.
Although I tried my best, I’d never really felt like I was that great of an alpha. The role had been pushed on me when I was far too young. I’d had to take out the usurper who had killed my father, and I’d made a lot of mistakes that hurt my pack. But now? Now, it felt like I was finally becoming the alpha I was always meant to be. Someone who could be relied on. Someone others looked to when they were in trouble and needed protection.
“Thank you, America.”
It was strange to think how the random coyote shifter Ven had run into at Chadwicke’s estate had helped our cause so much. We never would have been able to stage the attack on Alric’s auction without her. Hell, we wouldn’t have even known about it if it weren’t for Esperanza’s reckless actions. That eagle shifter was just a kid, and yet she was already responsible for saving so many lives.
“Ain’t nothing to thank me for. I’d still be that asshole wannabe drug lord’s property without you and Ven. You got me back to my family and freed all of us from the contracts he had us locked into. The very least I can do is help you free others.”
“Not everyone would be so generous,” I said, wanting to make sure America understood how much I valued her.
Before the curse, I’d never really thought about it, but now I was beginning to think the way different shifter species were so insular and stayed so far apart from each other was more harmful than helpful. Why were we so separated? Why was there so much tension between us? The deep divisions that went so far back made us much more vulnerable to people like the brothers. And the benefits of banding together had already been proven. We’d successfully destroyed the medical facility where I was trapped and killed two more brothers while stopping an auction where many of our magical kind would have been sold off to humans and others with duplicitous ideas. That was a pretty big deal.
Perhaps too big of a deal, and something to tackle at a different time. Right now, I needed to make sure a certain gardener was okay.
“If you’d excuse me, I’d like to check in on Ven. Make sure all that curse-breaking isn’t wearing too heavily on her.”
“Good idea. I did say hi to her a bit ago, and she smells very stressed. I figure she’s not used to having so many of us boisterous types hanging around her quiet place.”
Oh. I hadn’t even thought of that, and I felt stupid for not doing so. Ven’s place had been cramped for a while with me, Ricky, and our two rescues from the medical facility. But now there were close to two dozen people on her property. Not all in her house, of course-there was no way everyone would fit. Some of them were camped out in tents, others had brought campers, and several more were still struggling with adjusting to having their freedom back that they slept under the stars in their animal forms. Not to mention there were still several shifters whose memories were so fuzzy that they couldn’t remember their names or where they’d come from. My heart ached for them, since I knew what a personal hell that was. So, yeah, maybe my worries about something deeper were unfounded andVen was simply stressed from having so many people in her space and talking to her at random.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising that she had escaped to her garden. It was her safe space, after all, but I doubted it was quite able to do its job as effectively as usual considering people were walking up to her every ten minutes or so.
Now I was about to join the fray. Oops. Hopefully, my presence would be more of an assurance than a hindrance.
With a nod to America and her cousin, I headed out. Ven was on the far side of her garden, where her newest vegetable bed was. It was the one we’d built together for growing longer-term tubers, garlic, and other things that took more than a season.
It was funny. Before I met Ven, I knew almost nothing about plants or gardening. It simply wasn’t my field of interest. But now? Now I knew so much, and I found it all endlessly fascinating. Granted, all the knowledge I’d gained was only a drop in the bucket compared to Ven’s, but she never made me feel stupid when I asked a question. She never acted impatient or annoyed. In fact, most of the time she seemed pretty excited to share with me. Her joy was infectious, which was why it was so troubling for me to see her clearly perplexed and uncomfortable. If she was burdened, I wanted to share that with her as much as I wanted to share all the lovely garden things.
“Hey there,” I murmured as I approached her, not wanting to startle her if she was deep in thought. With so many shifters around, it was easy to forget that Ven’s senses weren’t quite as enhanced as mine. The last thing I wanted was to make her jump if she was feeling prickly, overstimulated, or vulnerable.
“Oh, uh, hey.”
I didn’t quite understand the trepidation in her tone. She sounded like a teenager who had been caught doing something they weren’t supposed to, which was weird since she was justputtering around in her garden. But it did cement the fact that something was definitely going on with her.
“Are you all right?” I asked as gently as I could. As worrying as her strange behavior was, it also felt kind of edifying that I knew her so well I could tell something was wrong from a few words. It wasn’t all that long ago when I was locked in my animal mind, completely on my own and disconnected from everything. Now? Now, I had so much.
And I would do whatever I had to do to protect it.
To protecther.
“Of course, I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Well, that was about as convincing as a scam call from an unknown number.
“Because we all just went through a fairly traumatic battle, and you ended up saving my life, yet again. At this point, we’re gonna need to start keeping a tally.”
She offered a nervous giggle at that, but it wasn’t the laugh I knew and loved. I couldn’t quite figure out what was bothering her. Granted, I had a lot of gaps in my memory of what had happened. I didn’t actually know who had struck the final blow to Alric. Maybe it had been especially violent and Ven was struggling with that. While she did want the brothers dead, she struggled with blood and the grittier side of things.
“Oh, I don’t know about that.”
“I do.”
She sent me a soft look, but I knew her well enough to see the pain behind it. But there was also a wall, and I was barely peeking over it. Something had happened to put the beautiful woman I adored on guard. I knew from experience how isolating that could be, and I desperately wanted to help her.
“Would you like to go on a walk with me?” I questioned, holding out my hand. I tried to say it in a way that put zeropressure on her; if she wasn’t ready, I wasn’t going to insist. “We haven’t been to our cave in a while.”
That was how I thought about the cave now. Asours.And how wonderful the last time had been. Despite everything that had happened, I remembered it as if it had happened a couple of days ago. The two of us laughing as we ran through the rain. Going into the house completely drenched and taking a blessedly hot shower together.
Bliss.
I missed that kind of physical intimacy, craved it even, but we didn’t have the time and certainly not the opportunity. I hoped that would change soon. Maybe when there were a fewer people with exceptional hearing around and less slave auctions we had to bust up.
“A walk?” Ven asked uncertainly, her eyes flitting this way and that.
It didn’t sit right with me to see my confident, normally cheery mate so off-kilter. Even when she’d sat next to me when I was stuck in my wolf form and espoused about things I couldn’t quite grasp, I’d always gotten the sense she was sure of herself at her core. That didn’t seem to be the case now.
I wanted to assure her, to getmyVen back, so I gently cupped her chin and tilted it up.
God, those eyes. They still struck me speechless. Those deep, deep pools of chocolate brown shone amber whenever the light struck them. They contained so many emotions, so many thoughts I wanted to tap into.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, my love, but I thought it might be nice to step away from all the… personalities we have visiting.”
Ven heaved a sigh, and I swore I saw a glimpse of the normal her. “You know what? That’s a great idea.”