Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“The miss is in her room crying.” He sniffed. “Sobbing is probably the better term. Sue has been in the room for his family for an hour hanging pictures. He must be done for the moment. Given the miss is reacting like this, it means he…probably needs help. That’s your role. You can read his twitches. Also, you’re impossibly hardheaded. It’s a flaw.”
Said the man dragging her up the stairs.
“Wrestle him down to Indigo if he won’t go willingly. She doesn’t cure, but she helps.”
At the top of the stairs, Mr. Tom shoved her into the hallway and pointed. He didn’t say another word as he turned and walked back down the stairs.
Right, then.
This was the hard part, getting an in. She had no right to push her way into Sue’s life, for many reasons. This was unheard of in the shifter culture at this level. But the whole team was trying to support him, and she had the tools to best do what needed to be done.
Besides, he’d overstepped by carrying her into the bathtub and sitting vigil. She’d appreciated it, but still…payback.
She walked down the hall like she was going to her new room—one she hadn’t started moving into yet—when she saw him come out of the secret door in the hallway. She hadn’t even known the door was there.
Her heart dropped. The struggle to keep moving was obvious. To keep functioning. The wounds had been ripped open and were bleeding from the inside out. It was a wonder he didn’t leave a trail of red behind him.
She sped up. He didn’t notice her, lost in his grief. That right there was a dead giveaway to the pain he was in.
He went to his room, hand outstretched for the knob. It didn’t turn at first for some reason, making him hesitate, looking down on it, and then she was there. It opened suddenly, and she was right behind him, pushing. Ivy House was clearly helping. Her heart warmed that a magical house cared so much about the lives and people inside it.
He startled, turned to fight, but there was no fight left in him. Not right now.
“Hey.” She didn’t bother shutting the door behind her, using her hands and weight to get him to the bed in the center of the room. It shut anyway. “It’s me.”
He half fell on the bed, violence and suffering sparkling in his eyes. She was probably one of the few who weren’t scared of his retribution. She could handle him, at least long enough to calm him down.
“Remember when I wanted to lie on the floor in misery?” she said, helping him sit straight. “And you put me in the bath?”
His dark eyes held hers.
She pressed on his shoulders and then dug in with her nails so that he could feel physical pain, helping ground him in the moment.
“Remember when I wanted you to fuck off and instead you sat vigil?” she pressed, letting violence sparkle in her eyes to match his. “This is payback.”
“Leave,” he growled.
“No.” She stared hard at him.
Challenge lit a fire in his eyes. She held it. You couldn’t go head to head with Yazanth Golden Fang and be worried about a situation like this. Or anything at all, really. That beast was burning away her ability to feel fear.
“Leave,” he growled again, but the fight was lost. He knew it.
“Tell me,” she said. “Was it a good space for them?”
His eyes pleaded with her. To leave, probably. To stay, maybe. He might not even know.
All he could do was nod—barely hold it together and nod.
She did something she’d never do in her dad’s pack. Or any shifter pack. Another professional line crossed.
She stepped closer and pulled him in, hugging him into her middle.
He wrapped his arms around her, clutching her tightly. He buried his face into her stomach and sobbed, his big shoulders shaking under her palms, his voice ragged with grief.
“They’ve found a new home now,” she said softly, constricting her arms against him. Tristan had filled her in on what Jessie had planned, the most thoughtful, amazing answer Aurora never would’ve thought of. She wasn’t just learning how to lead from Uncle Auzzie and Aljoe, but from Jessie as well. There was more to leadership than strategy and war—there were the people, and that might be the most important of all. “They’ve found a larger family to watch over them. Your family, Sue. We’re all in this together. We’ll stand by you and protect your family. They’re in safe hands.”
“I couldn’t,” he said, squeezing her. “I tried but I couldn’t…”
“You couldn’t save yours,” she said with a steady voice, holding on to him. “No one in your position could, not without help. My dad wouldn’t have protected his, and his pack was three times the size of yours. Shifters don’t look for enough help. Not like we need to. Not until now. Now you are forcing others to accept the help they need. The help you needed. You are helping lead this charge to unite. To assist others in avoiding the fate your family endured. You’re helping, Sue. In your family’s memory, you’re saving people.”