40. Jax

40

Jax

"The amount of time your mate spends unconscious is concerning," Saul said dryly.

I shot him an annoyed look. It had only been two days since we returned. When Kenzi had returned, Jenson and several of my guards had started toward us in SUVs, which was fortunate. Carrying an unconscious Anna back when Maeve was willing to so boldly kidnap her was not something I had relished. Especially considering the rough shape we were all in. It had taken us a day to gain the energy to move, and it would have taken us twice as long to return if we'd been carrying Anna.

The six vehicles and three dozen guards had been welcomed.

"You wouldn't be walking if it wasn't for her," I reminded him as I looked up from the journals in my lap. It was early in the morning. I'd gotten a few hours of sleep and had two meetings that I needed to attend later in the day, but every free second I had was by Anna's side. Lunessa and Irene both assured me that she might sleep for a few days to replenish her strength, but she was fine.

"I'm aware. I told you that."

His unusually surly tone caught my attention, and I put the journal down. "Is there something bothering you, Saul?"

"Other than the hundreds of times I have to field questions from pack members about when Anna is going to wake up? I'm just fine," he grumbled.

My wolves had been ecstatic when we returned. Apparently, when Anna tried to return the energy she'd taken, she'd given them all a jolt of love. I'd been fielding my own inquiries into when she'd up and about. Everyone wanted to touch her. Hug her. Show her affection.

"It takes more than that to make you so grumpy. Out with it, healer."

"Fine. I didn't want to complain but Amelia and that IT girl have been in my infirmary all day. That girl seems to take malicious glee in taking apart any equipment that hooks up to the internet. She doesn't seem to understand that they're delicate instruments."

That girl was Sophia, and she was hardly a girl. Mid-twenties, and she was quite the looker. At least once a month, someone inquired about her mating status. It was the most requests I'd ever had for an unmated woman.

She was also an orphan. It made things tricky when she was younger, but now she was capable of making her own decisions, and her decisions tended to be to ignore men.

But computers? She had a special knack for computers.

"What Sophia and Amelia are doing is important, and Amelia is struggling a little bit since she felt Finn almost die. She needs a project," I said as I returned to the journals. "Did you read the notes I gave you last night?"

"Yes. Irene and Lunessa are still trying to trace Anna's mother's lineage, although I do not know if it matters. Not everything is about biology. Sometimes it's just fate. London's grandfather's obsession with nulls is a bit concerning. Do you think he was in love with the last one?"

That was the impression that I got, but the witch never reciprocated, or at least never said, and if it was a true mate bond, London's grandfather never let on.

I'd spoken to London twice since we returned. He still hadn't found his mole, and he was furious that I'd taken Lunessa. He muttered something about me having too many witches, but we both knew that his interest in Lunessa was purely personal.

As for Lunessa, she was tucked behind several layers of warding to keep her coven from calling her back. Irene told me that they couldn't hold it indefinitely. Eventually, the Crone and the Mother could break through and get to her. Apparently their phone calls were not going well. When I suggested video chats, Irene had ordered me out of the cottage.

And still Anna slept.

"What was it like when she healed you?" I asked him as I put the pages down. "What did you feel?"

"Light. A warm healing light," Saul said a little dreamily.

That was what I'd felt as well. I'd been at my weakest moment, and then every bond in me flooded with warmth. I'd never felt anything like it, and if the pack had felt the same when she tried to return their energy, it was no wonder that I was fielding so many requests to see her.

"All right. I need to go rescue my infirmary from that girl's grubby little hands. I'll check in at noon." Saul walked out, and I couldn't help but grin. It was good to find someone to raise Saul's ire.

He left, and I put away the journal entries and pulled up my email. Jenson had done an excellent job in my absence. There were a few skirmishes that I still needed to deal with, but no emergencies. The job as my second had gotten exponentially harder these past few months, but he'd stepped up.

He deserved a vacation when his was all over. Hell, we all did.

It was another twenty or thirty minutes before I felt her wake up. The mating bond warmed with a sleepy haze, and I walked over to the bed as she opened her eyes. "You're alive," she whispered.

"Thanks to you."

The light dimmed in her eyes. "I think I'm a monster."