13. Shay

THIRTEEN

Shay

" I t's me. Can I come in?" Brielle called through the closed door.

"Always!" Leigh called back, answering for both of us as she so often did. Dirge didn't budge at my side as she entered, unconcerned by either of my besties' presences anymore, something I hadn't put together until just now.

"Okay, so, John Henry agrees that your overnight healing is completely unprecedented in the presence of wolfsbane. So… I've got nothing. Except news. That I have." She pressed her lips together for a moment, a streak of sadness stealing over her features before she quickly schooled them back into a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Our flight for the north, to the Athabascan pack lands, leaves tomorrow. Given everything going on here… I'd like to offer you and Leigh the option to stay here. I want you by my side, of course. But it feels selfish to drag you along when you have your own things going on." She tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear, ducking her head to look at her shoes instead of either of us. "I would understand if this is where you two say you're done. It's probably safer if you both take some time. "

"Hell no." Both heads snapped toward me and my uncharacteristic outburst, but I didn't care. "If you think we're abandoning you now when you're newly mated, in a new pack, and with no idea what's going on with your magic, you've got another thing coming. We are getting on that plane with you."

Leigh gave me an air high five, grinning like a loon. "Everything she just said," she added.

"But…" Brielle's feeble protest died on her lips, tears rolling over her cheeks. "It's not safe. The Omega Defense League is going to keep investigating. We don't have any information about who killed Kane's parents, or why, or if they're after us now that he's high alpha. The wolf's out of the bag that I'm a weak link, and after how many people saw me try and fail to shift… If they weren't after him before, they might decide to come after him now." She threw up both hands in a helpless gesture and then angrily dashed away a tear. "It's bad enough I painted a target on my mate. But I can't do that to the two of you. And dragging you along is doing that. Being selfish. So, please. Stay here, or go home. But don't put yourself in the line of fire for me."

Leigh shoved to her feet so fast, she blurred a little. Her eyes glowed the gold of her wolf—that was happening a lot more since my accident—and she closed the distance between her bed and Brielle in half a second.

"Do you think our friendship is worth so little to me that I would leave you to deal with all this alone? I thought we knew each other better than that, and if you suggest that I stay behind—that we stay behind—one more time, I'm going to be insulted. For real, not kidding. You two and your knuckleheaded males are all I have in this world." Leigh bit her bottom lip for a second. "We are coming with you. Don't suggest otherwise again."

Brielle nodded, too choked up to say anything else as she fell into Leigh's waiting arms. I climbed off the bed and finished the group hug, the shifter need for physical touch driving me. I was surprised when Dirge nosed his way in, licking me on the arm once before leaning into the huddle, providing his own support.

I know the man is in there. But why won't he come out? The thought was going to plague me until I had a human mate standing in front of me.

"I'm okay, I'm sorry, I— I'm fine." Brielle waved us off after a few minutes, swiping hastily at her eyes to hide the evidence of her momentary breakdown.

"Of course you are, you lucky bitch. You have us." Leigh winked and blew her a flamboyant kiss, making us all laugh. The tension evaporated like magic as we all settled around the room. Brielle took a cushy armchair between our two beds on the opposite wall.

"So." I hesitated to bring up an unpleasant topic, but we needed to discuss it. "The killers. There's no news? No sign of what happened?"

Brielle shook her head, shoulders dropping in sadness. "No. The only thing we know is that there were no physical wounds, but the test for known poisons in his blood was negative. It doesn't mean it wasn't poison, only that it could have been an unknown substance. And if it's not a known poison, it's harder to pin on any one group or person. Apparently, killers have favorite methods they tend to go back to, and this is brand-freaking-new."

I scratched behind Dirge's ears as I thought.

"So, we have to go back to opportunity, then, and motive. There were members of almost every pack in the modern world on-site. Opportunities abounded. Motive, well, there's power, obvs," Leigh mulled aloud. "But I think that actually narrows it down. There aren't that many packs strong enough to think they could keep the throne after pulling something like that. They'd have to be strong enough to take on not just Pack Blackwater, but Kosta's home pack, the Caelestis. And be able to get past Kosta's personal guard. Have you seen that Sergei guy? I wouldn't want to tangle with him unless it was in the sheets." She made a claw motion with her fingers and shook her shoulders suggestively.

"Didn't you get enough alpha asshole energy with Gael?" I asked, rolling my eyes at her over-the-top self.

"Wait, what ? Back up, rewind, and tell me everything." Brielle leaned forward, eyes glued to Leigh, who was now blushing furiously.

"Okay, so, this is way low priority given the topic we were just discussing"—she shot me a narrow-eyed glare—"but Gael and I may have spent the night together after your bonding ceremony."

"Shut the fuck up!" Brielle blurted, then slapped a hand over her mouth. "Pardon my French. But seriously, you guys slept together? I thought you hated each other. You're always fighting."

Leigh shrugged one shoulder. "I got it out of my system, and that's it. I blame all the pheromones you and Kane were throwing. We were under a spell." She wiggled her fingers mysteriously in the air. "But back to the point. Killers. Motive. Bad stuff."

"I'm sorry, I need more than three seconds to process the fact that you hooked up with Kane's broody, grumpy?—"

"Hot as heck," I supplied, to which Dirge growled and shot me a look over his shoulder.

"Oh-ho! Fuzzy-wuzzy is jealous!" Leigh cackled.

Dirge's only response was a haughty huff low in his throat.

"He has no reason to be jealous," I countered, then met his eyes with a grin. "He just needs to shift into a man again so we can all talk about how hot he is."

"Maybe he's got a bad butt, so he's too embarrassed. Is that the problem, Fido? "

"You've already used that one," I said drily.

"I know. I need to look up some new ones. Who's a poochy with a bad butt?" she crooned.

After that, serious discussions devolved into long-overdue best-friend chatter, a Leader of the Pack hairbrush singing montage, and three pints of ice cream, which extended late into the night. Even after Kane found us and took up a position at Brielle's side, content to let us enjoy a rare moment of peace.