Chapter 17

Lindsey

My body hurt all over and my mouth was parched. I tried to lick my lips, but it felt like the Sahara Desert.

Opening my eyes, I groaned and squinted against the sunlight coming through the window. I blinked a few times and looked around in confusion.

"Where am I?" I tried to say, but it came out in a scratchy, unfamiliar voice and caused me to cough, which only made me hurt more.

"You"re awake. Oh thank God."

"Walker?" I said.

"I"m right here, babe." A few seconds later he was on the phone with someone. "She"s awake."

Things seemed to happen in a frenzy as strangers I couldn"t ever remember seeing before descended. I was so confused, and my head was pounding. My beast started to stir as I looked around and realized Maya and Dante were nowhere in sight.

"Where are the twins?" I managed to say in a stronger voice.

"They"re fine. I promise. They"re in school."

"School? What?"

Did I just wake up in some sort of alternate universe?

"I know it"s a lot. I"ll explain everything, but Grant needs to check on you first."

"Who the hell is Grant?"

"Taylor"s mate," he said like I should somehow know who he was talking about.

I tried to think but it just hurt my head.

A guy I was certain I didn"t know walked in and glared at Walker.

"If you so much as growl at me, I"m leaving."

My head whipped toward my mate, and I cringed in pain from the fast movement.

He gave me a sheepish look.

"Hi Lindsey, I"m Grant. I"ve been tending to your wound and overseeing your care. You had us all worried for a while there. How are you feeling?"

"What wound?"

"You were shot. What do you last remember?"

I tried to think but it was spotty at best as random images popped through my mind.

"There was an attack. Dante"s vision. Where"s Dante?"

"Dante"s fine, babe. He"s doing great. Maya too. They"ll be home in about an hour, and they will be so happy to see you awake."

"You were shot in the attack," Grant said. "You shifted back to your skin, so it"s been a slow healing process. I"m going to run a few tests and then recommend you shift to accelerate your healing."

I gasped and shook my head, ignoring the pain the motion caused.

"If you knew me at all, you wouldn"t advise that."

He gave me a placating smile. "Your beast is safe here. No one will harm you in any way. Alpha"s orders."

"I don"t have an Alpha," I spat out.

"Not yet, but since you"re in Westin Pack territory, Kyle Westin gives the orders."

I tried to sit up. "I"m where?"

"San Marco, California," Walker said.

"How? When? Why? How long was I out?"

I looked to him for answers, but by the way his face paled, I wasn"t sure I wanted to know.

He and Grant exchanged a look.

"Let Grant finish and I"ll explain everything."

I didn"t know what exactly Grant was going to do, but as he pulled my shirt to the side and removed a bandage there, I cringed.

Walker's jaw locked and his eyes darkened. I was surprised his teeth didn"t crack under the pressure of his intensity. His anger was palpable and was seeping throughout his body as he squeezed my hand so hard it felt like he was crushing it.

"Ow," I said.

He growled menacingly, glaring at Grant.

"Not him. You. You"re breaking my hand."

He flinched, dropped it, and immediately apologized.

That seemed to distract him enough for the other man, Grant, to do whatever he needed.

When he was done listening my chest, checking a tube coming out of my arm, and re-dressing the wound, I reached up and smoothed the frown on Walker"s face.

"I am so happy to see you awake, Lindsey. It"s very nice to finally meet you. And this was by far the easiest checkup I"ve had with you. Thank you for distracting our boy. He"s been a bit of a beast himself while you were out."

My mouth dropped open in surprise, but he just winked.

There was something very easy going about this guy and I found I liked him immensely. But I also knew that if he knew the truth about me, he wouldn"t be so nice.

"Okay. I"ll leave you two to talk, then I want you to shift, Lindsey. Your beast should heal the rest of this. I"ll stop in to check on you tomorrow."

"If you truly knew me, you would never ask me to shift like that," I said.

"He knows, babe. They all do."

I shook my head. The pain was still there, but the shock was making me go numb.

Walker took my hand once more and when he spoke his voice was gentle.

"I know this is hard for you to believe. I know you don"t trust easily. But they know. All of Westin Force knows and so does Kyle. You"re safe here. They will protect you because it"s the right thing to do, but even if they didn"t feel that way, they'd still do it just because you"re my mate. That means a hell of a lot around here."

I didn"t know what to say. He couldn't possibly be this na?ve. No one would just accept a beast like me.

But he does, a small voice reminded me. And so do the kids.

"Where are the twins?" I asked him once more.

"You"ve been out for over a week, Lindsey. For a while there we didn"t think you"d survive. I"ve never been so terrified in all my life. I"m afraid I didn"t handle it very well. When it was safe to do so, I had you transported here. This is my home, our home. For now, at least. If you strongly believe we should be elsewhere, then we"ll discuss it after you"re completely healed and your strength is regained. Until then, you"re just going to have to trust me. And all I ask is that you keep an open mind."

There was something different about him. He was stronger somehow, more demanding. Though that wasn"t exactly it either. I couldn"t quite put my finger on it, but he had changed.

"As for the kids," he continued. "Kyle and I spoke and decided it would be best if they had a bit of structure and routine while they are here. They are so worried about you and school has helped them to take their minds off that at least for a few hours each day. And they"re thriving. You"ll see."

I didn"t know what to say or think. Maya and Dante deserved a normal life. They weren"t genetically my children or just average shifters. As long as they didn"t tell anyone about their abilities, no one would suspect they were witches.

"But what if someone discovers they are witches?"

"No one here cares that they are witches. We provide safe harbor for witches all the time."

I snorted. "Right. A magical perfect place this is. Are you crazy? There is no place safe for two young witches. No Alpha would allow it."

"Kyle"s mate, Kelsey, my Pack Mother, is a very powerful witch. We"ve rescued dozens of other witches, many of which have taken up residence right here in San Marco. The kids are not alone. They aren"t odd or different here, Linds. They can just be perfectly normal kids."

Tears pricked my eyes. It sounded like a dream. I couldn"t help but be skeptical of it.

"You should shift now."

"I can"t."

"You can, sweetheart. I need you to. The kids need you to."

"But it"s not safe," I insisted.

"Maybe not indoors. I have normal ceilings, not like the high ones at the Manor. But we can go outside and shift. I"ll be right by your side. Quite frankly, I've struggled to leave you for even a moment, though I did when I had to get the kids settled in at school. It killed me to be away from you, but I tried to honor the promise I made to them and to you that I would always take care of them."

"Thank you," I whispered. I didn"t know what else to say. This incredible man had stayed by my side and protected me and the children when I couldn"t. It blew my mind, but I was so grateful for him.

He leaned over and kissed me.

"You never have to thank me for that. I"m just so relieved that you"re awake. You don"t know how horrible it"s been watching you lay there and fight for you life."

I shuddered. I had no idea what that would feel like, and I was still in awe that he even cared. No one else had cared if I lived or died, not for a long time, if ever.

"Do you think you can walk?"

I shrugged.

Grant had removed the IV from me before he left, but I felt so weak it was pathetic.

"Here, let me carry you."

Before I could protest, Walker swooped me up in his arms and cradled me to his chest as he walked through the house and out the back door. There was a big lake and a few other houses scattered around it.

"Mostly Bravo team lives out here, but when Shelby and Ben built a house here, I did too. It let me be closer to them and the triplets. I pitch in and babysit as often as they need."

I remembered him talking about them, but very few details. Everything in my head was a bit foggy.

He walked down the stairs of the back deck and gently set me down.

I looked around to see if anyone was watching.

"It"s okay, Lindsey. I promise you it"s okay."

I nodded and took a deep breath.

I wasn"t good at trusting people, but I needed to trust him. If I couldn"t trust my one true mate, who in this world could I trust? It was a big, scary, lonely world as it was. Maybe it was time I took a chance.

"I"ll be right here the whole time," he encouraged.

I took a deep breath and then quickly stripped out of my clothes and shifted before I could change my mind.

Even in my beastly form, I knew I was weak and vulnerable. She didn"t try to take control, fly off, or freak out. If anything, she was submissive. It was the oddest feeling.

Walker stayed true to his word and kept watch over us as I walked over and curled up under his deck. Just the act of shifting had already worn me out.

"Go to sleep if you need to, but stay in your fur and feathers until you feel a little better. It may take a few shifts, or you might have to stay that way for a while, though I really hope not, because I have missed the hell out of you."

My beast quirked it"s head to the side, studying him before chuffing in approval and laying its head back down to rest.

I didn"t want to sleep anymore.

If he was telling the truth, I"d been asleep long enough. More so, I"d missed out on so much.

But exhaustion pulled me back under anyway.