67. Eva

The swelling around my eye had gone down and my ribs no longer hurt as much. I wasn't sure how it worked, but because I was now the proud human mate of three shifters, my body apparently healed much faster than normal. It was another fortunate side effect of the bond. Not only would I live longer, but viruses like the common cold or Covid wouldn't affect me.

I wasn't immune to everything. More serious illnesses like cancer or heart disease could still kill me, but my natural immunity had just been ramped up by one trillion percent.

Cole and Silas hadn't left my side since they brought me here. Lily had also been a regular visitor. Tanner was the only person who was conspicuously absent.

I knew he was OK. The guys had reassured me of that. They said he was tying up all the loose ends from the fight club at the winery, whatever that meant. I hadn't asked for details - I really didn't want to know. All that mattered was Brent was dead and finally, I could move on with my life and be happy.

I just wished Tanner was here. I missed his grumpy face. We hadn't spoken since the night of the Full Moon Party, when we had that silly non-fight. It was hard to work out who was the worst at communicating in this relationship: me or Tanner.

Neither of us seemed to have the skills needed to build a functional relationship. It was just as well Silas and Cole were more level-headed.

Cole looked up from his phone at my huff of annoyance. "Patience, sweetheart. Tanner isn't good at dealing with his emotions. He'll be here soon."

"I just… miss him."

He reached out and squeezed my hand. "I know."

The bedroom door swung open and Silas appeared with a plate piled high with sandwiches. "You have another visitor, sugar," he said, shoving Tanner in.

Tanner's gaze scanned my bruised and battered face. His eyes radiated rage, and I pushed back against the headboard, worried he was about to shift into his wolf. This was a large bedroom, but not that big.

Cole glared at him. "Calm down, she's fine. The healer says she'll be fine in a few days." Then he sighed. "You two need to talk."

Silas placed the plate of sandwiches on the bed, kissed my cheek, and then left with Cole. The door closed behind them.

I was hungry, having eaten nothing for two days, but my stomach had more knots than my grandmother's crochet bedspread. Tanner stood in front of the door like an avenging angel. Shirtless, as he most often was, his hard muscles gleamed in the soft light from the window.

"Eva…" It wasn't often he used my actual name. Mostly it was "baby" or when he wanted to piss me off, "human". He took a step forward and then stopped, seeming unsure of himself.

This wasn't the Tanner I knew and loved. That male was confident, aggressive, and dominant. He took what he wanted without apology. He bent me to his will, made me feel protected and loved.

The way he'd shut down had hurt me, badly. I knew, deep down, it was Tanner's way of dealing with uncomfortable emotions; Cole had told me as much. This was probably a terrible time to talk about the elephant in the room, but equally, it made sense. And besides, I needed to know.

"Tell me about Jessie-Lynn."

His eyes widened in surprise. It was apparently not where he thought the conversation would go. Well, tough shit. I couldn't wait any longer for him to open up about it. We'd dealt with our other issues, but we still needed to lay this one to rest.

There was a long pause where he wrestled with his thoughts, then his shoulders dropped and he moved forward to sit on the bed. I winced as my ribs protested at the movement, and he looked at me with alarm.

"I'm fine. Just bruised. Now tell me about her, please."

His fingers laced through mine, and he began. I listened without judgment, and when he was done, I leaned forward and held him. For a second, he was rigid in my embrace, then all the tension left his body and he sighed, resting his chin on the top of my head.

"It wasn't your fault. It was just an accident. A terrible one, for sure, but you are not to blame."

"But if I'd—"

I pulled away and sat back. "No, Tanner. You weren't drunk. You didn't deliberately drive the truck into the path of an oncoming vehicle. Yes, you were angry - and understandably so because it probably felt like a monumental betrayal when she told you she was happily moving on with no apology - but it was an accident. No matter what her father said, or others thought. Didn't you tell me how shifter teens struggle to contain their emotions? You were a teenager in love! No wonder you lost it!"

Some of what I said sank in, but he was still upset. "Everyone shunned me after she died. They all thought I'd lost my temper and deliberately killed her." He sounded so broken, my heart cracked in two for him. "Yes, I'd been angry and hurt that she was casting me aside like I was nothing, but I still loved her. The first few months I lost myself. My wolf took over, so I didn't have to deal with my emotions. By the time I came back to myself, it was too late. Rufus told me I was a liability to the pack, and I needed to leave. He said he couldn't trust me around the kids."

I liked Rufus, but right now, I wanted to punch him in the face. How dare he treat my mate that way!

Tanner half-smiled when he saw the vengeful fury on my face.

"You look so fierce," he said with a trace of amusement. Then he sobered. "He was right. I was out of control and while I'd never hurt a kid, he was only doing what a good Alpha should - protect the pack. Anyway, I left. Traveled around for a bit, doing odd jobs, security work and the like. That's when I started working for Carlos as an independent contractor." His lip curled in disgust. Now we were all aware of Carlos's role in the shifter kidnappings, I could tell Tanner blamed himself for not seeing what was happening.

"That isn't your fault either," I pointed out. "Carlos went to great lengths to hide what he was doing, and it's not like you had anything to do with his day-to-day business," I continued, before he could suggest otherwise.

"True," he conceded. "I knew he was hiding something when I went to talk to him the other day, but then I realized someone had kidnapped you, and everything snowballed."

His grip on my hand tightened. "I thought I'd lost you, baby." There was a slight hitch in his voice and tears welled up in my eyes.

"Tanner, I'm safe. You saved me. Thanks to you, Brent is dead and I can sleep at night without worrying he's going to find me."

"We're not completely out of the woods yet, baby. Carlos is still missing, but I suspect he's long gone by now." He ground his teeth and I could tell how much it bothered him that Carlos had escaped. "The Feds are after him and every wolf pack in North America wants him dead. He won't last long."