Chapter 15

Billie

When Gavin called the Grandbay wolves to move out, it was a relief to once more be clothed in fur. My wolf's form was much more efficient at healing, and the pain in my side definitely diminished as we moved slowly toward Grandbay.

A sense of déjà vu traveled through me as I remembered the last time I'd traveled along these tracks. The light-headed feeling and sting from an injury was uncannily familiar. Given that this was only my second week of being able to channel my wolf, I was starting to think that she must be accident-prone, given the number of injuries we'd sustained.

She grumbled as I jokingly blamed her for what had happened lately. So, I sent out waves of gratitude instead as I remembered how well she'd fought Catrina despite her exhaustion. She perked up, and our steps became lighter as we trekked along the trail with the other wolves.

Aislin's mahogany-coated wolf was beside me, and her mere presence made me feel buoyed up. I struggled a little with the wound in my side, but whenever my steps slowed, she was there, pressing her flank to mine and urging me on. The medicinal properties in the leaves that she and Helen had applied to my injury earlier had definitely helped to bind the wound. I no longer bled. Instead, the prickle of open flesh in the cool air was what needled me. But I knew, despite the pain, the wound would heal faster in my wolf form than in my human form.

As my legs carried me onward and the rhythmic march of the paw beats washed over me, my thoughts fell back to what had just happened. The accusation that Gavin had thrown at David kept beating through my brain, "you are responsible for stealing the daughter of Shannon and Tobi Rathbone, and displacing her from her true pack."

Gavin knew who my real parents were. The shock had rippled through me, and above anything else, I'd wanted to ask him where my parents were.

Shannon and Tobi Rathbone.

I knew their names. I kept turning them over in my head as if I were polishing precious gemstones. I'd wondered whether they were still part of Grandbay Pack? But even as I'd thought it, the wild hope had diminished. If they had been, wouldn't they have come forward to me then and there? So, I had let go of the ache for family and focused on the Hexens instead. As I had looked at Colt during that startling revelation, I hadn't observed any sign of recognition or knowing in his gaze. Only shock … and sadness.

A pang of guilt swept through me as I thought of how I was leaving him there alone, in the cold-hearted company of Catrina and David. But I knew I couldn't have stayed. There was no way after becoming a prisoner that I could have returned to the Hexen household.

A chill stole through me as I wondered whether I hadn't always been a prisoner. David hadn't denied stealing me from my real family and pack. The desire for answers burned brightly. When Grandbay's log cabin roofs came into view, the sight was even sweeter than it had been the first time. Because this time, I knew this was where I belonged. It was where I was always meant to be.

Home.

Like the names Shannon and Tobi, the word swirled through my thoughts, and an ache that had always been burrowed in my chest eased a little.

I'm home.

As I returned to the veranda of the Mundy's cabin, it definitely felt like a homecoming as Aislin tugged me into her room and pulled out a T-shirt with a huge grin. "You're wearing my favorite tonight." She held up a black T-shirt with Bigfoot on it and the words, Don't Stop Believing, beneath the creature.

I shook my head, but a smile crossed my face despite everything that had happened earlier. "No way. I'll get blood on it," I argued. My wound was still very much bloody and in need of treatment.

She scowled. "Fine. But tomorrow, you're wearing it." She handed me a plain black T-shirt instead.

I inhaled sharply as I tried to bend over to put the jeans on, and in a flash, Aislin was there. My throat constricted with emotion as she helped me on with them. A twinge went straight through my chest.

"Have a seat," she instructed.

I sat on the edge of her bed, and Aislin put my socks on and eased my shoes into a pair of sneakers before lacing them up. "You're good to go." She added, "I'll throw some things on and see you out there, shall I?"

I blinked her in, just realizing she was still stark naked. This whole being naked thing really was starting to become familiar. I smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Aislin."

Her brown eyes softened. "Any time, Billie." There was a gentleness in her expression, and I sensed that there was a lot she wanted to say but was holding back so as not to overwhelm me.

I stood up and wandered outside to the veranda.

There was only Gretel, Aislin's mum, and Muriel there. Muriel was the first on her feet. She approached, then opened her slender arms, wrapping them around me in a tender hug.

"May I?" she asked, gesturing to my side.

I drew up my T-shirt, but the movement made me flinch, and Muriel took over. She laid her cool palms over my side, and the same cooling, cleansing magic that had swept over me the night she'd healed me in the clearing rocked through me now.

I gasped as she released me with a smile. Bending down, I examined the unbroken and smooth skin, my hands roving over my side with awe. I didn't even have a mark.

"You didn't even shift," I exclaimed.

Muriel smiled. "It's amazing what a few days of rest will do, isn't it?" she said modestly.

In a moment, Gretel had insisted that I sit down and rest on the wicker sofa. She brought me and the others herbal teas, and I relished being able to breathe easy. Gretel pulled on a woolen jumper and took a seat in another chair.

"Tsk," she said, her brown eyes sweeping my bare arms, then threw a tartan blanket around my shoulders like a shawl. Aislin appeared and settled down next to me. Muriel took the wicker chair to my other side, and contentment stole through me.

Gretel had lit the lanterns around the balcony. The rest of the pack hadn't assembled here or by the bonfire, and I suspected they were all giving me space and time to process what had happened tonight. Sitting and breathing in the calming scent of the hot peppermint tea, the thoughtfulness of the whole pack moved me.

It was Aislin who first broached the events of earlier. "I want to murder that traitorous Catrina."

Gretel tsked. "You don't fight fire with fire, Aislin. That girl's got darkness in her, and you'd do well not to invite it in," she advised her daughter seriously.

Muriel nodded, her silvery eyes and hair catching the soft light and making her look ethereal, even in her human form. I noticed that she had a flowing sage green dress on that complimented her coloring.

With Gretel's sage advice and Muriel's kind-hearted eyes, I remembered that there was a Hexen I was grateful for. "When I was locked up by David and kept prisoner by Catrina, I would never have gotten out if it hadn't been for Colt. He got me the key and occupied the pack so that I could get away," I shared.

But Aislin shook her head. "He just stood there in the clearing tonight. He didn't speak out against Catrina or defend you."

Hollowness moved through me as she pointed that out. I wanted to explain about how he couldn't go against his father and Alpha and that it was understandable that his loyalties were torn between me as his adoptive sister and his blood relations.

But before I could voice my thoughts, Muriel clasped my knee and gave it a squeeze. "If you believe in him, Billie, maybe he does have a chance to rid himself of his father and sister's influence."

Aislin snorted into her tea. "Well, I think we're best rid of all Dalesbloomers."

I realized that the glimpse of softness that I'd caught in Aislin's eye and expression earlier was a very rare thing.

Knowing that there were more answers I needed to find tonight, and feeling the heaviness of everything that had happened threatening to catch up with me, I said to everyone, "I need to go speak to Gavin."

"Of course, dear," Muriel said.

Gretel took my mug and insisted I keep the tartan blanket wrapped around me as I went over to Gavin's. Before I left, she said, "We've got a guest bedroom, love. So come over when you're done, and you can sleep in there."

"Thanks," I said as my heart squeezed at her thoughtfulness.

For a moment, I lingered on the doorstep but then, with a steadying breath, knocked on the door. I chided my quickening pulse. After all that had happened tonight, could I seriously be nervous about seeing Gavin?

Only a few seconds later, he opened the door. And as the tall, muscular Alpha, this time clothed thankfully, stood framed in the doorway, I admitted that, yes, I very much could still be nervous about seeing this ridiculously gorgeous man.

The waves of his dark brown hair were slightly damp, and from the scent of soap, I knew he'd recently showered. Again, this was another imagining that I didn't need right now but that my wayward imagination was running with as it had plenty of material to work with from the woods earlier.

Thankfully, the reminder of the woods had me voicing why I'd actually come to talk. "Can we talk about my parents?"

His deep hazel eyes softened, and I felt my legs actually go weak. It was everything that had happened tonight, I told myself. "Of course we can," he said. "Come in. Please, have a seat," he told me, closing the door to the cabin.

I ventured over to the couch, enjoying the softness of the worn leather and breathing in the mellow aroma from the wood fire burning in the hearth.

Gavin asked, "Can I get you anything? Tea, coffee?"

I shook my head. "Gretel just made me tea."

He nodded and took a seat in the armchair by the fire.

As he sat across from me, my eyes locked onto his. In his stare rested a mixture of compassion and determination. Incredulity whipped through me that this man held the answers to the questions that had haunted me for as long as I could remember.

With a shaky breath, I started, "You said Shannon and Tobi Rathbone are my parents."

He nodded.

"What happened to them?" My pulse quickened.

"They disappeared," he explained, his brow furrowing. "I was only six years old when it happened, but I remember both my parents being shaken up about not knowing where Shannon and Tobi … and you were," he added, looking at me. "Their three-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, had disappeared, too.

Shock whipped through me. Even my real name had been taken from me. Anger toward David threatened, but I smothered it as Gavin continued.

"I know my dad tried to trace them. But he eventually concluded after months of looking that they'd upped and left."

My heart hammered against my ribcage. But if I was still here, then that surely meant that they hadn't, right? Unless … they'd abandoned me. An ache started in my chest, but I forced past it and asked, "Do you think, maybe, they didn't want me?"

Suddenly, Gavin was over beside me, a resolute expression steeling his features, and I was reminded of his proud wolf's movements as he'd stared Catrina down. "No way. I was only six when the Rathbones disappeared, but I remember Shannon playing with you." His expression relaxed. "You lived in what is now the Mundy's house, and I remember going over with my mom to your place often. I also remember how delighted Shannon was to be a mother."

My eyes rounded, surprise tripping through me as he shared the fact that he remembered my mom … and me.

Everything he'd told me in the space of a short time descended upon me, and my head whirled with the jumble of it all. To think that I was now staying at the Mundys, which had once been my own real parents' house. The bedroom that Gretel was making up for me might once have been my own or my mom and dad's.

As the thought that I was right back where I was meant to be took hold, anger toward the person who had taken me from here returned. I scowled. "Why did David take me into his house?" I wondered aloud.

Gavin's voice rumbled deeply with his wolf's presence. "I don't know, but I promise. We're sure as hell going to find out."