Page 354 of Alpha Mates

That’s enough to get him moving. He slips from the chair and joins me at the door. We slip out quietly, and I nod to Beckett outside the door—in the same spot he’s been in since he found out that Julian was here.

“We’ll be right back,” I tell him, and he nods before fixing himself directly in front of the door.

Hand in hand, I lead Levi to the washroom and wait outside while he heads in. I close my eyes as I plunk my head against the door. There’s so much left to do, and exhaustion sits on my shoulders like a tank. It’s not the first time I wonder if this is how Julian feels, but I know it’s not. Something’s wrong, and I feel like I’m the only person who can see it.

The ward’s quieter today. Less traffic, with fewer bodies inside. But the silence shifts, rising like a hum I feel in my body. My eyes peel open, and there’s a sheen to everything that I’d miss if I weren’t so familiar with her magic.

“Do you watch us to make sure we’re okay,” I murmur, “or is it entertainment for all the boredom?”

Katerina doesn’t step out of thin air or appear from nowhere. This time, the door opposite me cracks open, and she peers out. “I can’t answer that question because if I say the latter I sound like a dick, and the first just sounds a little too far up your ass.”

The corner of my lips twitch upwards, and Katerina’s do the same as she steps out completely. She looks better than I’ve ever seen her. Her face is slightly fuller, and she’s got new glimmering beads in her hair.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, folding my arms over my chest. “I thought you were halfway around the world with the way you up and left.”

The last time we’d seen Katerina, it’d been at our pack borders while we were making sure everyone crossed over safely. She’d stood with us, but when we turned to invite her in too, she’d disappeared before we could say a word.

“I was,” she replies as she curls her hair around a finger. “Turns out the world sucks and you guys can’t live without me.”

“So, you do watch us,” I conclude with narrowed eyes. “Is that why you showed up to fight those witches?”

It was one of the things I wanted to talk about before she’d up and left. That day, Katerina had saved so many lives. Maybe all our lives. Rogues were one thing, but witches were another, and she’d faced them for us without anyone even uttering her name.

“Is it really that big of a deal?” she asks, shrugging.

“It is,” I reply, sharper this time. “We get along better than our species should, but you didn’t just helpus.You helped other wolves you barely know. Why?”

Her gaze drops, and from the stiffness in her shoulders, I know she’s uncomfortable, but I wait. I trust her, probably more than I should. But I needed awhyif she was going to keep popping into our lives like this.

“I don’t know,” she says quietly. She doesn’t look at me. “You guys helped me. So I want to help you. Can’t it just be that?”

It could, if we’d been the first to help her, but we weren’t.

She’s been helping us since the day we met, with a vague promise for a returned favour we could back out of, and she kept helping us ever since. Over and over, she’s put herself in harm’s way for us. And all we’ve done is be mildly nice to her. It doesn’t add up.

The door opens beside me as Levi comes out. He’s too focused on closing it gently behind him to notice the witch, but when he does, he stiffens and hides behind my leg.

“You still got the kid?” she asks with a raised brow.

I slide a hand over Levi’s head to relax him. “Yeah, he’s safer with us until we know what happened.”

“You guys just have hearts of gold, huh?” She snorts, shaking her head. “Well, I guess I got one, too. You want to keep yapping here, or should I have a look at Julian?”

Relief pushes tension out of places I didn’t even know were clenched.

“You don’t have to,” I say, and Max tries to skin me from the inside. “I didn’t call you because I don’t want to be someone who only reaches out when we need something.”

Katerina smirks, hands on her hips. “Well, you didn’t call, did you?”

Levi stays right beside me on the far side of the bed while Kat slides a hand over Julian’s temple. He shifts a little, but stays asleep while her hands wander lower, moving over his shoulder, his mark, down his arm, and finally to his stomach. They stop there, and I try not to worry as a frown forms above her closed eyes.

The air cools with her magic, and Levi’s grip tightens on my leg. I don’t know how familiar he is with magic, or if the witches with Reon had ever hurt him, but his scent doesn’t bitter with fear, just unease.

Kat’s eyes snap open, flaring violet for a flash as she gapes down at Julian.

“What is it?” I ask, pulse kicking up.

“Uh, I need to be sure, because—” She let’s out a strangely nervous laugh and vanishes. A moment later, she reappears with a spidery branch that smells like Julian. She sets it over his stomach, and her eyes grow just as wide as mine when moss sprouts from it.