Page 59

TWENTY-TWO

DON’T JUDGE A BOOK

ISAAK

“ D r. Lowe, there’s a visitor waiting at reception.”

I nod and wave the nurse off as I turn in my chair and stare out the window of my office.

It won’t be my office for much longer.

It’s too big, feels too empty.

It’s too quiet and cold.

I can’t be here anymore.

It hurts way too much.

But so does the idea of leaving.

With a sigh, I lift my hand to my chest, rubbing right over my heart while I continue to torture myself with Magnolia’s final text message.

MAGGIE: I’m quitting, effective immediately.

My formal resignation will be in the mail along with a new mailing address where my personal effects and final paycheck can be forwarded.

Following that same line of thinking, I’m also ending our relationship.

I no longer wish to be with the four of you, romantically or otherwise.

What we had is over and I would appreciate it if you could relay that to Severe, Hawthorne, and St. James for me as well.

Please don’t try to contact me. Goodbye, Dr. Lowe. I wish you nothing but the best.

It doesn’t even sound like Maggie and I wouldn’t believe it if she hadn’t left me a voicemail that said essentially the same thing.

I tried to respond, tried to call her back, but she must have blocked my number. Her apartment didn’t have much in it before but it was completely empty a few hours after her final text.

Then we heard the announcement.

I was still trying to figure out what I was going to say to my mates, trying to find the goddamn words to tell them Maggie didn’t want to be with us anymore when it went out over the PA system.

Magnolia is marrying Camden this Saturday.

She doesn’t want me, doesn’t want our pack anymore, and she’s going to marry a sick, sadistic fucker who will most likely kill her before their first wedding anniversary.

And it circulated through the speakers of the entire institute, including the ones everyone was instructed not to use on Ward C.

I waited for all hell to break loose. Granted, it took a few seconds for my heart to start beating again after having my world fall apart so quickly. But I pulled myself together and went to find my mates, expecting the worst only to find something else entirely.

I found three beautiful men who looked as gutted and broken as I felt, and while Calix and Des sought comfort from me, Korvin shut down.

He shut down completely, he shut us out, and he hasn’t spoken a single word in almost four days. All he does is sit in his apartment and stare at the wall. I can’t even convince him to eat.

Not that the rest of us are very hungry or looking to chat, but still.

Our pack is a mess, and I don’t know if I should stay or go because of it.

I hear my office door open again, no knock or asking for permission to enter. I don’t really care, I don’t care about much right now, but it is a little rude.

Especially when I’m suddenly spinning in my office chair, whipped around so quickly I get a touch of motion sickness, and when I abruptly stop, I find myself staring directly into a pair of familiar gray eyes, and I frown.

“Can I help you?”

”I sure hope so.” The woman stands to her full height, which is rather tall, probably somewhere between five foot seven and five foot nine, crosses heavily tattooed arms against her chest and arches a brow. “What the hell did you do to my big brother?”

My frown deepens so much I have to push my glasses up my nose. “Do I know your brother?”

The woman rolls her eyes. “According to his last letter, you bonded with him, dumbass.”

Oh my god, it can’t be. “Maisie?”

“In the flesh,” she says as she flashes a smile nearly identical to her brother’s. “You want to tell me what you did to Vinny to make him so fucking miserable?”

With a deep breath, I do.

I tell Maisie the entire story, starting with the day of the transfer, ending with the wedding announcement and a hell of a lot of tears for someone who’s questioned if they’re capable of feeling healthy levels of each core emotion on the wheel.

Me. I’m the one who questioned it. Right up until I came here.

Maisie hands me a tissue as she rubs my back. “That’s quite the tale, Isaak, and now I have one for you.”

I nod, sitting back a little, curious what Korvin’s sister is going to share. No matter what, it’ll be more than he ever has, I can say that for sure.

“Ever since the day I was born, Vinny has protected me.” She leans on the edge of my desk, smiling a little as her eyes wander toward the window.

“We had horrible parents. Parents who didn’t care about anything except what we could do for them.

How we could give them what they wanted, or help them find a way to get it. ”

Oh my.

This sounds eerily familiar.

“The first body on Vinny’s count was for me.

A teacher who had no business being around children.

Our parents didn’t do anything about it but my brother did.

I even gave him a mask afterward, told him he was my very own super hero.

It didn’t matter what he was going through, what he had on his plate, Korvin always dropped everything for me, and he made sure I never had a reason to be afraid of anything or anyone.

” Maisie chuckles and shakes her head. “Probably to a fault. Once he finds out what I’ve been doing while he’s been locked up, he’s going to want to kick my ass, but I digress.

I never had to worry about anything because my brother was there to protect me.

He made me stronger and braver by showing me that I was important even when the people who should have made me feel that way, didn’t.

Vinny did that right up until I watched a group of men in swat gear use their dogs to drag him out of the woods and load him into the back of a cop car. He didn’t do it, you know.”

“I know,” I say as she turns to face me. “I questioned it before we met, how a seventeen year old boy could single-handedly massacre so many people, but I know with complete certainty Korvin didn’t kill those children or their mother.”

She smiles, the same genuine smile that looks both out of place and like it belongs on her face.

“He killed my mother, though. My mother and the bastard she sold me to. Vinny didn’t think, he didn’t ask questions, he acted without hesitation and he eliminated the threat, then he gave himself up so I could get away. ”

None of that surprises me. Not one bit. Korvin has a reason for everything he does, whether it fits societal norms or not, and hearing that he’s always been that way just proves he’s not the monster they say he is.

“The thing is,” Maisie says as she gets to her feet.

“Korvin protects his people fiercely. He will kill for someone he loves, he’ll die for them and won’t question it once.

But no one protected Vinny when he needed it, no one loved him enough to sacrifice themself for him.

When he wrote and told me about your pack, I think my brother felt like he finally had that, whether it was a conscious thought or not.

For the first time in his entire life, I think Korvin felt safe, and he felt loved.

That’s a pretty big fucking deal when you’ve lived every day before without it, don’t you think?

” Then she shrugs a shoulder and heads toward the door.

“That kind of love is hard to come by, and I think that’s why it's so easy to sacrifice everything you’ve ever wanted just so you can keep it alive.

Vinny did it for me, who’s gonna do it for him? ”

I open my mouth but find myself speechless.

Thanks to Maisie’s narrative about their life, I can draw direct parallels between him and Magnolia, their parents and lives up until they made the decision to change it themselves.

Honestly, I’m able to make connections for all of us, reasons that only confirm that we’re supposed to be together and leaves zero room for doubt.

“Can you do me a favor?”

Maisie stops and turns with her hand on the door knob. “Maybe.”

“For two people who haven’t lived together in fifteen years, you sure don’t act like it.” I scrub a hand over the scruff on my face as she giggles. “Will you come with us?”

“I’m listening.”

“We have to get Magnolia back. I’m done crying about it, it’s time to act.

” I nod firmly like I actually have a plan when I don’t, I just know we have to get out of here and get to our girl.

“Korvin won’t listen to anyone, he won’t talk to anyone.

Des and Calix are beside themselves because their attempts to help have failed.

They want their alpha back and so do I, and we need him if we’re going to get Magnolia back.

Will you try to talk to him? Talk to him and come with us for what I don’t doubt is going to be a disaster? ”

Maisie nods as that same wicked grin I’ve seen on her brother’s face graces hers. “If it means I get my brother back, I’m game. Let’s fucking go!” She punches the air as she walks out the door, but as soon as it closes, my office door swings open again.

“Isaak!” Eve comes running into the room, completely frazzled and crying. “Isaak, it’s Maggie!”

Well, when it rains it fucking pours, doesn’t it?