Page 13

Summer POV

“Momma!” Grayson cried and scrambled onto my lap. I was sitting on one of the chairs in my hospital room.

I held him close, burying my face in his wavy hair. He still smelled the same as the day he was born. My heart pounded in relief at having him in my arms again. It was the morning after Axel bit me, and it had only been one night since I’d seen my son, but it had seemed like years.

I kissed the top of his head and squeezed him tightly, the scar on my shoulder screaming in protest. I could look past the pain because I had my son in my arms again.

“The moment he woke up, he was asking for you,” my aunt said from my hospital room’s doorway.

She was smiling, but her forehead was lined with worry for her brother. My aunt and dad didn’t look alike at first glance. Her hair was light brown, and when she was in the sun, there was a red tint to it. My dad was six feet tall, and my aunt barely reached five feet. But I noticed their similarities in their expressions. They were both easy to read. If I wanted to know what they were thinking, all I had to do was study their faces and body language.

“Thank you for watching him,” I said to my aunt.

She inclined her head and her smile faded.

“How are you feeling, Mommy?” my son asked and pulled away to examine my face. “Grandma said that you were hurt, but not as bad as Grandpa.”

“I feel fine, sweetheart. I just needed a night to rest up,” I said, still holding onto him, not ready to let go.

Aunt Mia and Grayson had showered and changed. After Healer Nia had cleared me to be discharged from her care early this morning, my mother had brought my green duffel bag from the Jeep. After I cleaned myself up and dressed in my own clothes, it was a relief. I’d only been in this hospital room for one night, but I was more than ready to leave.

“Have you eaten breakfast?” I asked Grayson.

“Yep.” He nodded and jumped off my lap. “Can we go see Grandpa now? That’s where Grandma is.”

A loaded look passed between my aunt and me.

“Did you see him last night?” I asked her, standing up from the chair and stretching.

“Just for a moment,” my aunt answered, and her face crumpled with sadness. “It's…” She swallowed, her voice thick with emotion. “A lot to take in all at once.”

“Do you think…” I glanced over at Grayson, who had taken out his toy soldier and was playing with it in the corner of the room.

“I think Grayson should see him,” my aunt said quietly, guessing what I'd been implying. “Just so he can better understand if…”

Now, she was the one to trail off. But I silently filled in what she was too afraid to say.

If the worst happens and my father dies.

***

When I walked into my dad's hospital room, my stomach dropped.

He was lying in bed, dressed in a white hospital gown, a white blanket draped over him, and his eyes were closed as if he was in the deepest sleep of his life. There was a clear tube in his mouth that was connected to a noisy machine. With a sickening jolt, I realized that the machine was breathing for my dad because he couldn't on his own. There were different colored wires taped onto his forehead, and part of his graying black hair had been shaved off.

From what I could see of his body, it was covered in angry red bruises shaped like the bite of a wolf's teeth.

My hands clenched into tight fists as I imagined two Rogues attacking my father. If I ever found out who hurt him, I’d rip their throats out.

For the first time, I understood why my parents had started the rumor that I was sick and moved me to Aunt Mia's farm. They did it to protect me from ending up…like this. If I had been exiled, I could have been attacked like my dad. Now that I had a child, I could see why they had started that rumor six years ago. I'd do anything to protect my son.

My stomach plummeted as I remembered Gabriel’s words last night.

I don’t believe Axel will stop there. I think that once he joins the Rogues, he is going to share all of WaterLock’s secrets to help them take over our pack.

Was he right? Was there an army coming for WaterLock?

I shook my head to clear it.

I couldn’t worry about that right now. One problem at a time.

My mother was sitting next to my dad, gripping one of his hands in both of hers and murmuring words that were too quiet for me to hear.

Grayson let out a gasp from beside me as he looked at all the wires attached to his grandpa, and his little hand tightened around mine.

“Can he hear me?” my son asked, walking forward slowly and staring at his grandpa with wide eyes.

My mom reached her hand out to Grayson and pulled him against her side.

“I'm not sure, sweetheart. But I like to talk to him anyway, just in case he can,” my mom said.

Immediately, Grayson launched into a story about the long car ride here and how he missed Goose, and he had trouble falling asleep last night because his dog always slept in his bed.

A small grin crossed my face as I listened to my son's chatter. Even in one of the toughest moments of my life, Grayson could bring me joy.

***

“How are you, Mom?”

We were eating lunch in the hospital's small cafeteria after spending the morning talking to my dad. Grayson had gone quiet and didn't want to eat his turkey sandwich, so Aunt Mia had offered to take him on a walk outside.

“Hm?” my mom asked, poking at her cup of chicken salad with a faraway look in her eyes.

“How are you holding up?” I asked and grasped her hand.

“I’m…numb,” she answered and crossed her arms. “This doesn’t feel real. I’m waiting for the moment when Healer Nia tells me that someone made a mistake, that isn’t my husband lying there fighting for his life.” Her voice was devoid of all emotion.

My stomach jolted, and I pushed away my unfinished sandwich.

I’d never seen my mother act like this. It was like her mind was dissociating to protect her from the pain she was feeling. This switch had happened right after Grayson had walked away, and I realized she had put on a brave face to protect him.

For ten minutes, I tried to talk to her, but she would just shake her head. Sensing she needed a minute by herself, I left the table to buy us coffee. The line was long, and there was only one young girl making all the drinks. I was thankful for a moment to collect myself.

Before I could even take a deep breath, my heart started beating frantically.

“Summer?”

When I spun around, Gabriel was standing closer than I'd expected, and his nearness made my breath catch. He was dressed in a fitted gray suit and black tie. His hair was tousled, and my hands itched to run my fingers through it. The swell of his arm muscles strained at the fabric, and I had to rip my eyes away to stop myself from staring.

“Gabriel, hello,” I said in a brisk tone, angry at myself for being affected by him.

“Healer Nia told me that you've visited your father. How are you?”

My heart lifted a little.

“I'm doing all right. Thank you,” I replied and crossed my arms as we shuffled forward in line.

“How's your shoulder feeling?”

“It’s all right,” I said.

Our conversation was stilted, awkward. I almost preferred our brutal honesty last night. At least that talk had seemed real.

The woman behind us turned around, and her brown eyes brightened when she saw Gabriel.

My jaw clenched.

“Gabriel, I just wanted to thank you for all you've done for my husband. Adam wouldn't be alive today without you,” the woman said with tears shining in her eyes. “Can I please buy you a coffee? It's the least I can do.”

“Oh, that's not necessary, Hannah. I'm just glad I could help.”

The two chatted until it was Hannah's turn to order. She ended up paying for our coffee, and after I thanked her, I walked back over to my mom to give her a small coffee with one cream and two sugars. My mom murmured a thank you and continued to stare out the cafeteria window. Her passive behavior was really starting to scare me.

I went back over to the other side of the room and found Gabriel at the coffee station pouring cream into his cup.

“So, did you become a healer in the last six years?” I asked as I took off my white lid to add two sugars to my drink.

“What do you mean?”

“Hannah said her husband wouldn't be alive without you. Why did she say that?” I asked and picked up a wooden stirrer.

Gabriel's cheeks reddened. I could see the maroon color even through his beard.

“Oh, yes, that.” He blew on his coffee to cool it, and his lips momentarily distracted me.

Get a grip.

We moved to the side and leaned against one of the walls, so we were out of the way.

“The reason I built this hospital was to help treat people who have been injured from the Rogue wolf attacks,” Gabriel explained. “At first, I wanted to help with the overflow from WaterLock’s hospital. But that problem was solved by hiring more healers.”

“Who are all these people then?” I gestured around the cafeteria.

“The families of members from other packs around our kingdom—plus Pryegate and Tideridge Kingdoms—that have been injured by Rogue wolves. Most of their hospitals are too overwhelmed with injuries to treat them,” Gabriel answered, his eyes sliding around the room. “I have a medical helicopter that airlifts them here. Then, their families can fly or drive, depending on how far they come to stay here with them.”

“Oh,” I said and took a sip of my coffee. “And you do all of this along with managing your company and helping run WaterLock?”

“I have a lot of help with everything,” Gabriel said modestly.

I swallowed as we stared at each other. I had to be the one to look away first.

It was hard to focus when Gabriel's green eyes were staring so deeply into mine. I needed to be able to think clearly. There was still something that didn’t make sense to me.

“How did you create a secure compound without anyone from WaterLock joining? No one wanted to join for their safety against the Rogues?” I asked.

This time, Gabriel was the one to look away.

“No one wanted to move away from their homes. Everyone wanted to stay in Brindle Creek, which I can understand.” There was a note of embarrassment in his tone. But then his voice brightened.

“This place—my compound—is populated by people all over our kingdom, and people from the Pyregate and Tideridge Kingdoms as well,” he continued. “As my compound was being built, I traveled throughout our three kingdoms and met many different people who were either lone wolves or didn’t feel safe against the Rogues in their pack.”

Lone wolves were different from Rogues. The former was born without a pack, but Rogues were wolves who were kicked out of their pack for breaking wolf law.

“I arranged for the people who wanted to come with me to travel to my compound when it was ready. These shifters make up all of the staff at my security company, the guards, the grocery store, the healers at this hospital, even the young lady we just ordered our coffee from—everyone in my compound. Healer Nia had been working in the Pyregate Kingdom. The hospital she worked at had been raided many times by the Rogues—trying to finish off their victims—and one time, Healer Nia nearly died trying to protect her patients.”

I recalled the long, faded scar across Healer Nia's neck and shuddered.

“She ended up bringing most of her staff of healers and the patients from her hospital to reside in my compound,” Gabriel finished and smiled.

“So, you created a sort of…safe haven,” I said with awe in my tone.

“Well, I don’t know if I would say that exactly, but…”

“Gabriel, you’re not only trying to help protect people from WaterLock against the Rogues, but our whole kingdom. And even people from our surrounding kingdoms as well,” I said.

Gabriel took a small step toward me and my heart rate increased.

“Thank you for saying that, Summer. It means a lot coming from you.”

My hands began to shake around my coffee cup and a few drops of hot liquid spilled onto my hand. I didn’t even register the burn. My heart was already on fire.

“There’s something I wanted to ask you,” Gabriel said.

Immediately, my guard came up. I hadn’t even been aware I’d let it down. I shuffled a few feet away from him, needing my space.

“What do you think of the idea of you, your aunt, your mom, and Grayson coming to stay at my house? It’s within walking distance of the hospital,” Gabriel said.

“No,” I answered briskly and took a step away from him, needing distance. “Gabriel, I can’t stay with you after everything that’s happened. That’s ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous?” Gabriel repeated, hurt flashing in his eyes for a moment, but then it was gone. “I just thought it would be nice for your family to have a space separate from the hospital. Just to relax and sleep. I thought it could be good for you guys. That way, you aren’t too far from your dad, but you’re not reminded that he’s sick every single moment because you’re in the hospital. And I have enough guest rooms to accommodate you guys.”

I wanted to tell him that I’d rather sleep in my aunt’s jeep than stay under the same roof as him, but then I caught sight of my mom with her back to us, still staring out the window. I remembered Grayson becoming quiet after we left my dad's hospital room. Would it be selfish to say no to Gabriel’s offer?

Yes, it would.

“If we’re going to do this, we have to take things slow with introducing you to Grayson,” I warned.

“Of course. Is there anything I can do to make the process easier?”

I remembered Grayson's broken expression when I told him we couldn't bring his dog with us.

“You could find a way to get Grayson’s pet here,” I suggested.

“Grayson has a pet?”

“Yeah, Goose,” I said.

“Grayson has a pet goose?”

My lips twitched, but I shrugged and feigned disinterest.

“Anything for Grayson,” he said without hesitation.