Page 76 of Witchblood

Carl met my eyes and for a minute I felt like we were on the same wavelength. He nodded and turned without a word, walking out. The sound of his steps vanished down the stairs and I let out a breath I’d been holding.

“For a guy who doesn’t like anyone, he seems to be pretty protective of you,” I said to Liam.

“Right?” Korissa added. “I’ve been saying that for a while. Dylan says it’s because good alpha’s are so rare. Even Carl wants to keep Liam.”

Someone knocked on the edge of the open door. It was Toby in human form. He looked uncomfortable, young, and worried. He kept glancing back toward the door and tugging at his clothes, but he carried a basket and slipped it onto the end of the bed once Liam had called him forward.

I wondered who was in charge right now, the wolf, or Toby? Maybe a little of both? “You okay, Toby?”

“Yes,” was all he said, but waved at the basket. “From the pack.” He turned then and bolted out of the room. The reaction was so fast I thought about racing after him.

“He’s changing back to wolf,” Liam said. He reached down, snatched the handle of the basket and pulled it into his lap. “We’re working on control. He had to stay human until he saw you today, then he could change back. Tomorrow we will set another goal.” Liam began spreading the contents of the basket out on the bed. There were packets of seeds, over a dozen, some very rare from suppliers I’d had to order from online in the past. Tools, small tags to go in the garden and even a bag of clothesline clips, for hanging the herbs.

“Gifts,” I grumbled.

“Gifts you like,” Korissa said looking through the seeds. “Will you show me how to grow this stuff.”

“Of course.”

Liam’s smile was wide. No one else came to the door. Korissa kissed my cheek. I hoped Dylan and Sean were okay.

“One more gift for you,” Liam said, getting up from the bed and heading to the far wall which had an odd double door I assumed to be a closet. He unlocked the door and opened it. Not a closet. A huge, walkout balcony with planters built in. I gaped at him, but untangled myself from Robin and Korissa to make my way to the little oasis.

“The field is great,” Liam said. “Your father’s idea. He always tries to overcompensate for affection he feels but doesn’t quite understand…” Liam shrugged. “This is more personal. I know you used to have an area dedicated to things you’d created, new herbs spliced together and blends that only you could imagine. This…” he waved his arms at the huge space, “is for you to grow.”

Now it was my turn to blink back tears. He picked up, then held out a long plastic planter with some growing green shoots in it. “Some plants that Oberon was able to save. He wasn’t sure what they all were, but he brought three of these boxes, twelve plants in each. Had someone in their pack deliver them yesterday.”

I reached out to touch a leaf. The green silk of it left an impression. Almost like it was a living animal rather than a plant. The plant had energy, a trail of it if my eyes were seeing correctly. Was this part of the kitsune? Since I was a spirit of the earth I could feel it more deeply? See the lines of power that connected it all? I’d read about it in dozens of alchemy books, but never experienced it before that moment. Was it being mated to an alpha wolf? Or just something awake inside of me that had been hidden away?

It had been so long I couldn’t remember what the little bud was, but there were books in my camper. Sketches made. Notations of attempts to grow some particular herb. Successes and failures. This was some kind of lavender, though it had an almost blueberry scent when I leaned in close. Some of the plants had similar energy auras. Were they the same?

The one under my fingertips sang with the touch. A ghost of loneliness arose from the plant as I tugged the little tray free from the dozen so I could look at it closer. When I put it back near the others, the loneliness eased. When I put it down beside others who seemed to have the same color energy aura, the plant perked up, almost seeming to straighten with happiness. I wondered if anyone else saw it.

Liam nudged a bucket my way with his foot. It was filled with garden gloves. Korissa set the basket of supplies at my feet. Robin rubbed up against my leg, giving me little chuff noises as he proceeded to scent-mark all the planters and edges of the balcony.

I caressed the plant and everything else faded under the need to dig my hands into the soil. All these little guys needed a new home. Just like I had when I’d arrived, they’d been yanked from everything they’d known and dropped down in a foreign land filled with a strange climate and weird soil. But I could make it work.

Liam kissed the top of my head as I arranged the trays in the order I wanted to plant them. Each new sprout telling me where it wanted to go. If Liam said something, I didn’t hear him as I was too busy speaking to the plants. For the first time in years, since before I’d even met Felix, my head was filled with peace, happiness and hope.

Chapter 34

Ihadn’t really expected to sleep like the dead. Hours with the plants, with occasional food breaks prodded by Liam. And I’d worked until the sunset. All the plants had new homes. Each imbibing in my spirit in such a way that I sort of felt like a rare bottle of whiskey. The plants I touched sang and danced through my magic sensors. Using my energy to help dig their roots. By the time I’d finished and stumbled into the shower, I could barely keep my eyes open. Would Liam be mad? He didn’t seem to be when he wrapped his arms around me and pulled the blanket up over us in his giant bed.

When I woke up I could tell it was early, likely early morning. Too early for most to be up yet. Liam wasn’t in bed, but I could feel him in the house. Downstairs somewhere, probably some sort of pack meeting. When I’d staggered to bed Toby had been outside the bedroom door, and Liam had shooed him away, but the wolf had just collapsed into an inelegant dog puddle on the floor and refused to budge. Liam closed the door in his face. I’d been too sleepy to jump Liam’s bones even though he’d looked mouthwatering in just a pair of sleep pants and slippers.

Oddly there was a lot of movement in the pack. Not close by, but a roll of sensation. Tugging. Isn’t that what Liam had called it? Noise. Yet not. A radio turned to static but occasionally picking up a blip of a song. Startlingly random. Needy pack members tugging on their alpha for support. It made sense that he wasn’t in bed if he was off taking care of pack stuff. But I was still sad about it.

The tugging tingled like a vibration through my spine. Too many needy wolves to make out an individual concern. How did Liam deal with all this? Nothing life threatening. No, these were little nips of need. Odd, as I didn’t think of people being that needy. Though I knew I’d experienced uncertainty a time or two before. I really needed Liam to be in bed with me. Didn’t his pack understand our new mating? Were they mad because I’d spent the day gardening instead of with them? I hadn’t really thought about how Liam’s pack would expect me to behave. Technically I was their king’s consort. My word second only to his.Apa’smate used her power to boss people around. That wasn’t really my style. Nor was I the picture of happy-go-lucky advice for disgruntled werewolves. I’d been taught to keep my mouth shut about my opinions since no one wanted to hear them anyway. So why did it feel like they were all pulling at me? Asking me for something?

I felt a bit claustrophobic in that moment. The doors to the balcony were wide open, letting in the cool evening wind, but I couldn’t breathe. Maybe if I took a little walk. The camper wasn’t far. I could grab a book or two and come back. A little breather wouldn’t hurt, right?

Hopefully Toby had found a better place to sleep. I didn’t want him following me. He needed to be nestled in the center of the pack to quiet his wolf.

There would be guards if Liam had any sense at all. The Volkov had just been in the territory and the pack had recently survived an attack from rogue wolves. I’d have put every guard I had on rotation for at least a few days. And maybe he had. Maybe that was why I could feel so much tugging from his pack. Were they worried the Volkov would come back because of me?

I hated the idea of the pack thinking my presence was a bad omen. It sort of had been so far. That kind of stung, sinceApa’spack had always looked at me that way. A burden.

Distance sounded like a better idea every passing second. My sense of smell could rival most wolves, so if I just stayed downwind, I hoped to avoid them. Camper and back. Even if I lingered a moment or two, what would it hurt? Liam said my wards dulled the noise from his pack. It was not even thirty yards to blessed silence.Big boy panties, I told myself,pull-them-up.