Page 77 of Witchblood
I slipped on a clean pair of sweats, found Liam’s hoodie, sniffed it a little before tugging it over my head—Liam smelled good enough to eat—and tiptoed to the door.
The unlocked door surprised me. Why I thought Liam would lock me in, I wasn’t sure. But it had been my first thought. The hall was empty. Not even Toby lingered. I stepped into the hall and listened for a minute with all my senses. My nose told me how many wolves came and went regularly. It also told me the last to be by was Liam and the trail was hours old. My ears told me more than a handful of people were sleeping in the house. Some nearly imperceptible in their sleep, others a loud rattling snore that might just cover my footsteps.
My eyes adjusted slower to the dark, making out only shadows from distant moonlight. Nothing moved. On the edges of my senses I could feel the flicker of ghosts. Not in the house, but on the land. That was normal enough for any area, more so for a land with a wolf pack. People died, and often without closure, which left a shade to linger sometimes. I wondered if they had followed the pack here after Felix’s slaughter. Distance didn’t mean much to ghosts. Not unless they were stuck. But everything got stuck from time to time.
All else was still. Liam was toward the front of the house, but far enough away that I could only get the barest sense of him. I crept down the stairs hoping none of them squeaked. It would be embarrassing to explain to Liam that I was running from the pack because I was too afraid to give any of them the wrong answer. I almost expected him to be waiting at the bottom of the stairs, or even lurking outside the back door. Only all was still.
The crickets and buzzing of the night’s symphony spiraled around me in familiar comfort. If there were guards about, nature wasn’t bothered. Still I waited, frozen with the door to my back, listening and feeling.
The property had been cleared of trees far enough to be a natural fire blockade. But in the distance the trees grew thick and dark. A little eerie as I still sensed the ghosts. The earth murmured of the creatures nearby. Nothing unusual or worrisome. Bigger predators had gone further north, steering clear of the wolf pack as was common. Nothing humanoid was in the woods. For that I was grateful.
I was tempted to make a mad dash into the tree line, go around the long way to the camper, but someone had to be out there watching. I’d never met an alpha who didn’t have guards on duty, day and night. Even in the smaller packs. Liam’s was a mid-sized pack, and growing, he’d stated. There was someone out there. Even if the ground didn’t recognize the disruption. So I worked my way through the yard a bit like a fictional ninja might, crawling behind objects, clinging to the backs of trees, and keeping as much to the shadows as possible.
Finally, I stepped into the dark overlay of my camper door. The wards began to settle around me even before I opened the door. Inside everything was dark and quiet. Too quiet after the nightmare of recent days, so I began turning on lights. Guards be damned if there were any. I just needed a minute to breathe. At least the bugs and birds didn’t stop their wild night dance.
Once the lights were on I began making a pot of tea. A smooth chamomile mix with just a bit of lemon grass. Great for easing busy minds. And my mind was swirling in that minute. I added a bit of valerian root, nature’s valium, and waited for the water to heat. The flavor wouldn’t be stellar, but I needed my hands to stop shaking. I hated the idea of letting the pack down. They adored Liam, and he had chosen me. I wanted so bad to be the perfect fit for him.
Fuck. Fate really was a cruel bitch sometimes. I poured the heated water into the cup over the strainer, then took the cup to the bed, deciding in that instant that I would sleep in the camper for a few more hours. When I woke I would go through the books on the plants Oberon had rescued. I had spent the last year alone. A few hours weren’t going to kill me.
Of course my mind kept straying back to Liam and why he hadn’t been in bed. The first thought was that I bored him already. Or he was mad because I’d spent the day with plants instead of him. Sometimes I just got lost in the art. Gardening, baking, and alchemy. It wasn’t personal.
I sipped at the tea, wishing I’d thought to put a dab of honey in it before getting under the blankets. It took only a few minutes for the tea to begin quieting my jumping nerves. Not the flavor or even the mix of herbs yet, more the simple process of sipping the warm tea and breathing in the fragrance.
The tugging faded away, then the tension, and I closed my eyes, imagining Liam’s face. He had a great face, beautiful lips, and stunning eyes.
Dylan and Liam would have been a good pair. Beautiful, dominant men. Though both far too dominant to ever be a good emotional match. Dylan was just a few steps away from being an alpha himself. And while Liam was good at keeping the need for aggression beneath the surface of what he showed the world, I knew all alphas struggled with it. The wolf didn’t want to be patient. Life was food, mate, shelter, and pack. Alpha’s had a visceral need to protect those things.
Dylan had Sean. They seemed a good fit. A tempered balance of strength.
What if Liam had met Sean before me? Sean came across as a strong man without the aggression of wolves. He might even have been an alpha if he’d been a wolf. Though I got no sense of violence from him. Sean was good looking and successful. The thought made jealousy rise in my gut. Being an omega meant I didn’t have an inclination to fight at all. Flight was more my usual path. Sean said he was trained as some sort of martial artist. He might not seek out trouble, but he could probably give back if someone came at him.
“He’s also Dylan’s and not my type at all,” Liam said from the doorway. If I hadn’t been half asleep I’d have screamed at him for startling me. “You didn’t startle because you knew it was me.” Liam stepped inside and closed both doors, locking them tight. “You could feel me from across the country, just as I could you. I thought the tea was supposed to quiet your mind, not let the hamsters spin in overdrive.”
“Smart ass,” I muttered.
He crossed the room and took the tea from my grip, then set it on the table beside the bed. “Why didn’t you call for me?”
“You weren’t in bed,” I told him. A million answers echoed through my head. Most much more complicated and some downright convoluted. My brain was so broken. Pulling up every negative possibility before the glimmer of a positive one had a chance of seeing the light.
“Not broken,” Liam said, leaning over to kiss my lips gently. “Your perception is a little off, that’s all. We’ll work on that. You’ve been conditioned to expect the worst. It’s just retraining. Stop, recognize what your brain is doing and refocus. Eventually you won’t have to do all the work.”
I frowned at him. It was far too early for him to be sprouting philosophy.
“Your wards are a great filter. I’d forgotten that in all the mess of the past few days. I can hear you clear as a bell right now. Felt your unrest when you woke up and left the house. I didn’t mean to hurt you by not being in bed. I thought I could get back before you woke. A few of the pack members are having a hard time adjusting, so I was trying to sort that out.”
“Adjusting?” I asked. “To me?”
Liam sighed. “To the idea of having the Volkov’switchbloodchild as Alpha Mate. Two have requested to leave the pack. I have been working on finding them new packs.”
“I’m sorry,” I began, but Liam covered my lips with his fingers.
“Nothing for you to be sorry about. It’s their issue, not yours. These two have not liked having Dylan as my third either. They were very vocal tonight. So it’s best to send them to a place which has the same values of intolerance they do.”
“Sounds like rainbows and sunshine,” I groused.
He laughed, and crawled onto the bed, straddling my hips, then kissed me. This time a full open mouth kiss that I lingered over. He tasted like coffee and warm bread. I sighed, in that moment realizing just how much I’d missed him when I’d woken up in bed alone. How could it have happened that fast? The need to be with him. Not just physically, though that raged like an inferno every time he walked into a room, but for peace of mind. I felt safe with him. Barely knew him, yet something resonated through me. Chimes of home, happiness, and hope.
“I’m sappy after valerian root,” I told Liam, when he’d stopped kissing me long enough to pull the hoodie off, and tossed it on the floor. He tugged my hair free from the rubber band, and combed his fingers through it. He was obsessed with my hair.