“You know that isn’t what I meant.”

“Charlie and me…” How to explain it? “Until the day I die I’m going to feel responsible for Charlie’s emotional well being, and he’s going to keep doing stupid stuff like shooting himself in the leg to try to protect me. We’ll love each other forever, but like family. Any chance we ever had at a romance died along with Alex. We’ve both accepted that.” And while it still made my heart ache, I really had accepted it fully. “One day he’s going to meet someone I deem worthy, and their kids will call me ‘Aunt Scout’. Every time they get in trouble, I’ll tell them a story of something equally horrific we did as children.”

“Remind me to keep your actual nieces and nephews far, far away from you.”

“Not a chance, future sister-in-law.”

Talley’s hand stroked through my hair. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Liam doesn’t know any of this either.”

“Stories about our energy-filled, misguided youth?”

A classic Talley/Mom look. “That you and Charlie aren’t you and Charlie.”

“It’s never come up.”

“You have to talk to him, Scout. You can’t just go around hoping things will work themselves out. You have to do some of the heavy lifting.”

“You know, he’s probably overheard this entire conversation, so I don’t really--”

“Talk to him.”

“How about after?”

“How about now?”

I growled, but not because Talley was pushing me. It was because she was right and I knew it. I looked up to the second story as if Shifterdom came with X-ray vision.

Talley stood and stretched. “I can see my work here is done.” She grabbed my hand, hauling me to my feet. “Now, get up there and claim your mate, Scout Donovan, Donovan-Hagan-Matthews Pack Leader and future Alpha Female.”

***

There was a wolf in my bed.

No. Not “a wolf”. I had to quit thinking of it like that. Liam. Liam was in wolf form in my bed.

And if he could cheat, then so could I.

“It was the day we fought the wolf pack,” I said, sitting down on the side of the bed. “I know I didn’t tell you before, but the only reason I was able to Change so fast in the daylight was because I knew if I didn’t, you would die, and I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t lose you.” I buried a hand in his fur, and he laid his head on my leg. “I almost died myself. I know that you know it was bad, but I’m telling you I was there, in that In Between place with Alex, and I was given the choice. I could go quietly into that gentle night and be with him forever, or I could come back and rage against the dying of the light to be with you.” I looked into his eyes, eyes that were one hundred percent human. “I chose you, Liam. I didn’t even have to think about it.”

I brought my hand up to rub the fur on top of his head and tried to ignore the way it was shaking. “I know you don’t want this whole mating thing, and honestly, I think we’re way too young to be making lifelong commitments, but it’s over and done with now. Maybe it’s not what either of us planned on happening, and maybe it’s not the ideal situation, but it’s the one we’ve been given. And it may be selfish, but I can’t help but be happy that I’m going to get to spend the rest of my life getting to know you. I mean, I know it’s not going to be easy, and we’ll probably have such epic fights there will have to be an entire volume devoted to them in The Repository, but I want to be there for all of it.”

Liam stood up. My heart clenched, certain he was going to go Change, but instead, he repositioned himself on the bed. At first I thought it was another rejection, but then he lifted his head and stared at my pillow to say, “What are you waiting for?” Knowing I wasn’t getting anything else from him, I crawled onto the bed, eschewing the covers for his warmth.

Chapter 28

“They’re coming.”

I landed in a heap at Talley’s feet, thanks to Joshua the Freakishly Strong Immortal.

“They who?” I panted out. I held onto my ribs as I leaned to the right, and…

Yep. Some of them were definitely broken. It was a good thing I was becoming an old pro at Changing whenever I wanted, since everyone was using training as an excuse to play the Beat the Crap Out of Scout game. In forty-eight hours, I had to heal a sprained ankle, two broken fingers, and a dislocated shoulder.

“The Alphas,” Talley said. “Mischa just sent me a text.”

While Jase was sucking up to Sarvarna, Talley had been getting closer to the Seers of the Alpha Pack. In many ways, it was the riskier endeavor. No one knew for sure what Sarvarna Saw - the most popular rumors pegged it as either opportunity or what a person desires most - but everyone in our camp agreed it was something which allowed her to manipulate those around her. Works pretty well when you’re playing politics, but it doesn’t really help you identify a spy. On the other hand, Talley was dealing with Seers able to pull thoughts from her head. One misstep and it would have been game over. Fortunately, she soon discovered two of the more powerful Alpha Pack Seers - Mischa and Lizzie - were already on Team Scout. Apparently Mischa Saw something very convincing when she touched me last summer, so over the winter they began passing along helpful information to Talley when they could.

“And by ‘coming’ you mean…?”

Talley twirled a piece of hair around her finger. “Here. They’re coming here.”

“Do we know when?”

Talley shook her head as Charlie swore from the corner where he and Jase had been lifting weights.

“It was Makya,” Toby said. “Damn it, how could he do that? What the hell was he thinking?”

I bit my tongue to keep from commenting on Makya’s ability to think. His slimy weaselness was hitting Toby hard. The Pack Leader felt as if he had failed us both. I’m not exactly sure what it was he thought he could have done for Makya, other than possibly removing his vocal cords.

Liam appeared in the door of the sitting-room-turned-training-room as if summoned. “He’ll have to be dealt with eventually.”

“I’ll take care of it.” It was a statement, but one seeking permission. Liam gave it to Toby with a manly slap to the shoulder.

While the Makya the Backstabber issue certainly needed addressing, I felt we had more pressing matters to discuss. I pulled myself up into a sitting position, careful not to jar my ribs. “What is she up to, Jase? What will her game plan be once she gets here?”