Page 40 of Heartless

Vail gave her a smile that lit up half the room. “Thank you, Elise. Anything to add, Theo?”

My gaze shifted to Cal’s cousin. Theo Grille was one of those omegas who would have faded into the background if he wasn’t so goddamn good-looking. I wasn’t into guys, but I didn’t need all the fluttery eyelashes at the table to know he was attractive. Which, for a male omega, wasn’t the winning lottery ticket it seemed. He’d only ever really come onto my radar, for instance, when I’d noticed him in the Huntington restaurant with Jay’s mom. She was a predator in every way, and I doubted catching her eye had done Theo any favors.

But as he quoted some dusty book on blood claw injury survival rates, Vail lapped it up, and I had to wonder if he wasn’t just a pretty face. And if us all meeting at that restaurant was a coincidence, or if he and Vail had some other connection.

Liam had disappeared before dinner, but one of his guards now came in and filled a plate. He murmured a few things in Vail’s ear, and she gave his hand a grateful squeeze, moving aside so he could sit next to her. Charlie Polk was an Arras wolf, and as hard as they came. He was also one of the Clan Enforcer’s most trusted males, and was usually out doing the shady shit that kept the worst of the wolves from the door. It said a lot that he was here, and I wondered at this strange dynamic. The Clan’s top soldiers, with a bunch of omegas calling the shots. Or one omega in particular, I thought, my gaze sliding back down the table to Vail.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you, Reed,” Marnie said quietly at my side. She was pushing her food around, too, and I had to wonder if I’d spoiled her appetite. “We were just trying to avoid a situation like Holland.”

I didn’t argue with that. A good proportion of pack leaders only came to power because they attacked when the current leader was injured. It was a gray line ethically, but underneath it all, we were wolves. Still, my human side didn’t like this gray line, either. “There are protocols for a reason, Marnie. They’re in place to protect the whole pack.”

She looked unimpressed, spearing a carrot with unnecessary force. “Right now, it’s Jay who needs protecting. Can you honestly say the pack leadership would put his needs first? And then there’s the Denners. If they knew he was injured, it would be outright war.”

I stared at my plate, like I was mulling over her words. But I’d thought through that a long time ago. And what I really wanted to know was if it was Jay we were protecting, or his so-called mate.

I’d picked up enough during the day to know that the attack had happened on the Horn. Liam and Charlie had fought off the Denners and made sure there were no survivors. But I’d provided enough reports in my life to know theirs was full of holes. More had gone down. And I still didn’t have a clear explanation for why Jay – one of the most powerful wolves on the continent - hadn’t been able to fight them off in the first place.

But I kept my mouth shut through the rest of dinner, even accepting the bed in the dorm with Liam and Charlie. It looked and smelled like a barracks, but I didn’t comment, unrolling the plastic wrapped blanket and sitting on the edge. Charlie had already assumed the sleeping soldier position, which was boots on, arm across the eyes and every limb twitching in anticipation. I looked at his pack, which was propped against his leg, and asked, “Can I get my phone back?”

“Sorry, Alphason. No comms out. It’s camp rules.”

“And you’re cool with that? Hiding away here, while the Denners could be following up their attack? You don’t think we should be coordinating with the other pack leaders, starting to work on a defense strategy?”

Charlie tilted his elbow enough to fix me with a flat look. “I’m cool.”

He was a wolf of few words, but I got it. I had been let in, but only up to a point. And there was no way I was getting out, without going through him. “Just grabbing a glass of water,” I told him, and while his eyes tracked me to the door, he didn’t follow. I knew the basic layout of the caves from plans my dad had me memorize. Not that he had to force me. While some of the other guys treated the caves as some kind of adventure camp, I saw them as both our primary defense and a potential trap. How could any of them lie in bed straight at night if they didn’t know the exact location of every exit, and the fastest route out?

Not that I was looking for an exit right now. I had no interest in leaving, and despite what the rest of them thought, no intention of reporting to my dad. While part of me wanted to find Marnie’s room and tell her exactly that, duty, as always, came first. And that meant finding Jay.

Ten minutes later I worked out they had him in the main rock pool room, which was something between a spa and a treatment area. There wasn’t a guard on the door, but I assumed there was one inside, and I knew I’d be caught as soon as I pushed it open. But I wasn’t here to cause trouble. I just had to see him with my own eyes.

And when I did, I couldn’t stop the growl that came from my chest. Not because he was semi-submerged in the rock pool, or looked as weak as a drowned kitten, but because he was alive.

Fuck me.

“You thought he was dead,” Liam said from the corner of the room. The omega nurse was in the water with Jay, but the enforcer was fully dressed with his hand on his hip. Not quite holding his gun, but ready for whatever came through the door.

Not that I could have fought him if both his hands were tied behind his back.

“I thought -.” My jaw worked, but I couldn’t get the words out. “He’s okay?”

“He’s stable,” the nurse said, giving me a kind look. Her hand was on his forehead, maybe taking some kind of reading, or just reassuring him he wasn’t alone. Either way, it made the back of my throat burn all the hotter. Especially when she ducked to check his face, then gave me a pleased look. “I think he can hear your voice, Alphason. Perhaps you might spend some time sitting with him tomorrow?”

I nodded, my relief still making me feel off-balance. I put my hands on my hips, but just then, my thigh began to vibrate and Liam’s gaze snapped to my pocket. The buzz of the device sounded almost obscene in the quiet of the room. “Hand it over, Alphason.”

From the glint in his eye, he was prepared to literally twist my arm if I refused, so I pulled out the monitor. It was smaller than a phone and pretty basic, but it was the surveillance equivalent of having a backup gun in your boot. He thumbed the screen and cursed, but I shrugged. “I didn’t lie. There’s no camera in the cave, but there are a couple right outside.”

I expected Liam to chew me out, but he was already headed for the door.

“Move it, Reed,” he snapped over his shoulder. “The Clan Luna just walked out of the cave.”

Chapter Twenty-One – Vail

I didn’t get a chance to grill Marnie on her alpha brain issue – or why Reed was glowering at me like I was the new prison warden in his personal jail – until later that night. I’d spent the afternoon with Jasper, and despite all the helpful ideas everyone was coming up with, I couldn’t escape the fact he was no closer to opening his eyes. The girls had moved into the Clan Alpha’s quarters during the day and when I finally dragged myself away from the rock pool room, I found the sterile chamber awash with throw pillows, candles and chocolate. Like always, Jasmine had channeled Aladdin and transformed the room into Jasmine’s Cave. There was no foot spa or Netflix, but there was nail polish and M&Ms and for a while I was able to stop worrying and just enjoy the comfort of my friends.

“So, tell us how it happened, Marnie!” Jasmine gushed as soon as we were settled on the pillows. “Was it the night of your initiation? Felix said it was a rush, when he went through it. He didn’t sleep for three days, and he still can’t eat a bison steak without getting a flashback.”

Marnie laughed, but she was staring hard at her hands. “I never thought it would happen. To be honest, I didn’t even realize it was happening. But my wolf didn’t really give me much choice.”

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