Page 67 of Rivers and Roads

“I want to be out there,” I snapped.

“We know,” Aisling said gently, “but you won’t do him any good by running off like that. We need you here.”

It didn’t feel like it, especially if we were just sitting with our thumbs up our asses waiting to hear something from the government, or from Kor, or from Mikael. But I knew they were right. This was going to be a test of patience, and the ones who waited longest to act would have the clearer path to victory.

“Any word from Nadya?”

At that, Francisco pulled out his phone, tapped the screen, then offered it over. There was a single message waiting without a return number attached:

2 days.

It could only mean one thing. “She’s coming here, isn’t she?” I asked.

Theo let out a short breath. “We think so. I trust she’ll make it over the border without being followed, but she’s going to have to go deep underground.”

“The caves,” Francisco said. “Theo and I managed to hide out there for a short while during the First War, and it won’t be comfortable, but it’ll be safe enough.”

I grimaced. I had never met her, but she had done everything in her power—including risk her own life—to get Orion to safety. And because of that, he’d managed to rescue me and bring me back to something like the Wolf I was. We owed her.

“We’ll do whatever we need to in order to keep her safe and comfortable,” I said. I checked the time, then looked over out the window. There was little for the Council to do until Orion was done with his work, but the moment that part fell in our laps, we wouldn’t have space to breathe again.

Not for a long while.

“Now we wait?” Aisling eventually asked.

I offered her a half smile and shrugged. “Now we wait.”

Around noon, Orion was hurt. I felt the sharpness of it in the bond, hard enough to send me to my knees and knock the breath out of my lungs. I was in my office, so no one was around to witness it, but panic set in, and if it hadn’t been for Orion sending me a pulse that he was okay, I would have gone tearing across the city to find him.

As it was, I wasn’t sure where his security team had set up their quarters. The Council would eventually know, but for now, it was better to keep it quiet. The four of us were close, but not close enough to have kept tabs on who we’d all gotten close to since moving to Corland, and it was very likely that Wolves in our inner circles were the very ones Orion was searching for.

My only saving grace was that I had been a recluse. I had kept to my family and no one else, and while I knew Orion would do his job and interrogate both Cameron and Talia, I wasn’t overly worried about them betraying our cause.

But the others…it terrified me, how much we didn’t know. I was meant to take up Kor’s position, and I hadn’t realized how heavy his crown was until the others started coming to me for direction. I had no idea how to move forward, and if our government decided to announce a bid in the election, I had no idea what to tell my people.

We couldn’t wait on Kor forever, and I wasn’t sure Nadya had any information with her that would make a difference.

It was harder to distract myself now that I could feel ebbs and flows of Orion’s injury, but I did what I could to go about my day. I left the office around four, stopped to restock our tiny little kitchen, then went over to Talia’s.

She was sitting on the sofa with my niece on her knee, and the tiny Wolf grinned at me with her big blue eyes, her little hands reaching for me.

I had never been one for children, which wasn’t common amongst Wolves since they were so rare, but something about her little face had captured my heart the moment she was placed in my arms for the first time. I kept Talia and her family at a distance—an old habit to protect my heart from loss, but now that the First War had ended, I allowed myself small pieces of indulgence.

“Hello to you,” I said, lifting her into my arms. She squirmed and kicked her legs for a moment before she settled against me.

Talia gave me a grateful sigh and rubbed at her eyes. “She’s teething still, and I honestly don’t know if I’m ever going to sleep again.”

That much was obvious by the way Elizabeth latched onto my knuckle and began to gum at it. I could feel the very first blunt teeth trying to break through her bottom gums, and I rubbed down a little harder, feeling her rumble in contentment.

“How about a nap?”

Talia stared at me. “You’re serious?”

I rolled my eyes, then flopped onto the sofa with Elizabeth’s tiny back resting against my broad chest. “Absolutely serious. I don’t know when Orion’s getting back in. He was hurt today.”

“I felt it,” Talia said, and when I shot her a look, she shoved at my knee, making Elizabeth laugh round my finger. “Don’t look so surprised. You two are bonded. He’s pack.”

I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear that, but my heart quieted, and I breathed a little easier. “I don’t think it’s serious.”

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