Page 58 of Out of Peril

The kids and I rarely left her side. And Delta team had worked it out to stay with me while Bravo returned home to hold down the fort and deal with the Grand Council's visit. They all felt guilty enough about everything that no one even argued it.

Baine was probably going to need more than a few therapy sessions with Lachlan when we finally returned home. He must have apologized a hundred times, and it was easy to see just how torn up he was. At one point, a couple of the guys took him downtown, where he proceeded to drink himself into oblivion and then crawled into bed with me and passed out while apologizing some more.

I tried to tell him that I wasn't holding a grudge. I wasn't happy with him, but I understood the importance of following orders on a mission and ultimately, that's what he'd done.

I was in a strange place of grief and anger mixed with a willingness to forgive—in time. And if my mate pulled through this.

“How's she doing?” Kian asked, peeking in to check on us.

“Still breathing.”

Colin had taken the kids to entertain them for a bit and give me a break. I was surprised and grateful they'd agreed to go with him.

“You have company. I can send him away if you'd like.”

“Who is it?”

“Leo. He's the Alpha heir for NOLA Pack.”

“I know who he is. What does he want?”

“To apologize for my asshole of a father,” Leo yelled from the hallway.

“Man, I told you to wait and let me feel him out.”

“Whatever,” Leo muttered.

I sighed. “Let him in.”

He walked in and stared down at Lindsey.

“How is she doing?”

“Still hanging in there. No thanks to your father.”

“He's always been an asshole, but this was too much. Is it true she could have died by moving her like that?”

“Yes,” I told him. And I was still pissed off about it. I sighed. “But she made it.”

“She was always tough,” he surprised me by saying. “Small and quiet, kept to herself a lot, but she could defend herself when needed.”

“You knew her . . . before?” I asked.

“Well yeah, she’s Pack. Was Pack,” he corrected. “It's so messed up. I saw the beast, and I've heard enough tales about the Experiments. I just can't come to terms with that thing being little Lindsey. I just saw her at the store before all this happened. We spoke, but she seemed a bit spooked by it. I had no idea. She seemed perfectly normal.”

“She is normal,” I defended.

“You know what I mean. They said the Experiments have no trace of humanity left, yet you can't tell me that was the case for her.”

“We've encountered an Experiment before and that’s how it appeared to be,” I admitted.

“We've battled a few of them now,” Kian confessed. “And that was definitely the assumption. Now I don't know what to think. You really bonded to that thing.”

I growled.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“She's been through some shit and they screwed with her DNA. It affected her wolf, but she's still fully intact. She shifts and reacts just like any other shifter, maybe a little more aggressive at times, but I suspect that's just the mix of animal DNA.”

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