Page 11 of The Safest Place She Knows

Oren chuckledand kept tracing his finger over the skin just above the stitches.The skin flattened out as Brexel watched.

“We are alsofrom the Stronghold, more or less, but we left. Now, we are here intown and looking for mates. Well, we weren’t, but here youare.”

She swallowed.“You weren’t?”

“No, but magichas a funny way of placing the right people in each other’spath.”

Iris fidgetedand tried to pull her hand back.

“Keep contactwith Brexel, or the healing stops,” Oren growled.

She slumped,and big, fat tears coursed down her cheeks. Ymer gasped. “Aw, Pet.Don’t cry.”

She looked athim with purple eyes wide and shining. She squeaked. “I just wantedthings to stay normal. I had a nice routine. I had friends.”

Brexel sighed.“You can still have your friends.”

“How do Iexplain this?” She flapped her hand. “And the boys. How will theboys understand this?”

Brexel smiled.“They will understand. They go to a school filled with alphas, andthere are plenty of plural families. With so few of your kind, weaccept the inevitability of sharing.”

“My kind?”

Ymer chuckled.“Elite females. You are already fully transformed. I wonder howthat happened.”

Iris looked athim with wild eyes and then jerked her head back to Brexel. “Ididn’t. I never. It didn’t...”

He squeezed herhand. “I know. We know. How long did the transformation take, startto finish?”

“Um, threemonths. The hair and eyes went first. There must have been a scentcomponent because alphas started following me around.” Sheshrugged. “The ears showed up in about six weeks.”

Oren smiled.“Your scalp is healed, and the swelling is gone. I am going to getthe kit and remove the stitches. It also means we won’t need tokeep waking you up tonight.”

“Great. This isweird.” She waved at them with her free hand.

Brexel smiled.“Yes, I guess it would be. Why didn’t you freak out when you sawthis particular face?”

“Oh, I haveseen it before. It flared up when you talked about your businesspartner and her husband. A shadow crosses your features.” Shewiggled her fingers. “You don’t need to hold my hand anymore. Thehealing is done.”

Oren pulled hishand away. “I will get the kit.”

Ymer rolled hishand in the air, and the kit arrived. “Here you go. Now, Pet, Ihave some questions for you.”

Brexel saw hereyes lock on the med kit as Oren took it.

“I... neverneeded to bring you coffee, did I?”

Ymer chuckled.“No, but it was very appreciated.”

“Right. Um.Great.”

Oren wassmirking. “I am guessing that he looked forward to whatever youwere wearing at the time.”

Ymer scowled.“I appreciated the attention. The other servers just left me to thenumbers.”

She held stillas Oren started to snip the stitches. She winced when the tuggingstarted. The small pieces of black thread were removed and setaside.

Brexel watchedand kept hold of her hand. Ymer kept his hand on Brexel’s shoulder.As they watched, the pinholes of the stitches disappeared, leavingnothing but bloody hair at the original site.

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