Page 103 of Healer's Call

She turns back to me. “I sort of just did it,” I say apologetically.

She shakes her head. “Mav, you’re going to have your hands full.”

“Don’t I know it,” he says.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she says and pulls me into a hug. When she releases me, she gets to work gathering this and that and filling plates of food for us. With a promise to fill her in soon on everything that’s going on, we leave the kitchen and find a table away from everybody else to eat. Neither of us says anything while we eat, and I let Mav eat most of his food before I start in.

“So, what happened?”

He leans back against his chair. “We got the rogue wolves settled in the training gym for now. We’ve got every enforcer plus pretty much every available male in there to keep them in line.”

I watch him carefully. “Are you worried about them? Do you think they still pose a threat?”

“They’re rogue wolves. Everything about them is dangerous.” His words come out harsh, but I know he doesn’t mean it against me.

I wait a beat. “What about the one I healed?” I ask softly.

He sighs. “I don’t know.”

“He’s young, right?”

Mav runs a hand over his head. “Yeah. Fifteen.”

“He’s not a rogue wolf. Is he?” I wait for his answer.

He shakes his head in frustration. “I don’t know. I don’t...” he shakes his head again.

“Hey, it’s okay.” I try to put my hand over his, but he jerks it away.

“It’s not okay.” His eyes are fierce, and I can see the battle raging behind them. He shoves his chair back and leaves his food forgotten on his plate as he stands and stares out the window.

My heart hurts for him because I know what this is about. I slowly push my chair back and walk over to him. Knowing I might face rejection, I push forward anyway. He’s hurting, and I’m not going to stand idly by. I wrap my arms around his middle and put my head against his back. He stiffens, but I expected that. But at least, he doesn’t pull away. “I’m sorry, Mav.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he says in a voice that sounds full of bitterness.

“You didn’t know.”

“Well, we should have,” he responds in anger. “Jesse’s only fifteen! He’s a boy! We almost killed him, snuffed his life out. How many other boys have we killed? How many other wolves that had their whole lives ahead of them? And we killed them because we thought they were rogue wolves; we thought they were the soulless ones.” He lets out a laugh, but it’s anything but joyous. “We’re the soulless ones.”

“Mav, stop. You didn’t know.”

“Yeah, because they’re stuck in wolf form and can’t change back,” he scoffs.

“What?”

“That’s why we thought they were rogue.” He turns and faces me and gives me a look I don’t know how to read. “What?”

“Cade wants you to heal the leader of their pack.”

I let that settle a moment. “I didn’t think rogue wolves ran in packs. I thought they were just loners.”

“We thought so too.” He gives me a frustrated look.

“I’ll do it.” I can tell he’s ready to argue with me. “It will be okay, Mav. Let me do this; it will give us the answers we need.” He still doesn’t look very happy, but I put my hand on his arm and look up into his eyes. “I can do this, Mav.”

He’s quiet a moment. “I know you can.”

“And I trust you to make sure I’m protected while I’m doing it.”

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