Page 35 of Broken Chains

It broke my heart to see how humbled he looked when I nodded. He was tearing into his new bedding before I walked over to Tim's room.

"She bought me a desk, too?" he asked softly.

"She said you'd need it when you came home from college on breaks," I confessed, not telling him I'd argued that it wasn't necessary. I had no idea it would mean so much to him.

Leaving Tim alone, I headed for Brady's room. His bed was already made, and he was laying on it, staring up at the ceiling.

"It's nice, huh?" I asked.

"I've never felt anything so amazing in all my life. Why does even the pillow feel so much greater?"

I snorted. "For what she paid for those things, it better," I grumbled.

Brady turned his head to look at me. "She's done so much for us, Ollie. Why'd you make her cry?"

"It's complicated," I said, not wanting to rehash my reason.

"Well, fix it. She's the best thing that's ever happened to us. The best that's ever happened to you, too. You need to go to her and make this right, whatever it is," Brady said.

"I wish it were that easy. I really do. Look, I don't think it's right for us to stay here tonight. I'm taking Eve and we're going to head back over to the trailer." I couldn't bring myself to say "home," because that place would never feel like home again after experiencing what a real one should feel like.

"Do we have to?" Kenneth asked, standing in the door.

"No, but it's the right thing to do," I told him.

He sighed. "At least we hadn't slept in the beds yet. She can still send them back and we won't know what we were missing."

Within the hour we had Eve's stuff packed up and with a last longing look at the house, the boys took off on their motorcycles while Eve and I followed in the van.

The trailer was empty, and everyone was depressed as we settled in for the night. I didn't know what I should do, but my wolf felt like he was in mourning.

Eve had been sleeping much of the afternoon and by dinner time she didn't want to eat. At first I thought she was just feeding off my melancholy, but when she started to sneeze and her cough began, I knew something was wrong. I picked her up from her high chair and her limp little body felt like it was on fire. I was terrified and didn't know what to do.

Brady and Tim tried to look up remedies for sick babies. Kids got sick all the time, right? But not shifter kids. Still, Eve was half human, too. I kept reminding myself of that, even though I couldn't remember a time my brothers or I were ever sick.

Brady ran to the drugstore and bought everything he could. We gave her some Tylenol cold medicine and waited. Still, her fever continued to rise. It got so high that we even tried putting ice packs on her to cool her down.

As a last resort, I left her with Kenneth and Tim, as Brady and I ran to get the Pack physician. The worthless piece of shit was sitting around smoking pot when we got there.

"We need your help. Eve's really sick and we don't know what to do," Brady explained.

"What the hell do you want me to do about it?" he said to the snickering of his friends.

"Try getting off your ass and doing your job for a change," Tim said angrily.

"Please, just come and check her out. Anything at all. I don't know what to do," I said, practically begging him.

"She's nothing but a worthless half-breed," the man said.

I saw red and lunged for him, but Brady was faster and blocked me with his body.

"He's not worth it, Ollie. Walk away."

My heart was pounding, and I was struggling to keep control of my wolf as we headed back to the trailer.

"Stay out here and calm down. Don't even think about going back after him. I'll check on Eve," he said calmly, and I briefly wondered just when he'd decided to finally grow up.

Peyton

---