Page 4 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

Sure enough, about an hour or so into my propagation groove, the sky opened up and rain poured down. It was impossible not to think of the time Leo and I had been caught in the rain together, as well as everything that had happened after it. It had all seemed like a fairy tale at the time. Now, my story felt like more of a tragedy.

Depressing.

I tried not to think about it, though, which was easier said than done. So, I put all my focus on my plants, being as meticulous as I possibly could.

I stayed out until it was time to feed the cats again. Once all their bowls had the appropriate serving in them, I realized I needed to feed myself, too. I made a salad out of the greens and tossed some shredded chicken on top. It was no steak smothered in deliciously caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms, but it was plenty tasty—and there was the added satisfaction that I had been the one to grow it.

Granted, it was impossible not to think what Leo would say if he was eating it. I knew he needed a lot of protein in his diet, but it never stopped him from complimenting whatever I served him from my garden. I closed my eyes, trying not to think how excited I was to feed him his first garden-fresh tomato or pick a cucumber off the vine and slice it up for us. Iwouldget him back before either of those were ready to harvest.

I swore it.

I stared out the window as I ate, watching the rain. Once I was done, I quickly did the few dishes from the day and settled in to read a book with my cats curled around me.

I had become so used to being alone in my home. Used to the quiet. Used to the emptiness. But having Leo and Ricky in my space for such a short time had made me accustomed to company. To the warmth of another person. To being able to walk up to either of them and start a conversation. Hopefully, I’d get that back soon enough.

I just needed to come up with a better plan.

With so manyheavy things on my mind, sleep didn’t exactly come easy. Just when I’d managed to drift off, a loud bang from the kitchen had me sitting bolt upright in my bed. I needed to be careful otherwise I was gonna throw my back or my neck out. Maybe both. Then I really would be useless.

My cats scattered as I put on a robe and hurried down to the kitchen, grabbing the bat I kept at the door along the way. While I knew investigating such a sound would likely get me killed in a horror movie, I’d lived out in the country long enough to know that many things that went bump in the middle of the night had natural explanations beyond an intruder.

“Ricky?” I exclaimed as I rounded the corner into my kitchen, the bat raised.

He looked worse for the wear, battered and absolutely filthy. It was a bit of a shock, especially since it was so similar to how Leo had first stepped into my kitchen. Except Ricky was Ricky, and Leo was Leo, and my heart belonged only to the alpha.

“Ven,” he wheezed, limping over to my kitchen table and plopping into a chair. “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to patch me up?”

“What the hell happened?” I asked, immediately going into triage mode. Step one was grabbing my first-aid kit, step two would be evaluating his wounds, then anything after that would come from the information gained in step two.

“I tried to get in, Ven. I figured the last thing they would expect was for me to grab one of their workers on a Monday night so I could infiltrate on a Tuesday morning before they got to doing whatever they do down there. And I figured I could usethe night to press any information out of whoever I managed to grab.”

I gaped at him. That was about the last thing I’d expected. “You went to save Leo without me?” Perhaps not the most pertinent or mature question, but sometimes my mouth moved faster than my brain.

Ricky gave me a rueful look, but his wince of pain marred the expression. “Thought I had a way not to risk you. Because if I got Leo back but something happened to you, he’d never forgive me.”

I didn’t know how I felt about that. While my ego was definitely pleased at the idea that Leo would be so affected if something were to happen to me, I couldn’t help but feel that maybe I could have helped Ricky, so he wouldn’t have come home so battered.

“What happened? Did whoever you pick have more bite than bark?” I asked, trying to inject some humor into the situation, despite the fact that it wasn’t very funny at all.

“Never even got that far,” Ricky grumbled, staring at the floor. Embarrassment and shame radiated from him, but I wasn’t really sure what to do about it. “I had to shift to get close this time, ’cause I figured they’d know our truck, even with switching out all the license plates.”

That made sense, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the same issues I’d had with my GPS had extended to the truck America and her tribe had given us. I didn’t say that, however, because I didn’t want to interrupt Ricky.

“But I guess it’s still too soon, because right when I took my wolf form, I wasn’t in control anymore. It was like my inner wolf was rabid. My entire mind was full ofhatred.It was like every thought wasbite, rip, tear. I couldn’t keep track of my plan at all, and my wolf locked in on some enemy shifters’ scent.”

“Bears?” I murmured.

Ricky’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”

“That’s how Leo and I first met. He’d been pretty badly wounded by a couple of bears. I didn’t know they were shifters at the time, but I wouldn’t doubt it now.”

“Holy shit! Two bear shifters got their paws on him, and they didn’t finish the job?”

“Well, I chased them off.”

It was so strange to think back to that time—a world I’d thought only had humans and animals, and I didn’t fit well into either group.

“Youchased off two bear shifters?”

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