Page 13 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

After all, someone had to stop the brothers.

Why couldn’t it be us?

4

LEO

My body hurt.

Not that endless agony consuming every moment of my existence like at the lab, but a steady ache still permeated all my bones.

It had only been a week since I had returned, so perhaps it was naïve of me to expect to be fighting fit by now, but even Ven seemed puzzled. A day or two after I’d accepted Miranda and Jason into our pack, she cautiously approached me to ask if I had a theory as to why my healing was taking longer.

I hated that she was walking on eggshells around me. It was as if she was afraid even her voice would rattle me, or perhaps she simply didn’t trust me. Ihadbeen quite violent when I was fighting against being captured, but surely she understood that. At least I hoped she did. Of course, I could ask her outright, but part of me was afraid of the answer.

Then came the matter of me giving Ricky orders behind her back. While she hadn’t brought it up, Ricky had told me he didn’t appreciate being put in the middle like that. I didn’t blame him, but I was immensely grateful he’d gotten Ven out of there. Ascrazy as it sounded, I would go through that entire torturous experience three times over if it meant keeping Ven safe.

I didn’t use the question about my healing taking longer as an opportunity to talk about such heavy topics. Instead, I told them I must have been consistently dosed with wolfsbane so the scientists could test my limits as a wolf. Hopefully, Jason and the others blowing up the lab meant all their research had been destroyed.

One could only hope.

Ven had seemed satisfied with that at the time, but we still tiptoed around each other. I was happy to be around Ven again, and I was sure she felt the same, but we were avoiding very specific conversation. I knew we had to have them eventually, but surely after everything I’d gone through there was no harm in procrastinating a bit.

Well, that was what I told myself.

“You really want me to pluck the heads off your flowers?”

I sipped at my tea as I listened to Ricky and Ven tending her flower patch. It was difficult not to resent Ricky for taking my place as Ven’s helper, and I wondered if I should go out and help. Then again, what if I was more hindrance than an aide?

“Ha-ha. I know it may sound counterintuitive, but dead heading makes sure your flowers continue to reproduce.”

“How’s that work again?”

I leaned toward the window, eager to hear Ven’s explanation. While I was glad to have Ricky back, I missed when Ven and I fooled around in her garden, when she taught me about all the little things I never even knew existed.

“Well, you see, basically all plants want to reproduce. That’s kind of their whole purpose. The way most flowers reproduce is by the seeds that come once their flowers dry up and die. Not all, but a majority. So, if you cut off the blooms right before theystart to dry out, it tells the plant it needs to make more flowers in order to produce more seeds and make more babies.”

“Huh. That’s so crazy. I never would have thought of that.”

Ven chuckled. “Plantsarefascinating.”

It was a sweet moment between my beta and Ven, but I wanted to be the one out there with her. Even though we were both so happy to see each other again, and I knew I loved her down to the bottom of my heart, there was an awkwardness between us. Something a conversation would fix, I was sure, but I simply didn’t have the energy for it.

Funny how I could face off against powerful warlocks with little-to-no trepidation, but speaking to the woman I was in love with seemed like a monumental task.

Come on, Leo, get yourself together.

Easier said than done.

I stood there, waffling for several moments about whether to go outside, until I felt a very deliberatethunkagainst the side of my leg. I looked down and met Goober’s wide, beseeching eyes. He had one of his streamer toys in his mouth. I’d never met a cat who would drag a toy to its owner like a dog, not even Andromeda’s, but Goober clearly didn’t care about his canine leanings.

“Well, I suppose I am free.”

Was it exactly what I wanted to do? No. What I wanted was to be out in the garden with Ven, acting like nothing had happened, like I hadn’t been captured and tortured for days on end. But I had to admit, playing around with the giant Maine Coon wasn’t a terrible consolation prize.

Just when I thought we were having fun, Goober abandoned all interest in the toy and marched to the back door of the kitchen.

“What, was my technique off?” I teased. I knew the cat couldn’t actually understand my words, but all of Ven’s furry charges had a very strong grasp of tone.

---