Page 55 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

“What do you mean?”

I shrugged. “Her genetics are a bit of a mystery, but it’s nothing urgent. Ven is Ven no matter what species she is.”

It was impossible for my thoughts not to go to my love. Sometimes when I looked at her, it was hard not to be in awe. Never in a million years had I thought I would deserve someone like her. Honestly, I still wasn’t sure I did, but I certainly wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I was happy to accept that I had definitely pulled above my league. She would probably disagree with me because she always undervalued herself.

“Did I have a mate?”

“No, you didn’t. For a while I thought there might be something brewing between you and Tabitha, but then...”

“Then the warlocks happened.”

“Yeah. That’s pretty much the long and the short of it.”

“So, I like women?”

I raised my eyebrows, a bit taken aback by the question. While I had been plenty confused when I’d woken up from my curse, I’d remembered my sexuality. Sure, it had taken me a couple of days to remember the actual word for it, but I’d been aware I was acutely attracted to women.

“As far as I know, you like hunters. The more skilled they were, the hotter they were to you. What’s between their legs never seemed to matter much.”

“It’s hard to imagine that. Sometimes I feel like I’m still just a wolf in the most insane dream.”

“I understand, believe me.”

“But I do know I loved my aunt. She did her best.”

“That, she did.”

“I wish… I wish…” She trailed off again, and dutifully ladled soup into her mouth. I didn’t take it personally. Really, I wasproud of her for saying as much as she had. It did seem like she was coming back into herself, even if she couldn’t remember who she did or didn’t fancy. “I wish she was here right now. I wonder how long it’s been since we even talked.”

“As far as I can estimate, we probably spent about two years under the brothers’ spell.”

“Two years? That’s insane.”

I couldn’t agree more, and while I wasn’t certain, with everything that Ricky and I had figured out, we were about as sure as we could be. If it weren’t for America and Jason also pitching in with rumors they’d heard, we’d likely still be in the dark.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.”

“I know, time is weird in our animal forms.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I—” She straightened so suddenly she nearly knocked her bowl of broth from her tray. “I was with her!”

“With her? What do you mean?”

“I know where she is.” Andromeda turned to me, a manic grin on her face and tears in her eyes. “I know wheresomany of us are! I remembered.I remembered!”

“Look,I don’t want you to get your hopes up. None of our scouts have picked up any shifter scents so far, and we would have if they were around here.”

“No, I know they’re here,” Andromeda said, her voice almost beseeching.

I hadn’t really been keen on her coming to the cave she’d described from her memory, but her directions weren’t the best,and considering that wolves navigated by scent, we needed her to lead the way.

“I know it, Leo. I do!”

Ricky looked skeptical and opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head. While I hoped Andromeda was correct, if she wasn’t, there was no need to argue with her about it. We would find out soon enough.

But I did truly, borderline desperately, hope she was right. The last thing I’d expected was a bowl of good soup and a conversation about cats to bring around the possible location of nearly a dozen of our missing pack members.

“This way,” Andromeda said, still gripping my hand tightly. “I think the cave is this way.”

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