Page 63 of Destined Mate

Fear seized my lungs, and I opened my eyes to find myself somewhere unfamiliar.

Where the hell was I?

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

I tried to move,but my body wouldn’t listen. Even though agony swirled within, that wasn’t the reason I was paralyzed.

It was fear.

I couldn’t protect myself, not here. Had I heard Stevie and Charles, or had that been a dream?

Whoa.

In my entire life, I never would’ve thoughtCharlesanddreamwould go in the same sentence.

My mind drifted.

When I turned my head, the roomwhooshed, disorienting me further.

“Callie,” Theo said from beside me. Something scuffed against the floor, and he was leaning over me, running a hand over my hair. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

My eyes burned because his face wasn’t the one I craved. “Where—” I cut off, my tongue so thick that I struggled to form words.

He sat next to me, taking my hand in his. “You’re in the spare bedroom across from my parents’ room.”

Swallowing hard, I blinked a few times to get the room to come into focus. Soon, the scent confirmed where I was.

Zeke’s house.

That was why the smell wasn’t unfamiliar, just the room. Even though the blue-gray walls were standard, this room was filled with… “Boxes?” I couldn’t get more than one word out at a time.

“Here,” he said as he leaned across me, picking up a glass of water from a black nightstand. “Take a sip of this. It might help.”

Gently lifting my head, he pressed the glass to my lips. I greedily opened my mouth and took a big sip. The water sliced my throat like a knife. I winced but forced myself to take another gulp. With everything I’d gone through, I needed to rehydrate.

His forehead creased, but he helped me take one more sip before saying, “Not too much at once. Let’s give it a minute. We don’t need to upset your stomach.”

He was right. It wouldn’t take much of anything to make me nauseous.

“As for the boxes, Dad cleaned up this room last week, much to Mom’s chagrin.” Theo chuckled and shook his head. “She thought something was wrong with him, but I suspect he was restless with you away and with the other alpha advisers. He’s thought a lot about how he’s been treating you.”

Thankfully, he didn’t expect me to respond—and I physically couldn’t—because I had a lot to say. For some reason, Zeke was acting like a nice guy, but the act wouldn’t last. I was certain this was solely the result of Bodey and the other advisers taking notice of me and how he treated his pack. If it saved me from hauling boxes to gods knew where at least some good would come of it.

“Dad’s making an effort, and you’ll see that Mom is, too. She’s the one who tended to your wounds.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it.

Between learning that Tina had tended to me and Theo’s affection, something inside me turned cold; this was not ideal…and I needed to get the hell out of there.

“Your mom?” That was all I got out. I wanted to know exactly what she’d done to me. She was a nurse and worked part-time in a clinic in Halfway.

“She met us at Trevor’s office and stitched you up. You were bleeding badly.” Theo hung his head. “You were so hurt, and youtextedme. But I was with Bob, Halfway’s alpha, discussing what might happen when Samuel is crowned. I didn’t hear my alert go off.”

“Wolf?” I hated that I could say only one word at a time, but my foggy head was making it hard to concentrate.

“We have the surviving wolf detained in our basement.” Theo’s face twisted in agony. “Charles and Trevor buried the other two so no humans would come across them. What were you doing out there, anyway?”

“Charles…needed…wood.” I adjusted myself. A stabbing pain flared in my shoulder, and the world spun. My stomach churned.

“He could’ve cut firewood himself,” Theo muttered as he brushed his fingertips against my cheek. “I’ll address that later.” He chuckled, his eyes warming. “I will say, Charles and Trevor were utterly shocked that you took down three wolves by yourself. They shifted into wolf form to search for additional scents. They were sure someone had helped you.”

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