Page 10 of Eclipsed Heart

“How areyou,Queen?” Stevie sighed and shook her head.

“I’m betting we all want to know that answer.” It had to be a mistake.

Licking her lips, Stevie rubbed her hand over the black fleece blanket. “We need to go home. Mom and Dad are going to be worried about us.”

“That’s not an option.” I tightened my hands on the wheel. “You can link with them, orIwill.”

“Dammit, Callie.” Stevie’s body tensed. “You’re my sister. Whateverthisis doesn’t change that everything I did was to helpyou. I shouldn’t be punished for trying to protect you!”

I laughed, the sound more hysterical than I’d intended, but damn. My fated mate was hurt, I now had some blasted tattoo that shouldn’t be there, and we’d been attacked twice in less than twenty-four hours. If that wasn’t hysteria-inducing, I didn’t know what else this emotion whirling within me could be. “So you thought everyone else's lives were worth less than mine?”

“No one was supposed to get hurt.” She leaned her head back against the headrest. “And so what if someone else got hurt? No one has ever protected us before.”

“Every single alpha advisor except Zeke protected me from Charles's attack with Pearl and the other three goons that night.” It was like she’d forgotten that part, so I was more than willing to remind her. “So youknowthat’s not true.”

She flinched, and my throat tightened.

No. This had to be some sort of sick joke. “Please tell me you weren’t working with Queen Kel before that?”

Stevie turned toward the window, hiding her face, which told me everything.

“How long?” I forced out. The words were like razors slicing my throat.

“What was I supposed to do?” Stevie turned back toward me, lifting her hands and causing the blanket to drop below her breasts. “They wouldn’t let you out of the pack to work, and seventy-five percent of the money I brought home Zeke demanded to cover pack expenses! We were never going to be able to leave, and yes, you took the brunt of the mistreatment, but the rest of us weren’t far behind…except for Pearl.”

Yes, Pearl. The sister who hated me. I was certain she’d told Charles and the others when and where I was going so they could harass me.

“But by teaming up with the queen, you were allowing others to be treated the same way as us.” That was the part I didn’t understand. She was trying to help us by doing the same thing to other people. “That’s hypocritical.”

Stevie pulled the blanket up over her boobs and glared out the passenger window again. She didn’t say another word, and I wasn’t sure whether she was absorbing what I’d just said or ignoring it.

Silence hung thick in the vehicle as I continued the drive home. My head was spinning. But everything came back to the tattoo on my chest and why the ink had marked my skin. Did the spell get messed up due to the wolf attack and latch on to me because the spell that had trapped my wolf was wearing off? That was the only thing that made sense.

I focused on pushing my magic through the fated-mate connection to Bodey to hopefully give his magic a boost and heal him faster.

You don’t have to worry about me,Bodey linked.I’ll be fine, and we’re going to figure out this whole tattoo thing together. I promise.

I wasn’t hiding my thoughts and emotions well. He’d read me like an open book.My priority is making sure you heal. Then we can determine how this mistake happened.

No matter what, I’ll be beside you,he replied, his warmth settling deep within me.

Somehow, he knew exactly what I needed to hear. In just a little over two weeks, he already knew me better than I did myself.

* * *

As we pulledup to Bodey’s—er,our—two-story modern colonial home, I couldn’t believe that the sun was still out. Though it was only late afternoon, my eyelids were so damn heavy. It felt like a week’s worth of drama had happened during the past day.

“Is this your new neighborhood?” Stevie asked a little bitterly as I pulled into the garage. “Since you’rematedand all.”

That was like a punch in the gut. I hadn’t told her about Bodey and me, but I was just as shocked by her revelation as she was mine. “Yes, it is, and that’s why I planned to come to the house after the coronation—so that Bodey and I could tell you all.”

She blew out a breath. “And that’s why you were so determined to be there?”

“Exactly.” I turned off the car and climbed out, wrapping the blanket more snugly around myself and opening the back door for Bodey.

Once we were all out, I moved to the door of the house and hit the garage control to close it. We all entered the large mudroom, passing by the white bench built into the wall where we’d normally put our shoes.

Bodey moved slowly beside me as we went into the kitchen, his nails tapping against the dark mahogany floor.

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