Page 49 of All Saints Day
“If it doesn’t work—Louise and I bond before you potentially end up with two alphas in rut and a sigma and omega in heat.” He snorts a cold laugh, dropping into a low squat to pick up a wide, flat stone—turning it over in his palm.
“Both Lou and Q are close, and we don’t have high enough quality suppressants to guarantee they wouldn’t lapse while we’reon the lam,” I concede, still not liking the plan any more than I did earlier—so I make sure to add a caveat, “but Louise hasn’t even seen him in days and she seems ready to go to pieces at any moment. Do you really think it’s a great idea to throw her in there tonight and hope for the best?”
Dennis comes to standing before snapping the stone out of his hand to skip it a handful of times across the still water.
“Cazzy, I don’t think there’s a ‘best’ anywhere in sight,” he sighs, exhausted—before turning to face me. “But I don’t think we have much of a choice.”
Chapter 17
Sébastien
Once it was decided that Tin-tin and Loulu would be interrogatingla bete, all of us set about preparations in our own way.
La bete—the beast. That is what I’ve been forced to think of him as since that night on the lake. Whoever, whatever that broken man was—he was a beast that I couldn’t trust.
After her walk, Louise came to me—her hair a tangle and her cheeks pinked by the sun and wind, her shoulders still pinched high around her ears.
“Come on, Loulu, let's get you ready for tonight, eh?” I sigh as I coil her into my arms in a tight hug.
She nods against my chest—and I unfurl her from my arms, towing her behind me slowly like a tiny boat toward the small metal tub and propane hot water box on the far side of the yurt.
None of us could think about laying a hand on her right now. Everything we can sense down the bond says that she isn’t ready—which I completely understand. What I fail to comprehend is how she can ask us to approve the more extreme interrogation methods she proposed in light of such things.
“Are you sure you’re ready to face him,chèreLoulu?” I ask gently as I help her ease into the hot water.
“Yes, I think so,” she chuckles warily as I dip a small wooden bowl beneath the surface of the water and pour some of it, clear and steaming, over her shoulders.
“You’re very brave,mon amour,” I murmur under my breath as I dip the bowl beneath the water once more, nodding for Louise to tilt her head back.
“I don’t know that I have a choice.” She smiles tightly as I pour the hot water over her scalp and through her hair, careful to use my other hand to shield any stray water from her eyes.
“You absolutely have a choice, Loulu. If you don’t ever want to see him again—you don’t have to,” I protest, looking her in the eyes before I pour another bowl of water over her hair, lank and greasy—still recovering from poor nutrition and a vigorous detangling.
“While I appreciate the chivalrous gesture, Seb—” Louise purses her lips as I squeeze a bit of sweet-smelling shampoo into my palm. “We both know it isn’t that simple,” she sighs, her eyes fluttering closed as I begin to work the shampoo into a lather—massaging her scalp.
“It can be,mon amour—just say the word,” I begin to assure her, but Louise’s brows crease deeply and she interjects before I can finish the thought.
“Forgetting for a moment that Frank is another of our fated mates, which is a tall order, I know—to completely cast that aside,” she snorts a cruel laugh before continuing, “we need to get all the information we can out of him if we want to get ahead of the Windmill’s plans to release the augmented Zeitnot virus.”
I can’t argue with her there.
“Doctor Perla and I will benefit from more information, yes—but that isn’t the only thing to consider going in.” I do my best not to dismiss her, while impressing Louise’s right to hide from Frank for as long as she needs—even if that means indefinitely.
“Don’t worry, Sebby.” She reaches up to touch my wrist tenderly as I rinse the shampoo from her scarlet tresses. “I promise I’ll be safe—if I need to tap out, you’ll be the first to know.” She tilts her face back until she’s looking straight up into my eyes.
“If he so much as looks at you the wrong way, I will destroyhim,mon amour.” The words escape me, low and laced with fiery resolve, before I can stay my tongue.
“I know you would, I’ll wear your promise into the interrogation like armor,” Louise breathes, her eyelids drifting closed as I bring my face down to hers.
I hover a breath above her—waiting for permission.
She closes her eyes and presses her mouth to mine, and I’ve never been more sure—I would lay down my life for this woman; for my pack.
We did our best to dress Louise in our defenses before the interrogation tonight.
She looked hale and hearty after an afternoon spent in the sun and a dinner of beef stew and crusty bread. Her cheeks had a rosy color instead of the sallow pallor of her first days of freedom.
Dressed all in black clothes borrowed from all of us to keep her cocooned in our scents as she and Q enter the lion’s den.
