Page 72 of Haze

“What do you want to do? Back to bed, lounge around down here, maybe try shifting?” Dinah offers her hands out, almost juggling the ideas between them as she presents them to me.

It’s heavily hinted that I should try shifting.

“I don’t want to lounge, and I don’t have enough energy to shift.” I shake my head.

I don’t want them to know I can’t feel my wolf. It’s one more thing that makes me stand out. I’m already worthless. I don’t want to give them a reason to equate me to a human.

With a very pathetic growl, I look at Cade. “I have no phone, no laptop, and my office still isn’t set up. So, I guess I’m in wander-around-the-house mode.”

“Your office furniture showed up and is mostly assembled, and I have, as gently as I could, relocated your plants.” Cade kisses his mate on the top of her head and looks at me. “I love you. Rest, please.”

As if on cue, Cade’s phone starts ringing. He takes it toward the far end of the house where his office is.

Thalia looks at Deacon. Whatever face she’s making is not something he’s happy with.

Face fully scrunched up, he shakes his head. “No, little red, I know that look. I’m absolutely not going down to your creepy room of ancestor stuff.”

“Deacon,” she pleads with him, “You told me last time there was only one ancestor there, and they didn’t even speak English.”

“Mm-hmm.” Deacon nods at her, sliding himself out of the stool and backing away from her slowly. “And that was one too many. I’m taking a nap. Lena?”

“I’m good, Deacon.” I smile, knowing he’s offering to carry me upstairs under the probably correct assumption that I won’t make it there on my own.

“Can I convince either of you to come down to the archive with me?” Thalia turns back to Dinah and me.

I look at Dinah and see she’s already assessing me. Passing whatever evaluation she’s given me, Dinah answers for us, “I could really use a nap in a bed that’s soft.”

“No, I want a shower first. Please, for the love of all things good. I don’t know how you manage to stay around me like this,” I argue with a groan.

“Okay.” Thalia sounds sad.

“Maybe after I get cleaned up, you could help me settle my plants?” I offer Thalia.

Thalia nods, her hair bouncing with the energy. “I’d love that. I’ll go help Cade while you two shower. Maybe an hour?”

“Yeah. That’d be great.” I give her a soft smile before she hugs me one last time and walks down the hallway.

Eyeing the stairs, Dinah instructs, “We’re going slow. I’ve done enough running this week, I’m not carrying your ass up there.”

“Fair enough.” I nod.

Gingerly, I pull myself off the stool and make my way to the stairs.

“Do you want to talk about us?” Dinah draws the words out in hesitation.

“Not especially.” I shake my head, focusing on one stair at a time.

At the top, Dinah argues, “We have to talk about it eventually.”

I nod, leading her to my suite. I take my spare key out from behind the painting to unlock the door and let us in.

“Damn.” Dinah looks around at the sanctuary I’ve built for myself. She croons, “This is nice.”

I cock an eyebrow at her. “You know I’d have no problem dolling up your cabin. You could be living the life of luxury.”

“I’m never home. It seems like a waste to have anything more than the essentials.” She shrugs.

I roll my eyes while Dinah tests the squish of my sofa. Leading her around the fireplace, standing in the middle of the space, I look at the massive, oversized bed. It’s even larger than the one at the apartment.

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