“But I am no longer a pup confused about how to rule my kingdom.” Rowan turned and left them speechless. The video cut off, and we were stuck there wondering what we just watched.
I was the first to break the silence. “Stupid man.” I handed Jora back his phone as panic wrapped around my throat.
“What?” Jora tucked his phone away and followed us.
“He just put a target on his back. Bigger than it was before.” Toya wiped her face. “They will gun for him harder now.”
“Exactly.” Wendy confirmed, and the panic felt like it started to strangle me.
“How did he do that?” Jora followed behind, like a good guard.
I wiped at the sweat that had beaded on my forehead. I had to calm myself down. Before I could worry about Rowan, I needed to handle my attack. “He is challenging them. Showing his intention early.” I hurried towards the vegetables. “Now what wehave to decide is if he did it on purpose to pull the attention away from something, or if he allowed his anger to speak for him.”
Toya and Wendy stopped dead. “Do you think he would do it on purpose?”
I bobbed my head back and forth. “He might feel like they were getting too close to finding something out he wanted to keep hidden, or to pull attention away from someone. I could see him doing that because he was worried. But…”
Jora came closer. “But?”
“But I can also see him getting so angry that he said it without really thinking it through. He is a Lycan, and while they are obviously not immortal, they are stronger than the average wolf. And Rowan is the strongest man I have ever met.” Toya caught up with me as I stopped in front of the herbs.
“But he isn’t stupid.” She snatched some of the rosemary.
“No…no he’s not.” I grabbed some thyme, and we grew quiet. Rowan was keeping things secret and now I had to figure out a way to protect him.
But first, I needed to figure out what was killing my wolves. I looked over at Toya. “Grab everything. I don’t know when I will have to make another chicken.”
Wendy perked up. “I had an idea on our way here.”
We all turned to her. “What?” I dropped things into the cart Jora went and grabbed. “Thank you.” He smiled and nodded.
“My mate always forgets the cart and then gets more than she expected.”
“Why don’t we get you a countertop herb garden?” Wendy pulled out her phone.
“A what?”
“Here.” She handed me her phone to show a photo of a product from the store. It was a small plastic tray with small holes down the length of it and an expanding arm that suspended a light over the tray. “Each hole is for a small cup ofsoil. It will grow an herb in each hole and you will have your own supply whenever you need it.”
“This is actually genius.” I handed back her phone. “Now we just have to find it.”
“Actually, the store made it easy.” She scrolled for a minute. “This location has it in aisle twenty.” She led the way to the aisle. “And now that we are here, we can hit this button.” And she pointed to a flashing tag halfway down the aisle.
“That’s convenient.” Toya laughed as she ran over. She grabbed a box and brought it over while reading the box. “It says it comes with everything, including the seeds and soil.”
“That’s actually amazing.” Jora walked over. “My mate would love this.” He looked down and then whistled. “Nevermind.”
“What?” I pushed the cart closer.
“I didn’t expect it to be so expensive, is all.” I looked at the price tag and I winced. A few hundred dollars is nothing to me, but for someone working as a guard. It would probably mean a lot.
“No worries.” I grabbed another box and put it in the cart, then looked at the girls. “Did you want one?” I could see Wendy eyeing the box, so I laughed as I grabbed a third. “You guys know you can just tell me.” Wendy blushed.
“We know, you always tell us.” Wendy nodded.
“But she doesn’t want you to think we are friends with you just for the money.” Toya smiled as she hugged her to her side. “What I’ve been telling her and what is hard for her to actually understand is that you aren’t throwing your money around because you have to. But because you want to and the money is nothing to you.”
Wendy shook her head. “Money always means something.”
