Zora, his pack’s healer, told me what would halt the rejected mate syndrome currently eating me away from the inside out:Rennick’s claiming bite. It’s the only thing strong enough to stop the progression of this fatal rot but also get me through my looming heat. A heat that is years’ worth of suppressed heats built up.
She called it a “super heat”.Lovely, right?It will rack my body so hard, my weakened state won’t be able to withstand it. It will overwhelm me before it consumes me whole. Its arrival is the clock I’m now racing against.
But Rennick…Rennick could make sure I make it through to the other side. That could keep mehere. I just have to put my faith in him and his willingness to claim me. I would have to first trust him with that tidbit of information, though, and that’s hard to do given our…history.
Arms crossing tighter over aching chest, I watch as a member of Ashvale Coven walks out their front door and to their little hybrid car. They stuff yet another suitcase into the full trunk. They were one of the ones who claimed this wasn’t their fight. Seems they’re getting on the road as early as possible.
I have no idea how many—coven and pack—have decided to leave town.
Actually, I still have no clue how the meeting ended last night. I didn’t run into anyone when I crept out of Mom’s office and slipped upstairs on soft feet half an hour ago. I don’t know if I’m avoiding people or the decision they’re all waiting on me to make.
The dim and lonely silence of my room is interrupted when my door creaks open and quiet footsteps pad across the hardwood floor. Staying where I am, I look over my shoulder to find the intruder.
Siggy doesn’t say anything at first, just flops on her stomach across the end of my messy and unmade bed. The sheets are still stained from the grime that had transferred yesterday from myclothes to the bedding. Luckily, she picked a relatively unsoiled space to occupy.
Siggy rests her chin in her palm and watches me. She doesn’t look quite as haunted as she did yesterday, though the weight of her past—the abuse she escaped, the terror she lived through—still lingers in her eyes. Trauma doesn’t let go easily, not when it’s had months to root itself deep.Seeing even that small shift loosens the knot in my chest. Everything around us might be spiraling into grief and fear after the attack, but her health, her steps toward healing, will always be a priority.
She doesn’t let the quiet linger for too long. “So, what’s the over under we can just hide up here all day?”
“I’m not hiding,” I lie.
Her mouth tilts, and instead of uttering a sarcastic comment or snort I more than deserve for my fib, she simply hums. “Ah, okay. Then neither am I.”
“I’mprocessing,” I correct with a wrinkle of my nose as I reach up to redo the clip I’d contained my waist-length hair into when I’d changed. I remembered to wear something white this time. An over-sized sweater that hangs off one shoulder. It’s the least I can do for the dead I know we’ll be putting to rest at sunset.
“Processing takes the time it takes. Trust me, I get that better than anyone, but if it helps to have company while you do it… I’m here.” I’m once get unnerved by this role reversal, not liking that she thinks she needs to help prop me up.
“I’m trying…”
She picks at a loose thread from the woven cream blanket on my bed, quiet for a moment, letting me have space to breathe in. Then, softly, “Okay. Do you want to know what happened after you disappeared on us last night?”
The word ‘disappeared’ makes me flinch, but I don’t argue it. It’s true. I just…walked outon them. I owe everyone an apology at some point today.
“Fifteen members of the coven have agreed to come to Idaho. Seren thinks more will agree to go if or when Amara finds her ability to speak again. But we’re still holding out for that to happen.” Siggy lays it all out for me. “The Craddock Pack is split, but you already knew this. One side is backing Lena and want nothing to do with Pack Fallamhain. The rest are team Cerys, but that means they’re actually waiting on you.”
And I still don’t understand why.
I move away from the huge window and drop into the cream boucle chair. My muscles are quivering, and I don’t know if it’s from the crushing weight of responsibility or from sickness, but either way, it hurts.
The ache is worse when I’m away from him. That’s been more than confirmed over the past day with his on and off proximity. I almost feel like myself when I’m within touching distance of him, but when his skin is actually against mine? I’m fucking golden. And it pisses me off because it all but confirms what Zora told me.
Siggy continues talking, dragging me back to the matter at hand. “Rennick called in reinforcements last night. My mom, Zora, a few others, they’re headed this way as we speak to help organize things here but also drive people back to our territory.”
Hearing this, a wave of homesickness I haven’t felt in a very long-time washes over me. My memories are still working their way to the surface, whatever manipulation Mom had done to my mind easing with each passing day, but despite her interference, I never forgot the selflessness and generosity of the people in my childhood pack. Their warmth was a complete contrast to the old pack Alpha’s coldness. Merritt Fallamhain. Ren’s dad.
“I’m sure your mom will be over the moon to see you,” I tell Siggy, meaning it. “She’s wanted you home since the second she found out you were safe.”
Siggy’s mouth pulls into a frown. “Yeah, well, she might just have to deal. If you’re not going back with me—with everyone—then I’m not going either.”
“Sig…”
“I mean it,” she cuts in, her voice taking on a slightly panicked lilt. “If you stay, I stay. But what are we going to do? The new omegas…where are they going to sleep? There’s only a couple extra spare bedrooms in the actual house, and you know omegas sharing nests doesn’t bode well for anyone.”
I do, which is why I say, “They can’t stay here, I already know that. But neither can you, love. Not when our safety measures are in tatters.”
“So, what are you saying? You’re going to, what? Send us to Idahowithoutyou?” Siggy’s voice cracks at the very idea of being separated from me, her faces leaching of all color.
My heart pinches at the sight, hating that I’m the cause of my Nightingale’s distress.
