Poppy would not have coped well, if at all.
“Ember?”
“My sister’s not…resilient. I can absolutely see her turning her son over to the pack in that scenario. And Blake has always put her first because he has to.”
“Basically what Quinn said, that his dad offered no contest. He doesn’t want you to know any of this.”
“I’ll wait for him to tell me, if he chooses to.”
“Thanks. I weighed it, telling you or not, but you thought it was on us. I guess that’s where my loyalty lands. Upholding the integrity of my pack.”
“Not a bad place to land.”
He closed his eyes, leaned his head back.
“Is your past…your first change…is it why you couldn’t talk about the full moon, about being a wolf?”
“It’s all mixed together in my head. I can’t separate the pieces, past and present. There’s the loss of control from—from that night, and there’s the control I have in wolf form now. But trying to talk, it mixes together again, like I’m still that panicked pup.”
“Panicked?”
“The car trunk was open, and when I changed one of the guys grabbed a crowbar. I reacted like…well, like a threatened wolf.” He squeezed her hand tight.
Ember rubbed his upper arm, trying to comfort.
He opened his eyes. “It’s not mixing right now. Talking to you. I don’t know why. It’s always gotten mixed together when I try to talk to Mal about it.”
“If it starts to mix, let me know.”
“You’ll know. I start sweating and shaking.”
She squeezed his hand, then held it in her lap and traced a circle over his palm. Oh, she’d been unfair, failed to see him clearly in her drive for answers. She had pushed without patience, had assumed if Jeremy spoke of the full moon then Aaron should be equally able to.
After a while, when he remained stubbornly awake, she braved the topic she didn’t want to touch. “The blond wolf who came closest to me. That was Malachi.”
Aaron’s eyes opened with sudden alert focus. He nodded.
“Has he ordered me to go, and you’re just not telling me yet?”
“I haven’t seen him this morning. He’ll keep to himself until he’s replenished.”
“Anyone in his life who’ll cook him steak and eggs?”
“Mal’s alone.”
They sat in silence a moment. Time to try again. “Aaron, will you sleep now please?”
“Yeah, I…I think so.”
“In bed?”
He didn’t answer her. Maybe he’d needed to unburden all this. Maybe he’d sleep better now. Ember rested her hand on his chest, treasured the rise and fall of his breathing against her palm. She’d thought she would have time. To know him deeply, body and soul, to sit together on his couch and feel him breathe. If she’d known that to trespass on the paddock was to throw it all away… If she’d known that to trespass was to wound Aaron so deeply.
She shifted on the couch to stand up, but Aaron pressed his hand against hers as if its place on his chest wasn’t close enough. Then his body slackened. His hand fell to his side. Ember brushed her fingers through his hair.
“There,” she said. “Go to sleep.”
His words were slow, a little slurred. “You stayed. So you’re still…”
