“I assumed it would be roughly the size of pepper spray.”
“Me too. Worth it though, if we need it.”
A shiver zipped up her spine as she weighed the canister in her hand. Hefty. She’d definitely need a larger purse.
“Anyway,” Ember said, “I wanted to bring y’all some food. I know you don’t need a meal train or anything. But…well, I wanted to.”
“He’ll appreciate it,” April said. “And who knows, maybe he’ll even eat it.”
Ember’s brow furrowed. “Malachi isn’t eating?”
She didn’t want to gossip. She also needed to talk. One thing she wouldn’t discuss behind his back: his resistance to unleashing his wolf. But the rest… “He’s not eating enough. I’m trying to trust he’ll be better after the next full moon.”
“Do you have any reason to think he won’t be?” Ember’s gray eyes were wide.
“No, I’m just worrying for him. I’m not sure he’s sleeping much either.”
“He carries a lot.”
A lump rose in her throat, but Ember hadn’t shown up to be a shoulder for April’s tears. She swallowed them and nodded.
“Maybe this will help? When circumstances are heavy on him, it’s normal for Mal to ignore rest and food. Take it from the mate of both medic and beta.” Ember shook her head. “Aaron works himself into a lather sometimes, but eventually Malachi always works it out.”
“I guess that does help a little.”
But she couldn’t simply shrug at the pattern. She wanted to help him work out whatever needed working, so he would eat her chicken ‘n’ dumplings. So he wouldn’t separate himself from her or deprive himself of sleep.
Instead of trying to explain her emotions, she poked the tote. “What else is in here?”
Ember chuckled and drew out a stuffed zebra, followed by a stuffed unicorn, followed by a stuffed ladybug. All of them were huggable-sized for a child’s arms. The largest, ironically, was the ladybug. The unicorn was white with an iridescent purple horn.
“What on earth?” April said.
“So, I mentioned to Lucy I was coming over here, and she asked me to stop by their place first. These are from Callie”—she pointed to the zebra—“Tori”—the unicorn—“and Gigi”—the ladybug. “Apparently Callie overheard something one of her parents said about Malachi ‘healing’ and she got very concerned. They told Callie he got ‘a little hurt,’ but he’s much better now. Next thing Lucy knows, all three girls are bringing her presents for Malpha.”
“Oh, how sweet.” So much for swallowing all her tears.
“They want him to hug one of these when he feels bad and when he goes to bed. It will make him feel much better.”
April laughed through tears. Such sweet pups. “I’ll pass along their instructions.”
“And it was very important to Gigi that Malpha should know the ladybug is from her, not Tori or Callie. Also it’s a loan, not a forever gift. When he feels ‘all better,’ she wants her Buggie back.”
“You can tell Gigi that I’ll be sure Malpha knows all of that too. Anything else?”
“That was it. I felt like I should be taking notes.”
They talked another hour, sitting on the porch swing as they’d done last time. After everything that had happened lately, April tried to keep things light, but it didn’t seem like enough. Maybebecauseof all that had happened.
When she finally broached a question, it wasn’t the one she had expected to ask. “Ember, you’re from Virginia originally? That’s where someone mentioned Quinn was going to see his folks.” Not to mention Ember’s accent, like April’s own, was unique in the pack.
Ember nodded. “I’ve lived here almost a year.”
“When you met Aaron…was that it? You just knew he was the one for you, and you up and moved? Uprooted yourself?”
“Ah, I get you. Well, yeah, that’s what I did, but…” Ember shrugged. “Home has never been a place for me. Maybe because of my childhood, I don’t know. I know plenty of folks who are like, ‘Virginia forever,’ who would have an awful time moving, but I didn’t. Yeah, I had an apartment to deal with. I had what I used to call a ‘soul-sucking desk job.’ I was pretty mad at my sister at the time—madder than I realized, actually—over what happened with Quinn. I think that made it easy to leave even my family, which amounts to her and my brother-in-law. I do really miss my best friend Claire. We’ve known each other since we were nine years old, and long-distance is still hard. I’ve done a few long weekends with her, but…yeah, I hate not being able to meet for coffee every week.”
“Has she been to Harmony Ridge too?”
