I shakily fingered my forehead. Found an ice pack pressed against my left temple. I tried to push it off, but Liam leaned forward on the wicker chair he’d propped next to the bed and dragged my hand off.
“You need the ice.” His voice was infinitesimally softer.
“The bullet. Did it . . .? Were you shot?”
Dried blood streaked the underside of his chin. His? Mine? Miles’s? “No.”
My lungs released all of their stored air. “And Miles? Is he . . . alive?” Again, I looked around at the bare timbered walls—one covered by a bulky, freestanding closet, one baring two small windows, and one inset with a door.
His lips, the bottom still slightly puffy from my love bite, pinched. “He’s alive.”
“Where is he?”
“Why do you care?”
I gaped at Liam, before narrowing my eyes. “Whydon’tyou care? Has he done something to harm you or the pack?”
“You never answered my question. What were you doing with him?”
“And you never answered mine. Why aren’t you in Alaska?”
“Because the wolf who started it all isn’t in Alaska. She’s right here in Beaver Creek.”
“She?” Dread trickled through me like glacier water. Was it Lori? But if it was Lori, why was Liam at Bea’s cabin?
I glanced around me again. Is this where we were? Inside Bea’s cabin?
“Why were you with Miles?” he asked again.
Was Miles involved with this wolf? Was this why Liam was so interested by the company I kept?
“We came to visit Bea. To see how she was doing. I’m really confused right now. Is Miles part of this?” Whateverthiswas . . . “Is Bea part of this?”
A furrow formed between his eyebrows. “You really came to pay her a visit?”
“Yes! Why else do you think I was hanging out with him? Did you think we were looking for a place to screw?”
A nerve feathered his jaw. Shit. That wasexactlywhat he’d thought.
“Can you please explain what the hell’s happening? Because I’m more than a little freaked out right now.”
A door clapped shut somewhere in the house and then footfalls echoed outside the bedroom. When the door creaked open, I tried to sit up but the lancing pain pinned me to the mattress like a preserved butterfly. I stifled my groan.
“Heya, Knickknack. Glad to see you’re awake. You gave us quite a fright earlier when you managed to find the one jagged rock on the entire path and smash your skull into it.” Lucas leaned against the doorframe, naked as the day he was born.
Liam stood, obstructing my sight of him. “Put on some clothes. And make her another ice-pack.”
“Aye aye, chief.” He pushed off the doorframe.
“We’re in Bea’s cabin, right?”
Liam turned and crossed arms swollen with muscle and irritation. To think they’d been wrapped around my naked body mere hours earlier. “Yes.”
“Is she here?”
“She is.”
“And Miles?”
