“What happened to you?” I grasped her shoulders and pulled her aside.
Had she tried to heal someone again and only taken on the illness herself?
That sick lonely feeling I’d felt in the dressing room fled me then and a resolute calm washed over me as she sighed in relief. It took me a moment to realize I hadn’t been feeling my own feelings, I’d been feeling hers!
“Alpha. Ineedyou,” she whispered.
I frowned at her. She looked like she was in rough shape, and although she insisted on calling me that name that I hated, I didn’t want her to suffer.
“What happened? How can I help you? Do you need some food? Medical care?” I gestured to the food court. She looked skinnier since I’d last seen her if that were possible. It had only been a few weeks. Had someone been starving her? Anger surged within me at the thought.
Her bottom lip quivered. “Alpha. Comehome. Please.”
Fuck. Not this again. My heart tightened in my chest until it felt like I couldn’t breathe. “Did Arrow send you?”
She swallowed hard. “Arrow is off trying to make money so we can trade for food and blankets and all the things we need.”
What the what did she just say? “Youallneed food?” Did all of the Paladins look like this? Had Arrow looked skinnier last time I’d seen him? I had been half asleep and hadn’t noticed, and he’d been clothed this time.
Astra placed one hand on each side of my face, and I saw Walsh, Eugene, and Sage press in closer to me, hands on their weapons.
“When will you understand? We.Need.You.” Her voice cracked and the spots where her fingers touched my face started to tingle. “The magic that makes our people special is tied toyou.Come. Home. Now.” She growled the last word and I knew it was asking a lot of her. She was the most submissive wolf I’d ever met, and yet she stared into my eyes, holding eye contact, and it burned right through to my soul.
I swallowed hard, staring back as tears threatened to spill over, a thousand thoughts flashing through my mind. Ihadto help them. How could I not? I mean, they were people and they were suffering… but Sawyer… my love, my fiancé that I was marrying… I couldn’t just leave this whole world to go live in the fucking jungle with his sworn enemy.
She broke eye contact, looking away from me and at the surrounding mall. “You’re not coming.” There was disappointment in her voice, finality.
“I’m going to help you,” I assured her. “You remember that place we came through the Wild Lands wall into Werewolf City a few weeks ago?”
She nodded, but her shoulders drooped like she’d lost all hope.
“Go there with some of your people. Bring wheelbarrows or horses or whatever, because I’m going to have a bunch of food sent there.”
She frowned, looking utterly destroyed. “Okay, Alpha.”
Fuck. Why did the disappointment in her voice tear into my heart?
“Food is good. You need food, right? Oh, and blankets.” I snapped my fingers. “I’ll send both… okay?”
Her little mousy brown hair formed a curtain around her face. She nodded, making it shake, then her chin snapped up and her blue-eyed gaze held mine. “Arrow was right. The city has poisoned the heir of Running Spirit, granddaughter of Red Moon.” She spat the words at my face, and then burst into tears, running off through the mall.
“Astra!” I shouted, taking off after her and then stopping. What was the use?
How did I get to this point? A few months ago I was a banished wolf living in the human world, and now I had a giant rock on my finger, engaged to the alpha’s son.
“What was that about?” Sage asked.
I blew air through my teeth. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to call Sawyer.”
She nodded and handed me the phone. Sitting on the bench in front of the fancy dress store, I rang my future husband and prayed he would be kind to a people I knew deep down he’d grown up hating.
He picked up on the first ring. “My answer is yes. Buy that beautiful woman whatever she wants.” Sawyer obviously thought it was Sage calling.
“Hey…” My voice cracked. I could have used our bond for this, but that felt weird. I’d rather talk it out and not internally jump on him.
He picked up on my mood immediately. “What’s wrong?”
I sighed. “Remember the little healer Paladin that saved Walsh’s life?”
