In my wolf form, everything was so much clearer.
Axel was pack.
Regardless of how things stood between us, I wanted to protect him.
Ineededto protect him, because the thought of anything happening to him made me want to tear the forest apart.
“And so I came here.”Axel’s heavy sigh pulled at my heart.“My magic doesn’t work the same through the gateway. I can’t control it, but that means no one else can either.”
“Do you think that’s why Zh’alek’s come here? For your magic?” Max asked.
“Maybe,” Axel answered. “Either that or to finish what Dathal stopped him from doing five years ago. Zh’alek went to prison because of me. He has cause to want me dead.”
“He has no one to blame but himself,” Dathal snarled.
“Do you have any updates on Zh’alek’s whereabouts?”Max cut in, and I stilled, straining to hear the answer.
“We continue to monitor the gateways.” Lady Sarhin’s voice easily carried to my spot in the trees. Clear and confident. “There’s been no sign of him.”
“So no one’s seen him since he escaped from the prison at Anyath.”
“No.”
“Tsk-tsk, Talis. I thought you had better manners.”
I whirled around, teeth bared, to find Nell walking towards me. She was downwind from me, so that explained why I hadn’t caught her scent, but I should’ve heard her approach, jaguar stealth or not. I growled again and she laughed.
“You know,” she said, coming to stand beside me. “I remember when Axel first arrived here. All charm and confidence on the outside, much like he is now. But underneath all that was a deep hurt that he couldn’t quite hide. Not if you looked hard enough.
“I think that’s why Rys accepted him so readily into his pack. He recognised that Axel needed to feel safe. And what better way to do that than surround him with pack.” She ran her fingers through the fur on the back of my neck, and I let her, with only a token grumble of protest. “I heard you both this morning.” She snorted. “Hard not to. And I know it’s none of my business, but just… maybe don’t write him off yet.”
I huffed.
Axel had made his feelings pretty fucking clear.
“Give him time. I don’t know what happened to him, but I’d bet my claws it was something awful.”
She gave my scruff a gentle shake. “Go home, Talis. You’ve been rumbled anyway.” She turned to leave, not waiting to see if I did as instructed.
I also noticed that she was right, everyone had gone quiet at Axel’s house.
Ah, fuck.
No doubt Max had heard us talking.
I wondered if he’d tell the others I’d been listening in, then decided I didn’t care. If they didn’t want anyone to listen to their conversations, they shouldn’t have them in shifter territory.
With one last look at Axel’s house, I turned and walked away, Nell’s words sitting heavy in my mind.
* * *
Rys and Sashawere in the kitchen when I got back. Since my clothes were lying in a shredded heap near Axel’s house, I entered the kitchen naked.
They stopped talking as I came through the door.
I got the feeling they knew all about my morning.
“Gabriel not back yet?” I grabbed some joggers from the pile next to the back door. Arriving back sans clothes was a daily occurrence for shifters, so Rys made a point of leaving spares just inside the door. These were a little snug, but they did the job.
