“I’m defending him because I’ve seen who he is.”
“Marla thought she knew him too.”
“And what makes you an expert on Marla and Garrett?”
She pushes the door open, so hard it slams into the back wall. She’s unfazed by the loud bang.
“Marla was my older sister.” Kiera turns and walks into the showers, leaving me in the cold air to absorb everything she said.
Part of me wants to charge into the showers to apologize while continuing to defend Garrett, but Kiera’s right. I don’t know him very well.
Instead, I wander around camp like a stray dog that doesn’t know where it belongs. A few shifters toss cautious looks my way, one even smiles, a handsome young male.
“I take it you’re the new shifter I heard about. Angie, right?” A smile slides onto his face as his eyes move down my form slowly before he meets my eyes once more. “Want a tour?”
“The name’s Angelina. And no, I’m fine on my own.”
If I wanted a tour, it’d be from Garrett. To my relief, the shifter doesn’t follow or even glance back.
Question after question bubbles up as I meander. By the time I crawl into my bed, I’m too wired to close my eyes.
Rest and heal. He gave me an impossible task… then handed me over to Kiera and walked away.
“Shouldn’t Kiera be back by now?” I ask to whoever’s in the cabin.
“Kiera’s got a boyfriend.” Olivia slides her book into a nook in the wall, then climbs under the covers.
“I think she’s avoiding me. She said some awful things about Garrett and I defended him.”
“She’s still bitter about Marla, probably always will be.”
“And yet Garrett asked her to show me around?”
“Because Kiera wouldn’t hold his actions against someone else, and he knows it.”
“I still can’t believe?—”
“Stay out of it, new girl. And if you know what’s good for you, stay away from Garrett. He’ll get you killed, just like he did Marla.”
“New girl has a name. Angelina.”
“I’d heard it was Lina.”
“Only to my friends.” I storm out of the cabin. If everyone inthis pack shares Kiera’s and Olivia’s attitude, I can understand why Garrett distances himself.
And yet it still doesn’t make sense that he’d leave me here to be bombarded by all their negative thoughts. Maybe that’s why I turn down the path by the cookhouse, into the thickest part of the woods… to Garrett’s cabin.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
GARRETT
Aclap of thunder jerks me awake. It takes me a second to realize I’m in my own bed, safe from the WSSO, from anyone and anything that could harm me. After nearly a week away, and the stress of returning home with Angel, I want nothing more than to sleep.
Tomorrow, a short run for my wolf, then I’ll sit by the fire and… I don’t know how to finish the thought. I trust that one day will melt into the next seamlessly, like always. Now that I’ve reported in to Damien and gotten Angel settled, the pack will leave me alone until I’m needed for the next retrieval.
I hope that’s not for a week or two. The warmth of my bed makes the idea of getting up rather distasteful. I haven’t slept this soundly since… fuck, since that night in the cabin, with my body curled around Angel. She’d settled me, me and my wolf.
As my eyes close, a hand slides over my abdomen. I jump and pin the intruder to my bed.
