“Do you want to continue training?” I ask as I hold the cookhouse door open for her.
“Eventually. I think I need a break, to you know, figure out what I’m going to do about staying here.”
My gut tightens, and my wolf goes fully alert.
Her brows narrow. “You’re not saying anything.”
“I’m afraid of saying the wrong thing.”
“No such thing. I’d rather have honesty than platitudes.”
“That’s what I like about you, Angel. You’re not the least bit superficial.”
“After yesterday, I’d think you have more to like about me.”
“It’s a long list. Want me to read it to you?” I hand her a tray then take one. As we make our way through the line, I pile on the sausage, eggs, and toast with a cup of joe. Angel heads toward an empty table, then abruptly changes direction and finds another.
“What are you thinking about doing while on hiatus from training?”
She pushes her oatmeal around on a spoon, not eating. Once, twice, she turns her head, barely imperceivable, as if she wants to look behind her but doesn’t dare.
I look over her shoulder and find Tiberius staring in our direction.
“What’s going on? Why is Tiberius staring at us?”
“Not us. Me. He doesn’t want me here.”
“Hell, I don’t want me here, especially with Ellis serving the food. She warned me to keep my dick in my pants. Her words, not mine.”
Angel smirks, but then glances to her side again. “When you were up on stage with Damien yesterday, he came over to me and said some… things.”
My wolf’s hackles shoot straight up. I’m ready to tear the male to pieces, without even knowing the details, but that look on her face, the anxiety there keeps me from charging across the room. I can shred him with my claws later. Right now, my Angel needs me.
“Whatthings? What exactly did he say?”
“That I kept you from rescuing the other shifters. That I don’t belong here.” Her hand shakes. When she drops the spoon, I take her hand in mine.
“He doesn’t know what he’s saying. I was the one who decided that day. Not you. Tiberius has no fucking business saying anything to you. You have every right to be here.”
“But he’s right?—”
“No, you’re not going to blame yourself like I did with Marla. Learn from my mistakes, Angel. You want to take the blame for Alex falling in the river, then fine, do that. Figure out what happened so it never happens again, but don’t let your guilt weigh you down until you’re drowning in it. I’m trying to say you can’t blame yourself for something you had no control over. Do you hear what I’m saying? You hadnofucking control. The humans kidnapped you and gave you one and only one choice. Obey or die. Tiberius doesn’t understand that because he’s never been in that situation. Never had to beg or do the unthinkable just to survive.”
“You talk as if you have. H-have you, Garrett?”
“Darlin’, I’ve rescued a lot of shifters over the years, some in worse shape than you. I stopped asking them how they were taken. I didn’t want them thinking they needed to explain what they did or didn’t do, or what they should have done.”
I shake my head, recalling the haunted looks all the shifters we’ve rescued carried. “That’s the part that always gets me. Survivors second-guessing themselves. Or blaming themselves, as if they’d just done that one thing—veered left instead of right, thrown one extra punch, jumped off a cliff…” I take her hand in mine. “Or ignored the incredible scent of a lone female in the woods… wondering if walking away would have saved them. Would it? Maybe. Maybe not. That’s the type of thinking, the unending loop of questions without answers, that drives you mad. There’s only one thing they should focus on,take pride in. That theysurvived.”
Tears fill her eyes. “It sounds so easy, logical when you say it like that.”
“Easy? Hell, no. But it’s the truth. Surviving is the only part that matters. As for Tiberius, my angel, Iwillmake it clear to him that he’s never to come near you again, not even look in your direction.”
She chuckles as she wipes at her eyes. “You can’t threaten every male who says something mean to me.”
I tip her chin up until she meets my eyes. “I will speak with him, but I also want you to understand the history here, so you don’t think it’s just my pack hating you because you’re an outsider. Tiberius’s brother disappeared years ago, along with several other shifters. We found him in the same raid that we found Tess. Ray didn’t survive. Maybe Tiberius is jealous that you did. Maybe he’s lashing out because he can’t accept his loss. Or maybe he fears the same happening to him. Whatever his reason, he has no right threatening you.”
When she bites her lip, something I’ve only seen when she questions herself, I caress her cheek. “Gorgeous, none of what the WSSO has done is on you. That’s what I’ll make Tiberius understand. Then, if he persists, I’ll teach him manners the more traditional way.”
