“I understand why.”
“Maybe on a conscious level, but what about underneath where the magic comes from? At this point, your magic has got to think that the world is a terrible place and it’d be way better if you just stayed in bed where it’s safe.”
He couldn’t argue with that. Hell, his conscious mind thought that too. But he had a duty to the people of Detroit, promises to the Griz, and a bone-deep need to stop the coming violence between the wolves and the bears. Up until now, he’d always relied on that moral center—the knowledge of duty and responsibility—to guide him even when the rest of the world seemed to think lies were the norm. Now he wondered if that was enough. All those responsibilities didn’t really feel like they gave anything back to him. And right now, he was running on empty.
She stroked a finger across his brow, gently smoothing away the frown he hadn’t even known was there. “You seem to be thinking a whole lot of stuff right now. Care to share?”
“I can’t argue with what you’re saying. I just don’t know how to fix it.”
“Your subconscious needs to feel safe again.”
He snorted. “Great. How?”
“Do I look like a therapist to you? I haven’t a clue. But I’m willing to sit here and talk it out with you if you want. Will that help?”
It couldn’t hurt. And looking into her soft green eyes, he believed it would help. A lot. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Start anywhere. Let me listen.”
So he did. He talked backward in time, starting with Nanook, but ended by relaying how his parents had reacted when he’d told them he was a shifter. Back in Noelle’s bedroom, he’d told Frankie it was a fun experience, that he’d loved showing his parents that magic existed and making his sister scream. He hadn’t told her about the rest because he didn’t like to think of the negatives. When he’d first said the words to his parents—not shown them—his father had stared at him like he was insane and his mother had shaken her head, no. As if he’d shared a cancer diagnosis or something. They fought the knowledge even after he shifted right in front of them.
They were good people, and he loved them, but they struggled to accept what he was. It made them uncomfortable on a gut level, and he didn’t want to force them into a place they couldn’t go.
It hurt. Deep down, it really hurt, and this was the first time he’d told anyone about it.
She listened to him. And though they held hands at the beginning, eventually she stretched out in the bed beside him. Her body pressed intimately close to his, but she kept her head braced on the palm of her hand as he talked. Every once in a while, she would tell him a similar story from her childhood, but mostly she listened as she held him. And when the pain seemed to pour out with every word, she wrapped her arm around his torso and pressed her lips to his cheek.
He felt the wet of her tears, but didn’t acknowledge them. Especially since they might have been his own. His throat gave out more than once, but he sipped water and soon fell into talking again. She brought that out in him. Words, feelings, things he hadn’t acknowledged even in the privacy of his own thoughts. They spilled out to her, and she absorbed them as if she couldn’t get enough.
At one point, Hank’s mantra slipped through his thoughts.The greatest mastery is a mind that lets go.He’d been trying with very little success. Until now. Now he saw that he had to let go by giving it to someone else. To share the pain and the burden so that it could finally dissipate.
He gave it to her. He told her everything until his throat shut down and his words failed. He closed his mouth and his eyes. He settled his cheek on her head, and he held her just as tightly as she held him.
And together, they slept.
Chapter 20
Frankie woke with a start, the feel of her pack mates in her head. Normally that would reassure her, but this time, she felt their aggression, knew they were angry, and all of them were very close.
“Easy. You’re safe.” Ryan’s words rumbled through his body into hers. He was lying flat on his back and she was wrapped around him.
“My pack is near,” she said. “And they’re pissed.”
She started to get out of bed. She had to go downstairs and warn—
“We know,” he said as he tightened his hand on her shoulder. She could have broken his hold, but didn’t want him to strain his injury.
“How? I just started feeling them.”
Ryan’s expression eased into a smile as he held up his phone in his free hand. “Simon just texted me. Told me to keep my ass in bed or he’d personally kick it back up here and he can’t afford the distraction.” He arched a brow. “Yours, too, by the way. Nothing you can do but make it worse.”
Unfortunately, that was probably true. Still, the need to go burned in her. From the feel of them, her pack was hopped up on the serum and ready to eat bear. Literally. “You don’t know what you’re up against.”
“Simon knows. He’s got surveillance cams and nonlethal surprises. Plus, the police on speed dial.”
She frowned. “You’d bring cops into shifter business?”
He arched a brow, not even bothering to respond, and she felt her face heat. Of course he’d bring cops into their business. He was a cop.
