And despite Agatha’s medication and the charm around my neck, the voices push in at the edges of my consciousness. Already the overwhelming pain is subsiding, like a sour candy once you’ve sucked the acidic powder away. Now, the intrusive sensation is more like a muffled wave of sound, lapping at my brain. Everyone’s thoughts—their concern and relief, and curiosity, and even a little bit of disdain—are audible to me, albeit muffled by one serious herbal remedy.
I grumble quietly and Jasper places a hand on my back.
“You okay?”
With my lips pressed together I glance at him and nod.
“Max!” Katie rushes forward, and I’m so happy to see her.
Mason is a step behind her, followed closely by Olivia and Mia, who are conspicuously keeping close with one another. Gritting my teeth through the discomfort, I only have to force my smile a little.
“How are you feeling?” Katie asks.
“I’ll be fine,” I say.
“That’s a shame,” Mason says. “I thought you were going to go septic and take out the whole pack.”
I laugh a short, sharp cackle.
“It’s good to see you,” he says.
“How good is Agatha?” Mia says quietly enough so that only those closest to us can hear.
“Seriously, a miracle worker,” I say. “And great taste in scarves.”
“Ah, you’re back!” Morven’s voice rises over the noise in my head as the crowd parts for him to make his way through. “Thank goodness. And you’re feeling better, I take it? We weren’t sure where you’d run off to.”
“I just needed some space,” I say, not sure how much Morven knows about his daughter’s trips to the valley.
“We’re so happy that no harm has come to an Elite wolf on Rocky soil,” Morven continues, looking especially rosy-cheeked. I wonder if he was stressed about the ramifications of harming an Elite Pack wolf. “Please, you must stay one more night; the mountain air will do you, well, a mountain of good, and you can fly back tomorrow.”
Right now all I really want is to sit down and have some hot chocolate and maybe do a drawing, so it doesn’t matter to me when we leave. I glance at Jasper, who nods.
“We’d love to stay one more night,” I say, suddenly speaking for the entire Elite envoy.
“Fantastic!” Morven claps his hands together enthusiastically. “And tonight we dine in your honor, Max!”
“Okay.”
I rub the back of my neck and blush.
Up in my room, the press of the voices is almost gone, just a tickle at the back of my skull. And Jasper leaves me so I can nap and rest for a while. But I lie in bed with light streaming through the curtains and can’t seem to sleep. So I text Katie.
“Wait, let me just make sure I’ve 100 percent understood,” Katie says, reclining on her side and nibbling a piece of gingerbread. “You and Jasper spent a night in a tent together andnothinghappened?!”
I shove her shoulder gently.
“No, nothing happened.” Why is it suddenly so hot in here?
“But like…did you want it to?”
Grabbing a pillow, I roll onto my back and proceed to smother myself.
“Nuhah! You can’t hide from me!” She whips the pillow away, leaving me exposed and blushing.
“It…wasn’t like that, it was more intimate.”
“What’s more intimate than sexy time with the alpha’s son?”
