Vi cocked her head.“Camelot?Like in the Arthurian legend?”
I attempted to shrug.That was actually okay, pain-wise, but my muscles or tendons or whatever else made the movement happen normally now felt out of whack.It was dawning on me that I’d be very sore before too long.
“No.I mean, I don’t know.They said they were going to take me to Camelot.They said you gave me a disease?Like an STI, but something that makes me fall for werewolves.”
Linc laughed, dry and humorless, then wiped his face.“Is that what they think?What they’ve been telling themselves?”
“They were talking about…training Dom and Ell, I think.Something like…storm something.Storm dogs.I’m not sure.Training in the way you’d train a dog, you know?”I said.Vi’s face twisted into a grimace.“Sorry.”
“Not you, Marcus.”She took a deep breath.“What else do you remember?”
I licked my lips.Linc saw and got up off the bed.There was a pitcher on a table beside my bed, and he poured water into a glass then handed it to me.
Vi let me have my drink.Good thing too.I hadn’t even realized I was thirsty.Linc took the empty cup from me when I was done and turned right back to the pitcher.
“I can get you something else too if you like, Marcus.”Linc put the refilled cup into my hand.“I’ll get you anything you want.”
I took another swig.“Tea?”
He huffed, and this time, his smile was real.“I think I can make that happen.I’m not sure they have oolong here though.”He looked at Vi.
“It’s okay,” I said before he could kick her out.“There was a truck.I didn’t really see much, but they had this big truck waiting when we came out of the woods.”
Linc nodded.“We saw that.It was probably how they got the ATVs there.”
“Should’ve realized that.”I looked at Vi.“I don’t really know anything else.It sounded like there were other people at that Camelot place.Scientists.Maybe that’s how Steven started with this?Then again, maybe he was always like this.Doesn’t matter.”I drank some more water.Tears flowed from my eyes, and Linc wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs.“Steven wanted to fix me.He said they had a way to do that.”
Vi’s eye turned to slits.“From liking werewolves?”
“I guess.Oh.There was something about heralds?I think Steven is a herald.The werewolf guy said he tried running away once, but there’s a tracker in his collar.That’s wild, huh?Putting a collar on a person who doesn’t want that.”
“That is one word for it.”Vi pushed off from the window.“I’ll let you get some rest.Marcus, if you remember anything else, tell me or Linc.I’ll be downstairs with Ellie and Dom.”
I nodded.“Can you tell them to rest?”
She chuckled.“I can tell them.Can’t promise they’ll actually listen to me though.”She put her hands on her hips.“My grandma used to say that’s the thing about alphas.No one can tell them what to do, not another alpha, certainly no beta.Unless there’s an omega in the room.Alphas love listening to their omegas.Or that’s what they say.Let me know if that’s true sometime, okay?”
She walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Linc and a silence so big it needed its own chair.
“Are you mad?”I asked.
Linc’s eyes widened.It made me notice the rings under them.
“Am I mad?No, Marcus.I’m beyond relieved.I’m not mad.”
I looked around the room.“Did you give me your jacket?I remember not wanting to lose it, but then I fainted.Huh.Never fainted before.Don’t like it.”
He took my empty water cup.“I don’t like you fainting either.I think it’s in Smith’s car.The jacket, I mean.”
I nodded.“Good.I didn’t lose it, then.You know, I was thinking before all of this, and I think I have a gut feeling about wanting to stay.With you all.Except the biting… I don’t know about you biting me, Linc.”
The door slid open, and that head of red hair made my heart beat faster even before I saw the rest of Dom walk in.
“Do you mean that, Little Red?”
He wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt that was too big for him.It was Ell’s.I didn’t know how I knew, but I was sure, so sure.If Dom wore Ell’s shirt, then Ell had to be okay.No, there was no causality there, but it made all the sense to me in that moment.
I nodded, then said, “What did they do to you?”My voice broke, and I sobbed, unable to control it.
