“Where am I? Why are you keeping me here? What the hell do you want from—”
A door opened.
Another woman walked through and closed it behind her. She was muscular and tan, and her head was shaved on one side. On the other, her brown hair was parted over the top of her head, hanging in sharp spikes on the shaved side. Her green eyes were bright and wide as she glanced at me before looking at Elizabeth on the floor.
Human. She was a human.
But she smelled like wolves. Overwhelmingly so.
She crouched next to Elizabeth, their shoulders bumping together. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going,” Elizabeth said.
“That good, huh?”
“He thought about attacking me but burned his toes.”
The woman shook her head. “Men. They never learn.”
“No, I don’t suppose they do.”
“I’m standing right here,” I snapped.
“Observant,” the woman said. She eyed me up and down. “He’s bigger. Wider, I think. Looks like he’s finally gotten some muscle. Still short, though.”
For reasons I didn’t care to think about, I covered my bare chest with my arms. “Would you stop ogling me!”
They ignored me. “Needs a haircut,” the woman said.
“Eh. I kind of like it long.” Elizabeth frowned. “Huh. That’s not the first time I’ve said that. Interesting.”
The woman slowly turned to look at Elizabeth. “Did you just make a sex joke? Oh my god, I’m going to tell everyone.”
“Robbie,” Elizabeth said, “this is Jessie Alexander. You met her brother, Chris, during your little bridge adventure. One of the wolves.”
I scowled at them.
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Jessie said. “Good to know that dipshit look on his face hasn’t changed. Kelly’s asking about him.”
That caught my attention. “He’s awake?” I demanded. “Where is he? What happened to him? What did Ezra do to him?” The silver was once again singeing my toes, but I didn’t care. There was a pulse in my head, and it was Kelly, Kelly, Kelly.
Elizabeth cocked her head. “Interesting. Yes, Robbie. Kelly’s awake. He has been for a while now. We were waiting on you. It’s been six days since the bridge.”
My knees weakened, and I took a stumbling step back. “No. That’s not… that’s impossible.”
“I think you’ll find many things you thought impossible are now reality,” Elizabeth said, not unkindly. “I don’t know what will happen, Robbie. I don’t know if anything can ever go back to the way it once was. This… world. This life. Sometimes I think we’re cursed. After everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve done, there’s always more. Mistakes were made, a
nd I—”
And then I said, “To my beloved. Never forget.”
The wolf mother moved quicker than I could follow. Her eyes blazed as she stood before me, just on the other side of the line of silver. Her claws were long black hooks that gleamed in the low light. “Where did you hear that?”
My shoulders slumped. “There was a book. In Michelle’s office. I found it.”
“What is it?” Jessie asked. “What’s he talking about?”
“A gift,” Elizabeth said. “To my late husband. It would seem Alpha Hughes has kept something else that doesn’t belong to her. Good to know.”