He growled at her, sounding more wolflike than any human I’d ever heard.
“Eat this,” she said to me again, holding out her hand.
I gave it one last try. “But if it’s about Kelly, maybe he should be the one to eat it.”
“Oh, that’s right!” she exclaimed. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Really?” I hadn’t expected that to work.
“No. Not really. Don’t be ridiculous. Do I need to get the others to hold your mouth open? I’ll massage your throat to make sure you swallow.”
“Bet he’s never heard that before,” Carter muttered. Then he looked at me. “Have you ever heard that before? I mean, I know Kelly is ace and all, but—”
“Enough,” Patrice said. He turned to me. “Dis is your mate.”
I looked down at my feet. “So I’ve heard.” I winced as Kelly sighed. “That came out wrong. Do you really think this could help him?”
“I don’t know,” Aileen admitted. “But we’re running out of options. What do you think Robert Livingstone is doing right this second? Licking his wounds? Biding his time? He’s not, boyo. He’s planning. What, we don’t know. Hell, we don’t even know where he is. But you were taken from him. Whatever he had in mind for you, whatever he was grooming you for, he’s had to course correct. Out of sight is not out of mind with him. We don’t know what he’ll do, but he won’t stop.”
I felt sick. “All those wolves in the compound. Will he hurt them? There are children there. Cubs.”
She hesitated.
And that was enough.
I grabbed the mess from her hand and shoved it in my mouth. I bit down, grimacing at the taste. I swallowed, and almost immediately my stomach cramped. Before I could say anything else, Aileen stood in front of me, her palm inches from my face as she muttered under her breath.
The cramps increased as she pulled her hand away and blew a quick breath in my face.
“Shit,” I muttered as I bent over, clutching my stomach. “What did you do to me?” The grass at my feet swayed side to side as if in a breeze. But then it started rubbing against my boots, leaving green smears against black leather. I yelped and hopped back, trying to get away from it. I looked up, and all the colors of the forest started to bleed together. “Um. What?”
Aileen was squinting at me, and I squeaked in horror as her eyes began to move around her head. The left went to her forehead. The right settled just above her lips. “I might have dosed him a little too much.”
“Ohhh shiiiit,” I breathed as her lips flew away from her mouth and settled in a tree branch overhead. “Your mouth is a bird.”
“We must hurry,” Patrice said, grabbing me by the arm and jerking me through the trees. “Get to da clearing. Now, Bennett pack. As if your lives depend on it.”
By the time we reached the clearing, I was convinced the ground was lava and that Rico was going to die.
He wasn’t amused when I threw him over my shoulder.
“You’ll melt,” I snapped, hopping over the crack in the earth filled with boiling lava. “I know you don’t like me, but I won’t let you die.”
He pounded his fists on my back. “I swear to god, I will end you. Chris! Give me my gun!”
“Nah,” Chris said, seemingly unaware that his nose had migrated to his chest above his right nipple. “Think that would be a bad idea.”
I jumped over another lava hole. The clearing ahead looked safer, so I set him down. “There,” I told him, leaning forward until my cheek grazed his. “You’re safe.”
He shoved me away. “Pendejo. Don’t touch me, you fucking weirdo.”
Aileen pressed down on my shoulders. I sank to the ground as the grass danced around me. I grinned goofily at Kelly as he sat across from me, his knees bumping into mine. “I don’t love you,” I told him. “And I know that makes you sad. But I like your face. It’s a good face. You should keep it.”
His lips twitched. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He touched the back of my hand. “I like your face too.”
I puffed out my chest. “I worked hard on it.”
“Cute,” Aileen muttered. “Ox, behind Robbie. Joe, behind Kelly. Everyone else, spread out, but make sure you’re touching a member of your pack. You need the connection.”