The wolf stood with a dazed look. Her mouth opened and closed. "I…uh…"
"Grab your blanket. We'll crawl in our beds and fall asleep. You can have the couch." I made sure there was a welcoming tone in my voice, but my eyes sent their own message. She knew not to say anything.
Then she closed her mouth and nodded in surrender. "I'll get my stuff. I have a stuffed animal."
"You do?" Emily mumbled as she cleaned her mouth.
"Let me guess? A little wolf?"
Pippa grinned before she went out the door.
"How'd you know that?" Emily asked, but she didn't care. Now that I'd taken the illness away, the exhaustion was evident in her. She was going to be asleep before her head hit her pillow. And as I put the movie in and she crawled into her top bunk, she was snoring before I even curled up in my own blankets. Pippa came through the door and stood in the doorway with her hand on the doorknob. "She's already asleep?"
"Yeah."
She fidgeted with the door handle. "Do you think should I go?"
Emily's snores roared through the room.
I gestured to the couch. "I already put the movie in. If she wakes up and doesn't see you on the couch, she'll wonder why you didn't come. She's going to swear that she never fell asleep and watched the whole time."
Pippa grinned. "I guess I can stay a little bit."
Then I pressed play and nestled back.
Twenty minutes into the movie, she asked. "What are you?"
I'd been tired, but I jerked awake now.
She hesitated. "I mean, you're not just empathic."
"I can't tell you and if you ever find out, you can't say a word to anyone."
Pippa didn't comment for a while. "The wolves know you exist. They know there's something different about you. I'm sorry. We don't have an open channel for our thoughts with each other, but we're highly in tune with the other wolves. The matriarch knew about you. She sensed my unease."
At her words, everything froze inside of me. I knew about the mother wolf, but I hadn't given her enough thought. First Brown had distracted me, then Roane came, and then Saren.
"Are they going to do anything?" My heart stopped.
She shook her head. "No. They're just waiting and watching right now. If you do something against us, then they'll act. They're protective of Emily, you know. Her kindred is important to the pack. They consider her one of us already."
I grinned at that thought. "Can you imagine when Emily finds all that out?" I whistled under my breath. "I'd like to be a fly on the wall that day."
She giggled. "I think everyone in the pack will feel her kindred's emotions. I'll tell you how it goes."
I shook my head. Emily's world was going to split wide open. She was still uneasy about the possibility of witches. I had quieted her questions about vampires, but all the folklore was going to become real to her soon. Except me. I wasn't in the folklore.
I settled back and tried to watch the movie.
Wren paused in his doorway and saw Roane with his back to the desk. He gazed over the club below him. She couldn't see from below, but she knew he'd be there and he was.
Gregory had passed the message that Davy was there. The ones who knew what she meant to Roane felt her presence immediately. They understood why a sudden intensity swept around the club and most of them waited. They watched warily to see what might happen next. Wren knew that her master wouldn't be leaving this spot for the rest of the night.
"Are you going to stand there and watch the whole night?"
Roane didn't turn around. He'd known she was there before she opened the door.
When he didn't answer, she took a seat on one of his leather couches and swung a leg over the armrest. "So what's the plan? Are you going to kick her out? She's here with her roommate and a wolf. She's here under her cover. Sneaky little bitch."