Chapter 76
Adam recovers before me. He grabs the syringe and the collecting bag from the imposing wolf.
“Are you continuing to pay the blood debt?” Tobin asks me.
I have a pretty good idea why Adam’s here. And what he’s thinking. “No,” I tell him.
He angles his head quizzically at Adam.
Adam, bless him, says nothing.
Tobin’s eyes flash. He sniffs the air
Then his brows draw together. “Hmm,” he says absently.
Hmm? What the he ll does that mean?
“You didn’t say why you were here,” I tell him.
“No,” he agrees. “I didn’t.”
Then he turns and walks away from us. Who is this wolf wandering inside my father’s-my packhouse-as if he has every right to be here?
Adam mutters a curse.
“Should I be worried?” I ask him.
His light eyes are kind when they take me in. “We have bigger concerns just now.”
Right. My health, for one.
Oh, and the little fact that I’m still human…
“Well,” I say. “Let’s do what you came for.” And let’s see if this absorption of my legacy has finally healed me.
I do feel better. I’m less tired. I feel stronger. But I don’t want to get my hopes up. I can’t because if I’m wrong…
Adam takes my hand. “Have faith, Leah. I can’t believe that there would be no effect. Alpha powers can yield many things.”
I wouldn’t know.
I probably should’ve asked Aaron before I told him to leave.
Adam is still holding my hand. He twines our fingers together. But it doesn’t feel right. It’s like a betrayal of sorts and far too
intimate.
I don’t want to offend him, but I also don’t want someone to see us like this. I squeeze his hand once and then extricate myself from his grip.
I glance up the stairwell, plotting a path that won’t bring me past the, uh, party in my father’s room.
“This way,” I say.
“No, let’s go to the infirmary instead.”
“Why?”
“The building itself is more secure, and it has surveillance cameras. I can see who is present and even lock the ward down.”
“Is that really necessary?”
But then I think about it. I don’t have a sense of how many wolves are present or what they think of me. I don’t know if I’m cured or even what it means to be an Alpha. A little time and space… maybe that’s not a bad idea.
“Okay, Adam.”
“Follow me.”
He takes the stairs down and through the house to the back span of hallways and corridors until we’re outside on the second level patio. He moves with the ease of a man who is very comfortable in his environment. Yet, I catch the way he pauses at every corner and doorway and window. He’s assessing, bracing for some unseen threat. And I’m not sure if I should be concerned or if this is part of his normal behavior. Maybe it’s as ingrained as it is in Aaron.
Only… I’m not sure that’s the case.
And that wolf Tobin.
Something tells me I should be very cautious where he is
concerned.
And what’s more, though he left me alone today, I know in my heart that I haven’t seen the last of him…
