when you showed up.”
“You were calling for help?”
He whispered something to me, but I was already gone, sleep stealing over me so quickly it felt like I hadn’t rested in a year.
It might be a long, long time before I’d get to sleep soundly again.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Wilder was gone when I woke up. The side of the bed he’d been occupying still held his form, but the comforter was cold. He’d been up awhile.
The lamp over the small table was on, and the fan was humming in the bathroom. I rubbed sleep from my eyes and gave myself a quick once-over. My feet had healed, and my migraine had downgraded to a nuisance headache. Nothing I couldn’t ignore.
My jeans were folded on one of the chairs next to the table, and the knife I’d stolen from Anderson was on the nightstand beside me. How thoughtful, Wilder had left me a weapon within arm’s reach.
That was the sort of thing a man used to living in fear would do.
It made me wonder what kind of life Wilder’d had with his other pack, and if maybe there were multiple reasons he’d returned to St. Francisville. It didn’t matter. If we got out of this place alive, I’d make sure he always had a home with our pack. I’d put him under my own damned protection if I needed to.
I slipped my jeans on, ignoring the stiff crust of blood around the hem. I’d need to find something to use for shoes before we ventured too far. The clock over the TV said it was three a.m. The motel office would be closed. No chance of getting plastic flip-flops at this hour.
Three a.m.
Where was Wilder?
As if on cue, I got my answer. Voices came from mine and Cash’s room next door. They weren’t hushed, but they also weren’t raised in anger, which was a relief. I considered the knife on the nightstand but decided to leave it for now.
It wasn’t Cash or Wilder who answered the door, but rather Cash’s lawyer friend, Matthew Chen. “Oh. Genie. Hey.” Each word was its own little sentence. His inky-black hair was a mess, and the bags under his eyes suggested it had been a long day for everyone.
“Hey, Matt. Can I come in?” It was my room after all.
He seemed to realize he was blocking my way and nodded vigorously as he stepped aside to allow me entrance. “Sorry.”
Cash and Wilder were seated at the table. The queen bed was untouched by any signs of sleep and was covered in papers. The guys looked up as I entered, falling silent in my presence. “You’re up,” Wilder said.
Cash got to his feet and came to me, wrapping me up in a tight hug that caught me off-guard and stole my breath. He pushed my hair back from my face with both hands and gave me a hard stare. “Don’t you go being brave anymore, okay?”
I nodded. I didn’t feel particularly brave at the moment.
When he pulled away, there was an uncomfortable tension in the air, and I wondered what the talk had been like between them when Wilder had to explain why I was asleep in his room rather than the one I was meant to be sharing with Cash. I hope he left out the part where I made Wilder stay with me. Or how he took off my pants.
Nothing had happened.
Weirdly hot tense moment aside.
That had been the culmination of a lot of stress. Emotions were running high. And besides, nothing had come of it. It was just a…thing. A thing that happened and was now done. Never to occur again.
Ever.
Right?
“How are you feeling?” Matt asked, I think in an attempt to keep things from getting more awkward. “Wilder said you were hurt.”
I lifted my feet and turned so they could see the soles. “Score one for glorious werewolf healing powers, I guess. Though I’m going to need shoes.”
“We’ll take care of that,” Cash said, though his attention was elsewhere now.
“When did you get back?” I took the chair he offered, sitting across from Wilder at the table. Matt had to nudge some papers aside to sit on the bed, and Cash dragged an armchair over, its old springs groaning in protest when he sat down.
“Around midnight. I would have come sooner if I’d known you were hurt.” He shot Wilder a look that said this had already been discussed at length, probably with yelling.
“You were at the police station that whole time?” I couldn’t hide