Wolf Bite (The Blue Mountain Wolf Pack #5) - Emma Dean Page 0,47

so hard to rebuild. Now, I’m going to go have a look at your patients, and if I hear any bullshit about extra patrol again, I’ll kick your ass.” Zoe pointed her fork at Kai for emphasis.

She tossed the fork on the table as she walked to the basement door without looking back at Liam.

The tension was thick enough for her to choke on, but she ignored it the same way she ignored a violent patient and went to get the job done anyway. Zoe wasn’t officially a part of this pack, so they didn’t need her to stay.

Even Liam didn’t think she’d stay.

Her feet were silent on the stairs as she went down, pausing at the bottom to listen.

“Dude, you’ve got a terrifying guard dog for a mate,” she heard Jacob mutter with her new hearing.

“I like that about her,” Noah said quietly. Something about having Liam’s twin’s approval helped soothe some of her chaotic emotions.

Liam was uncharacteristically quiet, and she sighed, knowing she’d probably shocked him if she hadn’t scared him.

“Liam?” Kai’s voice didn’t have the same attitude it had when he’d walked in.

“She didn’t look down once,” one of the girls whispered.

“Technically, Zoe isn’t pledged to a pack and she wasn’t bitten by one of us. It was her choice,” Liam stated, his voice stronger and more assertive than she’d expected it to be. “Olivia did need to rest and that doesn’t put the blame on her despite her position as Third. If you want someone to blame for the situation, blame me. I’m the one who told her to take the night off. Zoe has nothing to do with it.”

It was a strange mixture of pride and pain in her chest. Liam could hold his own despite not being as aggressive as her or the others and that gave her more relief than she’d anticipated. But he was still talking like there was no future in which she’d stay despite everything he’d said to her about wanting the mate bond.

Zoe was surprised to find that she didn’t want him thinking that. Did she want to stay? Did she want to accept the mate bond?

Kai sighed and she heard him pull out a chair. “You’re right, Liam. I’m sorry. The attacks from Cascade have been running us ragged for the last few months. Let’s sit down and figure out what we can do to solve the problem at its source.”

Satisfied with the direction of their conversation, Zoe went into Chris’s room first, surprised to find it empty.

She was almost positive someone would have told her if he had died.

“Zoe?”

Turning around, she saw Chris standing in the doorway looking pale. She was pressing her hand to his forehead before she’d even realized she’d moved. By the look on his face, Chris was just as shocked as she was.

“Olivia explained a bit to me when I woke up,” he told her, gently pushing her hand away. “I still can’t believe we’re alive. Those wolves were huge.”

“Took you long enough to wake up, you dramatic asshole,” she muttered, eyeing him from head to toe. “I wasn’t sure if you would.”

Chris stared down at the floor, not really seeing anything. “I have a mate.”

“Of course you do.” Zoe sat on the edge of the twin bed and stared at the man she’d worked with for the last few years. “Any idea what you’re going to do now?”

His smile was sad, but he had that air about him that reminded her of when he talked about his romance shows. “I’m going to figure out what she wants, and then make it work. Someone made for me, can you believe it? It’s like a dream come true.”

“I suppose that’s one way to look at it.” Zoe still didn’t like the idea of destiny. It made her feel utterly powerless in her own life. “But I can’t say that I don’t like it either.”

His eyebrows went up at that. “Did I just hear you right?”

“Yeah, yeah don’t go reading too much into it. Are you hungry?” Zoe got up and headed for the door. “There’s food upstairs.”

“I just had some broth with my mate. She woke up last night too.”

Two less patients. That was good. Zoe wasn’t sure what to expect, but she hoped no one else died. “I’m going to check on the others. You should take a shower because you smell.”

Chris’s quiet laugh made her smile.

“This life suits you, Zoe. I can already tell.”

She shook her head and went into the next