by Layla Nash
Except for Mercy. She was okay. Family was different. He could look at Mercy and know when she lied, since the girl’s face gave away everything she thought. And Mercy needed him—needed his protection and his pack, and maybe a relationship that looked closer to the father-daughter one she’d never had with her own blood. It was completely different from a strange woman who wasn’t even a shifter and lived in a completely different reality.
He definitely needed to talk to Smith about the burns, though he didn’t have the energy to deal with that just yet. He’d wait until the coffee kicked in, at least.
“How’s the witch?” Todd asked, glancing between Evershaw and Mercy. “I heard there were some, uh, fireworks last night.”
And the grin on his face revealed he knew a little bit more than he let on. It set Evershaw’s teeth on edge, since he hated being teased by anyone, even if they were family.
Mercy grinned and planted her elbows on the table so she could rest her chin in her hands. “Oh yeah. She was doing magic and something went wrong and she was burned by water and then Evershaw figured it out and woke us up and he put her in the shower and—“
Todd coughed around a gulp of coffee and pounded on his chest, eyeing Evershaw sideways. “You did what?”
“It wasn’t that exciting,” he muttered. “The girl thought she was on fire when she wasn’t, so I put her in the shower with some cold water to convince her to stop play-acting. That was it.”
“Except she was actually burned,” Mercy said. She started picking all the strawberries out of the cut fruit, ignoring Todd’s dueling fork. “And she still is. Her legs are all red and blistered. Tom tried to do something else to make them better, but Deirdre is running a fever and just kind of miserable with all of it. Nothing makes it better.”
Evershaw didn’t want to hear that. He didn’t want to think of the witch as human or capable of feeling pain. He didn’t need to think of her as a person. She was a prisoner and someone who could save his life; that was it. That was where his interest stopped. It certainly couldn’t extend to the soft heft of her breasts and eminently squeezable ass.
“That’s too bad,” Todd said cautiously, his attention on Evershaw. “What burned her?”
“Magic,” Mercy said. She frowned and moved the fruit away from Todd so she could finish off the strawberries and start fishing out all the pineapple instead, keeping him from getting any more. “She won’t say more than that. But she...”
His cousin trailed off and didn’t go on, frowning as she picked through the fruit. Todd elbowed her. “Don’t run out of words now, kid. What’s up with the witch?”
“She was sad,” Mercy said. She pushed to her feet and started cleaning up the dishes and pans. “Or she is sad, I don’t know. It wasn’t just the burns. She was crying most of the night.”
“It was probably just for show,” Evershaw said. He finished off the last sandwich and handed Mercy his plate. “Good job on lunch. Todd, have we heard from RedCloud?”
He pushed aside any thought of the witch being sad and instead threw himself into the daily labor of running the pack. It wasn’t his problem if the girl regretted making a deal with Smith. She should have thought about it more beforehand. He headed for his office, since there was still business to take care of regardless of how he felt.
Todd followed, wiping his hands on his jeans. “They’ll meet us tomorrow. I sent Silas and Nate to sniff around a bit and see if they could figure out how many wolves they actually have and how we could... deal with them if necessary.”
“Good.” Evershaw frowned as he walked into his office and deliberately walked through the patch of carpet where he’d collapsed. Whoever tried to kill him was going to fucking pay. And he didn’t get scared of bullshit like that. “Are we ready to meet with the coyotes?”
Todd hesitated, frowning as he studied the overturned chair in front of the desk, and slowly righted the furniture without looking at his cousin. “Are you ready? It hasn’t been that long since... you know.”
“I’m fine.” He scowled and searched through the mess he’d made of paperwork on his desk. And he couldn’t find the mouse for the fucking computer. “Whatever it was that made me sick is gone, clearly, so we’re going to deal with these fucking coyotes once and for all. Has Chase called back?”
“We haven’t heard anything from Edgar,” Todd said. He sat in the chair he’d straightened and stretched his legs out. “Why don’t we take it easy today? You had a rough night from what Henry said, so we can hang here and make sure everything is squared away for the acquisition we’ve been working on for three months. I don’t want to lose that property.”
Evershaw leaned back in his chair to stretch his back and scowled. “I’m not going to sit here on my ass staring at paperwork and inspection reports when someone is trying to kill me.”
“If no one knows someone tried to kill you, then it won’t matter if we go about our business,” Todd said.
Evershaw hated when his cousin used that patient voice, especially when Todd might have been halfway right. He didn’t want to signal to his enemies that he was hunting for someone or something. Probably better to just pretend nothing happened, that he hadn’t been affected at all. That would keep whoever was responsible guessing, if they hadn’t witnessed any of the scramble to get Smith and the witch.
He studied the intricate crown molding and exhaled as a hint of doubt worked its way to the surface. He’d pondered over it a while as he lay in bed and tried to come up with the appropriate way to kill whoever poisoned him. “What do you think the odds are that someone in the pack did it?”
Todd’s eyebrows rose. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I have to know. It’s possible. Someone might have been looking for an easy way to get rid of me.” Evershaw’s eyes narrowed as he studied the ceiling and a few cobwebs that had gathered in the corner. That was bullshit. Someone was supposed to clean in there at least once a week. “Who the hell has been cleaning this office? It’s filthy. Do you see those cobwebs?”
His cousin leaned forward to grip the edge of the desk. “Jesus, man, would you listen to yourself? No one in this pack tried to kill you.”
“Are you certain?” Evershaw got up and searched for something to get the cobwebs down. Fucking unbelievable. “Because I’m not.”
Todd made an irritated noise and scrubbed his hands over his face. “You’re losing your mind. You built this pack. Everyone here owes you. We’re not looking for another alpha. There’s no one else who’d want to be alpha of this group.”
It didn’t make him any more certain. There was always a chance the pack would turn on him. It had happened before. All because of that bitch who’d claimed she loved him and then turned on him the moment she had what she wanted. Evershaw’s teeth ground until pain sparked behind his eyes. He hadn’t bothered to think of Ashley in years. The lying, deceitful piece of trash.
“Look around,” he said, pointing Todd toward the door. “See if there’s any discontent or hints that someone’s looking to take over.”
Todd didn’t budge. “You’re out of your mind.”
“Someone tried to kill me,” Evershaw said. He threw one of the pillows from the couch at the cobwebs, irritated when the pillow hit the ground covered in dust and shit. “I want to know if I have to worry about anyone inside this building.”
“You don’t.” Todd shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. “Well, except for the witch. She’d probably try to kill you, if Smith hadn’t bound her from doing so.”
The witch. That fucking witch. Everyone kept pointing that out, and she’d been there less than a day. He didn’t want to think about her or hear anything else about her until she could figure out who poisoned him. “Just figure it out.”
Todd sighed and shoved to his feet, heading for the door. He knew better than to argue too much with Evershaw, particularly when he’d made up his mind.
Evershaw grimaced as he searched the other crevices in the ceil
ings. He didn’t really think the pack tried to kill him. He would have sensed it. And nothing inside the building had a hint of the poison that the witch seemed to think he’d suffered from. It had to have come from somewhere else, and since the only pack member who’d been out and about with him before he got sick was Todd, Evershaw couldn’t believe that anyone but his enemies were responsible.
He went back to the desk and tried to concentrate on the paperwork for the building they planned to purchase not far from the warehouse where they’d trapped the witch, since he agreed with Todd that they couldn’t lose the deal they’d lined up. It was the best way to keep expanding his territory legally and without having to fight off a bunch of wolves and coyotes and other shifters. He kept buying up pieces and parts of the rundown neighborhood where he’d bought his first vacant lot.
He’d worked his ass off and made a hell of a lot of good investments, and some bad ones, and kept plowing the profits back into his businesses. Todd joined him, then a few others, then more and more loners and misfits and other square pegs who didn’t fit in any other places. He liked his ramshackle pack. They were all entirely loyal. Completely. Unfailingly. And if they weren’t... The paper in front of him blurred as his eyes narrowed, and he pushed away from the desk. If they weren’t loyal, he would have known. He’d have seen it.
He had plenty of practice in being betrayed, and he’d learned to identify the signs.
Evershaw got up to pace, the wolf uneasy with even the thought of another pack’s betrayal. He’d protected himself as much as possible, and insulated himself from the pack even knowing they were loyal. He couldn’t rely on anyone but himself. He’d thought everything was set and the rest of his life was on a blissful trajectory until that bitch Ashley decided she’d gotten what she needed and left him. Walked away from everything they’d built in Boston. She might as well have just burned it to the ground with him inside.
He’d never love anyone else. It wasn’t worth it. It took him forever to get over her, to move past all the bullshit she’d put him through—and to recover financially, after she drained his bank accounts and stole his car. He could love his kids, when he had them, and the mother was almost incidental. Women couldn’t be trusted. They were deceitful and disruptive. He’d given all of himself, all of his heart, to Ashley, and look where he’d ended up. The bitch walked out on him with another man and destroyed the pack along with what little feelings he’d had to start with.
Well, he’d learned his lesson. Miles Evershaw didn’t make the same mistake twice, and he sure as fuck wasn’t about to feel what he’d felt after the bitch left. He hadn’t been able to breathe for weeks. Everything went numb. He didn’t know if he mourned Ashley or losing the pack more; it all blurred into a long stretch of awfulness he never wanted to remember. He’d moved across the country and started over with nothing, and tried to work himself to death—and tried to fight his way into the grave when work didn’t do the job.
His thoughts strayed to that blonde woman from RedCloud. She would be a suitable mate. She had the hips for a lot of kids, and a nice enough ass he wouldn’t have any problem fucking her to get them. Nothing else would change, really. It didn’t matter who the woman was, whether it was her or someone else, as long as she was relatively obedient or at least cooperative. She didn’t have to do anything other than give him kids and stand next to him in the pack.
His life wouldn’t change if he brought that wolf Serena in as his mate. He’d still eat all his meals alone, and work in his office alone. He’d go after business deals on his own, and sit on the Alphas Council with Todd. He’d let her sleep in his bed, but it would always be his bed. Not “theirs.” There would never be a “theirs,” because he would never cede that control to anyone else. His rooms would be his rooms; his pack would be his pack. She could have a presence as his mate and the alpha female, and she would be the mother of his children. But everything would remain, first and foremost, his.
The wolf side didn’t like it. The wolf side wanted a community, a pack, a partner with whom to share burdens. That wouldn’t happen unless their mate was an equal, someone who balanced him and brought different strengths to the relationship and the pack. Wolves weren’t meant to be alone.
But Evershaw knew better. The price of being part of a couple was too much. He’d already paid that price once, and he wasn’t about to do it again.
Chapter 14
Deirdre
I wanted to stay under the covers for as long as possible, ideally until that asshole Evershaw changed his mind and let me leave or Smith came to his senses and released the geas. But no such luck. My eyes still felt swollen and itchy from crying half the night and not sleeping well, but the medic returned to check on my burns so I had to do more than lie there like a dead fish. Henry watched, silent and still, from the doorway as Tom rolled the sweatpants up over my knees.
I couldn’t look at either of them, embarrassed to think one or both had overheard my pity party the night before, and instead focused on the kitchenette across the room. Part of me wondered where Mercy was, although the rest of me didn’t want to ask in case she showed up out of the woodwork. I couldn’t filter through that much chatter without a serious IV of caffeine.
Henry followed my gaze and straightened from his lean, moseying into the kitchenette to fiddle with the coffee maker. “Are you hungry?”
“No,” I said. There was no need to create any more debts, and food always meant connections. “Thank you.”
My breath hissed in my teeth as Tom manipulated my ankle, and the medic made a thoughtful noise. “You should eat. Important to keep up your strength so you can heal.”
“I’ll be fine once I get back to my house and can create a few poultices.” I tried to move away, though his hands remained gentle and warm on my ankle. “It’s really fine.”
“You have a fever,” he said, just as gently. I wondered how it was that all medics and nurses had the ability to make you feel tended to and reassured, even when they gave you really bad news. I felt calmer just listening to him. “I’m not sure a poultice will cure that.”
I folded my arms over my chest, glad I’d pulled on a sweatshirt in the middle of the night, and wished I’d had a chance to find a bra so I didn’t feel quite so exposed and... unsupported. “You’ve never been in my garden, then.”
“That is true,” he said, a smile making him look younger and less grim. He moved my ankle a little more, then lifted it up to rest against his shoulder so he could examine the blisters on the back of my calf. “What would you put on the burns, then? Magic or just herbs?”
“Both,” I said. I exhaled and closed my eyes, not wanting to see him or Henry when I felt so weak and defenseless. It had also been quite some time since I’d had my ankle on a man’s shoulder, and in very different circumstances. “First lavender and witch hazel, with honey as a binding agent. Maybe coconut oil or vinegar to draw out the heat. Then magic.”
He made a thoughtful noise. “Interesting. I hadn’t heard the vinegar angle. I’ll have to try that. But you still have a fever and the aloe will only help so much. So you’re going to have to eat and drink some, and take this ibuprofen to keep your fever down.”
I lay back and covered my face, flinching as he put more aloe or ointment on one of the raw areas. “Or not. Or I’ll just go home and it’ll be fine.”
“Deirdre,” Henry said. He nudged my arm until I forced my eyes open, and found him holding out a mug of coffee. I reluctantly sat up to take it, twitching every time Tom fussed with the burns, and ignored the handful of pills he offered. The big dude watched the medic work, frowning as he held out the pills. “You can’t find the poison if you’re ill. And you can’t leave until you figure out the poison.”
I concentrated on the coffee and not the impossibility of getting out of that building alive and before my cat starved. It would all work out. I could will myself into figuring out what the hell happened with enough thought and maybe a little meditation. Definitely
no more scrying, but there were other spells and processes I could try. Maybe a mirror instead of water, or using crystals or tarot cards. I inhaled from the coffee and hoped that Henry had made a full pot, or at least had a fully stocked kitchen so I could keep myself fueled. I didn’t want their food, but if I had to eat while I was there... I’d eat what I made for myself. To rely on them more was just to invite more obligations between me and the animals.
Tom patted an unburned part of my knee and stood, packing up his bag of supplies. “They’re still pretty bad. I’m not sure how you’re not screaming in pain right now, but if the burns bother you, I’ve got painkillers that will alleviate some of the problem. There’s no reason to suffer in silence. Even for a witch.”
And he smiled, trying to make a joke out of it.
Henry, too, looked entertained. “She wasn’t suffering in silence, believe me. The witch has an impressive set of lungs.”
I didn’t want to like them. I really didn’t. But it was the gentle kind of teasing I’d always suspected uncles and cousins would engage in, maybe even big brothers. I’d never had any of those relationships, but I’d spent enough of my time imagining that it almost felt familiar. I held onto the coffee with two hands, shaking my head. “I wouldn’t have yelled so much if someone hadn’t dropped me in freezing water.”
Tom helped himself to a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter, watching from a distance, though he kept smiling. “I think that surprised everyone. Well, everyone except the alpha.”
The thought of Evershaw made me cold all over again. Whatever part of me wanted to relax with them and maybe even joke closed up and retreated. They were the enemy. They might have been nice or helpful or at least concerned about my welfare, but that didn’t make them my friends. They were first and foremost Evershaw’s pack.