Ashton smiles wolfishly, a signal that he would like nothing more than to take comfort in Sofie’s arms and in her body. But as soon as the smile appears it’s gone, a shadow stretching over his features. “Tempting as that is, I think I just need to be alone, get my thoughts together.” He doesn’t look at her as he turns and walks out of the room. If he had, then he would have seen how her face fell at his words.
The night before he had said that they belonged together, that she belonged with him and now he was pushing her away again. She couldn’t help but think that he was trying to keep his distance from her. But why? She shakes her head, reminding herself that there’s no need to be paranoid. They’ve been through a lot, that’s all, he just needs some time to get his shit together. But there’s a nagging feeling of doubt in the back of her mind as she gathers up the remnants of the first aid kit discarded on the coffee table after Lola had been bandaged up.
Why wouldn’t Ashton tell her what he needs her to do and how she can help? Because the pack needs leadership and that’s what he has to focus on now. The two sides of her brain continue to argue with each other as she heads towards the guest bedroom to check in on Lola. Sofie hopes that she hasn’t heard the exchange between her and Ashton, she’s not in the mood to talk about it.
“Don’t worry, he’s always been stubborn.” Sofie has barely closed the door behind her before Lola’s words are out of her mouth. Of course, Lola was a werewolf, her hearing was excellent. There was no way she hadn’t picked up the voices from the room next door.
“How’re you feeling?” Sofie smiles, ignoring Lola’s comment and switching into professional mode; the role of woman on a mission is more familiar to her than that of the neurotic girlfriend.
Lola swings her legs out of the bed, standing up gingerly. “Good as new, Doc.” Her confident words are undermined by the way she’s swaying slightly on her feet and the grimace in her features as she jolts her arm.
“Right, if by new you mean crappy. Sit back down before you fall down.” She pushes Lola’s good shoulder gently, feeling her resist at first and then give in to it. “I need to change the dressing so try to stay as still as you can, this might sting a little.”
Lola nods, gritting her teeth as Sofie unpins the gauze dressing and unwinds it slowly. The material that comes away is bloody but when Sofie reaches the actual wound it looks as if it were weeks old rather than hours. She sucks in a breath of shock. “I know you guys heal fast but jeez, this is amazing.” The skin around the bullet wound is already starting to close up, healing at a rate of knots. “If you rest up you’ll be up and about in a couple of days.”
“A couple of days?” Lola repeats the phrase as if Sofie had said a million years. “I can’t lie here for any longer, I need to be with the rest of the pack, to get ready for whatever’s coming next.” Lola’s fists clench and unclench like she’s carrying around too much energy and needs to expend it.
Her words mirror the conversation that Sofie and Lindsey had the night before. Lindsey had promised to put her faith in Sofie who she said was the key to the pack’s survival. Sofie had told her to be ready for whatever came next, she just wasn’t sure exactly what that was going to be.
“Doc? You hear what I said?” Lola looks at her with a curious expression on her face.
Sofie brings herself back to the present. “I’m not a medical doctor, I’m a scientist, as the interesting scar you’re going to be left with on your shoulder will attest to.”
Lola gives her a sidelong look, making it clear that she knows Sofie’s mind was elsewhere and not on the botched stitching job she’d done on her shoulder. But she’s smart enough to keep her mouth shut. She lets Sofie clean the wound and re-dress it, only grumbling a little when she tells her to rest.
“You want it really badly, don’t you? To be turned?” Lola’s voice is almost wondrous as she asks the questions, already seeing the answer written across Sofie’s face.
“More than anything.” Sofie doesn’t bother to hide the longing in her voice. “Well, almost anything,” she smiles slyly at Lola, thoughts of Ashton flooding into her head.
“Well, you only have one person to convince.” Lola shrugs like it’s no big deal.
“Gus. He would rather bite off his own arm then do something that a) I want and b) that Ashton doesn’t. Besides, I don’t have the luxury of having time on our side.” The words are out of Sofie’s mouth before she has a chance to edit them. She had no plans to make her intentions known to the pack, at least not until she had passed the point of no return.
“You got that right, sister.” Lola nods sagely, assuming that Sofie is referring to the inevitability of Luke taking further action against them, rather than suspecting Sofie has any plans of her own up her sleeve. “Any clue what Ash has got up his sleeve?”
“I wish I knew, Lo. I wish I knew.” Sofie’s voice is wistful as she throws her new friend a brave smile on her way out of the door. “Guess we’ll find out at the meeting.”
But as she closes the door softly behind her she wishes that she didn’t feel like the events of the day before had pulled her further away from Ashton precisely at the moment when they were finally getting closer. They’d told each other how they felt, in unequivocal terms and yet here they were. Ashton had closed himself off, dealing with this shit-show on his own, without her, as if he didn’t need her. She shakes the thought off as she gets ready for the meeting.
The only trace of Ash in the house is the sheen of steam coating the bathroom mirror. She swipes at it, showing just enough of her reflection to see her dark almond-shaped eyes. She confirms that she looks like she got about an hour’s worth of sleep and is carrying more worries than she knows what to do with and then she gets on with her day.
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Thunder (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 3) Page 23