Chapter 12
Gray
Nix was sitting outside on the wraparound porch, two thick blankets covering his legs, a cup of steaming hot tea in his hands as he watched the sun slowly disappear behind the trees. He had a thoughtful expression on his face, not quite a smile, but not the mask of fear either.
He’d spent breakfast with me in the dining hall, but it’d been hard on him. Everyone was curious about the mysterious mage who’d shown up out of nowhere… who I’d had thrown into a cell.
My wolf huffed.
Yeah, yeah, I thought. That was a mistake.
A big one. One I’d have to make up for for ages to come. Because unbeknownst to me at the time, I’d confirmed Nix’s worst fears about shifters.
“He came back downstairs,” Jasper said, a small smile on his face. “Has he been eating?”
“I brought him lunch, but he didn’t touch it. Said he wasn’t hungry.”
An unhappy growl slipped out. I thought he was fucking lying. He was skin and bones. Of course he had to be hungry. Even if he wasn’t, he needed the food.
“That’s entirely possible,” Jasper reasoned. “If I’m correct, he hasn’t been eating right for quite a while.”
I thought back to our conversation this morning. “He’s been on the run for six months.”
Jasper nodded, running a hand through his hair, his expression softening. “That tracks. If he’s not been eating regular meals for half a year, you need to start slow, Gray.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Jasper laughed. “You growled at me because you’re unhappy he didn’t eat enough for your liking.”
He was my mate. Of course, I wanted him to eat enough.
It was obvious he’d been starving, obvious he’d endured things no one should have to endure.
That he’d seen things… I shuddered, remembering the expression in his eyes when he’d met mine: the distrust, the longing peeking through, but hidden behind layers and layers of fear.
He’d looked haunted. Still did. Even now, sitting outside all alone, he had his shoulders pulled up in tension.
“Small portions,” Jasper explained. “Small portions for a human. If you give him shifter portions and he tries to eat it all, he’s gonna make himself sick. But why am I telling you this? You already know. He’s not the first one to arrive malnourished.”
No, but he was the first one who was also my mate.
Not that I told him.
I didn’t want people to find out yet. Oh, they’d be happy. Elated. Fucking ecstatic—and they’d terrify Nix to death.
“I’d really like to examine him, though,” Jasper said when I didn’t say anything. “Make sure he’s okay and that there are no underlying issues. You talked to him last night and this morning. Do you think I have a chance?”
I pursed my lips as my wolf protested in my chest, not quite liking that he wanted to examine our mate. At the same time, he had enough sense to know it was a pack member looking out for what was ours.
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. “He had very bad experiences with shifters and has every reason not to trust us.”
Jasper nodded. “In that case… I’ll just try talking to him and see if it goes anywhere. If you don’t mind, that is. You looked like you were about to go over yourself.”
I wished.
“No. I have a meeting with Rhett and the others in command about the intruder situation.” Because things had changed.
My wolf growled, fangs bared.
Maim, he demanded. And this time, I was fully on his side. The next time they dared step foot on my land would be the last time any of them ever set foot anywhere.
“So, we’re allowed to go after them? Even if they leave our territory?”
I nodded.
“Within reason,” Rhett added. His wolf was as mad as mine, but he was better at hiding it.
“Yes, of course. However, if it’s only one of you and three of them, don’t risk it. But if we have an advantage, we take those fuckers out.”
My wolf snarled in my chest, his anger palpable.
“Okay.” Angelo grinned, but cocked his head at me. “What about the mage?”
“What about Nix?”
“Will he help?”
I swallowed, my body locking up. “No,” I growled. I didn’t want him anywhere near that fight. He didn’t need to be there, didn’t need to put himself in harm’s way. They wanted to enslave him. To keep him as property. I wouldn’t… I couldn’t…
“Nix has a long road of recovery ahead of him.” Rhett explained my outburst away like he always did, effortlessly turning my emotions into reason. “He’s been on the run for half a year. That would take a toll on anybody, so we’re trying not to put him on a battlefield.”
Besides… I didn’t trust those fuckers. What if they saw Nix and just… went for him? What if they had an ace up their sleeve? I couldn’t risk my mate getting harmed.
He deserved our protection without having to put his life on the line. Hell, he’d already done so not even twenty-four hours ago when he’d rushed to aid those pups.
“Okay.” Angelo nodded, rolling his shoulders. “It was just a question. I wasn’t trying to imply anything…”
Oh shit. I was still growling.
I rubbed a hand over my face and tried taking a deep breath, but my focus was shot.
My wolf wanted to get this meeting over with and go back to our mate.
And to be honest, I did too. Leaving him didn’t feel right, even though he was surrounded by pack members.
He was safe, but I knew he didn’t see it that way.
He will, my wolf assured me.
I hoped he was right.
“I apologize,” I told him, the pull in my chest getting stronger, urging me to cut this meeting short.
He was close. Nix. He was somewhere…
“Please excuse me for a moment,” I said, then got up, the chair clattering behind me as I rushed to the door and opened it.
There.
Nix was standing opposite the door, his shoulders pulled up high, hands shoved into the pockets of his sweatpants, bottom lip pulled between his teeth.
“Everything okay?” I asked, automatically checking his body for injuries.
“Uh… yes,” he said, his shaky voice proving his answer to be a lie.
I raised my eyebrow at him, and he shrank back, his eyes firmly trained on the ground, arms going up, crossing in front of his chest in a defensive move.
“Really?”
His throat worked, fingers digging into the fabric of his hoodie. “No,” he finally said with a sigh. “I can’t seem to tolerate being among shifters without you present.”
Oh.
Ooh.
My wolf preened in my chest, but my heart fucking broke for him.
“Do you want to come in? We’re talking about how to deal with the pack hunting you, so… maybe you can help?”
Nix bit his lip, his head already shaking, but then he stopped. It took another couple of seconds until he gave a short nod, full of hesitation.
“Might as well,” he mumbled, but I was able to hear him clearly.
I wanted to wrap him the fuck up, to never let him go.
Protect, my wolf agreed. Care.
I wanted to care for him, but the care he needed right now was different from what I wanted to do.
“Okay.”
We stepped back into the small conference room, and all eyes immediately turned to Nix, who was walking a step behind me, using my body as a shield.
I didn’t like that I actually felt proud about that one.
I should be ashamed of feeling good because my mate was hiding behind me, but I couldn’t help the feeling of pride rushing through my body because he was searching for comfort with me.
“Everyone, this is Nix,” I said while walking to the corner and retrieving a chair for him that I placed next to mine. I’d chosen for him to sit right between me and Rhett. Not because Nix particularly liked Rhett, but because he at least knew him. And he liked Levi, soo… close enough?
Nix stared at the shifters sitting at the round table, his eyes scanning everyone before he slowly raised his hand and gave a short wave. “Hi.”
I smiled, then sat back down.
“Nix, you already know Rhett. The menace next to him is Angelo. You probably heard him roar a couple of times. Then we have Heath—he took over the patrols while Rhett was gone—and Paul, he’s a local Mountie and his father is our connection to the shifter council.
And then we have Oakley. He’s like the good soul of the pack and responsible for social stuff.
That lady right there with the blonde hair is Diana.
She works at the mayor’s office and is responsible for everything that concerns the town.
And next to her is her mate, Jenny. She’s one of our best trackers. ”
Everyone raised their hands as I introduced them. Nix gave everyone a nod, but remained silent, still standing behind the empty chair as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to sit at the table with us.
And maybe he didn’t.
“So,” Heath said, his eyes searching for Rhett’s. “Just so we’re on the same page before we roll out our next patrol schedule, do we want to keep our rota as is, or do we want the patrol to be more like… dedicated fighters?”
Good questions.
Fighters, my wolf snarled.
Nix bit his lip, his eyes transfixed by the map in the middle of the table. It depicted our pack lands, and we’d marked each place his hunters had tried to breach the territory. However, the spots appeared random to me, not in a clear pattern.
“I’m not sure we can keep up a squad of fighters without burning through resources fast,” Rhett mused. “Especially if we don’t know how many enemies we’re dealing with. It’s not like we have dedicated enforcers in this pack.”
Nix cleared his throat, his whole body shaking as the attention snapped to him.
“They’re down to six,” he said. He rolled his shoulders, eyes searching for mine, but not just his eyes… something reached me, wrapping around my hand. Invisible tendrils of warmth, of him. His magic, I realized. Just like it’d done this morning.
And then, he slowly stepped forward and slipped into the seat reserved for him.
“Are you sure?” Paul asked, leaning in to scribble something on his notepad.