Chapter Fifty
Ilooked up at Toya in the doorway, confused. “What?”
She pointed to my leg. “You’re bleeding, and it hasn’t healed yet. Why aren’t you healing?” I looked down at my leg and saw the blood pouring from a minor cut.
I furrowed my brow. “I don’t know.” I looked back at her and shrugged. “I was talking to my wolves and got distracted.”
Now it was her turn to furrow her brow. “Get out so I can stop the bleeding.”
I waved her off. “Give me a few minutes to finish and then I will come out.”
“Amy, just come out now.”
“Okay mom.” I rolled my eyes. “Out.” I pointed, and she shook her head as she closed the door. Pushy woman.
I finished my shower, including finishing my shaving, and I got out. It was bleeding faster than I thought possible and I didn’t know why. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my leg and walked out, leaving a bloody footprint with every step.
At least you have wood floors in here. Could you imagine the damage if it was carpet? Megan sighed as Nix choked out a laugh.
“Do you guys know why I’m not healing?”
Both wolves shook their heads. No. There is no reason for you not to be healing. Nix came closer. We are weak, but not so weak that our healing is stunted.
I made it to the living room and hovered at the edge. “I really like my carpet here, guys. Can you come treat this in the dining room?” Toya and Wendy both jumped up and followed me back around the wall. I sat down and propped my leg up on a second chair.
“So…healing?” Toya crouched next to me and unwrapped the towel.
“Nix and Megan both said there is no reason I shouldn’t be healing.”
Toya cursed under her breath. “I was really hoping it would be something simple, like your wolves were too tired.”
Wendy laughed as she handed Toya gauze to clean up my cut. “Is it ever that simple with Amy?”
Toya snapped her head up, sending her braids flying. “Is it magic?”
I thought about it and decided to check.
I opened to my magic and I could feel both my wolves sigh as magic rushed through us.
I could feel our magic actually feeding them.
Sometimes we give to nature, and sometimes it gives back.
My father’s words came back to me and I sat in the chair.
Tears sprang to my eyes. I missed him. I missed Ronnie and Cass. I haven’t contacted them in months.
Focus. Nix’s voice made me jump. Her soft chuckle settled me. Focus on the wound, see if there is any magic that is blocking our healing. Then we can think about our family.
She was right. So I focused my magic on the cut on my leg. But there was nothing. No magic, no chains, no ill intent coming from the wound. It was clean. I opened my eyes and shook my head. “It’s clear.”
“What’s wrong?” Wendy handed me a tissue. I looked up in surprise. “You’re crying.”
I wiped my eyes. “Thanks. I was just thinking about my dad. We haven’t talked in a long time and I just miss him. Them. I usually spend the summer there, but now…”
Both my friends nodded. “If it’s not your wolves, and not your magic, what else could it be?” Toya huffed as she started wrapping the wound.
I raised a shoulder. “We are just as confused as you.”
Toya finished and cleaned up. Wendy screamed out. “Oh!” And then she ran from the room.
I looked down at Toya, and she looked at me. “What was that?”
Toya smiled. “She had an idea.”
“Oh.” I started to chuckle. “How have I missed this reaction?”
“She usually only has surprise ideas in the middle of the night and I see her sprinting down the hallway past my door.” She snorted as Wendy slid into the room, phone in hand. “What are you doing?”
She held up a finger as she typed away for a bit. “Research.” She kept typing and then she started reading, her eyes darting back and forth, reading whatever was on her screen. “I fucking knew it.”
Both Toya and I grinned and looked at each other again, then turned back to her. “What?”
“It’s the kudzu.” She looked up from her phone.
“What?” I rubbed at my temples. Already over this kudzu bullshit.
Wendy held up her finger again. “Kudzu, when ingested, puts a lot of strain on the wolf. It would weaken them. As it’s thought, the strength of the wolf correlates with their ability to get pregnant.
If kudzu has to be used on a strong Luna as an example, it is assumed that the wolf is actively rejecting the pregnancy.
The kudzu induces a heat and weakens the wolf so they can’t fight the implantation.
The weakness that follows lasts about two weeks if not addressed, so be careful if you choose this method for impregnation. ”
The silence that fell was charged. “That fucking douche canoe.” Toya and Wendy snapped to me and snorted.
“You’re watching too much human reality TV again, Amy.” I flipped them off.
“So you’re telling me that not only was he trying to get me to mate with him, he was trying to get me pregnant?”
Wendy winced. “Well, we can’t make that jump.”
Toya growled. “Why not?”
Wendy slid her phone back into her pants.
“Because while Brandon is a douche canoe, as Amy has pointed out, he wasn’t the one that grabbed the kudzu to begin with.
Morgan got it for your mom, Amy. He was trying to get your mom pregnant, so that is why he chose kudzu over another herb that can kick in a heat.
But Brandon is…well he’s stupid. He is in my course and let’s say, if it wasn’t for his dad running the school, he would have failed business already. ” Tina chuckled.
“That doesn’t surprise me. Last time he pretended to know what he was doing, but I was the one investing the pack’s money to make sure we didn’t go bankrupt.”
Toya just shook her head. “So he’s a dumbass, but he might not have intended to get Amy pregnant…yet?”
Wendy nodded. “Exactly.” She shrugged. “Or he fully intended to do both. Mate her and trap her with his pup. I wanted to believe he was just a dumbass, but with Vince pulling his strings, either option was a strong possibility.”
I just nodded. “All done?”
Toya looked back down at my leg and then stood. “Yeah, you’re good.” She pointed to Wendy. “How do we ‘address’ it?"
“Huh?” Wendy squinted at her.
“Your the phone genius. You said if the weakness is not addressed, it will be two weeks. How do we address it so she bounces back faster? We start back in class tomorrow and we have training.”
We watched understanding dawn on her face. “Oh, they said she has to flush it out of her system. There is a drink we can make with a few herbs and then stuff her full of red meat.”
I groaned. Just the mention of food made my stomach growl.
A big gurgle ripped through the air and the girls laughed.
“It looks like Amy agrees.” Toya clapped her hands.
"Let's throw a few bottles together to take with us to eat, and then when we get back we can make a few more.” She looked at me.
“The faster we flush all of this shit out of your system, the better.”
I nodded and put my foot on the ground. “I agree.” I looked at Wendy. “Can you make the bottles while I get dressed?” Wendy gave me a thumbs up and turned on her heel, disappearing into the kitchen.
“I’ll give her a hand.” Toya pulled something from her pocket. “Here. You have a lot of notifications to clear, and some texts and calls to answer.”
I groaned. I took the phone and clicked the screen. “Over a hundred notifications.” I groaned again. “Why?”
Toya sighed. “You have been MIA for a full week. We only told the girls, so I assume certain people were trying to get in touch with you.” She scratched her neck. “I know your mom called and texted more than once. I was honestly a little afraid to answer.”
“Why?”
Toya coughed. “After not answering her calls, she showed up, but Jora was under the King’s orders to block everyone from coming up here.” She rubbed her temples. “Including her. When she left, she blew up your phone.”
“Well fuck.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “She is going to blow her top.”
“Yeah. Honestly, take your time.” She turned and headed out of the room.
I sighed again, shoulders dropping, as I headed back to my room. I clicked open my phone and scrolled through everything. Nix and Megan growled at the fifty or so calls and messages from Brandon. All of them asking to come over.
He was bound and determined to get you. Megan’s voice was full of disgust.
Yeah, I bet you he tried everything to find out where you lived, too. Nix scoffed. Pathetic male.
I just deleted everything from him. I’ll deal with him later.
My gaze stopped on Rowan’s name, one notification.
I’d ignore him for now, too. I wasn’t sure I would ever face him again.
I scrolled to the next name and hit it. I winced, reading what my mother sent me.
She started off worried and then became very much enraged.
She even showed up mid week to confront me for ignoring her only to be turned away. She was pissed.
I tossed my phone onto the bed. Clothes first, then call. I figured the call was going to take a while. I went to my closet and grabbed sweats. I wanted to be comfortable after the last week of bullshit.
Once I was dressed, I made my way back to my bed and sat down. I grabbed my phone, sighed and clicked the call. I waited for it to connect, but I couldn’t even get a word in as soon as the call connected; she exploded.
“Where the fuck have you been? It’s been a week.” I heard the anger in her voice, but also the worry. “Do you understand how worried I have been? How could you do this to me? I’m your mother. I carried you for months.” I wanted to groan. My mom used this story to guilt me when she was really hurt.
“Mom.” I interrupted her, but she bulldozed over me, like she didn’t even hear me.
“I called you, Amy Róisín Maclean, and you never answered.” Uh oh the full name. I winced when she said it. “And I waited for you to call me back.” I puffed out another breath.
“Mom.” I tried again but she was on a roll.
“After three days, I came there to see you, to make sure you were alright. And do you know what happened Amy?” I stayed silent because she wasn’t listening to me anyways. “Do you know?”
“No Mom I don’t.” I did, but obviously she wasn’t listening.
“The guard turned me away in the lobby, said he was ordered to block anyone from going upstairs. My own daughter ordered him to keep me out.” She started to cry but I heard it. There was a little whine to her voice that was more act than it was sincerity.
The thought hit me like a punch. Someone was there, and they were listening to our conversation.
“Look mom. I was dealing with a lot of bullshit here. A council member killed themselves at my feet.” I allowed my voice to tremble. “Then, out of nowhere my heat hit. I was on lock down due to being unmated.”
My mother sniffled, like she was still hurt and then she stopped. “Unmated.” She murmured away from the phone. “Does that mean you like someone?” She was giving me an explanation without having to accuse Brandon directly. I felt my smile drop when I heard another voice in the background.
“Ask her if it’s Brandon?” Vince sounded excited, but I heard the tiny tremble in his voice. He was fishing to see if I had any clue that I was drugged.
I forced a giggle through my frozen face.
“I won’t say who it is. But you know them.
” I laughed again, forcing myself to paint the picture of a slightly infatuated she-wolf.
The more Viunce thought I was a love struck idiot, the easier he would be to maneuver.
I smiled the first real smile since my heat started, but as soon as I thought about my heat, and how Rowan fled, my heart ached a little.
“It’s been a long week mom. I’m super tired.
” I felt the exhaustion of my wolves. “I need to eat. But I do miss you. Can you come over tomorrow for dinner? We can catch up then. Okay?”
“Sure baby girl.” I heard someone in the background yelling something farther off and my mind flashed to Lynn. “Love you.”
My hand tightened on my phone. “Okay mom. I’ll see you then. Love you.” I hung up the phone and I tossed it to the bed before I screamed. Toya and Wendy came running in.
“What’s wrong?” Both lifted a brow at my anger.
“Everything.” I pushed up from the bed and straightened my hair. “But…” I trailed off as my mind started to whirl.
“But what?” Toya came over and grabbed my shoulders.
“But everything that has happened showed me exactly who I can trust to be there when I need them, and who will run instead.” Toya and Wendy shared a look but they just came over and hugged me gently.
Nix and Megan both nodded. He showed us exactly where we stand. Nix barely cracked an eye. We trust our pack, and no one else. Not until they prove themselves.
Agreed. Megan huffed.
“We will always be here when you need us.” Wendy’s voice was steel. “We would never run.” Toya scoffed.
“Men are weak. But we will always have us.” I pulled back and nodded.
“Good, because I have a feeling that everything is going to move faster now. But Brandon gave us the opening we needed.” A new smile lit my face and I knew it wasn’t nice.
“How?” Toya and Wendy asked at the same time.
“The heat, we are going to pretend it was brought on by a crush instead of the kudzu. I’ll play stupid, and he will fall over himself to step into the void that Rowan has left. Giving us the window we need to bring him close.”
“You want him close?” Wendy tilted her head.
I felt my smile widen. “Yes…yes I do.” I grabbed their hands. “Let’s eat. I’m starved and my wolves are exhausted. If I don’t get meat soon, I’ll rip someone apart. And my first choice is Brandon. I need him smitten, not dead.” I headed for the door, tugging them behind me. “Well…not yet anyway.”