Chapter 18
From the library ladder, Salem reached for the last medical book they owned.
Cecilia had recently purchased seven boxes of books for her store and always encouraged Salem to pull anything he needed that might advance his medical studies.
There were a few books shelved that he hadn’t had a chance to review yet.
A knock sounded, and when he looked over his shoulder, Tak entered through the sliding wood doors and then closed them.
His Packmaster pulled out a chair and sat. You could hear a pin drop in the silence of the library.
“Shouldn’t you be working?” Tak finally asked.
“I am.”
“That’s up for debate. All I see here are books. You have appointments and obligations.”
Salem descended the ladder and stepped off. He placed the book on the table by the others and returned to his seat, the desk lamp providing ample light. “Milly’s covering for me.”
“I heard.” He folded his thick arms on the table. “She said you passed off your patients, including your pack. That’s your pack, Salem. If they get used to going to her, they won’t need you as their private healer.”
Salem reviewed the table of contents. “So be it.”
Tak slammed his hand over the page. “Talk to me. I’m your leader. I care. The spirits brought this woman into your life for a reason, maybe a lesson.”
“I don’t want a lesson,” Salem ground out, his fury rising.
“It doesn’t matter what you want. The mistakes and tragedies of my past taught me more than I ever wanted to learn, but they also led me here.”
Salem sat back and pushed up his shirt sleeves. “Talking about it doesn’t change things. You probably think this whole relationship is crazy.”
“Why? Because you fell in love in less than two weeks?” Tak threw back his head and laughed.
“I never imagined a pragmatic wolf like you would fall so fast, but you have a good mind, a good heart, and a conscience. I’ve seen how women admire the good doctor.
” He rapped his knuckles on the wood. “Besides… I knew she was the one.”
Salem scoffed. “How could you?”
“You came home late one night. When I spoke her name, your eyes lit up like little sparklers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that light in you before. Can’t pull the wool over these eyes,” he boasted. “She has good energy. What is it you love about her?”
“Everything.” A warmth radiated in Salem’s chest. He’d never felt so protective of anyone. Quinn brought out a side of him he’d always kept hidden.
Tak turned his gaze to the book. “A woman like that is good medicine. I can see how she changes you for the better, but I’m not impressed with what I see here. You’re shirking your responsibilities.”
Salem leaned forward and studied the pages. “I’m looking for a cure.”
“How will ignoring your job accomplish that?”
“Because I’m going to spend every waking moment searching for a way to save her. Wouldn’t you do the same for Hope?”
“Hope is my life mate. Of course I would.”
Salem withered.
Tak stroked his tattooed cheek, the tribal patterns dividing his face in two halves. “What’s her animal?”
“A maned wolf.”
Tak’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that so? Huh. I wonder if that explains her hair color.”
“You’ve met others?”
“No. I saw a picture once. Strange long legs and a mohawk on its back. I’d like to meet her.”
Salem wearily rubbed his face. “She can’t shift. It’s a side effect of her illness.”
“I spoke with her today about it. She seems in good spirits.”
“Good spirits? She’s dying.” Salem slammed the book and stood up. He turned away so Tak couldn’t see how visibly distraught he was—how he was on the brink of hurling every book across the room.
“This might not give you any comfort,” Tak began, “but how we choose to leave this world matters. Look at Eden’s father.
He spent every day breaking bread with us, sharing his stories, and laughing.
That made his journey to the next life easier.
That acceptance gave us more happy stories and time to learn about him.
Leaving is the hardest part when you have to say goodbye to the ones you love.
” Tak heaved a sigh. “Quinn said it would’ve been easier if you two had never met. ”
Salem twisted his head to the side. “She said that?”
“When you have no one to hold on to, dying is easier. But she also said she wouldn’t change a thing. Now she understands.”
“Understands what?” Salem faced him.
“That love is a gift you shouldn’t relinquish.
When we die, we can’t take possessions into the spirit world, but we can take love.
It’s why we’re all here, to make connections with people and love deep.
Even you, Doc. Don’t waste every waking moment trying to defeat an invisible enemy.
Some battles are meant to be lost. Live your life.
Be happy. Laughter’s good for the soul, so don’t let her see worry in your eyes. ”
Salem gripped the back of a chair. “She won’t. The only thing she’ll see when she looks in my eyes is hope and conviction. I won’t give up. The thought of losing her is…”
“Is what?”
“Inconceivable.”
“You can’t hide your true emotions from a Sensor.” Tak flattened his hands on the table. “Whatever you try will be experimental. It could also be dangerous. Don’t squander the time you have left with her.” He stood and pushed in the chair. “I need to get back to important matters.”
“Do you have a meeting?”
Tak swaggered to the doors, his braid long and tightly bound. “No. I’m making homemade beef jerky.”
After putting his books away, Salem kept the one he hadn’t read and made his way to the art room. Hope and Quinn were laughing as each worked on their own separate projects. Instead of interrupting, he peered through the cracked door and silently watched Quinn cutting glass by the front window.
Her blue tank top didn’t match her green cargo pants, but those were the clothes she worked in. He loved the shape of her. Every line. From her straight shoulders and narrow waist to the way her copper hair soaked up the sunlight.
Quinn saved leftover glass pieces from her cuttings so nothing went to waste.
The cutters she used were from Japan, and her enthusiasm made him fascinated by the process.
Now he understood why she didn’t have a car.
All her money was spent on a good soldering iron, kilns, a grinder, and only the best tools.
Sometimes she painted abstract designs on larger pieces of glass and saved them in her reserve, but for this project, she was starting from scratch.
Quinn had temporarily joined some of the pieces on a stand. With her back to him, she set a piece aside and moved the plate around over her sketch.
“How do you keep the paint from fading?” Hope asked, her head down at the desk in front of Salem.
“I fire the pieces in the kiln. The colors bake into the glass. After soldering, the cementing process helps weatherproof it. You won’t have to worry about air leaking in.
It’s actually perfect you have a porch covering outside.
That’ll protect it from hail.” When she finished cutting another piece, she removed her gloves, fished a jelly bean out of her pocket, and then tossed it into her mouth.
She often kept a few on hand in case she had a snack attack, but Salem also found out that sugar helped when she suffered low energy. “How do you cut your stones?”
Hope leaned back in her chair. “When I cut turquoise and some other stones in the raw, I use the diamond saw. I have different sizes.”
“How do the stones keep from popping out of the casing?”
Hope chuckled softly. “Plastic steel. There are other methods, but that keeps them from cracking if someone knocks it against a hard surface.” She held up an onyx and admired it.
Salem dipped out of the room as the two continued their conversation. He enjoyed seeing Quinn interacting with his packmates. It was as if she had always lived here. She belonged.
Tak had invited her to stay for as long as she wanted even though she wasn’t part of the pack.
Their animals accepted her immediately. Perhaps they sensed she was ill.
Animals always knew. For now, she wanted to remain in the heat house until she finished her project, so Salem moved his clothes in there and hoped none of the women went into heat and needed the space.
When he reached the second floor, he entered the last hall on the right where Cleo and Virgil slept. He peered inside Cleo’s empty room before closing the door. She was helping Archer chop wood, and Salem didn’t want Krys’s wolf wandering into her space.
Salem rapped his knuckles on the purple door.
When he entered, Virgil was lying on his side, his ass completely exposed since he slept in the nude.
Unlike Salem’s blank canvas of a room, Virgil’s entire life filled every available corner.
The left side of the bed had a large nude painting over it of a man and woman in a candlelit room, lounging on the floor while eating and reading.
His walls were covered with art, some sexual and others nautical.
Even his blankets and sheets were dramatic.
Salem observed the blue chaise in the left corner where Krys’s wolf had been sleeping. Salem hadn’t seen him since earlier that morning. He must’ve finally shifted back.
Salem approached the large black shelf at the foot of the bed that Hope’s mother had custom-made for displaying Virgil’s prized record albums and ticket stub collection. Everything about the room expressed his personality.
Much like Virgil, Quinn was colorful and full of life. How could she fall for a man who didn’t have a matching personality, whose room expressed nothing? Salem was the blank canvas, and she was the paint.
He crossed to the other side of the bed. Virgil’s listless gaze was fixed on the wall, his hair a tangled mess, his eyes puffy with exhaustion.
Salem felt of his forehead. “The fever’s still down. You look better.”
“I feel like it’s the day after my first Grateful Dead concert.”
“Let me have a look at it.”
Virgil rolled onto his back while Salem examined his thigh. It was still hot to the touch and severely swollen.
“You won’t have a scar since you shifted, but the swelling should be gone in another couple of days.”
“It’s purple,” he complained.
“Shift at least three times a day. The discoloration is normal and will fade. It’s possible it might not go away entirely, but we’ll see. You’re lucky. It could’ve been worse.”
Virgil chortled. “Story of my life. I fell into an open manhole once. Did I ever mention that? I broke my leg and was stuck in there for an hour. They said I was lucky, but I didn’t feel so lucky stepping into it.” He flipped the blanket over his waist and stared at the ceiling. “It hurts, Doc.”
Salem glanced at the pills on the bedside table. “Those are for the pain.”
“I need something stronger. Can’t you get that girlfriend of yours to swirl her finger in my drink and put a little sensory magic in there?”
“No. She’s incapable, but even if she was, I wouldn’t ask her to do that.”
Virgil turned onto his other side, groaned, then rolled onto his back again.
“I can’t get comfortable. You know what makes me mad?
I missed everything. I heard you and Mr. Heartthrob almost broke into a fistfight.
Were you both shirtless? Don’t answer that.
The fantasy is better.” He sighed while adjusting the twisted blanket. “Is she really dying?”
All Salem could do was nod.
“Bummer. You finally find a woman and she’s about to hop off this mortal coil. Whoever’s running the destiny department should be fired.” He scooted to a sitting position. “I’m happy and sad for you, man. I just wish someone had woken me up for all the drama.”
“Rest.”
“Salem?”
“Yes?”
“I want a cookie. Peanut butter. Can you ask Bear to make me a dozen?”
“You’re on a restricted diet. Easily digestible foods only,” Salem stressed. “That means soup, steamed vegetables, fish, and soft fruit. I’ll have something brought up. Don’t walk on that leg,” he warned him. “I mean it. With humans, it can take weeks or months to heal from a bite.”
“Months?” he exclaimed.
“You’ll heal faster if you do what you’re told. Take the pills I gave you. They’re not just painkillers; they have healing properties. An old remedy I found in one of our books that I want to test out on you.”
Virgil popped the pill into his mouth and dry-gulped it. “Groovy. I always wanted to be a guinea pig.”
Salem headed for the door. “Someone will check on you every hour in case you need help to the bathroom.”
“Hey!” Virgil called out.
When Salem twisted around, something hit him in the face. He reached up just as a pair of pink panties slid into his hand.
Virgil reclined back onto his pillow, his exaggerated smile tempting a laugh out of Salem. “Aha!” Virgil pointed at him. “I know what that smile’s all about. I need details, you dirty dog.”
Salem pivoted on his heel while Virgil pleaded for every juicy tidbit about their relationship.
Although Salem had always been a private man, he loved that the pack was interested in hearing about him and Quinn.
Winning her heart was like winning the lottery, and it felt good to share that happiness with others.
But in the back of his mind was an ominous cloud looming in the distance, one that threatened to drop a tornado and devastate his entire life.
Quinn was basking in the sunshine, enjoying the moment, not paying attention to the looming threat.
Though he wanted to be in the same headspace, he knew he needed to brace for the storm.