Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Tempest
“How many have been moved to the ICU?” Magnolia asked across from me in the break room.
She’d arrived for her shift early. Pain filled me at her question. “Four. Two of them just pups.”
We’d lost Frances and Josiah last night, two elderly members of the pack. It was hitting the young and old the hardest.
“Have you talked to Iris? Is she okay?” I asked her. She’d been so worried about her sister and her family.
Fear shifted through Magnolia’s eyes. “She and the twins are with my mom, staying away from the pack for now. She’s worried sick about Draven, but he made her leave to keep the kids safe. He won’t leave the keep, though, he won’t abandon his pack. The whole thing is really awful.”
“I can’t imagine how scary it must be for her.”
Mags rubbed her forehead. “We’re keeping a close eye on the boys.
It should be impossible for the virus to touch any of them.
Immortals should be safe, but this virus is changing quickly, growing stronger.
I don’t think we’ve reached the pinnacle of what it can do yet.
” She shook her head. “How did this happen? Where the fuck did it come from?”
“Hopefully, we’re getting closer to a vaccine.
” We’d had a lot of volunteers among the covens come to help, but we desperately needed more healers.
Jack had been burning the candle at both ends, trying to make sure we all had at least one day off a week to prevent burnout, but with more wolves admitted every week, it was getting harder to cope.
“I tried to call you last night. When I didn’t hear back, I was worried.”
Her gaze slid from me. “Yeah, sorry about that. Something came up and it was late by the time I saw I’d missed a call from you.” She was quiet a moment. “You seem to be spending a bit of time with Fender?” she said, still without really looking at me.
I opened the tin of cookies I’d filled and brought in this morning, took one, and slid it back to the middle of the table. “Yes, I have.”
Maybe I was imagining it, but Mags seemed different, distant. That wasn’t the first of my calls she’d missed and hadn’t replied to.
“He’s a really good guy,” she said. “And you don’t need me to tell you that he’s been through a lot.”
“He has, but he’s making really good progress. I think I have his pain medicinals about right. A few small tweaks and I think we’ll have that side of things sorted.”
She rested her arms on the table. “So, there’s nothing more between you two?”
I blinked at her in surprise. “No…I mean, we’ve become friends. I’ve been helping him find something actually.”
Magnolia studied me. “And that’s it? Nothing more.”
I frowned.
“I know it’s none of my business, Temp. Tell me to mind my own and I’ll…well, I’ll try,” she said and chuckled. “But I just want to make sure you know what you are getting into when you spend time with a male like Fender. Hounds are different.”
I had no idea what she was getting at. “He hasn’t done anything. He might be a bit domineering at times, but he’s a good male.”
“He is,” Mags said. “But if a hound is involved with a female, um, romantically, they become extremely protective.”
“Do they?” What did that have to do with me? Fender was in some kind of romantic entanglement with Aradina Stonebridge.
“And growly and domineering and just plain possessive,” she added.
I screwed up my face. “I don’t like that kind of behavior.
” I’d been raised to fear males, to see them as the enemy.
It had taken me a lot to trust anyone, especially the males I’d met when I’d first left the cottage.
The only reason I’d approached Raiden when I had was because I’d overheard a female here at the hospital talking about him, saying he was a good lover, gentle, and undemanding.
Apparently, we had different definitions of gentle, lover or not.
“Right,” Mags said, a strange look on her face. “I guess I thought that there might be something more going on between you and Fender.”
He was very handsome, and yes, he was most definitely a good male, but he was also a little unpredictable. Okay, yes, I experienced more moments of ease when I was with him than fear now, but there were still the odd moments of concern. He was volatile at times, but I guessed that was his nature.
“There are very few males I have time for,” I said, telling her the truth.
“Bram seems like a good male. But that’s something I can only assume.
Based on the fact that you’re in love with him, and since you seem happy and content, I believe he is good, at least to you.
Jack is level-headed and doesn’t behave in a way that concerns me.
Luka is a kind male as well, and gentle.
” And sadly, for me, not an option. “Those are the kinds of males I prefer. Yes, Fender has become a friend, but I would never choose him as an intimate partner. I would never choose a male who runs hot, or is quick to anger. There are too many risks, too many variables.” For a brief moment I had wished Fender was a real option.
I was most definitely attracted to him, but there were a lot of reasons why it wasn’t a good idea.
He was my patient, and despite the things I’d just said to Mags, my friend, and I wanted to keep his friendship.
He was also seeing someone else, but the main reason was Fender was a hellhound.
Gentle and hellhound had to be an oxymoron.
He tried, I could acknowledge that, but being so temperate around me, had to be going against his nature, and going against one’s nature never worked, not long term.
That odd look was back on her face. “Just so you know, hounds can be a bit extra when they care about someone. And now that you’re his friend, he might be a little on the overprotective side.
But hounds don’t hurt females. Ever. They pretty much worship them.
The one hound I know of who did try to hurt a female was put to death and sent to Limbo.
That’s how seriously they take it. Fender might get a little growly, or demanding, but he would never harm you. Not ever.”
Fender had said something to that effect, hadn’t he?
“Oh, I just assumed...” What, that because he had an animal side he was dangerous?
When I’d panicked in the forest and he’d shifted to his beast’s form, he’d been nothing but gentle and patient with me.
I’d known instinctively that he’d never hurt me, hadn’t I?
I shook my head. “I don’t know what I thought,” I said instead of admitting I’d judged him harshly, that I’d allowed ingrained deep-seated fears to blind me.
“You can ask anyone. A lot of females hang out at Hell Fire, the hounds bar, not just to hook up with one of them but because they know they can go there, drink, get messy, have fun, and they’ll be safe.
Literally every female shifter, witch, and vamp in the city knows it.
So you don’t need to worry about him doing anything that could hurt you, okay?
” She held my gaze. “Fear can make people behave rashly or lash out, but I need you to know you have nothing to fear from him, or any of them.”
“Okay,” I said, confused by the odd note to her voice.
My heart started to race a little faster.
Why was she looking at me like that? Was she worried I’d hurt him or one of his brothers?
No, she couldn’t know. There was no way.
She was just being a good friend, that’s all.
“Thank you,” I said and quickly stood. “I, uh, need to get back to work. I promised Mrs. Griffin I’d read her a couple pages of her book before I finished up. ” Then I rushed out of there.
After my shift ended, I headed to the clubhouse like I promised Fender I would, even though all I wanted to do was curl up on my bed with Glinda and sob.
I’d struggled today, even more than yesterday, probably because the hope I’d been holding on to, that I’d been desperately trying to cling to, had slipped away.
When you were forced to sit with a deathly sick and unconscious child while his parents were fighting for their lives in the bed beside them or an elderly couple died within minutes of each other, hope chipped away until it was impossible.
“Temp,” Roman called as I walked by the garage, lifting a hand in greeting. “Fen’s in the clubhouse.”
I waved back and smiled, because showing pain, like fear, was a weakness, and weaknesses were dangerous. It didn’t matter that Roman wouldn’t harm me, it was my ingrained survival instincts, always at the ready, always searching for the threat.
He returned the smile and I couldn’t help but notice how attractive Roman was, they all were unusually handsome, but I guess it depended on your preferences.
They were handsome, yes, if a bit hairy for my liking, and large, but after what Mags said, I felt a lot more at ease entering their territory.
The clubhouse was quiet when I walked in.
I searched the room and spotted Fender. He was standing at one of the tall tables, a coffee mug in front of him, looking down at his phone.
The sun streaked in through one of the windows and his auburn hair, knotted at the nape of his neck, shone.
It wasn’t just auburn, it was threaded with golds and deeper reds.
His beard was neatly trimmed and he ran his hand down it while he concentrated on his screen.
The muscles of his forearms flexed. He had very nice arms. A little flutter swirled behind my sternum and spiraled down. What the heck was that?
He looked up, and his mouth curled into a smile when he saw me, flashing the tips of his canines. His amber eyes crinkled at the corners as that gold shimmer slid over his irises.
“Peaches.”
The swirl-and-flutter combo happened again, and I sucked in a breath. “Hey, Fender.” I walked to where he stood, then looked around us, because suddenly looking directly at him seemed difficult. “Where is everyone?”