Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Grayson
I shouldn’t have given Linda a day off.
That was my first thought when I realized that Ethan had disappeared the second my back was turned.
My son hasn’t learned to shift yet, but he’s fast and curious like all wolves.
Normally it’s the mothers who keep an eye on the pups.
It’s like they have this inbuilt GPS about where the child is at all times.
Losing Ethan shaved years off my life. Of course, finding him next to the ER nurse who patched me up wasn’t what I expected, either.
Or my son’s sudden attachment to her.
However, she’s human, and even if sleeping and mingling with humans is not exactly taboo, I have no intentions of getting involved with one.
At least that’s what I thought till we had to run.
The only reason I pulled her along was because she was holding Ethan.
It’s not like the woman is likeable in the least with that sharp tongue and grumpy attitude of hers.
So why is my wolf so angry at seeing that bruise over her eye?
It’s purple and yellow, spreading across her left eye and cheekbone like someone painted it there with violence. The skin is swollen and obviously tender. It’s clearly a few days old.
“What the hell is that?”
I can feel my wolf trembling with a rage I can’t understand. The urge to shift, to hunt, to tear apart whoever did this to her is so overwhelming that my hands start to tremble.
Ethan bursts into tears.
The sound cuts through the fury like a knife. He can feel it. Feel the beast’s rage pressing against my control. He’s too young to understand it, but he knows something is wrong. Terribly wrong.
“Shh, buddy.” I try to soothe him, but my voice comes out strangled. “It’s okay.”
“I’m sorry!” Miranda looks mortified, quickly covering her eyes with those damned sunglasses. “I didn’t mean to scare him. I know it looks bad.”
She thinks Ethan is crying because of the bruise. Because he’s frightened of how she looks.
“I’ll just go.” She’s getting to her feet, but I grab her wrist, gently but firmly enough that she can’t pull away. The beast inside me is still snarling, but I shove it down with every ounce of control I have.
“What happened to your eye?”
“I walked into something.” She tugs at her wrist. “Let go.”
“Was that something a fist?” The question comes out sharp. Dangerous.
Her eyes narrow behind the sunglasses. “It’s got nothing to do with you. Now let me go.”
She yanks her hand free, and I let her. But I notice the way she glances at Ethan’s head. At the baseball cap sitting askew on his dark hair.
My cap. The one I signed for her.
The realization hits me like a sledgehammer. That’s why Ethan was so comfortable around her. Why he went with her without fear. The cap carries my scent, and to my son’s wolf senses, that meant safety.
“Just sit. Ethan’s not upset about the bruise. He’s fine.”
She looks hesitant, but before she can say anything, her phone begins to ring.
“Hello. This is Miranda speaking.” She presses the phone to her ear.
After a moment, her face goes pale, and she murmurs, “Are you sure? How many?”
She presses her lips together, and I can smell her upset. “I—I’ll be right there.”
Ending the call, she doesn’t quite meet my gaze as she says, “I have to go. There was a…a leak in my apartment.”
I can smell the lie, but I don’t call her out on it. She hurries away, and I watch her.
The beast inside me is tense. Coiled. It wants to follow her. It wants to know who put their hands on this woman who looks at me like I’m something nasty stuck on the bottom of her shoe.
“Daddy?” Ethan’s small voice pulls me back to reality. His tears have stopped, but his face is still blotchy. “Why didn’t you make her stay?”
I sigh. “She’s human, Ethan. You shouldn’t get too close to her. She’s not from our world.”
“But I like her,” he begins to protest. However, I cut him off by putting another slice of pizza on his plate.
“Eat. And then let’s go home.”
He sighs in disappointment, and I catch him glancing at her now empty seat.
It’s so rare for Ethan to get along with anyone, and I feel like the world’s biggest jerk by not letting him have his way this time around, but it’s simply not possible. He’s just too young to understand.
By the time we leave, Ethan’s wilted, and I feel bad.
The drive back to the mansion is quiet. He falls asleep in his car seat, exhausted from his adventure. I keep seeing that bruise. It makes me uncomfortable. She didn’t have it that night at ER. Which means it happened after that.
I didn’t smell a man on her, so no partner.
Maybe it was a mugging. My mind is trying to come up with reasons, but nothing satisfies me. Maybe she really did walk into something. But unless it was a doorknob, I don’t see how she would have a perfectly round black eye.
I pull into the driveway and immediately spot Leon Ramirez leaning against his car in my driveway. The alpha of the Silverpeak Wolf Pack.
I unbuckle Ethan carefully, trying not to wake him, but his eyes flutter open anyway.
“Are we home?” he mumbles.
“Yeah, buddy. We’re home.”
Leon pushes off his truck as I approach, his dark eyes taking in Ethan’s disheveled state. “What happened?”
“Long story.” I shift Ethan to my other hip. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk.” His tone says it’s not optional.
I sigh and lead him inside. The mansion is quiet, empty without the elderly Linda bustling around. I settle Ethan on the couch before following my alpha into the kitchen.
“Beer?” I pull two bottles from the fridge without waiting for an answer.
“Thanks.” He takes the offered bottle and leans against the counter. “The human government is getting involved.”
I pause mid-sip. “What?”
“The league wants to take the team international. Bigger audiences, more revenue, exposure for the sport.” He takes a long drink. “Which means the human sports regulatory boards are paying attention now.”
“I don’t understand why we have to go international.” I set my beer down. “We can just play against local packs. Keep it in the community.”
“Wolf packs might have started hockey as a way to handle aggression, but it’s evolved.” Leon takes a chug of his beer. “Packs are taking this seriously now. And humans are watching. The games are televised. We’re pulling in huge viewership numbers. This isn’t just about us anymore.”
I lean back against the counter, processing. “Okay. So what’s the problem?”
“The sports regulatory board wants us to have health and fitness checks for the next three months. A nurse or doctor. Someone who’ll stick with the team throughout games and practices to monitor us.”
“Okay, so we get a pack healer to do it. What’s the big deal?” I raise a brow.
Leon scowls. “If it was that easy, don’t you think I would have done it already? Our pack healers function as herbalists under human law. None of them went to medical school. None of them are doctors or nurses by human standards.”
“So we need a human one.” I grimace. “Are you sure you don’t want to rethink this whole business?”
“It’s happening,” my alpha says sharply. “We need to find a human we can trust.”
“A human doctor or nurse might figure out what we are.” I grab my beer again, needing something to do with my hands. “One blood test and we’re exposed.”
“It’s not like there aren’t humans who know about our existence,” he says thoughtfully. “But those are few and far between. And none of them are doctors. We’ll need to find somebody we can trust. Someone we can work with to manipulate the bloodwork if necessary.”
“You had no problem having me stitched up by that human nurse the other day,” I point out after a beat.
“Yeah, because she wasn’t going to draw your blood.” Leon drains his beer. “That was surface level. This is different. We need someone who’ll be around constantly. Someone who won’t ask too many questions.”
“Well, this is complicated.” I pull myself up to sit on the edge of the counter, beer resting on my legs. “What do you want me to do, Coach?”
Leon may be the alpha, but he’s also the coach for the hockey team, and calling him by his sports title has become second nature to us.
“Where’s Linda?” he asks, looking around. “She’s usually here cooking.”
I scoff. “So that’s why you’re here. You wanted her to feed you.”
“She’s one of the best chefs in the pack.” My alpha gives me an annoyed look. “I would have hired her if you hadn’t offered double what anybody else would.”
I grin. “She likes money. I have money. Anyway, it’s her day off today. She’s been throwing hints at me about retiring as well. She says she’s in her eighties and deserves to rest now. I’m going to have to find a new nanny for Ethan soon.”
“Good luck with that.” He gives me a wry look. “Finding someone you can trust with your son isn’t easy.”
The double-edged meaning behind his words doesn’t escape me. This might be my pack, but it was once Vanessa’s pack too, and there are a lot of packmates who are still loyal to her. Thinking of my ex-wife makes me irritable, and I finish my beer before grabbing another.
Women are way more trouble than they’re worth.
Maybe it’s a good thing that sharp-tongued nurse didn’t take me up on my lunch offer.
The ice feels good beneath my skates. Clean. Simple. No complications.
“Wolfe, you planning to actually move or just stand there looking pretty?” Samuel’s voice cuts through my thoughts as he whizzes past, his stick handling the puck with easy grace.
I shake off whatever fog has settled over me and chase after him. My legs pump, muscles burning in that familiar way that tells me I’m alive. The puck shoots toward the goal, and Eric, our goalie, blocks it with a satisfying thunk.
“Nice try,” Eric calls out, his grin visible even through his mask.