“I’m not a…” I clamped my mouth shut at her droll look. “Actually, I like the sound of being a predator.”
Hard to be a victim when you’re top of the food chain.
“You’re a half-blood, right?” She crunched down. “We are too. Our line, I mean. Midas and me. It’s the only reason our pack broke free of Faerie rule. One of our gwyllgi ancestors bred with a female warg, creating a new breed. That gave us grounds to declare ourselves native supernaturals. A few others escaped the same way, that’s where Hood’s people come from, but that loophole was stapled closed.” She shoved a whole sausage patty in her mouth, barely stopping to chew before she swallowed. “We’re the best of both worlds, if you ask me.”
“I wondered what a gwyllgi pack was doing working for the Faraday.”
“The Faraday makes for a good home base. The pay is great, tips are freaking awesome, and it’s a hub of paranormal activity. Ears like ours? We hear everything. Between Hood at the front door, Midas at the rear, and me walking the beat, there’s not much happening in Atlanta and beyond we don’t know.”
“That’s what Midas said too.”
“Really? He told you that?” Her hand lowered to her stomach. “I shouldn’t be surprised after Hood marked you. That makes you pack. You belong to us, so why wouldn’t he share with you?” She rolled her eyes. “Like I said—blabbermouth.”
I choked on my lump-free smoothie. “Hood did what?”
“Every time he licks you? He’s not being a cute doggy. He’s tagging you.” She tapped the side of her head. “We’re cognizant when we shift. Not all gwyllgi or wargs can say the same. We’re in total control in both forms. Though, to be fair, our primal sides can go off the rails given proper motivation.” Again, her fingers drummed her navel. “Any adorable antics on his part are calculated to disarm. Believe that.”
Turning my hand over in front of me, I imagined all the drool my skin must have absorbed over the past few weeks. “How do I get untagged?”
“The mark fades over time, but we’ll always be able to detect it on you.”
My jaw came unhinged. “I’m pack for life?”
“Yep.” She kept cramming food into her mouth. “That’s what an honor debt means. We owe you big. We value no one more than our packmates. The mark? It makes you an honorary one of us, and it ensures we treat you as such. Our primal sides won’t accept anything less.” She reached out and pinched my cheek. “You’re like a cute little mostly hairless puppy we’ve adopted.”
Just when I thought my life couldn’t get weirder. “Does that apply to the rest of the Atlanta pack?”
“Yes and no.” The answer was serious enough she swallowed before speaking. “The Atlanta gwyllgi will recognize the mark and understand it’s ours. They won’t attack as long as you don’t back them into a corner.”
“Good to know.” I polished off my smoothie and set it in the sink to rinse out later. “It should be a nonissue. I have no plans to go back in the foreseeable future.”
Her hand paused halfway to her mouth. “You’re not going to visit Linus?”
“I don’t like to think about him leaving.” I opened my takeout box and crunched on a strip of salty bacon. “We fight when we talk about it, so I’m keeping my mouth shut going forward. Problem solved.”
“That’s not how it works, pup.” Sympathy darkened her eyes. “You get the problem, right?”
“I don’t want him to go.” I hadn’t meant to say it out loud. I hadn’t really meant to think it. But there it was. “I don’t want to lose him too.” The overhead light dimmed, and I stroked the wall beside me. “We don’t want to be alone again.”
“You don’t want him to go?” She started eyeing my food. “Give him a reason to stay.”
Saving the eggs and toast for myself, I passed her my bacon. “I’m not ready to make any promises.”
“That’s fine.” She grinned in thanks. “Just don’t expect him to either.”
Solid advice. That didn’t mean I enjoyed getting beaten with the truth stick.
That was going to leave a mark.
Midas and I were finishing up our session when I noticed Linus watching from the doorway. I wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there. Woolly hadn’t ratted him out, and Midas had ignored him to focus on our lesson. I was the only one caught unawares, and it cost me.
“Oomph.”
The new mats absorbed impacts like a dream—they were so much better than grass with an underlayer of dirt—but it still knocked the breath out of me when I landed on my back. Midas might be careful, but that didn’t mean he took it easy.
Linus leaned over me, his feet at my head. “I didn’t mean to distract you.”
“How long have you been standing there?” I wheezed through the pain.
“Twenty minutes or so.” He extended his hand toward me, and I clasped his cool palm. “You look good.”
“You can see my boob sweat, my hair is greasy, and my cheeks are splotchy.” I bounced in place for a beat when he pulled me onto my feet. “You might want to clean your glasses and try again.”
Midas wiped a hand over his mouth, but his eyes lightened. “I think he meant your form.”
Linus ducked his head, but it was getting harder for him to hide those tiny smiles from me now that I knew to look for them.
“Oh.” Using the hem of my tee to pat my face dry, I bought myself a moment to die in private. “Thanks.”
Cool fingers tapped my elbow until I lowered my fabric shield. “Are you ready for another field trip?”
“Sure.” I plucked at the damp material. “I just need to grab a shower first.”
He swatted aside the suggestion. “You’ll only need another one after we’re finished.”
“That sounds promising.” I waved to Midas as he let himself out then turned back to Linus. “Where are we going?”
“To gather marsh woundwort.”
“I’ll need my waders then.” As the name implied, the herb grew in marshy conditions. “Bug spray is probably a good idea too.”
Maud kept woundwort in her first-aid kit in various forms. The fresh herb applied directly to cuts and scrapes halted bleeding. The essential oil had antispasmodic and antiseptic properties. Powdered leaves made a medicinal tea that treated fevers, heart and liver ailments, and internal hemorrhaging. It was one of the few herbs she had insisted on gathering wild from a plot she tended. Most everything else, she grew at home.
Restoring her extensive herb garden was yet another item on my lengthy to-do list. Odette had given me the windowsill version during her brief stay, but there was more to be done in the greenhouse.
Truthfully, Maud had been twice the gardener I claimed to be, and I always appreciated the fruits of her labors. Fresh veggies for meals. Herbs for the kitchen as well as the lab. Flowers to perfume the house. Natural beauty that invited you to step outside, breathe in the night air, and linger under the moon.
Yanking my thoughts back on task, I headed for the living room. “We’re going to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge?”
“Yes.”
“The same patch where Maud used to take us?”
“I haven’t been there in years.” His gaze went distant. “I thought it would be fitting.”
“She would get a kick out of us using her favorite spot. It ought to be a wild tangle by now.”
“You hated going,” he reminded me. “I always got roped into those trips.”
“All those bugs?” A shudder rippled through me. “Don’t even get me started on the snakes.”
We hit the porch, and I grabbed my waders before we started down the driveway. He was right. There was no point cleaning up when we would come back sticky with sweat, flecked with mud, and covered in itchy, red mosquito bites.
“Do you remember the time you bent to pick up a stick,” he asked, “but it was a moccasin?”
“How could I forget?” I mimed dancing a jig. “Maud stomped it to death. I didn’t even know that was possible. She weighed maybe a hundred and twenty pounds, and the snake was almost longer than she was tall.”
“You never went back after that,” he mused.
“What was the point when she had you?” Bitterness I recognized from the way Amelie spoke of me and my talent edged into my voice, and I loathed hearing that pettiness in me. Understanding we all envied someone made forgiving her possible when I wanted to hold on to my anger. Possible, not likely. “I didn’t mean to go there. The thing with Maud had nothing to do with you. It was between her and me.”
“I understand how difficult it is to be civil to a person who has what you want.”
I cut a look at him from the corner of my eye. “Here I always thought you had everything you wanted.”
“No.” He looked right back. “Not everything.”
Skin flushed, I threw myself into opening the gates and scanning the road for Hood. Thankfully, he pulled around before I was forced to make small talk with Linus, which would have involved looking him in the face. Not waiting for him to be the gentleman, I slid open the door and climbed in. He gave me time to get settled before joining me, proving yet again he was too perceptive and far too chill for me while I was in this raw mood.
“Nothing rattles you.” I tipped my head against the seatback. “You’re so calm, it makes me want to shake you sometimes.”
“I’m sorry if that bothers you,” he said, polite to a fault.
“Oh no you don’t.” I bolted upright. “Take off the mask.”
“This is my face.” Cold, precise, cutting. “I can’t remove it.”
“Do you need help?” My fingertips itched to claw at his seams. “I’m willing to lend you a hand.”