He moved around me and poured in a capful of my lavender bubble bath before turning to me. “No, Christie, the best idea I ever had was loving you.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
After my scare, I got a call from Brandon asking me to come over and keep Wendi company and help out a little. Virginia was not handling men being around, even her father, very well, but she couldn’t tell anyone why. We were looking for Opal as a kidnapper, but Samson suspected there was at least one henchman still in the mix.
Brandon had no idea, of course, what I’d just been through, because Tris and I hadn’t told anyone, not even Gigi, about our pregnancy test. Sometimes, other people didn’t need to know what was between mates. Of course, had I been pregnant, we’d have told everyone. As it stood, we had nothing to tell.
But when Brandon phoned in the wee small hours, I was out of bed and on my way so fast, I barely slowed enough to tell Tris where I was going. Right as I was running for the front door, he shouted after me he’d come along. Sometimes, I got tired of being followed around, and his arriving on pack lands would first, be problematic with his brother, and second, would mean he’d dropped me off, leaving me with no vehicle should I want or need to go somewhere else. Not gonna fly. I’d been independent a long time. I scribbled a note for Gigi and left it taped to her door so she wouldn’t worry.
Brandon was vague, but he’d said his mate had some spotting and was afraid she might be losing the baby. In the end, she seemed okay, but she was planning to stay off her feet as a precaution for a while. The baby’s welfare was at stake, and so was the future health and happiness of their whole family. This baby was so wanted and loved. When the time came for me and my mates… Would the time ever come?
I stopped along the way at the store and bought the makings for chicken noodle soup and some other dishes I associated with healing. Gigi’s recipes, of course. I could stock their fridge and make sure they had enough to eat for at least a few days. Other pack members would no doubt bring food as well, and a lot of it would be carb heavy, cookies, cakes, casseroles, so I was leaning toward the lighter end. High protein, lots of fruits and veggies.
“Hello, anyone home?” I hollered as I came in the front door. I hadn’t knocked. Since the place had become the pack infirmary, we all just walked in like any other community building. But it had been Moss’ home, where Wendi first lived on pack lands, and it still had a homey feel. “I brought dragon fruit.”
Sure, they were about five dollars each, but they were a guilty pleasure of Wendi’s and mine and really yummy in smoothies. I’d brought a lot of smoothie ingredients.
“We’re upstairs,” my friend called, and I tried to decide whether her voice was weak or just coming from another room. “Come on up.”
“Let me put the groceries away.” I stowed the things I’d bought and took the time to fill the blender with dragon fruit, mango, and some plain yogurt as well as a few sneaky greens and things before setting glasses for Wendi, Virginia—who was still here and the reason Wendi wasn’t in her own home—and me on a tray.
Mounting the stairs, I was worried about what I might find, but when I followed the murmurs of voices to a room toward the end of the hall, a lot of my worries fled. Wendi was sitting in an armchair opposite her patient’s bed, and they were smiling, each holding cards, playing some kind of game.
I stood in the doorway for a few minutes and watched my friend, so glad she was feeling well enough to play cards. She must be fairly confident the worry had passed, but I still wanted to do whatever I could to help out. I lingered until they looked up and noticed me.
“Can anyone play?” I sashayed into the room with my tray of tall glasses sporting twisty straws I’d picked up at the store as a funny surprise. “I bring refreshments!”
They welcomed me with cheers and accepted my sneakily healthful treats. While we sipped away, we played a few hands of cards. I perched cross-legged on the foot of the bed, and the atmosphere was more like a sorority sleepover than a sickroom. Maybe that was the magic. As Wendi was gathering the cards to slip them in the box and I was piling our glasses and some small plates I’d brought up more goodies on onto the tray, Virginia gasped.
We both focused on her, and Wendi took her wrist and checked her pulse. “Virginia, what’s wrong? Does something hurt?”
“No…but I just remembered. What part of the woods did I say I was in?” She dropped her face into her hands. “I was so mixed up and strange. All turned around, but I think I might have been wrong. Can you call the alpha? I need to tell him some things.”
I avoided a fist pump, but it wasn’t easy. Once we’d assured ourselves she was okay with Samson coming, I ran for him. She’d remembered things, and believed they were important.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You’re here.” Samson stomped over. He and Tris stared at one another for what seemed like an hour, just sizing each other up as though they hadn’t known each other since birth. Ridiculous, testosterone-fueled asses.
Tris stood his ground and looked Samson straight in the eye. Something about my pregnancy scare had changed the dynamic of our mating, and he
