The beast inside rumbled its displeasure and began to pace.
“It’s too late to call tonight. I’ll check with work first thing in the morning. I may have to work part of tomorrow though, since it’s such late notice.” Vaughn looked down at Tulip. “Maybe I should stay with her tonight, in case she wakes up or gets distressed.”
“You’re welcome to use any of the guestrooms you’d like, but if you’re going to work tomorrow, you might want to go home and get a change of clothes first. You smell like a bar.”
Vaughn smiled and stood. “I’ll be back in about an hour, maybe less. Do you think Gabriel or you could listen for her until then? As tired as she was, she might be confused when she wakes up.”
“I don’t think she’s opening her eyes again until morning, but we’ll keep an eye on her.”
Vaughn brushed Tulip’s hair back from her face, fingering the silky strands, before he turned and walked out of the room. There was a smile on Autumn’s face that made him hesitate a moment, but he pushed the weird feeling aside and kept going. The drive to his house was short, as he only lived a few blocks away in a smaller Victorian he’d purchased and restored over the last few years. The soft green paint and white trim were still fresh. He’d even hired a landscape company to plant some flowering trees and shrubs on the property.
Looking at his home, he thought it would be a place a mate would love. He’d painstakingly repaired walls, refinished the hardwood floors, laid new tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. He’d chosen every paint color, keeping in mind that he would, one day, bring a woman here to claim the place as her own. For some reason, he wondered if Tulip would like it.
Vaughn let himself into the house and silenced the alarm he’d recently installed. He closed and locked the door before trudging upstairs to take a shower and get his work clothes together for the next day. As he washed, he tried to sort out his emotions. The feelings that had welled inside of him, as he’d held Tulip against his chest, when he’d found her in the tub, and as he’d left her at the alpha’s house, made him feel conflicted. He’d thought she was the enemy, had been prepared to do whatever it took to protect his pack from her. But he believed her when she said she didn’t mean any harm to them.
His wolf brushed along his skin, wanting to break free and find…find what? The beast was acting insane, and he didn’t understand it. Vaughn finished washing, then dried off and pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He worked for Danvers Electric and could wear whatever pants he wanted, as long as he wore their T-shirt. He pulled out a pair of jeans he considered work jeans, then grabbed one of the Danvers Electric shirts out of his dresser. When he’d finished gathering fresh socks and his work boots, he stuffed everything into a duffle and drove back to the alpha’s house.
It was late, but the living room light was still on.
He knocked, instead of ringing the bell, so he wouldn’t wake Tulip, or Autumn, if the alpha female had gone to bed. Gabriel answered the door and let him in, then locked up behind him. He motioned for Vaughn to follow him into the kitchen, and pointed toward one of the chairs.
“Sit,” Gabriel said.
Vaughn slid out a chair and sat down. “Is something wrong?”
“Do you know something more about the woman upstairs than what she told us?”
“No, alpha. She told me the same story at the bar.” He hesitated. “They mutilated her. The dark fae. Cut her wings off.”
Gabriel winced.
“I think she’s truly frightened of them finding her. She claims they’ll kill her if they get their hands on her, and I think she may be right. I don’t know if bringing her here was a mistake, but I think she needs us.”
“I can’t have a fae running free with the pack. As far as I know, she has no loyalties to us, no ties, so to speak. Once she’s back on her feet, she’ll have to find a mate. When you carried her in here, I could sense she was meant to be part of the pack, that she belongs to someone. We’ll just have to figure out who it is and match them.”
The wolf inside grumbled again and Vaughn tried to silence the beast.
“If that’s all for tonight, alpha, I’d like to check on her and get settled. I’ll have to report to work tomorrow, and probably work a few jobs, before I’ll be able to request time off.”
“The other guest room is yours.”
Vaughn hesitated. “I thought I might stay in the room with her, in case she became distressed overnight.”
Gabriel studied him a moment, then nodded. Feeling dismissed, Vaughn stood and carried his bag upstairs. He set the duffle down on the bedroom floor and then closed the door. Tulip hadn’t moved since he’d left and he was worried about her. He tried to reason with himself that he would be concerned over any female who had been harmed or mistreated, but the beast inside was a little too gleeful they’d returned to her side. It wasn’t something he was going to analyze tonight though.
He removed his shoes and laid on the bed next to her. Vaughn trailed his fingers down her arm, feeling how silky she was, and then gathered her close, holding her against his chest. Her scent surrounded him and calmed the wolf inside. As his eyes slid shut, he felt a moment of peace unlike any he’d ever felt before. Tulip curled against him, and he breathed her in with every breath, until sleep claimed him.
