There were places that tried to help people on the streets, offering meals or cash for labor. Dani had often taken the pastor up on it, maintaining flower beds, picking up litter, and helping within the church itself. It felt good, working for pay. And even though she’d been gone for three months, he’d welcomed her back with open arms.
But now, as he hovered near her, his kind face wrinkled in worry, she became aware of another man who was currently scrubbing graffiti off the church’s stone wall. He was bent to his task, but she’d caught his side glance at her.
These anxiety attacks were going to get her killed. This was the fifth time over the last few days. It sent ripples through those that shared the streets. They might seem like disconnected entities, but they tracked each other—like all the others, Dani knew who was strong, and who was weak. She knew who just wanted to survive, who cruised through the dimly lit streets and did their best to avoid trouble. But there were always those who thrived by preying on the weak.
She didn’t know this guy. But he was now aware that she was vulnerable.
Dani forced a smile as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself.
“I’ll be okay in a minute.”
The pastor glanced at the other man, and then back to her. The evening shadows were lengthening. “If you need a place to stay...”
The offer was tempting, and not made lightly. But she couldn’t hide forever, and the man would still be waiting for her when she left.
The anxiety passed through her in waves that left her trembling. Until that frigging battle, she’d never experienced such a thing. All she’d been through in her life, and she’d emerged from it hardened, tough, and capable.
Until Remy died.
The alpha had been a right bastard, someone she hated more than anyone before him. And that was a significant list. But once he’d mated her, he’d not only been in her head, but a part of her body and soul.
She’d felt him die. That final shriek echoing through her, followed by the shearing pain, as though someone had taken a cleaver and severed the tie between them.
Even as the battle continued to rage around them, Dani had nearly collapsed. She managed, somehow, to spin and bolt into the forest, surrounded by the ragged remnants of a pack nearly as traumatized as she was.
The damned Sabres had hunted every one of them down. She’d sensed every death through the link that bound her to them. Yet somehow, she’d stayed one step ahead. To hide, until she could sneak back, access the portal, and escape.
Dani had been lucky that the portal opened back to the human world, and not some other realm where she would have had no idea how to survive. She would have never guessed she’d be relieved to be home, on the streets of Winnipeg. Back where she’d started, months before.
While the thoughts spun through her head, the pastor had seated himself on the far end of the bench. He was a genuinely good person. She liked him. Few people would take a chance on hiring a homeless person, even for menial work.
“Come inside and eat. And I can pay you for your work today.”
“I didn’t finish it.”
“No matter.” He smiled at her.
He’d never invited her inside his house. Her heart had already slowed, and the tightness in her chest had eased. She should really leave and melt back into the streets.
Instead, she found herself rising on shaking legs and following him to the tiny, ancient house next to the church.
When they came in the back door, his wife was bustling around in the kitchen. She accepted the presence of a homeless woman walking in through her door without a single blink. Soon Dani devoured a bowl of thick stew with crusty rolls on the side.
It was delicious. The best thing she’d eaten in longer than she could remember.
Her life on the streets was brutal, but she understood it. True, she was only surviving. It was why she’d agreed to leave. What the Archmage had promised her seemed like a pipe dream.
He’d known how to tempt her.
The handsome Dire had shifted form in a back alley, and then Rindek had said what she needed to hear. That she could belong to something bigger. Have more power than she’d ever imagined. No one would ever be able to hurt her again.
Both the ability to shift form and throw anything not bolted to the ground could be considered a major bonus in her violent world. But if she couldn’t fill the hole in her mind, this crippling anxiety was going to get her killed. Because when Remy had died, he’d taken a piece of her with him.
She thanked the pastor and his wife for their hospitality. The man’s forehead remained wrinkled as he escorted her to the door.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
She wasn’t, but there was little he could do about it. If she wanted to survive, she needed to deal with this on her own.
