“O-okay. Like a nest.”
Pember poked his head into the kitchen, blinking when he saw the naked form of the alpha silhouetted in the moonlight. Silver caught his skin, sinking into the valleys of his powerful shoulders. Pember shuddered. Thankfully, Blake’s lower half was blocked by the table.
“It’s different in the dark,” Blake said, eyes dragging up and down Pember’s semi-exposed body as he hung around the corner. “Stay close to me and don’t wander off.”
Pember flushed, keeping his eyes forward. Blake held out a hand and he took it.
“What if you get knocked out of your shift again?”
Blake hummed and bent down to drag his nose through Pember’s hair. “I should be alright. My wolf knows your scent now, and if it gets lost we’ll follow it. Ready?”
Pember nodded, pushing open the door as they set off into the night.
The trail through the woodswasincredibly boggy, and Pember’s paws were slipping and sliding all over the place. Blake pressed his huge head between Pember’s back legs, scooting him up the hill as the undergrowth turned to sludge. It was raining, the kind of annoying mist that seemed to completely soak everything in sight.
There were tracks in the mud, and Pember’s heightened senses could just about pick out the old alpha’s scent on the leaves. Pressing his nose to the ground, he tracked the scent all the way up the hill, until he found Val’s slippers lying in a sodden heap under a mulberry bush.
“Here,”he said over the bond, and Blake slipped alongside him to sniff the slippers. His head jerked up, and before Pember could scoop them up in his mouth, the alpha was leading him along another track between the trees.
They didn’t have to go far, because lying within a cluster of ferns was a great grey wolf.
“Alpha!”Pember called, trying to reach for her across the bond.
She twitched, her massive head moving in his direction. Pember pressed his muzzle to the ground as he ran over. He licked her neck and head, swiping the rainwater out of her eyes.Her undercoat was drenched as it clung to her bony frame. She was shivering, her wispy paws pulling in on themselves.
Without hesitation, Blake opened his jaws and clamped them around her thinning crest. Her eyes popped open, and she growled instinctively at the other alpha scruffing her. It was enough to get her to her feet, and soon she was walking on shaky legs between the two of them.
Pember pushed feelings of comfort across the bond. Val nuzzled into him, her gaze unfocused as she let them guide her back down the hill.
“Mate?”she said, taking a long inhale of Pember’s fur.
“Gone,”Pember replied, nuzzling her back.
Val whined—a low, mournful sound that even Blake reacted to. He pressed his chin across the top of her head, like a mother hen holding out a wing to her chick.
“Pack? Where is pack?”Val whimpered.
He and Blake shared a glance before Pember licked her neck. “Here, alpha. We’re here.”
He could feel Blake’s uncertainty across the bond, but he quickly tamped it down with feelings of comfort for the old alpha. A pang of sadness cut through both Pember and his wolf. It wasn’t rejection, but it felt pretty damned close. Pember had no right to call them pack, but if it brought Val some comfort he’d say it ten times over.
Val’s movements slowed when they reached the perimeter of the back garden, and Blake had to lead her through the gate and up the stairs by her scruff. Pember stayed downstairs, shifting back and hastily pulling on his clothes. He mopped the floor, ridding it of the muddy puddles they’d traipsed in.
Moments later, Blake appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a sheet wrapped around his waist. Seeing Pember fully dressed, he quickly pulled on his own clothes and flicked on thelights. “I got her to shift back, but my scent is aggravating her. She thinks I’m a threat.”
“Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital? What if she goes into shock?”
Blake shook his head. “At her age she’d be at more risk of getting an infection from the hospital. She’s told me before that her biggest fear is dying away from home.”
“Dying?!” Pember gasped. “Oh my God, you think she’s dying?”
Blake sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not saying that. I’m saying she’d be mad as hell if she woke up in A&E.”
“R-right. Okay.” Pember huffed with relief. “Do you think we should light a fire? The house is absolutely freezing.”
Blake nodded. “I’ll message the doctor. Hopefully he’ll come and see her in the morning.”
“Earnie! Where’s Earnie?” Val cried hoarsely, the words sounding gummy, as though she’d spat out her false teeth.
