Pember swallowed. “Should I go and see her?”
Blake nodded, bending down to stack sticks in the fireplace. “It might help. Having me in Earnie’s old nest makes things worse.”
Pember’s chin started trembling as he padded up the stairs. “It’s okay, Valerie. It’s Pember from next door,” he called. When she didn’t answer, he poked his head into the room. “Can I come in?”
Val gave a grunt in reply.
Running the back of his hand over her forehead, he grimaced at the coldness of her skin. She was shivering, which Pember knew was actually a good sign, but even so, he tucked the blankets tighter around her
“There we go,” he whispered, stroking her head as she stared at the ceiling. She looked old. Obviously, shewasold. But withher hair pushed flat and her false teeth missing, she looked every one of her ninety-something years.
“Earnie, is that you?” she groaned, gaze cloudy.
Pember only hummed and handed her one of Earnie’s shirts that Blake had placed on the chest of drawers. She began mumbling incoherently, but settled when Pember surrounded her with a few more of Earnie’s things.
He hummed a random tune whilst stroking her hair, and she eventually began to settle. Heat from the fire permeated through the floorboards, giving the room a comforting warmth.
Pember sighed, pulling the CPAP machine over her face before padding back downstairs. He gripped the banister, letting out an exhausted sigh before collapsing on the sofa next to Blake.
“How many times have you found her like this?” he asked, eyes flitting to the alpha.
Blake shrugged. “Half a dozen or so. She doesn’t always shift. It took me hours to find her the first time.”
Pember’s heart ached, thinking of Val all alone in the woods in the middle of the night. “What a mess,” he whispered, eyes growing heavy as he watched the flickering flames. “Is she going to be alright?”
“I hope so,” Blake said, sliding a hand around Pember’s. “She’s been through worse.”
“She was… she was calling for Earnie. Do you think she was looking for him? For her pack?”
Blake nodded. “Pack abandonment is a real problem for people her age. Eighty years ago she’d be taken into the care of her extended family, but now…”
“We’re all alone,” Pember said, picking up the words.
Blake nodded. “Government pack restrictions have really done a number on her generation. We’re used to it to some degree, because it’s all we’ve ever known. But for her…”
Pember squeezed his eyes shut. “We’re used to the loneliness,” he whispered. “I really want to write her children a letter, Blake. Get them to come and visit her, before…”
Before she dies.
“So do I,” Blake said, slipping an arm around Pember’s shoulders. “I’m going to keep an eye on her overnight. Get yourself to bed.”
Pember looked up at him, frowning. “Not a chance. You said yourself, your scent aggravates her.I’llstay, you go.”
The alpha sighed. “And what happens if she runs off again? She might be old, but she’s stronger than she looks.”
Pember scoffed. “You don’t think I can handle a ninety-year-old lady?”
Snorting, Blake slipped off his trainers and tugged a knitted blanket from the back of the sofa. “How about we both stay, at least for a little while.”
Pember watched as Blake settled onto his back, resting an arm behind his head. He shot Pember a playful look and slid his eyes to the space next to him. The thought of being pressed against the alpha’s body saw heat returning to Pember’s face that had absolutely nothing to do with the fire.
CHAPTER 20
MONOPOLY MAN
Pember
Pember kickedoff his shoes and lowered himself into the space beneath Blake’s arm. Tentatively, he rested a hand between the alpha’s ribs, the cotton T-shirt clinging to the planes of his chest as it rose and fell beneath his palm.
