When they came out of the room, it was I who was pacing, as the druid sat quietly in an armchair.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded of no one and all of them.
“His Will,” Diesel grunted as he took a seat and blew out a breath.
“I haveneverseen that,” I said to him, my hands on my hips. “That is notWill, what was it?”
“The beta is correct,” the druid said solemnly. “Wolfe is alpha to two packs, two packs who have not yet knit?—”
“I swear to Luna, you blame this on my mate bond, and Iwillthrow you out of this house,” I snarled.
The druid tilted their head slightly. “Interesting, you have joined but have not yet completed…”
“Druid!”
They weren’t bothered by my anger. “I wasgoingto say that when an alpha opens themselves to their Will, they find from an early time in their alpha power how to workwithit.” They cast a hand in the direction of the bedroom door. “But for a reason I don’t yet know, Wolfe does not embrace his Will.”
“You don’t know because it isn’t your business,” Brand growled.
The druid pulled a face as if he expected such an answer. “Power builds. Untapped power builds very high. Over a long period of time, it builds much like pressure inside a volcano.”
“He erupted?” I asked stupidly.
The druid nodded. “Basically. He shies away from his power, and then when he used a great amount of it, he dipped into the well and drank deep.”
“Is he a well or a volcano?” Diesel asked dryly. “Too many metaphors.” He took a drink from a bottle of whisky that I didn’t know we had. He passed it to Killian, who almost downed half the bottle.
“Are you okay?” I asked Killian. “Do you need to shift?”
He waved away my concern. “Barely felt it,” he said, offering me the bottle, but when I shook my head, he passed it to Brand.
I turned back to the druid. “So Wolfe’s alpha power was…pent up?” I guessed, ignoring Diesel’s snort, as the druid nodded. “And then when he used it, on the pack, shouldn’t that have, I dunno,depletedit?”
The druid smiled. “No. Because as Wolfe and his man here told us, the Goddessblessedthem.” They steepled their fingers in front of them as they thought about it. “Between a territory boundary spell, a Goddess’s gift, and his own untappedpotential…” They shot a look toward the bedroom door, and I exchanged a look with Killian because that look looked a lot likehunger. Hunger forpower. “I’m impressed he held onto it as he did.”
“He was overloaded,” Diesel said roughly, his attention also on the druid. “Which is why I asked you if he slept,” he said, looking over at me.
“He did,” I confirmed. “Not long, a few hours, but he did.”
“Well, he needs a shitload more,” Diesel grunted, finishing the bottle. “You got more?”
I looked at him in exasperation. “I didn’t even know we hadthat,” I scolded him. “I’m going to check on him.”
I left them talking quietly, speculating how Wolfe would feel when he woke up.
I opened the bedroom door, and then with no hesitation, I kicked off my boots, took off my jacket, and climbed into bed beside him, curling up onto my side, my head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. I closed my eyes and let the morning’s events spin around my head.
Galvin. Traitors within the pack. Wolfe practically imploding under the weight of his own power.
Where did I even begin to fix it? I lay there as I struggled with everything, taking silent comfort in the fact that he was beside me.
Wolfe hadn’t moved in nearly an hour.
He lay stretched out on the bed, chest rising and falling slowly, eyes closed but not quite asleep. The lines around his mouth were softer now, but the tightness in his jaw remained. Whatever battle he’d fought inside himself, he hadn’t won it yet.
I’d moved off the bed when the druid had opened the door and frowned at me lying next to him. I got up when they closed the door, and had moved to a chair and sat beside him, legs curled beneath me, a folded blanket draped over his hips. Not because he needed the warmth—but because I needed to do something.
Something gentle.
