"How's Erin doing?" I asked.
"Well. She's living at Kat's for now and she's learning."
"That's good. I'm happy to hear that things are better," I told Gavin.
Vanessa moved out from behind me and slid off the table. She ran her fingers through her hair and walked out of the clinic back toward the main room.
"She's upset," Xany offered though I didn't need her to tell me what she picked up on from Vanessa anymore. Our link told me that she wasn't ready to hear about the Pride.
"Why?" Gavin looked between us. "Everything is good again."
"Sometimes it's not that easy to be okay with things again," I said and set my stethoscope down on the table.
"It was a right mess." Gavin shook his head.
"Yeah. I'm not sure she'll be going back anytime soon." I pushed myself up sitting on the exam table. I could sense Vanessa's closeness. She wouldn't go far but I knew she needed a minute to herself, at least for now.
"Why not?" Xany said quizzically.
"Her Alpha pretty much betrayed her, Xee. They knew that Dugan tormented her and others. And yet Jarleth didn't do much to handle it until it got out of control."
"Maybe he saw some good in Dugan at one time and thought he could change him," Xany challenged.
"Perhaps. But at what cost."
"True. But that's her family at some point she needs to forgive them," Xany said as she pinched Gavin's leg with her toes. "Right, Gavy?"
"Right. I think she will in time. She made quite a show of it in the end." He swatted Xany's foot away. "The message was pretty clear."
"What Message? How did I miss that?" Xany looked between us.
"After she killed Dugan," said Gavin, in typical cat-fashion, he didn't elaborate much. I nodded as images of Vanessa, covered in blood, lifting Dugan's head as a display to the Pride, ran through my mind.
"And?" Xany looked at Gavin awaiting the rest of his answer.
"Full sentences, Gavin." I smirked at him. "You can do it."
"Hush up." Gavin made a gesture as if to throw something at me. "At the end of the battle. Remember when the Pride all bowed to her?"
"Of course. It was like she was some queen or something. Walking around with her prize." Xany nodded.
"She was the queen, in a way. Or the most dominant. Even more so than the Leader. The entire Pride offered her their loyalty and she turned them down. That's a pretty big deal for us." Gavin leaned back on the desk as light purrs emanated from him.
"Kind of like when Caden turned down leading his father's pack. That was a pretty big deal, too, from what I understand." I looked to Xany to see if she agreed.
"Caden had a good reason to. His dad's a real prick. He was so unfair with the Breeders." Xany frowned at the thought.
"Unfair how?" Gavin asked. "I think Vanessa had reasons of her own."
"Having a feral as a Leader might pose problems of its own." I wondered how Vanessa would take it if she heard this conversation. Our mate bond thrummed steadily in the center of my chest.
"His father felt as though Breeders were nothing more than baby-making machines. He even punished a couple of the same sex 'cause they couldn't produce kids." Xany glanced up at Gavin. "They should have protected Vanessa instead of turning the other cheek." Xany nodded.
"That's what I thought, too. And Kat, and the others who supported her. Which was pretty much everyone who knelt before her. Jarleth wouldn't listen. I never understood his soft spot for Dugan. He made everyone miserable and afraid. And you heard his ideologies. He was mad." Gavin's cheeks reddened with leftover resentment.
"Mad, but not tainted." I nodded my agreement to both of them.
"It's okay now, Gavy." Xany patted his arm. "Ness has a family now and we all would die to protect her."
I smiled hearing Xany's declaration. It warmed my insides and a surge of affection for her raced through me. Vanessa was family, pack family. And mine. Which reminded me…
"You're both from big packs. Have you ever met anyone who was Two-Spirit?" I looked between them as Mal's concern for what he experienced as of late forced its way to the front of my mind.
"Ugh. Don't remind me." Xany groaned. "Double spirited? nope. The closest I've ever come to spirits is the weird lady who Mal took me too when I was attacked."
"Uh… what's a Two-Spirit?" Gavin looked between us.
"It's where one person carries two mates. One mate isn't enough to fill them so they need another." Xany glanced at me as if asking if she was right.
"Pretty much, without getting too 'Anadaya' about it. Two-Spirit people are said to have a male and female part of their spirits. So we can hold two mate bonds." I shrugged a bit, trying not to be too concerned about it.
"Oh. No, never heard of anything like that. I reckon cats are pretty everything-spirit." He chuckled.
"Better watch it Nee. I'll tell Meanie that you're calling her names again." Xany snickered.
"She'll have at me for it anyway, I'm sure." I smiled at the thought. Mom and I had plans to go on a hike tomorrow evening when a heavy snowfall was set to arrive.
"You bet. Why don't you just ask your mom about it?" Xany lifted a brow at me.
"I will. I better go check on my mate."
"She's fine, NeeNee. I'm sure you know that. Besides we haven't had any time to scheme about things." Xany grinned and wagged her brows at me.
Xany had a point and it made me laugh. "She's fine. I just feel bad talking about things having to do with her life when she's not present."
"Or unless we're planning to kip off her enemy." Gavin perked up.
"She's got another enemy?" Xany eyes brightened.
"No." Gavin laughed. "But that was our last scheme."
"What's to scheme about now?" I laughed at the two troublemakers.
"It was fun, too. Did you see how I decked him with that skillet?" Xany jumped up and gestured as if swinging a baseball bat at Gavin. "Wham! And down he went." Xany giggled like a kid with a bowl full of candy.
"And what about Miss Thing over there carrying around that silver dagger?" Gavin's jovialness matched Xany's intensity. "Where'd you get that?"
"No idea." I laughed at the two of them. "It shows up when it wants."
"Sweet little thing, too. It has the same mark as Nee does."
"You mean her glyph?"
"Have you seen it? Show him, Nee." Xany stood up and tried to lift my sleeve.
"I've seen it." Gavin continued to laugh at us. "I walked in on her in the shower once when I was a kid. And then once on her and Vinnie."
"Walked in on us doing what, exactly?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"That's 'cause she takes such long damn showers," Xany mused.
"Endless showers." Gavin snickered. "Oh you know, naked girly things."
"You're such a liar, Gavin." I laughed, shaking my head. "We didn't do anything like that back then."
"I beg to differ, lass," he continued his teasing.
"Are you sure, NeeNee? I mean you have forgotten a lot of stuff from back then." Xany arched a playful brow at me.
"I… um." I shook my head. "Vanessa would have told me if we had sex before we well… had sex. Don't you think?"
"No, I don't reckon she would." Gavin shook his head.
I looked between them, my mouth half hanging open. Xany giggled. "Look Gavy, you tongue tied her."
"Hush up, you." I pointed at Xany threateningly. What I was threatening, I had no clue. "I'm going to ask her."
"Like she's going to tell you. Like she told you about all that other stuff?" Xany arched a brow at me again.
"She'll tell me if I ask…"
"I bet she won't," Gavin chimed in again.
"I'm with Gavin on this one."
"What do I win when she gives in and tells me?" I glanced between them.
"Gavy here will cook you two an authentic Irish meal." Xany nodded.
"Boiled potatoes. Mmmm." He snickered.
"Stop that. Kat always makes good food,
not just that. I'm in," I said, lifting a brow at the two of them.
"And what do we get when she doesn't tell you?" Gavin looked at Xany, rubbing his hands together as if saying, we better make this good.
"You have to spend a full twelve hours with us without your mates around." Xany looked at Gavin and shrugged.
"Doing what?" I looked between them. "Planning our next takeover?"
"Hmm, yes, this could work. Any bad guys that need two fine Breeders and a submissive?" Gavin tapped his lip in a gesture that clearly mimicked Xany's.
"I don't know. We dusted the last bad guy a couple months ago. And that was a girl," said Xany.
"A girl?" Gavin glanced between us. "Dugan was a guy."
"Before him." I startled suddenly remembering my encounter with Ileana. "Did Caden tell you what I told him about the leech that came into the E.R.?"
"Seriously, I swear that man keeps too much from me. You think she came looking for Izzy?" Xany asked now that I had her full attention.
"Wait, wait. There are vampires around here?" Gavin's big blue eyes nearly bugged out of his head.
"It's a recent problem," I answered him first. "I don't know what she wanted. She read my name off my ID badge and tried to be intimidating saying I owed her something. She disappeared as soon as I summoned the pack. She probably sensed Vanessa and my mom outside."
"Who does she think she is coming here and making demands?" Xany tilted her head. "And why didn't you tell me?"
"It's what leeches do. They try to manipulate." I shrugged. "If there's one place vamps show up it's in emergency rooms. In Wyoming, we had a handful a week. Sometimes they'll feed off someone and while staff is busy, they'll steal the blood bags. It's pretty awful."
"Why do you know this stuff?" Gavin gawked at me, then looked at Xany. "Why does she know this?"
"Cause she's a doctor, duh." Xany giggled.
"Well I know that, I mean about all the dark ones." Gavin continued to stare at me.
"It's part of the territory, Gavin. Doctors are sometimes the frontlines for supernatural stuff. Hospitals were the first places infected by the Andrus after they took some corporations." It didn't seem out of the norm for me, but I guess, in the larger scheme of things, I knew more than I should. I had my reasons after all.
"Again, you know way too much." He shook his head. "The Andrus isn't as strong in Ireland."
"There's not as many werespecies there. And the packs and prides are really large which makes them difficult to infiltrate," I said, fighting the urge to bite my tongue. I realized I was only making matters worse by continuing to blather on.
"Well, bloody hell."
"I know, she's great isn't she." Xany grinned at me, sending a heated rush to my cheeks. I cleared my throat and drew my eyes away.
"Let's go see what Vanessa says, hmm?" I said.
Xany grabbed Gavin by the arm, tugging him to stand. "After you." She giggled as she hooked an arm on Gavin's.
I shook my head and led them into the main room where Vanessa sat on the sofa. A fire burned in the hearth but there was no way that she'd started it. Mal was still on his run so it could only be one other. Xany plopped down in Caden's chair.
"Mom's home," I said, and took a seat beside Vanessa. She turned and draped her legs over my lap. I raked my nails along her jeans, making a scratchy noise on purpose. A smile warmed her expression and she swatted my hand. "What are you doing in here, baby?"
"Just waiting."
"Shawnee's got something to ask you, Vinnie." Gavin dropped down on the carpet, pulling Xany down beside him.
"Go ahead, NeeNee. Ask her." Xany waved her hand at me encouragingly.
"What are they up to?" Vanessa asked.
"What are you all up to?" My mother's voice rang out from the kitchen where she appeared from the window. I opened my mouth to speak then heard Mom and decided against it.
"Er…"
"Shenanigans, Ana. And lots of 'em." Gavin lifted his chin to her in greeting. To my surprise, she returned it with a smile.
"It is never any doubt," Mom said.
"We're waiting to see if Nessa will tell Nee if they had sex before they hooked up." Xany giggled mischievously.
"Xany!"
"My ears are too old for this, yes?" She lifted a brow at me, amber eyes meeting their mirror and I all about choked. How was I supposed to answer that?
"You're never too old to have sex. Just wait. Some hot old guy is gonna show up for you." Xany nodded enthusiastically.
"Xany!" I shouted for a second time. Vanessa laughed heartily, more at my embarrassment than anything else.
"What? It's true."
"My days of 'old hot guys' are over, Loud One." Mom chuckled, and set a pot on the stove to simmer.
"You say that now but just you wait and see."
"Hope still has you. This is what I like to see." She blew us a kiss. "There is elk to fetch." And she disappeared.
"Ask her already, Nee, geesh. We got things to scheme."
"You scared off my mom successfully." I laughed softly, though couldn't help but wonder what she meant by hope "still has you." Had she lost hope? That didn't seem like her after all she's been through.
"Are you asking me sex questions?" Vanessa pulled me from my thoughts.
"Gavin said he walked in on you and me doing 'naked girly things' when we visited Ireland in college. Is that true?" I patted her leg.
"No." She turned her attention to Gavin and hissed. "You never walked in on anything. I could smell your snooping sticky-fingered boy face a mile away."
"That's not answering the question at all, Vinnie. Foul!" Gavin hissed right back.
"Nope. The question was, did you and Nee do sexy time before you got all mated up?" Xany continued to press.
"Yes." Vanessa grinned. Even I picked up on the foul that time.
"Xany! You're not asking her properly." Gavin's juvenile frustration shone through in that moment. I couldn't help laughing because he was right.
"Would you people stop yelling at me!" Xany huffed out her own frustration. "Vanessa, did you and Shawnee have sex any time before you came to Utah? Better? Geesh."
"Only Gavin is yelling because he's five." Vanessa hissed then looked at me. "Is that what you want to know?"
"Shut it, Vinnie, and answer. C'mon, I got something riding on this." He looked around and then to Xany. "What was the bet again?"
"Twelve hours alone with two females." Xany giggled.
"Yeah. I said that we didn't but Gavin said we did. Did we?" I turned my attention fully to my mate. Was I setting us up for some conflict with this?
"At my parents or at school?"
"Not counting us messing around while drunk and disorderly in the presence of other people buying us alcohol if we did stuff or whatever. I remember some of that," I admitted, waving her off. "And not counting when I was in the room while you had visitors."
"Why?" She looked between us, her expression rather still save for a slight wrinkle in her brow. That answered the question for me, but I waited to see if Gavin or Xany noticed it.
"Because I've said so already. I walked in on you two." Gavin flopped onto the carpet dramatically.
I waited for what seemed like ages. Vanessa remained untelling, her eyes fixed on Gavin. Our bond told me she was a little angry with him. She glanced at Xany awaiting her response.
"See I told you she wouldn't tell you, Nee. So we win."
"Did we?" I asked Vanessa, this time more for our sake than theirs. She watched me, her eyes searching my expression first.
"Yes," was all she offered. It didn't surprise me really, though I wished I remembered.
"When?"
"The time you let me take away your scars," her voice sounded far away as if she was lost in our memory, but our mate bond trembled inside me, like it remembered something that I didn't.
"Did Gavin walk in?"
"No, he's a snaky liar." She curled her lip and glared at him before returning her gaze to m
e. "It was only once. Just once."
"Hey." Gavin leaned up on his elbows. "Am not."
I took a deep breath and rubbed my hands over her legs. Something felt heavy in that moment. Not the bad kind of heavy but the affirming kind. I smiled at her and her cheeks tinged the faintest pink.
"You'll have to tell me about it some time." I leaned over and kissed her. She held me in it longer than I expected, and ran her thumb over my cheek where one of my worst scars used to be. She nodded her response and smiled.
"We still win 'cause she didn't answer when you first asked. We get you for twelve hours." Xany high-fived Gavin.
"Twelve hours for what?" Vanessa frowned at them as the terms of the bet came to light. Xany smirked.
"Anything we want."
"Like what?" Vanessa pressed.
"I'm sure I can think of something." Xany wagged her brows taunting Vanessa.
"No." A snarl met her words and her eyes trained on Xany.
"Stop that." I swatted her knee. "She's baiting you again, Vanessa."
"Girl fight." Gavin sat up with his elbows on his knees and chin on his hand as if ready for a great show.
"You're just as bad, you Irish-Brit-brat." I threw a pillow at him and he let it hit him in the face, his posture unwavering.
Just as Xany was about to retaliate, Mal stumbled through the front door covered in things I would normally see on an operating table. Blood, bits of tissue, and a thick bone in his hand that I was sure he'd use to carve another knife. Still closed off from me and without a word, he made his way past us and down the hallway.
Vanessa looked at me and I slouched a bit on the sofa. Maybe I should be more concerned about this secondary connection he was experiencing. He had never ignored me before, blood or no blood. I couldn't help but wonder if his squeezing down our bond was damaging it in some way.
"Why is he so upset?" Vanessa asked me.
"We'll talk to him about it together." My answer wasn't a very helpful one. I looked at Xany to see if she would comment. After all, he was her brother and she was an empath.
"Did you guys have a fight or something?" Xany shook her head. "No cause you two aren't upset. The vamp maybe?"
"Dude is stoked," Gavin commented, picking up the pillow I hauled at him and putting it behind his head. He sprawled out by the fire like he owned the place. I never quite understood the ease at which weretigers adjusted.
Bound (Legacy Series Book 4) Page 3
