Tierney sucked in a breath and then let it out. “Okay, Sami, but you know Jax and I are here for you, right?”
“I know,” he said and continued to the top of the stairs.
“We love you, Sami,” she whispered, tears in her eyes. Although she could no longer feel her friend’s pain, she knew it was still there and that foreboding feeling didn’t want to let her go.
She climbed back into bed and was happy to see Jax was still asleep. As much as she wished to talk to him, she knew how rare it was for him to sleep. She saw Thaniel staring up at her, his pale-blue eyes luminous in the dark.
“Is Sami all right?” he asked quietly and she could feel his worry.
Letting out a little sigh, she shrugged. “I don’t think so, but he won’t talk to me.”
Tierney didn’t think she’d sleep, but as soon as she closed her eyes, she drifted off into a deep sleep.
***
THANIEL WATCHED TIERNEY’S EYES close and realized how lucky he was to have her as a friend. She really did care about everyone, and though he could see the burden it was on her—to be able to feel everyone’s pain—she never complained, no matter how badly it seemed to hurt her.
His eyes had just slid closed and he felt himself drifting off when the motion of Tierney and Jax sitting up startled him awake.
“Something’s wrong!” Jax exclaimed.
“What the hell?” Tierney asked, looking around confused.
“I hear it, too,” Jax said, but Thaniel had no idea what they heard or were talking about.
“I … oh, shit. It’s Sami,” Tierney said and threw off the covers.
“He’s home?” Jax asked as they scrambled from the bed. Without thinking, Thaniel hurried after them, worried about Sami.
“Yeah, but he wasn’t doing too well,” Tierney replied as she pushed Sami’s door open and they all entered his room.
Unlike Tierney’s room, which had a steady fire going in the fireplace, keeping the room toasty, Sami’s room was cold and dark except for the lights blinking on all of his computers. Thaniel shivered and noticed that the bed was empty, then he stiffened at the scent of blood at the same time they all noticed a dark stain on the bedcover. Sami’s weapons lay scattered on the floor, and he wasn’t sitting in front of his wall of computers.
“Sami?” Tierney called out. “This isn’t like him.”
They heard the sound of running water at the same time that Jax nodded his agreement.
“Think he’s just having a shower?” Jax asked, but Tierney shook her head and pushed the bathroom door open.
“Sami!” Tierney rushed over to the shower stall and knelt in a pool of cold water. Jax was right behind her and Thaniel, trembling in trepidation, followed them in and saw Sami slumped against the tile wall under the cold spray, unconscious. Blood pooled around him before washing down the drain.
“What the hell, Sami!” Jax shouted and after turning the taps off, he crouched beside his brother. “No. No, no, Sami.” Jax muttered and Thaniel spotted the needles in Sami’s arms. Though he still didn’t know what kind of supernatural beings they were, he had seen how fast they heal when Tierney cut herself and used her blood to heal Jax. Now he realized that Sami had used the needles to keep the blood flowing out of him.
He swallowed at the sudden realization that his friend had just tried to kill himself. As Tierney carefully removed the needles, he turned and grabbed a bunch of towels.
“Is he still breathing?” Jax asked and choked.
Thaniel had to bite his lip to keep himself from crying. Heart pounding, he watched Tierney feel for a pulse. Please, let Sami be alive, please. He couldn’t lose another friend. And, that was what Sami was, a friend. They were all his friends.
“He is, but barely,” Tierney whispered, and Thaniel could see she blamed herself for having left Sami alone earlier. “He’s lost a lot of blood.” She choked back her own sob as she looked up at Jax.
“Why? Why would he do this?” Jax asked, tears running freely down his face.
“I don’t know, babe. He wouldn’t talk to me,” she whispered.
Thaniel crouched down in front of them and without meeting her eyes, held out a bunch of towels. “We should get him dried off and into his bed,” he said softly, wishing he could take away all their pain.
Tierney swallowed and nodded gratefully at him as she took one of the towels. “We need to get his wet clothes off.”
“Right,” Jax agreed, and Thaniel helped him pull Sami’s wet shirt over his head. Then Tierney wrapped a towel around Sami. “Let’s get him over to his bed. It will be easier to get his jeans off there,” Jax said.
Thaniel put an arm around Sami and together, he and Jax carried him to his bed.
“Sami?” Jax called and Thaniel heard his desperation to hear his brother’s voice. “Sami? Come on, wake up, please,” Jax said as they both peeled Sami’s wet jeans off while Tierney pulled back the blankets on the bed. She removed the cover that was stained with blood and dropped it on the floor.
After he and Jax tucked Sami into bed, Thaniel gathered up all of Sami’s weapons. With no idea where Sami usually kept them, he set them carefully on the coffee table. Then he gathered up Sami’s wet clothes and hung them near the fireplace, which he quickly started so that they’d have more heat than the house heat.
He could hear Tierney and Jax talking as he worked, and after setting the blood-stained bed cover near the door for the laundry, he pulled a chair up alongside the bed and sat down.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dark Times
THANIEL let out a breath of relief when Sami woke up. Then he lowered his head as Jax pulled his brother into a hug. What would it be like to be loved like that?
He thought about his friends as they all kept an eye on Sami over the next few days. When he wasn’t taking his turn at Sami-watch while Tierney and Jax checked on Zander, Thaniel spent his time in the kitchen. He’d found a few cook books and between them and the cooking shows, he tried to make sure everyone was fed.
“You know, you don’t need to cook for us,” Tierney said shrewdly, after he’d cooked a bunch of meals he knew weren’t that great.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, worried he’d offended her, or maybe they really didn’t like the food he’d cooked.
Tierney shook her head. “No, Thaniel, we like your cooking. You seem to have a gift for it.”
Thaniel wanted to snort. He knew it wasn’t that good, no matter what they said. Not understanding the look of compassion in her eyes, he self-consciously lowered his gaze.
“We do like your cooking,” she repeated, staring at him. It felt like she was able to see right inside of him, or maybe it was something else. When he’d discovered that she could read minds, it had freaked him out until she reassured him she couldn’t read his.
“Your his shields are too tight. You must’ve subconsciously strengthened them after I got into your mind when you shifted at the Wolves den,” she said, though he knew she could pick up on feelings as well, something he really wasn’t very comfortable with either.
“No, Thaniel. You don’t have to stop if you don’t want to. I just don’t want you to think that you have to cook, or do anything, to have a place here,” she said.
Thaniel didn’t say a word because she was right. It did give him a purpose, something useful to do, and besides, when he was cooking, it brought back those same feelings, the good ones.
Tierney smiled, making him want to melt into her arms and hold on tight. He was well aware she wanted to hug him—she’d started to many times, but each time he pulled away from her. He feared being pushed away like his mother used to do, though he was even more scared that she wouldn’t and he’d like being held by her way too much. No, he needed to stay strong or he might crack because Tierney was Jax’s mate. He knew his friends wouldn’t harm him, but he didn’t want to piss anyone off, or ruin his newfound friendships.
“All right, but I like to cook,” he said, lowering his eyes so
she didn’t see what he was thinking. Tierney smiled and patted his shoulder, making his pulse race and his throat go dry. Stop! Why do I feel this way about her? It isn’t right.
***
“Hello Thaniel,” Kyrian said as he walked into the kitchen with a woman Thaniel recognized as the pack’s healer.
“Hi.” Thaniel said, knowing they were there to see Tierney’s dad.
A few minutes later, Tierney came into the kitchen with red, puffy eyes. Thaniel stopped what he was doing. “Are you all right?”
Tierney shook her head. “No, not really. They brought Dad out of his coma.”
Thaniel frowned. He would have thought that was a good thing.
“He’s in so much pain. He’s not healing like he should be,” she said and a tear began to trickle down her face. Not sure what he intended, but hating to see her upset, he moved out from behind the counter. Then Jax entered the room and he was relieved he hadn’t had to comfort her. He wanted to too badly.
The next day Sami left for Canada to rescue a woman who was in trouble. Unexpected anger welled up and Thaniel felt like shouting at Tierney and Jax. How could they let Sami go after coming so close to losing him?
He tried to keep his mouth shut, but finally turned to Jax. “Aren’t you scared to let Sami go? Scared that he’ll—” He didn’t want to say try again.
Jax turned his brilliant-blue eyes on him, and nodded. “Yeah, I’m terrified.”
“So why did you let him go?” he asked.
Jax shook his head but Thaniel caught the flash of guilt in his eyes. “He was so fucking determined. Wanted to do something useful, take his mind off the bitch that hurt him, and with Zander down and our enemies—” Jax pursed his lips, but Thaniel understood and his own guilt filled him.
He was the one who had brought the threat of the Were-wolves upon them.
“Hey, no, Thaniel—” Jax said, clamping a hand on his shoulder right as Tierney walked into the kitchen.
“Thaniel, none of this is your fault,” she said as she drew close.
Quickly he moved away and went to check on the casserole in the oven.
“It isn’t,” Jax added.
He didn’t look at them. It was his fault, and he didn’t need them making him feel better. The Were-wolves wouldn’t be coming here if it weren’t for the fact that they were searching for him.
***
Two days later, Thaniel was flipping through the channels on the TV––he’d bypassed a couple cooking shows––when Mark walked in.
“Thaniel?” the guy called him twice before he responded.
Thaniel raised his eyes to the Were-wolf. “I’m sorry, what?”
Mark grinned. “No worries, man. You want to come work out with me?”
Other than for meals, the only time Mark came into the house was to go work out or swim.
Thaniel nodded. Mark had first asked Thaniel to join him a couple days ago, and he’d found he actually enjoyed working out. It was something he’d never done before. Though he didn’t dare venture into the pool––that was also something he’d never done, or learned.
“Meet you down there?” Mark asked.
“I’ll be right there.” Getting to his feet, Thaniel shut the TV off and followed Mark down the hallway, stopping at his room to change while Mark continued down to the weight room.
Thaniel lifted some weights then moved to the treadmill and finally to the punching bad.
“Thaniel, you all right?”
Thaniel glanced at the guy, then at the shredded weight bag leaking sand on the floor. Shit! He hadn’t meant to wreck the equipment. “Oh no—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mark said. “I’m pretty sure both Sami and Jax have torn that thing up a time or two. But, what’s up? You obviously have something on your mind."
Thaniel continued to stare at the bag for a second, then lowered his gaze, letting more of his hair fall into his face, hiding him. “I … it’s just, Sami called Jax two days ago, when he got to Calgary, but no one’s heard from him since.”
“I get it, you’re worried.”
Thaniel kept his gaze on the sandy floor. He’d have to clean that up. “Yeah, but—” He licked his lips and finally peered at Mark. “I know you’re probably not scared of anything, but knowing your pack is coming after us, doesn’t it worry you?”
Mark nodded. “Well yeah. Of course it does, and while I might look forward to having a showdown with some of them, I also worry about everyone around here getting caught in the crossfire.”
Thaniel nodded his head. Mark got it. “I am too. I can’t go back there. I’d rather die, but I’m scared that they might hurt—”
“One of your new friends,” Mark added and Thaniel bit down on his bottom lip. “Thaniel, I know you’re worried about them, but they are strong. And really, there aren’t too many people I’d rather have at my back.” He paused for a moment and then Thaniel felt Mark’s hand clasp his shoulder. “We will not let them take you, I promise.”
Thaniel turned away. “Going to get the broom and dustpan,” he mumbled before Mark could see how his words touched him.
When he went back up to the main floor and entered the kitchen a little later, he found Tierney staring absently out the window.
“Hi. Where’s Jax?” he asked as he checked the four large casserole dishes of lasagna baking in the oven. Tierney turned to him and the look in her eyes made his heart drop. Closing the oven door, he walked over to her. “What happened, what’s wrong?”
Tierney sighed and shook her head. “It’s Sami. That prick, Marcius, showed up in Calgary and beat the crap out of him, then he took Goldy, the woman Sami went to rescue.”
“What? I thought—” He was so confused. He’d heard that Sami had killed his father.
Tierney snorted. “Yeah, we had just figured out that Marcius wasn’t dead. Shit!” Tierney ran a hand through her long, dark waves. “I guess we should have told Sami—we planned to, but with all that was going on, his emotions were so fragile, we just wanted to wait until he was home.” Tears sprang up in her eyes, but she angrily wiped them away before starting past him.
“So, where is Jax?” he asked again, fear turning his stomach.
Worry shone bright in Tierney’s purple eyes as she stared at him. “He went to help Sami get Goldy back.”
Then, without another word, she left him alone in the kitchen.
Not much was said the rest of the day, even dinner was quiet. After Mark left to go out to his cabin, and Genna took a plate of food to Caden, Tierney set a plate of food aside for her dad, and then helped Thaniel clean up.
“I can do this,” he tried to tell her, sensing how upset she was. But she just shook her head.
“No, I need something to do until Kyrian comes to wake Dad.”
That was another worry, the fact that her dad couldn’t stay awake long due to the pain he was in.
Thaniel sat in the great room, trying but failing to read, when Tierney came out of Zander’s room a few hours later with Kyrian right behind her.
“I’m sorry this is going so slowly,” the leader of the Okami said.
“Yeah, me too. Thank you for all your help,” Tierney said, face pinched and drawn as she and Kyrian walked into the kitchen. Thaniel followed behind them and waited while she said goodnight to Kyrian.
Then she turned and made her way to the dishwasher.
“I heard from Sami, they’re on their way home,” she said and Thaniel’s heart lightened as she stacked the plate and utensil’s inside and then closed the door. Then she turned to the lasagna cooling on the counter. “We should keep that warm. It will be really late, but I imagine they will be hungry when they get here.”
Thaniel nodded and slid one of the casseroles back into the oven while Tierney set it on low.
“Oh, and they have a boy with them. I guess Goldy has a brother.”
When they had all the lasagna back in the oven, Tierney blew out a breath and looked around. There was not
hing else to do. “Want to watch TV with me?”
“Sure.” He couldn’t have said what they watched, and didn’t think Tierney knew either, but at one point, she tensed up and sucked in a breath.
“What’s—” He started to ask what was wrong, but then realized she was talking to someone telepathically. When she turned to him, he could feel how upset she was.
“Jax is … I don’t know where he is—” Blinking, she got up and wandered over to the window to stare out into the night.
“What do you mean? Were you talking to Sami?” he asked, coming up behind her.
Tierney shook her head, her eyes haunted. “No, that was Jax. He’s not with Sami. He told me he’d be back in a couple days, now I can’t reach him.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
New Faces
THANIEL’S HEART ACHED AS TIERNEY swallowed back her tears. Without thinking he reached out to offer comfort, then froze. While he no longer thought she’d push him away, he didn’t know how to comfort anyone.
Tierney turned away, shaking her head. “I’m so pissed at him.” She walked over to the pool table, trailed her fingers along the felt, and finally looked back at him. “He wouldn’t tell me what was going on. Gods, I’m so scared. I can’t lose him again!”
Thaniel nodded, unsure what to say.
Tierney gave him a little grin. “You’re such a good listener. Thank you, Thaniel.”
He frowned, startled. He hadn’t done anything, yet a warm feeling filled him. He watched as she paced around the room and wished there was something he could do. If only Jax would just show up. He hated seeing Tierney so upset. But he just continued to listen as she rambled, one moment angry as all get out, the next, sad and worried.
Tierney moved back over to look out the windows again, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she could actually see beyond them into the night.
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