Zio blinked, and his claws retracted. “Nothing. Sorry. Half asleep.”
“Right.”
Bomber looked far from convinced but let it go. Danielo stepped around him and pressed his forehead to Zio’s.
“What’s up, brother? We’ve missed you.”
“I missed you too. Sorry I was gone so long.”
“It’s been a week. We’ve coped. What about you? Where’ve you been?”
Zio shrugged. “Around. I ran for a bit. Spent some time in the city.”
“Manchester?” Danielo’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you find someone?”
“No.”
“Ah. So that’s why you’re in a shit mood.”
“I’m not in a shit mood.”
“Liar.”
It was true—Ziowasa liar. Of all his brothers, Danielo knew better than anyone that the only reason he ever ventured into the human cities was to get laid. And that he was a grumpy bastard when it hadn’t happened for a while. It wasn’t unheard of for Zio to fall into Danielo’s bed from time to time, and with Emma gone, he was Zio’s closest pack brother. If Zio was to tell anyone about the unknown shifter in the club, it would be him, but—
I can’t tell him. I can’t tell anyone.
“Why are we here?” Zio changed the subject, all the while absorbing Danielo’s closeness as though he could be a balm to his aching soul. “Varian hasn’t called a township meeting in months.”
Danielo’s frown deepened. “You’ve missed a lot, but I don’t want you to hear it like this.”
Varian appeared from nowhere and called for silence. Danielo clamped his mouth shut, but worry seeped from him and into Zio, adding to the turmoil he’d brought home with him.
Zio glanced around. The hall was packed with wolves and humans, all residents of the pack township. Zio sought out his unit. Danielo and Michael were already close by. Bomber had wandered off. Sensing Zio’s unspoken call to him, he came back and flanked Zio, their shoulders touching.
The familiar scent of Zio’s unit soothed him, but tension was pouring from his brothers in ominous waves, and as Varian took a breath to speak, dread bloomed in Zio’s gut.
This is going to hurt.
“Thank you all for coming,” Varian said. “I was hoping to speak to some of you privately before this meeting, but time has escaped us.”
His gaze darted to Zio before it settled on the crowd again. “As you all know, our resident healer and doctor of human medicine was killed in action a month ago. While we have managed to recruit a GP from outside the township to join us, Emma was the last wolf healer in northern Europe. Filling her position has proved... difficult.”
Zio took a slow, shuddering breath. He’d known this was coming. All shifter packs needed a healer to survive, especially in times of war. Being without one for as long as they had been was already a huge risk. If the southern packs had pressed their advantage instead of holding their newly won positions in London and the southeast... gods.
Varian was still speaking. Zio shook himself and tried to focus.
“The alliance has acted faster than we could’ve hoped for. Shadow Clan has sent a healer from their own ranks to join us, and he will remain with us at least until the war is over.”
An uneasy murmur spread through the crowd, more pronounced in the wolves. Zio found Danielo’s arm and gripped it hard. “Is he serious? He’s recruited a healer from a non-wolf pack?”
“From that weirdo hippie commune Shadow Clan has in Slovakia,” Danielo said. “Sorry, Z. I wanted to warn you before Varian told the whole world. We all did, but we couldn’t reach you.”
Zio’s phone was in a canal somewhere near Leeds. After two solid days of replaying the last voicemail Emma had left him, he’d hurled it into the cut. When he’d finally begun to crawl his way home, he’d sensed Varian reaching out to him, his unit brothers too, and Gale, but he’d ignored them all, too caught up in—
Oh fuck.
Realisation hit Zio in slow, taunting waves. He dug his claws into Danielo’s arm. “When’s he coming? Is he here already?”