After a beat, Gale stepped back, removing himself from Zio’s personal space and obeying his alpha. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
Varian nodded and turned his gaze to Zio, waiting.
With a heavy sigh, Zio fell into the closest chair, facing off Varian to the front and Gale to the right, as agitation rolled through him. Chances were, unless the healer’s lingering scent had given him a boner, they probably thought he was reacting to Emma being replaced, but letting them think something that wasn’t entirely true unsettled his wolf. The effect the healer was still having on him was disconcerting too.It was a drunken hook-up, for gods’ sakes. And he’s probably a grizzly bear or a ginormous cat or some shit. Why can’t I forget him?
“Zio? Are you with us?”
Zio startled. Varian had moved to stand directly in front of his chair. He was staring right at him, his gaze as gentle as his tone. Zio swallowed. “I’m here.”
“Good. Listen, I’m sorry you had to find out about Devan joining us in the meeting like that. I wanted to speak with you privately, but you weren’t here, and like I said, the clan acted faster than I expected them to.”
“It’s fine. The pack needs a healer. How I feel about it is irrelevant.”
“How you feel is never irrelevant. Not to me. To your pack. You and Emma were very close for a long time. Replacing her was never going to be easy.”
“Emma can’t be replaced,” Zio snapped.
“I know. Bad word choice, but it’s been a long few days.”
Guilt overrode even the lingering disquiet in Zio’s heart. “Shit.” He leaned forward and ran a hand down his face. “I’m sorry. I should’ve been here.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. I gave you some time because you needed it. What’s happened in your absence is beyond your control.”
“But—”
“No buts. Pack is about the individual as much as the whole, or who would we truly be?”
Zio was too frazzled to answer that question. His mind raced and his heart thumped.
Varian stood over him and placed his palm on Zio’s neck, silent and still until Zio met his gaze. “Pack.”
Zio nodded. “Pack.”
Varian nodded and stepped away to sit in the chair on the other side of the desk he rarely used. “There’s something else I need to ask you about.”
Beside Zio, Gale shifted in his seat, crossing and uncrossing his legs, fingers tightening on the armrests.
Zio braced himself. “What?”
“I don’t know how long Devan’s going to be with us, but he’s going to need somewhere to stay. Your quarters are closest to the clinic, so I was hoping he could move into Emma’s old room.”
“At the bungalow?”
“Yes.”
Zio closed his eyes, picturing Emma’s room exactly how she’d left it a year ago when they’d been called back to defend—and ultimately lose—London. Her scent was everywhere, but it’d be fading by now, and the scent of another would soon erase her entirely.No.
But even as he thought it, her voice haunted his protests.“Zio, I have pages and pages of notes on every wolf that’s ever walked this land. If a healer from another world is to be of any use to this pack, they’ll need everything you make fun of me for hoarding under my bed.”
Zio opened his eyes. “It’s fine.”
“Are you sure?” Varian’s gaze pinned Zio in place. “We could always—”
“It’sfine.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.” Zio sucked in a breath and broke Varian’s stare, turning his gaze to the window. It was shut, but as the wind rustled the bushes, Zio imagined it carried Emma’s scent and then one that now had a name—Devan—chasing it away.