“Because I want to lie in this bed and eat pizza with you again. I want to spend every minute with you as if it’s all that matters. As if this war never happened.”
“But it did happen—” Devan cleared his throat and tried again. “It did happen, and it shaped us, Z. Like everything does.”
“I like it when you call me Z. It reminds me that we’re brothers too.”
“Thatwouldn’t happen if we were human.”
Zio laughed. “Yeah, maybe not.”
Devan started to smile too, but something unsaid gnawed at his gut. “There’s something... someone. I can’t remember. But I need to know they’re okay.”
“I think you mean Mari.”
“Who?”
“Do you remember the wolf we took prisoner? The girl? I wanted to kill her, but you wouldn’t let me.”
“You didn’t really want to kill her.”
“I did.”
“You didn’t.”
“Whatever. I didn’t kill her. I handed her to the intelligence unit, and they kept her in the cells. That’s where... that’s where I found you.”
“Who put me there?”
“I don’t know exactly. Your clan pretty much wiped out the enemy packs as soon as they got here. I’ve never seen anything like it. It makes sense, though. I’ve seen you fight, after all.”
“Stick to the story.”
“Sorry.Anyway, there weren’t many left to interrogate, that’s my point. And the ones who were captured were still...” Zio waved his hand.
Devan frowned. “Still what?”
“Still lit... as in, off their tits. That’s the other thing. At the hospital, remember?”
Devan ran out of rope. He’d lost a week, and others he cared about had lost far more, but he was too tired to take any more in. He shook his head and closed his eyes.
Zio’s touch was instant, soothing, and wonderful. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Sleep. I’ve got you. I’ll tell you the rest later.”
* * *
Time passed like a speeding bullet. Every moment Devan slept robbed him of hours and days he’d never get back. Hours and days he could’ve spent with Zio or doing something useful to help his pack.
“You really are one of them,” Dash mused.
“It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“Perhaps. With all that’s happened, it’s hard to fathom what I was thinking when I sent you here.”
Dash’s strength as an alpha went beyond his unrivalled powers. It was his ability to be so human that made him a leader. Devan stood, testing his legs, and joined him at the window. “You were thinking I could help your friend. And maybe I did, but this war still cost him his mate.”
“Perhaps it would’ve cost him a lot more and a lot sooner had you not been here. Dozens of your wolf pack survived the battle here because of you.”
Devan would have to take Dash’s word for that. Despite nearly two solid weeks in Zio’s bed, he still had little memory of the horrors that had befallen the compound. Only second-hand accounts filled in the blanks. And death. Devan’s heart ached for the brothers and sisters he’d lost, even those he’d never known. “Do you know how Gale is?”
“I visited him yesterday. His wounds are healing, thanks to the human doctor who saved him. I cannot speak for his soul.”