He looked surprised. “For what?”
“Calling me by my name.”
His eyes gleamed at that. “What? You don’t like kitten?”
I scowled at him, but he just grinned. “You know, Mack, I’m feeling a bit shaky up here. Perhaps you should come up and steady me again.”
“A few hours ago you couldn’t wait to push me out of the door.”
He shrugged. “That was before you told me that I was alright. So, I’ll ask you again, what did you mean by that?”
He was looking at me much like I imagined a cat looked at a mouse before it chomped its head off. I was tempted for a moment to tell him that it turned out I thought he was more than alright. That it took all of my willpower not to start drooling whenever I was in his presence and that his scent made me weak at the knees. And despite his illness, his flirting left me in little doubt that he’d be happy to oblige my fantasies. I thought about the pictures on the Othernet of him with other women that I’d seen and wondered if I was prepared to be nothing more than a notch on the Lord Alpha’s bedpost. Probably.
“I suppose I meant that I like you.” I took a deep breath and watched his reaction.
“You are the most infuriatingly unfathomable woman I think I’ve ever come across.”
My bloodfire stirred in nervous irritation. “What the hell do you mean by that?”
“Just that, kitten. One minute you are purring and begging to be stroked and the next you’re hissing and spitting at me. Is it that you’re just high maintenance?”
“High maintenance?” I sputtered. “How dare you!”
I stomped up the staircase to look him directly in the eye. When I reached his level I opened my mouth to show him exactly just how much spitting and hissing I could really do, but he grabbed me instead with both hands.
“Got you.” He said it lazily, in a very self-satisfied manner, but I caught a shaky inflection in his voice. I looked at him closely and realised in alarm that the whites of his eyes were turning red. Oh shit.
“Julia!” I shouted down the stairs. “Julia! It’s Corrigan, you need to come quickly!”
“You need an old woman in a wheelchair to come and rescue you from the big bad Lord Alpha?” He wobbled slightly, only just managing to steady himself.
“For fuck’s sake, Corrigan.” I extricated myself from his grip and began to lead him down the stairs. His skin was starting to feel clammy. I swallowed and tried not to panic. He leaned on me, making me realise that if he was prepared to show me that amount of weakness, then he must be feeling very bad indeed. There was still no sign of Julia so I tried a different tack.
“Staines!” There was a high pitched note to my voice that I didn’t like. I was starting to feel uncomfortably heat flaring inside, but my bloodfire wouldn’t help Corrigan this time. Fortunately, the bear appeared, transformed back into a human – and clothed, thank goodness. He took in the scene at a glance and bounded up the stairs to take hold of the other side of Corrigan. Between us we got him down the stairs and onto a nearby wooden bench that was elaborately carved with different animals.
“We need to get Julia. The blisterwort will help him,” I gasped.
Staines stared at me with mistrust in his eyes.
“Staines, please. She can help. You might not be able to trust me but you know you can trust her.”
He grunted in grudging acquiescence. “She’s on her way.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when Julia came bustling in with Betsy right behind her carrying a cup of something steaming. The smell of the brewed blisterwort immediately reminded me of Mrs Alcoon and the debt I still owed her. I watched anxiously as Staines knelt down and put the cup to Corrigan’s lips. I was running out of time to get back to the mages and work on getting her released so this had better work. Corrigan drank down the tea, unfocused eyes on me the whole time. Once he was done he closed his eyelids.
“I’m going to need to get him upstairs to his rooms,” said Staines to no-one in particular. “The last thing the rest of the Pack needs is to see him like this.” He turned to me and fixed me with a steely gaze. “You do realise that if this doesn’t work, and that it hurts him instead, I will rip you from limb to limb, Way Directives be damned.”
I barely acknowledged him, instead keeping my own eyes trained on Corrigan. I had no idea how long the blisterwort could take to act. I’d been so sure that it would work, but if it didn’t…
“I need a knife,” I said, softly.
“A knife? Do you really think that we would give you a weapon?”
I turned to Staines with baleful eyes and pointed at my arm. “Then cut me.”
“What?”
“Make me bleed, Staines.”
“You’re fucking crazy.”
“Staines…”
Will you two shut up?
We both turned and stared at Corrigan on the bench. His eyes were open and, I noted, his eyeballs were back to their normal shade of brilliant white. Julia was by his side, checking his pulse.
“Still a bit fast,” she said calmly, “but the blisterwort already seems to be doing its job. It works unbelievably fast.”
“Get it to the others, Julia,” said Corrigan, sitting up a little more.
“Yes, my Lord.” She was unable to keep the smile of relief out of her voice but as she turned to go out she shot me a look that I knew well: one that said she wanted words with me. Oops. I probably shouldn’t have been so quick to bring up the whole blood thing. Despite the fact that the plant I had brought was going save the whole Pack from the red fever, wanting to open up my veins would still look more than a little odd.
Staines turned to me. Here we go, I thought. ‘Thank you,” he said gruffly.
I almost fell over. “What was that? Can you speak up a bit? I didn’t quite catch it the first time.” I waggled a finger in my ear to emphasise my point.
“Fuck off.” His gratitude was clearly short lived. He went back to ignoring me and turned to Corrigan. “My Lord, we should get you to bed.”
“No. I need to check on the others.” He stood up and shook himself slightly. Staines moved away to give him space while I watched him warily. Pulling his shoulders back in an unmistakably feline manner, he blinked slowly and looked over at me. “I suppose I owe you a thank you.”
I waved a hand dismissively in the air and sketched a dramatic bow. “I am here but to serve you, oh Lord and Master.”
He snorted loudly, and then abruptly stumbled against me, the weight and warmth of his body suddenly heavy against my shoulder. I staggered a bit, but Staines was there immediately, hooking one of Corrigan’s arms round his hefty shoulders to take the weight. “You are going to bed to rest, my Lord Alpha.”
“Staines, I said I would check on the others and that is what I am damn well going to do,” Corrigan growled.
“And what good is it going to do them if you keel over on top of them?”
“It is my duty.”
“Shut up, my Lord.”
I was watching the two of them with my mouth slightly agape. This was a side to Lord Shifty and his minions that I had most definitely not experienced before.
Staines clucked like a mother hen and continued. “A few hours’ rest and you will be raring to go and fighting fit.”
I hadn’t taken Staines to be a cliché man up till now and I just couldn’t resist throwing in one of my own. “As right as rain.”
The pair of them turned to state at me as if they’d forgotten that I was even there. Good God, they were like an old married couple. Staines bowed stiffly to me, which was no mean feat given that Corrigan’s weight was still slung round his shoulder. “As the Lord Alpha stated, again, thank you.”
I couldn’t help myself from grinning cheekily back at him and winking. He rolled his eyes and turned to move away but Corrigan resisted. “Mack?” He spoke softly but there was a persistent question to his voice. “Will you stay?”
I held his gaze for a moment, before shaking my head regretfully. “I have to go, my Lord. I have a prior appointment that I must keep. I’m sorry.” I realised that it was true. I wanted like nothing more than to stay there, with him, with the other weres, where I felt as if I belonged, even if only slightly.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Err…what?”
“My Lord. Don’t call me my Lord. You aren’t one of us.”
I felt a stab of pain and hurt through my chest. I swallowed, trying to ignore the pricking of tears behind my eyes. “Of course.”
He sighed. “The two of us seem to live in a world of constant misunderstanding. What I mean, Mack, is that you aren’t one of my subjects. In fact, after having saved my life and quite potentially that of the entire Pack’s, you are most definitely my equal.”
Staines sucked in his breath at that but it barely registered.
Corrigan leaned forward slightly. “Whatever manner of creature or mage you might be.” He grimaced for a moment and then reached out with his free hand to clasp mine. His skin was cool to the touch, but his grip was strong and reassuring. “I don’t just owe you a thank you. We all owe you a true debt of gratitude. I would like you to keep in touch, Mack. And, know this, if you ever need help of any shape or form, then the Pack will be at your side. Do you need intervention with the mages?”
“I…” Lost for words, I swallowed and tried to regain my composure. “No. Thank you. I gave them my word that I would return to them. They won’t hurt me, they just want to help me.” Well, by making me spend five stupid years in their stupid school, I thought ungratefully. I looked regretfully up at Corrigan and reached out to brush his cheek with my hand. Then I thought better of it and let my hand drop to my side. Something in his eyes flickered a moment and then disappeared.
Staines coughed. “I can have someone drop you back at the Ministry.”