Karyme POV:
"If I ever touch her with anything other than duty, may Silver pierce my heart," Archie swore in the moonlight.
I covered his mouth. "Don't make vows you can't keep."
He handed me a glass of warm milk. It smelled of honey and potent valerian root.
"Drink," he urged. "It will help you rest."
He was drugging me so he wouldn't feel my pain through the bond when he went to her.
I faked a swallow, holding the liquid in my cheeks. "Good girl," he whispered, tucking me in.
Ten minutes later, he slipped out.
I spat the milk into a potted plant and crept to the door. He wasn't going to the kitchen. He was heading to the Guest Wing.
I followed.
Faustina sat on her bed, sobbing. "It hurts, Archie! My leg..."
Archie sat beside her. "Let me see."
A scratch. Nothing.
"Please," she whimpered.
My stomach dropped as Archie bent his head and licked the wound. Saliva heals, yes. But licking is intimate. It's caretaking.
"Better?" he asked.
"Much better," she purred, tangling her fingers in his hair. "Maybe... maybe I can stay? As a nanny?"
Archie sighed. "We will see. I will give you a place in the Pack."
I slid down the hallway wall. A place in the Pack.
My phone vibrated. Encrypted text.
Safe house compromised. Traces of the cub found. Moving Jalen tonight.
Jalen.
I stifled a sob. Four years ago, I hid my pregnancy. I birthed him alone in a winter cabin, biting a leather strap to stay silent. He was born early. Small. Weak wolf spirit. If Archie had seen him-a scrawny thing-he would have seen the curse and rejected him.
So I hid him.
I looked at the text. We need to move Jalen.
Archie was staying in that room. Good.
I had a son to save. And saving him meant leaving my mate.
