~ Chapter Twenty-Two ~

The comfort of at least two cushions sat under me, supporting my body, holding me up underneath a warm, soft covering. I could feel cotton against my skin and could smell a tempting, musky scent that reminded me of a time when I wasn't free, when I was forced to hold a thermometer, instead of being able to choose to do that. But my comfort reminded me of something else; a short time, one with uncertainty and annoyance, and tainted in my memory despite what it should have been like. It was a time when I could cuddle with an alpha and not feel like I was betraying someone for doing so. That was a time I thought I could leave in the past, but as my brain woke up and I remembered the day I'd had, I realised I'd have to revisit the cuddling days - or at least what surrounded them.

Despite all of my senses becoming alert, I could not hear anything besides the wind outside whistling against the windows. The wind... *outside* whistling against *windows*. I was inside? My eyes fluttered open to figure out the puzzle that had begun to wind itself around my brain, and I moved my arms and legs. I found that I was restricted by a thin layer of fabric that was keeping me warm, and that I was lying on top of a couch in a vaguely familiar living room I had tried not to spend too much time in. It was not as dark as I expected, but the light outside was dwindling suggesting that it was evening time, rather than afternoon. I reached up to touch my head, surprised that I still felt awful, despite what was evidently a long nap.

I sat upright, clutching the warm blanket around my clothed body as I examined the room around me. I was wearing a t-shirt too large for me and a pair of almost pefectly-fitting leggings, despite the slightly shorter leg length, and my hair was neatly tied into a bun at the top of my head, out of the way. I felt something restricting my side now, so I lifted up the shirt to see bandages wrapped around my waist. But I didn't feel any pain at all, only the pull of the fabric. I tugged off the bandages, discovering with delight that I hadn't scarred where Hanson had slashed me. The relief washed through me so fast that I didn't get a chance to realise who else would feel my emotions before a door opened and closed carefully down the hall.

A tall, feminine figure appeared almost as a silohouette in the hallway, taking me completely off guard. I had expected somebody muscular, with deep brown eyes and light hair. Although this woman *did* have light hair, it was blonde, nothing like the natural shade of Dimitri's, and her eyes were blue. She was, in fact, the woman who had taken me in, who had looked after me when I had nowhere else to go. She'd allowed me to discover where I could be happy if I were in a pack, which - though once it had seemed like it would never happen - was becoming a suddenly much more promising concept.

Gina sat down on the couch beside me after shutting the door, a soft look on her face that I might have misread as pity once before. Now that I knew her, I knew she was just unsure of how to go about this; this was her awkward face. "We have a lot to talk about."

I self-consciously hugged my blanket more around me. "I know we do."

"Are you... well enough to talk about something so serious? I cannot say you look pale, per se, but you do not look entirely here with me."

"I'm well," I assured her, scratching the side of my head. "It was my fault that I fainted; I was so busy last night looking for a place for the kids, I didn't get a chance to eat, and then this morning, you call us all to come here... I should have grabbed something on the way. I knew what would happen if I shifted."

Gina's jaw clicked into place. "Well, I did warn you to stay back," she reminded me through gritted teeth. But she wasn't mad.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't have reacted. To be honest, it wasn't me, it was my wolf who made me shift. She saw Dimitri in danger and she just acted."

"I understand as well as I can, Erika, it is fine." She reached out to rub my shoulder, but her touch felt all wrong. It wasn't who I wanted to feel, and with this realisation, I came to feel anxious at the thought of seeing Dimitri now, after I had run away from him and been the main cause of our rejection. If I had just dealt with his slightly oppressive attitude, then perhaps we wouldn't have lost these past two weeks.

Gina caught onto my train of thought immediately and sighed. "I suppose we should discuss what you would like to do, now that we know you can't stay away from here for long."

I frowned. "I have to give up the village, don't I?"

"Physically, yes." She sounded grave. "There's no way mates would be able to handle being so far from each other for lengths of time. Even if I allowed you to come back - which I refuse to do, Erika - you would soon realise this on your own and you would leave us anyway. I am saving us both the trouble."

"You aren't letting me come back," I muttered, "so I have to stay here?"

"Your mate is here and he has his own pack, Erika. There isn't much discussion around it."

I pulled my legs up onto the couch, crossing them beneath me. "But I love what I do for you and the village. It makes me feel important. I don't want to have to deal with the same shit I ran away from two weeks ago."

Her eyes flicked around my face, and then she turned diplomatically toward the TV hung up on the wall. "Perhaps you should have spoken to Dimitri first."

"Why?" I asked, turning in the same direction.

"He spoke to me personally while you were out. He's completely willing to... well, maybe not to *change*, but to become more tolerant. You should have seen the look on his face, Erika, it was-" She stopped very suddenly, and I turned to her, alert. Her eyes were on her lap. "I think it is better if he tells you how he feels himself; *that* is not my place."

"You place is kicking me out," I joked, but it hurt to think about. "Is it a good idea for me to stay?"

Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"If I stay, am I only going to get angry again, or do you think it would be a good idea for me to give Dimitri a second chance? I want your opinion, Gina, I trust you more than almost anyone else."

She hesitated, then twisted her body to face me. It felt like I was sitting with Nola from Roger's pack during the night, when we would quietly discuss everything we liked and disliked about our lives. We had been friends for a long time, so there was always something we could come up with, even if neither of us wanted to vent. I'd missed her quite a lot lately, but since there was no way for me to know where she was now or what she was doing, I supposed I would never know if she missed me, too.

"Erika, I can tell you now that you will regret it if you don't stay here. I know it is complicated and it's going to take a lot of compromise from the both of you to make this work, but I know it will be amazing once you find the right balance." Gina patted my knee over the blanket. "Stay here, it's what the Goddess wants."

"Is that your new nickname?" I asked, distracted by my own thoughts.

She smiled and shook her head. "I'm serious."

"I know," I sighed. "It's just going to be so hard to trust him this time. But I don't have much choice other than to stay, do I?"

"No, not really."

I nodded. "Okay then, but I want to come back to the village first. Just for a day or two. I'm sure Dimitri and I can handle it, we've hardly gotten close, especially since we've most recently seen each other. I'll drive myself back here so I won't be bothering anyone, but I want to return to the village so I can say goodbye to everyone there."

Gina was hesitant, but she nodded, and I smiled at the thought of seeing Heidi and her friends again, just for one last time. "There's one thing I need to say before I let this girl, Xanthe, come to look after you."

I startled at the mention of one of the Keggs sisters.

"The journey home is long and I speak for everyone when I say we don't have the energy for this today, so Alpha Stone has set us up in the guest house in the woods. Now, there is enough room for everybody, including you; I want you to speak with your mate tonight, and if you want to come and stay in the guest house, you're welcome to, or you can stay here." She paused. "If I were you, I'd stay here." A wink didn't look right on Gina's face, however, I felt a little bit better about the burden that was suddenly thrown onto my shoulders when I saw how strange she looked.

I nodded in agreement, shedding the blanket around my shoulders and getting up from the couch. Gina was already up, walking toward the living room door.

"Anyone you need to see is in the kitchen," she explained. "I may see you later tonight."

"Yeah, maybe," I agreed half-heartedly. My focus was on the masculine scent drifting through the kitchen door, enticing me to enter, stirring the wolf in my head.

Gina had noticed my preoccupation already. "Have a nice night, Erika, we'll wait for you tomorrow lunchtime."

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