I Know That Look

*Rowan*

“How have you been?” I ask Corey as I lead him outside. It seems crazy to me that he’s actually here. He’s a few years younger than me, but I hung out with him a lot when we were children. His mother worked in the castle, and at the time, I didn’t care about rank or station.  I was just a kid who wanted to have fun. So I spent as much time running around with the servants’ kids as I did Dean and the other nobles.

“I’ve been good,” Corey says with a small smile. “Life has been a little boring, though. It’s great to be back.”

“How is your mother?” I ask him as we step out the back door. Even from here, I can hear the sound of Brody putting the warriors through their paces. It sounds like they are fighting in their human forms, which is something we often do in order to get stronger. If we are strong fighters as humans, we will be even stronger as wolves. We practice in our more feral form as well. With the fight we have ahead of us, we can’t be too prepared.

“My mom is doing well,” Corey assures me. He runs a hand through his hair. “Natalie told me what happened to the Luna Queen. I’m so very sorry to hear that, Alpha.”

I manage a small smile. Though the wound of losing my mother is still fresh, enough people have told me that they are sorry for me to have had plenty of practice at putting on a brave face. “Thank you,” I tell him with a shrug. “We miss her a lot.”

“I’m sure you do.” He looks away, clearly uncomfortable, and I will let it go.

Not that I actually miss my mom any more now than I did before she died. It’s not as if she and I were able to spend a lot of time together recently, after all. She’d been little more of a shell of herself for years.

“Princess Hezzlie seems nice,” Corey says as we step through the trees that separate the mansion from the practice field. It’s difficult to get a flat enough space up here in the mountains to be able to call anything a field, but this does the job. “Natalie told me about her,” he continues. “She’s very pretty.”

I know he’s just being polite, so I dampen down the flare of jealousy that threatens to allow my wolf to chomp his head off just for giving my mate a compliment. I know he’s being nonthreatening, but that’s how a wolf often reacts in such a situation.

The fact that he doesn’t know that makes me think he hasn’t found his mate yet. “Thank you,” I tell him. “She is wonderful.” I decide to ask, just in case. “No mate for you yet?”

He shakes his head. “No, not yet. I know Natalie was hopeful. We’ve always been such good friends, but… I never really felt that way about her. When she came to visit, we were able to confirm that we’re not mates. I feel bad for her, but I’m sure her true mate is out there somewhere, and she deserves to find him.”

I nod in agreement, hoping that I’ll be able to help Natalie and all of our pack members who have been secluded for these past five years to find their mates soon. “I hope you find yours as well,” I tell him.

He blushes a little. “I don’t know,” he says. “I’m not sure I have one. I’ve never really had romantic feelings for any girl I’ve ever met.”

My forehead furrows at his admission, but I don’t know what to say. So I change the subject. “Here we are,” I say, motioning to  the area in front of us where Brody is putting the warriors through their paces. They are in pairs, sparing, as Brody walks around, giving tips about technique and form. When he sees us coming, he steps away, encouraging the warriors to continue on.

When he gets near enough to see who is with me, Brody’s face lights up, and he rushes over to grasp Corey’s hand and hug him. “Wow! I can’t believe you’re here!” he says. “I had no idea you were coming back, man.”

“I decided to come help with the war effort,” Corey tells him once Brody releases him. “If you guys will have me.”

“Of course,” Brody says with a firm nod. “You always were one of the best warriors in our group.”

“I don’t know about that,” Corey says with a shrug. “But I’m happy to be of service.’

“I don’t have a partner for you at the moment,” Brody begins, but just as he makes the statement, we hear someone behind us cry out, and we all turn to look at the practice field where one of the warriors is on the ground, grasping his leg and crying out in pain.

“Oh, shit,” Brody calls, rushing over. “Everyone, stop!” he shouts, which he doesn’t need to say because the moment the warrior went down, the rest of the group stopped to check on him. That’s part of being a pack.

‘James, one of our warriors just got injured,’ I say through the mind-link. ‘Can you make it out to the practice field? Looks like his leg might be broken.’

‘I’ll be right there,’ our pack healer says in my head. 

Brody is down on the ground in an instant. “Damn, Hayden,” he says, shaking his head. “That looks bad.”

“I’m so sorry,” another guy I don’t recognize says from where he stands behind Brody. “I didn’t mean to kick him so hard.”

“It’s all right, Mike,” Brody tells him. “It’s not your fault. These things happen.”

“I’ve asked James to come out,” I tell them all. 

“Thank you, Alpha,” Hayden says through gritted teeth. It’s clear the bone is broken from the angle his leg is in, and though he’s clutching it, Brody doesn’t dare try to help for fear he’ll hurt him worse.

I remember seeing plenty of warriors get hurt in training when I was going through my reps, but this might be the worst break I’ve seen.

Soon enough, we hear hurried footsteps behind us, and James comes flying over to him, running at full speed, carrying his black bag.

He slows as he gets close to us and asks, “What happened, Hayden?”

“I think my leg is broken,” the young man on the ground says. 

“Well, let me take a loo–” James stops mid-sentence, his eyes focused on Corey, and for a moment, he seems like he’s in a trance. Then, he blinks a few times, shakes his head, and drops down onto his knees next to Hayden. “Let me take a look, Hayden.”

Puzzled, I look at Corey and see his eyes practically bulging out of his head. Confusion washes over me as I return my attention to James and the work he’s doing on the injured warrior, but then, I have an epiphany.

I have to hide a smile as everything comes together. Now, I know why Natalie wasn’t Corey’s mate.’Well, I’ll be damned,’ I say through the mind-link to James.

He gives me a cursory glance but doesn’t otherwise acknowledge me. I’ll talk to him about it later–when he’s not busy putting a guy’s bones back together. I just hope he’s honest with me. He’s got nothing to hide. He’s one of my best friends, and I just want him to be happy.

Everyone deserves that, after all.