57. Apology Attempts

Sona didn’t think she would be able to sleep with all the thoughts bombarding her mind—replaying everything that happened since Taos brought her to the glowworm cave—in the bedroom she’d been occupying just a few hallways down from the poolroom.
She passed out within minutes.
When she woke, depression immediately started to swarm her. But sunlight was peeking through the curtains of the window and she refused to be bogged down. So she flung back the covers, donned a modest outfit from the drawer in the cherry wood dresser, and did her hair in a single braid tied at the end with the piles of short strings collected for that exact purpose.
It seemed the entire house was empty. Sona didn’t hear or see another soul.
“I’m going back to my place,” Cerise said last night as they departed. “Steal from the kitchen and don’t seek that bastard out. He’ll come crawling back to you eventually. Just go do your flowery healer stuff. And you’re going to have dinner with me and Arden in the evening. Expect an Epsilon to retrieve you an hour from sunset.”
There had been no point in arguing. Not that she wanted to; it sounded like a great plan—a productive one that gave her time to sort things out.
It remained to be seen when Taos would interfere.
After indeed raiding the kitchen for some bread and fruit, Sona stepped into the morning sunlit-street. She immediately sensed something different.
There was no activity anywhere. Not a single werewolf limping down the road; not even a patrolling Epsilon. There wasn’t even a breeze to stir the dirt.
Something had to be wrong.
Apprehension raising the hair on the back of her neck, Sona hurried to her shop and locked the door behind her. Nothing amiss, she unlocked the door to the camping room. She felt an urgency to her scanning for some kind of anomaly. But it was exactly as it had been for the past week: sick wolves sleeping, lounging, speaking softly to one another as they nibbled on rations that she made sure were fresh at all times.
Some noticed her; they either gave halfhearted nods or faint scowls. Sona had a feeling that it would take much more time for them to even start to like, much less trust, a Goldwater wolf. She also knew that making their situation noticeably better would speed up that process.
If Taos didn’t keep distracting her, maybe she could.
One of the younger adolescents, a female with wolfsbane burns on the sides of her mouth, seemed to be willing to approach Sona more than all the others. She was a pretty little thing with dark brown eyes and frizzy red hair; couldn’t be much older than fourteen. Her name was Flanna.
“Mistress Mai,” she called, catching up before Sona could retrieve supplies from the shop. “Can I…can I ask you a question?”
Sona smiled. “Of course.”
“Is it true you’re going to be our Luna soon?”
“Yes,” she said before she could let her thoughts make her hesitate. “I know I’m—”
“Epsilon talk,” Flanna muttered, glancing around. There were indeed two stalking the outskirts of the large room. “They say you’re a terrible choice.”
“Well—”
“But I don’t think so.”
Sona blinked twice. “Really?”
Flanna shrugged. “You left everything behind to help us even when you don’t trust us and we don’t trust you. Despite the rivalry, you seem to actually care about finding a cure. Even though we all know there isn’t one.”
Sona’s heart swelled with hope. “I’ll find a solution,” she promised, taking Flanna’s hands in hers and squeezing them. She was thankful that the Redbone didn’t yank away or show disdain. “I’ll heal every burn and I’ll settle every upset stomach. It only takes time and patience.” She paused to meet a few gazes watching them. Raising her voice, Sona said, “I promise on my life to follow my oath and heal every wound if it’s the last thing I do.”
Sona didn’t expect a positive mood shift and didn’t receive it. Just a few noncommittal grunts and huffs.
Flanna offered a small smile that made her wince. Sona’s salves only worked for a short time before the soothing effect wore off. She feared the burns would hinder her for the rest of her life. “What do they know?”
Sona laughed under her breath and shook her head. “I haven’t done as much as I can.”
“Because you’re preparing for the wedding.”
“Uh…”
Flanna knit her brows and cocked her head. “Yeah, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the Inner?”
“The what?”
Her eyes went huge and she jerked her hands out of Sona’s, retreating with an awkward throat-clearing. “Never mind me, Mistress Mai, I’m just tired, I don’t know what I’m saying! You’re probably busy—”
Sona felt her motherly stubbornness arise in the form of crossed arms. “What is the Inner?”
She was still retreating, calling back, “I’m sure Alpha Redbone will tell you eventually!” before hiding behind a group of wolves.
“He better,” Sona growled to herself.
When she returned to the shop, every movement was fueled by annoyance and frustration. Would just *one* day go smoothly? Just one fucking day without something or someone to upset her.
Salves made, she returned to the camping room and steadily applied them to every wolf who needed it. Little chatter as usual as well as little progress in narrowing down the location of the wolfsbane. Afterward, she paged through the books and journals to search for any clue on how to solve even the smallest part of the mystery.
To no avail.
She didn’t even *need* to come up with a cure for the burn victims. Just another plant that counteracted the burned skin and reactivated their natural speed-healing ability. But she couldn’t find that, either.
As for those who ingested the deadly plant, *they* needed a cure.
Sona gasped and jolted to her feet. Another plant.
*“Unless you personally have something valuable to trade,”* the Leto Alpha had said, *“I will consider sharing a selection of herbs you may be interested in.”*
She snatched a piece of paper and pen off her desk and wrote furiously.
*Leto Alpha Rand, I hope our definitions of ‘value’ are the same…*
When she was done, she folded it into thirds and plucked a dandelion head off its stem from one of her jars. She set its gold face on the paper and slammed the heel of her hand into it to stain it with gold dust. S*o they know it’s from a Goldwater healer*.
Her fingers wrapped around the handle to the camping room so she could flag down one of the Epsilon—she didn’t know who played messenger between packs—when she heard the main door creak open. Expecting it to be Taos, she turned around and crossed her arms, her breathless excitement wiped away by a scowl.
It was him; her blue eyes met his dark ones immediately. “What do you want?”
Usually, the Alpha’s presence filled the room and stifled Sona with it. But now with him on the threshold, all she felt was sheepishness—a strange, uncharacteristic emotion on him that immediately made her uncomfortable. Even the smallest of changes in his swelled ego just didn’t sit right whether she was angry with him or not.
He was wearing a shirt for once, even if it was still tight enough for every curve of muscle, and his bone adornments were minimal. He cleared his throat, breaking eye contact to look down. “Hm. Well, I…”
Sona’s gaze flicked to his hands that were fiddling with something—her armband. *"To mark you invincible,”* the innkeeper had grunted, *“because you belong to the Redbone Alpha now.”*
“What was that for in the first place?”
Taos leaned on the door frame that groaned under his weight. “Protection against those who wanted to harm you.”
“And to claim me as yours. So…to show off your possessiveness?”
She glimpsed his jaw clench. “Are we comfortable enough to wrongfully accuse each other?”
“Your tongue’s been inside me, so I’d say we’re—”
She clamped her lips shut as Taos’ head jerked up to grin wickedly at her. “You’d say we’re capable of intimacy? *Deliciously* comfortable?”
Sona grabbed an empty jar and hurled it at Taos’ head. Of course he easily dodged it; it shattered against the door, scattering shards all over the floor—and across Taos’ cheek and arm. He didn’t so much as wince. “You got over your guilt pretty fast.”
Slipping the armband onto his wrist, Taos touched his fingertips to the blood on his face from the already-healed skin and, obnoxiously sensual, brought them to his lips and licked. “Don’t let my charm fool you, trinket,” he purred, “I’m wrought with it.”
“Prove it.”
Taos cocked his head. “I was just injured. Don’t you want to clean me up?”
Sona refused to acknowledge her itch to wipe the smears of blood away. She scowled. “Explain yourself frequently enough and I’ll consider it.”
“Let’s sit—”
“No. Right here.”
Taos chuckled and shook his head. “So demanding. Alright.” His smile faded and he fixed those beautifully damned eyes on her. They felt like a physical touch pinning her in place. The gravity in them made her hold her breath. “Sona Mai, I want to apologize for my behavior.”
He stopped at that. Releasing her breath in disappointment, she narrowed her gaze. “And?”
“And… I don’t do this often.”
“Cerise said as much.”
“That little…”
“Taos.”
“Sona,” he sighed greatly, “my pride—”
“Get the fuck over it and apologize or my body is off-limits.” That seemed to catch his attention. She rolled her eyes. “Fail.”
Taos blinked. “Failed what? Please don’t restrict me from your…gorgeous body,” he breathed, looking her up and down longingly.
Moon goddess help them all, he was able to switch emotions as easily as blinking. A sly, dishonest, self-centered brute of a male.
Who she was going to marry in less than two weeks. *What the hell am I getting myself into?*
“How the fuck am I supposed to deal with you?”
Like the snap of fingers, Taos straightened and looked at her with all seriousness. “You don’t. We work as equals, Sona. On ourselves and with each other. We’re going to argue our heads off in our new relationship, but fuck the moon god if we fight—there’s a difference, trust me. We work to be at least amicable because *dealing* with a partner is quite different than *living* with one. There are also two types of ‘living.’ I choose the one where we wake every morning wondering how to spend the day together, not dreading it.”
Taos took a step toward her. When she didn’t protest, he came closer, step by step, until they were craning their necks to see each other. Sona swallowed hard but she didn’t move as he held up the bone armband between two fingers.
“Yes,” he said in a low voice, “this was selfish. I wanted everyone to know that you were under my protection. If anyone even tried to fuck with you, they would have me to deal with.”
To enunciate, Taos peeled back his lips to bear thickened wolf fangs. Just that made her heart lurch. No matter how charming and teasing he was around her, she couldn’t forget that he was an Alpha male. He was capable of many carnal acts even if he wasn’t a Redbone scion.
He tossed the band on one of the tables. “I thought you didn’t need it anymore. News traveled about who you are—rather, who you’re going to be. I figured it would give you immunity. You’re more than capable of handling yourself.” His massive chest expanded with a great inhale. On the exhale, he sighed, “Instead it just painted a target on your back. For that, I will apologize every day for the next week.”
Sona’s mouth quirked to the side. “We’re getting somewhere.”
“The word ‘apology’ is such a mouthful—Ow, please don’t hit me, trinket, I’m just a fragile thing.”
“Fuck you.”
“That’s the end goal.”
“Keep making jokes, I dare you.”
“I want to apologize on Edom’s behalf,” he said. Both of their smirks faded. “I never thought he would betray our pack like that, much less put any female in harm’s way. Are you *sure* you don’t want him to face punishment?”
Sona shook her head. “He knows what he did wrong. And he got what he wanted, right—mostly? I mean, he didn’t get rid of me.”
“Trinket,” said Taos strictly, “did you *really* think those were my father’s remains?”