“She worked for-”
“Your arch-enemies. Yeah. We got that part, Reece.” The tiger glares at me, but I ignore him in favor of worrying about my girl. She could be anywhere right now, and she probably feels all alone. She went through something traumatic. Now she deserves to feel protected and cared for: not isolated or ignored.
I need to go find her. I want to make sure she’s okay. I don’t like her, but she doesn’t deserve to be alone right now. She should be protected. Suddenly, the urge to find her and just make sure she’s okay starts to overwhelm me. I have to remind myself to breathe and to focus on the moment at hand. I can react later. I can find her later.
“What are we going to do about him?” Cameron asks, looking at Reece blankly. Cameron is doing a great job concealing his current thoughts. His face is absolutely unreadable, even for me. Even his scent is steady. He’s not putting out anger or stress vibes at all.
“He needs help,” Wilson says. “More help than we can give him, I’m afraid. We’ve got a wonderful clan, but, well, resources for something like this are limited.”
Reece has the decency to look afraid, at least momentarily. He speaks up.
“Are you going to kill me?” He asks. His voice is so low I can barely hear him. “Just tell me if you are. I’ll take it like a man.” Overwhelming sadness begins to emanate from him and the scent fills the air.
“What the fuck? No, man. Shit. No. We’re going to find you a mental health specialist who deals with shifter issues who can help you.” Wilson looks horrified at the idea that he would put down a member of the clan. Reece might be a tiger, but the group has accepted him. He’s part of our world now.
“Oh.”
“That’s right,” Cameron agrees with Wilson’s decision, and I’m suddenly proud of both men for taking the high road. Shifters are a wiley bunch. A lot of clans might not take the time to get someone the help they need. Not like this.
“Do you know someone?” I ask Wilson.
“I have some resources.” He says. Then he turns to Reece. “In the meantime, let’s get you to the health center. Maybe we can give you something to help you relax.”
“You aren’t going to lock me up?” Reece seems shocked and close to tears. I’m guessing the adrenaline rush is slowing down and he’s realizing how close he came to murdering a human in cold blood.
“Do I need to do that?” Wilson narrows his eyes.
“No.” Reece says. “No. You do not. This will not happen again.”
“That’s what I thought, brother.” He reaches down for Reece’s hand and pulls him to his feet. “We’re all here for you.” Wilson says. “We all know you’ve been through hell. We’re going to be here for you while you recover. We’ll be here every step of the way.”
Reece is silent for a minute, but I can smell his tears, and I know he still feels broken in many ways. My heart goes out for him and once more, I’m glad I was able to intervene before something terrible happened. Reece may have to deal with the guilt of how he treated Nicole, but he won’t have to deal with the guilt of killing her. That’s something I don’t think I’d be able to help him through.
“Come on,” Wilson says, leading him out of the debris. “Let’s go.”
He guides Reece out of what’s left of the building, leaving Cameron and me to eye the damage. The bakery is essentially destroyed. It’s going to take a long time to rebuild.
“What now?” I ask him. He’s the second-in-command at the clan. He’s the one everyone turns to when they have questions or need help. Cameron is fantastic when it comes to identifying problems and finding solutions for those issues.
“Now we get to rebuild this place,” he says, walking around, surveying the damage. “But first, you should go check on Nicole.”
“Me?” I ask. “Why me?” A bit presumptuous of him, isn’t it? Nicole and I have a history, sure, but checking on her isn’t really my job. “Isn’t this something the second-in-command should be taking care of? You’re basically the clan leader.”
“Do you want me to check on her?” Cameron raises an eyebrow.
“Yes.”
“You two have some sort of history, don’t you?” He cocks his head and narrows his eyes.
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m not a fucking idiot,” he shrugs. “It’s kind of obvious.” He eyes me up and down, but I try not to react. I just look at him.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s fine, but you need to be careful.”
“Careful? Me being ‘careful’ isn’t what saved her life today!”