“He doesn’t want anyone to worry,” Paulson says.
“I’m supposed to be his mate, though.”
“You are his mate. Just because you haven’t had your ceremony yet doesn’t mean you aren’t recognized as his other half, honey.” Sally’s voice is gentle, but strained. I wonder if she’s worried about what these weird coincidences mean.
Is someone trying to sabotage the pack?
At first, I thought someone was only trying to sabotage me, but what do tools and food have to do with me? Is there a chance this could be something more, something different?
Something else entirely?
“Well, we should get going,” Sally says quietly, looking at Tam, who is starting to get fussy in Paulson’s arms.
“Thanks again, Red,” he says. Then they take their little boy and leave the childcare center. Slowly, I begin to clean up the room. I put all the extra diapers away, wash the sippy cups and bottles that were left behind, and tidy up the room. I sanitize everything, wash my hands, and close up the room for the night.
I only wish dealing with a torn-up wedding dress was the worst of my problems.
***
“Open up,” someone is banging on the door. Rolling over, I look at the clock on the nightstand. It’s not even 7:00 yet. Why is someone banging on the door? Grumpily, I get out of the empty bed. Nash is away hunting with the other wolves and I’m alone. I grip my robe tightly around my body and open the door.
“It’s the childcare center,” Ali looks frantic. “You need to come.” She doesn’t say anything else, but her appearance wor
ries me. It’s not just her tone of voice, although that itself would be enough to freak me out. Ali looks completely disheveled. Her hair is sticking every which way and her clothes are covered in…something. I don’t know what.
A sense of dread overwhelms me, but I follow her anyway. I don’t bother to change out of my robe, so I shiver slightly as we enter the cold hallway. I don’t know what it is about wolves, but even in their human forms, they never seem to get cold. Seriously, is it winter down here? I look around, half-expecting Santa Clause to pop around the corner and offer me a Christmas gift.
We hurry to the childcare center, and I bite back a gasp when I peek inside.
It’s gone.
It’s destroyed.
“What happened?” I ask, walking into the room. I look around at the broken crib, the damaged toys, and the overturned tables. The molding clay is everywhere. I’m guessing that’s what’s on Ali’s clothes. There’s paint all over. Formula cans have been opened and dumped out. I cringe as I think about how much those cans cost the pack. “Who would do something like this?”
“I don’t know,” Ali whispers.
“Have you told Mrs. Beaver yet?” The older woman is the one who is in charge of the childcare center. I’m one of her main caregivers, but she’s the one who creates the schedule, who comes up with activities, and who keeps everything organized.
“I sent Mary Beth to go get her.”
“Good. She needs to see this. It’s going to break her heart, but she’ll know what to do.” All of our hard work is gone. As I glance around the room, I can’t help but think how much joy this childcare center has brought to the pack. It’s not fancy or big. It’s just a little room we fixed up, but it means a lot to the families of our pack. It means a lot to all of us.
The center has given me something to do, something to focus on when I was going crazy from stress.
“We can fix it,” I say to Ali. I don’t know if it’s actually true. Most of the furniture is destroyed. Everything has been dumped out and broken. With the other shenanigans that have been going on in the pack, I don’t know if we can actually afford to fix everything that’s been destroyed. Just a new crib alone is going to cost a lot, but everything else in the room? It’s amazing how quickly little things add up in cost. We can ask people to donate things, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be that simple.
Then I turn and I see the message scrawled on the wall in bright blue finger paint.
“I’m sorry, Red,” Ali murmurs.
Without another word, I just turn and leave.
Seven
Red
I lock the door to our suite and climb into the shower. Then I let the tears fall as I think about the words painted on the wall.