“I know. I don’t want to have to choose. I honestly don’t know what I’d do.”

I didn’t have any answers for him. He was in an impossible situation with a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. More than any other Council member. “We’ll figure out what’s best for us. There’s no rush for you to do anything yet.” I waited for him to say something, but he was quiet. “I’ll go through your files, but first—food? Sleep? Shower? Maybe not in that order.”

“Aye. How about you shower while I fix us some food? We’ll get you settled and then I’ll have my shower.”

We moved back through his rooms. I grabbed my toiletries and pajamas out of my bag and went to the bathroom.

The shower took forever to warm up, but once it did, steam filled the room. As I showered, I thought about the pack that I’d soon be joining. I hated to be the bad news bear, but the Irish pack was in terrible shape. Donovan had to make some changes if there was any hope of healing the pack. He’d been gone years. Plural. He was the Alpha. He couldn’t be gone for that long and expect everything to be okay.

Donovan was going to have to give up something, and I hoped I could help him make the right choice. Even bringing up the subject was complicated. I was so much younger and had way less experience, but I was his mate. If I saw something going wrong, then I had to speak up. I just didn’t want to see him unhappy, and right now I knew he wasn’t happy. He needed to learn to slow down and enjoy life.

I let the shower wash away my worries for a second. The more I got to know Donovan and everything he was dealing with, the trickier it all became. I wasn’t sure how much wisdom or guidance I had to offer him, but I knew I cared about Donovan more than anyone else and I wasn’t about to sit idly by and watch him suffer. Not while I had air enough to breathe.

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Pain ripped me from sleep. Not physical pain, although for a split-second I thought someone was tearing out my heart.

It was Donovan’s pain. He was leaping out of bed as his body changed from human to wolf.

“What’s going on?”

He didn’t even spare me a glance before running toward the door. I rushed out of bed to open it for him, but he pawed the knob and it swung open.

I started to go after him but came to my senses. I was wearing a nearly see-through white tank top and a pair of hot pink boyshorts. Not exactly appropriate for whatever emergency had woken Donovan.

Shift or more clothes?