“How does mating work with your kind, exactly?”

“Um, from what I’m told, you bite your intended mate and, assuming you’re true Bondmates, you’re stuck together for life and you can never be with anyone else.” She felt his shrug. “Though I wouldn’t know.”

Weird. She’d felt a strong urge for him to bite her when they were making love. Somehow it didn’t seem like a good idea to tell him that now, if ever. He seemed sort of reticent on the subject.

Well, duh. The man was a free and easy wolf. He probably didn’t want a female permanently attached to his side.

“Aric?”

“Yeah?”

“I would never try to tie you down. Just so you know.”

Underneath her, his body tensed. Then slowly relaxed. “Sure. I mean, you’re going to leave when Micah is better. You have a life in L.A. waiting for you. But there’s no reason why we can’t have some fun before you go.”

A vicious stab of pain lanced through her heart.

“Yes, exactly. This is just sex. I just wanted to put that out there. So we don’t get our wires crossed or anything.”

“Sure, that’s understandable,” he said softly. “Sleep and we’ll go see your brother later.”

“Okay.”

But the sandman didn’t come. Rowan remained awake long after her lover’s breathing had evened out.

Just sex. She’d go home, eventually. Returning to her own boring life would be for the best. A life that didn’t include shifters, Fae princes, Sorcerers, gremlins, or evil Unseelies and their pet Sluaghs.

This place was like frickin’ Disneyland on meth. She’d be glad to see all of this madness in her rearview mirror.

Really.

Aric placed a hand at the small of Rowan’s back and guided her into Micah’s room. After their much-needed nap, they’d awakened semirecovered from the excitement of the Sluagh’s attack, not to mention the incredible life-reaffirming lovemaking that followed. No, not lovemaking.

This is just sex.

The straightforward, no-nonsense way she’d said it had stabbed him in the gut. God, he was still bleeding inside. The fact that he’d been right about her not wanting to be tied to him and the loony bin that doubled as his life was cold comfort. He was playing with fire, literally.

And then he’d have to let her go.

“Micah?” Rowan walked over to take the chair by the bed, and wrapped her fingers around her brother’s.

Aric went to stand behind her and settled his hands on her shoulders. A gesture of comfort, and God knew she needed it. Micah’s eyes were open, muddy and lifeless. He stared into space, either unaware of their presence or too lost in his own hell to acknowledge them.

You caused this, a vicious voice in his head snarled. If you’d only warned Jax about Beryl, this wouldn’t have happened. And half the team wouldn’t be either missing or dead.

The truth was killing him. He would have to confess to his team, and to Rowan. Sooner or later.

“Hey, little brother. It’s great to see you awake again.” She swallowed hard, making a visible effort to be cheerful for Micah’s sake. “I’m getting to know your friends, and they’ve all been super to me. You’ve had tons of visitors and we’re all relieved you’re going to be okay. You know you’re safe, right? It’s okay to be quiet, but we’re here if you want to talk and…”

She chattered on, but Aric stopped listening. Jesus, it was beyond painful. Seeing Micah like this, completely catatonic. But he was far from an empty shell. Aric sensed the rage boiling under the surface of the younger man’s skin, the sadness choking off all speech. Yet as terrible as this was, it gave him hope. Where there were still emotions, there was hope.

If those emotions died, so would Micah.

“Do you think it’s the medication?”

It took Aric a moment to realize Rowan was addressing him instead of her brother. “I believe so. My wolf senses his emotions, and it seems they’re being suppressed right now.” He stroked her hair. “It’s for his own good, just until he can handle reality.”

Nobody wanted a repeat of the awful scene from the other day.

“Did you hear that?” she asked her brother, her determination unwavering. “We know you’re in there, listening. You’re not a quitter, never have been. Let us all help you.”

“No,” Micah whispered.

Both he and Rowan leaned forward to hear what else he might say, and she reached up to grip Aric’s hand. The man didn’t speak again. Instead, his eyes welled with tears that spilled down his face, even as he stared into nothingness.

Rowan made a sound of distress and moved as close to him as she could, wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tucked his head under her chin. Rocked and held him tight, talking to him quietly. The blank expression never changed, despite the emotion behind the tears.

Aric had never wanted to run so badly, ever.

Twenty minutes crawled by with excruciating slowness, and finally Rowan eased her brother onto the pillow again. He was asleep, no doubt having worn himself out being full of the despair he couldn’t express.

Aric took her arm. “Come on, sweetheart. You can come back later.” Reluctantly, she allowed him to escort her out. “Hungry for dinner?”

“Not yet. Walk with me?”

“Where to?”

“Anywhere.”

He understood—anywhere but here. He took her hand and they walked together out into the hallway. The more distance they put between themselves and the infirmary, the more the stiffness left her posture.

“He’s going to recover, you know,” Aric told her firmly. “Physically he’s much better already, and Mac will take him the rest of the way. She’s really good at what she does.”

“I know. He’s got great friends, too, to see him through.” She squeezed his hand.

Guilt clogged his throat, but he managed to speak around the terrible knot. “We’ll all do everything in our power to make sure he gets well.”

“I know.” She gave him a small smile. “Alpha Pack may battle monsters, but what you do here is about so much more than that. You guys help the innocent, whether they’re human or not.”

“I hadn’t really thought of it like that, but I guess it’s true. Though Kira and Sariel, with the help of the doctors and nurses on staff, do the hard work of rehabbing all sorts of supernatural beings through their project.”

“Block R. They’ve told me some about it.”

“Did they tell you Nick approved construction of a new building for their program?”

“Kira mentioned it the first day I was here, but just briefly.”

“They’re going to expand and give it a better name, and they plan to make it a haven for displaced paranormals as well as sick ones.”

“That’s a neat thing for them to do.” She paused. “Is there really a basilisk here?”

“Kira told you that?”

“Yes. She also started to say something about a wolf, but Jax stopped her from saying more.”

“Oh. Well, the wolf is a sore subject,” he said, unable to keep the emotion from his voice. “His name is Raven, and he was one of our team members when Micah, Jax, Ryon, Zan, and I were in the SEALs. He was turned along with us. The difference is, he never came back from his shifted form. He’s feral.”

“God, that’s horrible,” she breathed. “They’re trying to reach him?”

“They have been, for almost six years. They’re hoping that with the opening of the new center and hiring an expert or two, they’ll finally succeed.”

Rowan’s expression was so compassionate it made him ache. Why couldn’t this woman be his?

“I hope so, too. What about the basilisk?”

“Actually, he’s a basilisk shifter, and his name is Belial. He’s quite a handful, tries to seduce everyone in sight to get what he wants. Of course, he doesn’t get anywhere because we’ve all got his number. No one trusts him, with good reason.”

“Can’t they kill if a person looks them in the eye?”