Unbound

Chapter 20

"You don't care for her much, do you? Odette, I mean." I asked Ephraim one afternoon, several days after her surprise arrival. She'd been flitting around Gabriel's home, occupying herself with books or cooking while he worked. When she could draw him out of his office, they seemed attached at the hip. She occasionally dropped in on us in the medical room, usually just to say hello, and the way Ephraim's demeanor changed each time was obvious.

"I don't have a problem with her." He dismissed my assumption, but I pressed him.

"Sure you don't."

He looked up at me from the counter where he was sorting through dried pods, smelling each before placing the strongest ones into a container. "I've not said one bad thing about her."

"You don't have to; you can barely tolerate being in the room with her." I tipped back in my chair to look at him.

"She's nice enough, but she's a distraction," Ephraim said shortly. When he took that tone, I could understand why he and Marie were a match.

"How is finding a mate a distraction?" It was the first time I'd even come close to acknowledging the possibility out loud and the words tasted foul in my mouth. Ephraim just waved me off and returned his focus to the pods.

Truthfully, I was hoping he would either confirm or deny my suspicion. The pair was hard to read, though that problem largely seemed to stem from Gabriel. When they were in the same room, Odette was lost in his world, oblivious to anyone else. She was comfortable around him; her body seemed to naturally gravitate towards his.

At times, Gabriel seemed to welcome her affection. When he was open to it, their interactions were full of small gestures and fleeting touches, as if they were searching for each other's warmth. There was a magnetism between them that was hard to ignore, even from a distance. The way they spoke to each other in these moments was quiet and intimate, a secret language between the two of them. Those were the times when I wondered if perhaps Odette truly was Gabriel's mate, when I caught glimpses of the softness that Gabriel had shown me.

But those moments were brief: more often, he was stiff and distant, as if he was only tolerating her presence. When I'd see him so closed off around her, I couldn't help but doubt my own intuition.

Odette either didn't notice this or didn't care, as she was completely enamored with him. I found myself battling a mix of admiration and jealousy towards her: I admired the boldness of her pursuit, but I envied the way she seemed to effortlessly capture his attention during those times he was willing to give it. She carried herself with grace and confidence. The world was at her feet, hers for the taking.

And yet, each morning, she was returning to the house from someplace else. Although she was sometimes still buzzing around when I left after work, she was clearly staying somewhere different in the settlement.

For my part, I slowly improved at tuning out her singsong voice, her tinkling laugh, and the low rumble of his responses. Though difficult to avoid, I tried to keep my distance from the pair after a couple days of curious—if painful—observation.

To that end, I couldn't hide my excitement when Ephraim dropped a thick stack of folders onto his desk in front of me. A new project meant a new distraction.

I opened the one on the top of the pile. "What are these?"

"Medical records. There's a folder there for each member of the Council. I want you to study them this week to be prepared for when I start introducing you."

"Really?" I'd expected him to keep me segregated for quite a lot longer, until he felt I'd been thoroughly vetted—or at least until he felt he'd trained me enough to keep from making him look stupid. Apparently, he did.

Ephraim shut the folder and tapped it with his finger. "You need to learn them all, but focus on this one first."

I nodded, ready to dive in, when he stopped me: "That's homework. We have tinctures to boil."

Odette and Gabriel were sitting together on the living room sofa that night, on opposite ends from each other, when I hastily rushed past, folders clutched tightly in my arms. Halfway to the guesthouse, I realized that somewhere in the stack I'd likely find a file on Gabriel. The thought had me nearly running across the dark lawn, eager to pull it open and learn something, anything, about the Alpha.

Once inside, I sat on the floor and spread them out on the coffee table, scanning the labels quickly for his name. It wasn't there. Of course it wasn't there. Ephraim knew better than to give me Gabriel's medical history. Or, even more likely, Gabriel had told him not to. Disappointed, I sat back against the couch.

My interest dampened significantly, I reached for the blue folder that Ephraim had marked as my priority. Sewell, Angus. It was thicker than the rest and well-worn. I flipped it open and skimmed over the first few pages. At first, it seemed fairly standard. He was old, over one hundred, and judging by the thickness of the file had been suffering from enduring health problems for years now. When I pulled out Ephraim's notes from his last visit, however, my curiosity returned.

Ephraim had taken note of Angus' ongoing fatigue and struggle to remain hydrated, but during this visit, he also determined that Angus had lost at least ten pounds in two months. While he was being examined, Angus also mentioned that he noticed his vision had been blurrier than normal when he tried to read in the evenings. I frowned; I should have asked Ephraim if I could mark up the pages. Instead, as I read, I took notes on a scrap of paper.

As far as I could find in the file, Ephraim hadn't yet gotten to the bottom of the issue. The only other clue he'd scribbled down was that he'd noticed that Angus had developed a different scent than normal. I remembered Shiva mentioning once that she often used scent to identify when there was something off with one of the wolves. I had always been jealous of that skill.

Ephraim visited Angus for a check-up every two weeks. Based on the date written on his last set of visit notes, he was due to return in just four days. If his bringing me along hinged on my knowledge of the details of the file, I'd be sure to show him I was ready before then. The more I could get involved, the quicker I could build trust with the pack. It was time for me to take on a larger role here, if this was truly to be my new home.

As I sat back, mentally parsing through the details, I called Jack. I'd been doing so less since starting the new job with Ephraim, but each time his voice left me feeling at peace.

It was difficult to avoid sounding jealous when I complained about Odette and I didn't want to give him that impression, however true, so I mentioned her only briefly. Likewise, I avoided bringing up my encounter with Gabriel in the hallway. I felt uncomfortable divulging the private details from Angus' file, so that left me with little to say.

Jack had by now gotten used to our calls being fairly one-sided: he knew that he was my escape and was usually willing to indulge my need to listen to him ramble about mundane pack gossip. But tonight, the few times I did speak, he could hear the edge of frustration in my voice. He questioned me until the dam broke and I let loose a tirade about Gabriel's mood swings and Ephraim's withholding of his records.

"Maybe it's time you move back into the apartment."

"It wouldn't make a difference, not if I keep coming here to work with Ephraim." I picked at the carpet morosely. "I can't ever tell where I stand from one day to the next. I feel like I have to walk on eggshells every time I go through that house. It's exhausting."

"You can't keep letting him get under your skin, Ki." Jack insisted. Too late.

I hadn't ever meant for it to happen, but Gabriel was now, undoubtedly, under my fucking skin.