Hidden Moon

C H A P T E R 10

THE THIEF

Dylan

"Bottled up for centuries, your lies, although sweet, taste bitter." Nadia joined me in the balcony but instead of taking the chair, she stood against the railings and stretched. "Why can't you just say what you mean without being mean? Don't go all snapping-dragon at every chance you get. I fear for her! She's having war flashbacks at your not-so-bedroom voice and at a glimpse of your glowering face for fuck's sake! Ok, you don't like her. Give us time to ride on it!"

Cora just pissed me off at times. Her sullen spaced-out look and her penchant for nibbling on her lips when in deep thought was more than enough to drive me crazy. She stirred my emotions with a power stronger than the moon's pull to the tides. "I just can't stand her."

"Says the crazy rain-soaked woman who kicked up so much fuss at the lobby and barked orders at me to heal someone she considers a nuisance."

Starting with her mind games again, Nadia wasn't letting this one go without chewing on a bone.

"You should've left her at a hospital, called someone else to help or make good with your words earlier and just left her there bleeding out and off her merry way to Sid."

Not an option!

"However, instead of doing that, you brought her all the way here and had me see to her under threat of disembowelment? Why bother at all?"

"You're Arrah's daughter. Flesh wounds and bruises aren't that difficult for you." I have done a lot of things I wish I'd forget and didn't, but I couldn't recall threatening her though. "Besides, you know her. Why let someone else care for her when you'd do a much better job?"

"Because it isn't my job and I am not my mother!" Nadia seethed. "What if she was suffering internal injuries I couldn't detect and remedy? How dare you put her life in my hands when you know I was nowhere near the level of a competent healer?"

Here's the crux of the matter! The little pup has a lot of things she too has kept to herself. Growing up under the shadow of Arrah and a pack who expected her to be the same made Nadia very scared and scarred. I forced her hand and dropped Cora's wellbeing on her shoulders so this was the argument that has reached a boiling point. Cora was awake and in seeing her well, Nadia was finally letting herself be mad. I've asked of her something she wasn't ready to give or in this instance, I made her do something she has always avoided to do because she was terrified of being not good enough.

How could I forget she preferred me around because I had no such heavy expectations?

"You were the only one I could trust, Nadia."

"What if I couldn't help her?"

"There was no one that could have done more for her than you did." I watched Nadia care for her. She did everything. Cora's injuries were successfully treated; it was just her wandering soul that rendered her unconscious for days. "You healed her."

"Because I am the Crescent Moon healer's daughter."

If she could just believe in herself and the gift she was blessed with, there would be little room for fears of falling short.

"Because I know you like Cora and would very much want to see her again, alive. You did well, Nadia."

"You're a terrible liar, Dy." She sighed and a tiny hint of smile brightened her features. "But of course, Cora is one of the few I like."

"I dare say she's probably second to food," and that's saying much because the little mutt loved eating, I grumbled in my head.

My hotel tab has grown in proportions. The card owner would be pleased to know it served its purpose well, swipe and go. It was like feeding the whole damn zoo when Nadia has the menu.