“Aww, Remi,” Juno whispered, hugging her up tight. “You were never broken. You just needed to find a place that made your heart happy.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, easing out of the hug to look Juno in the eyes. “And now it’s your turn to breathe.”
“What do you mean?”
“I got Bash and Ashlynn to hack your airline app. Your flight is cancelled for tomorrow and your account is locked so you can’t book any flights for three days.”
“What?” Juno barked out, yanking her phone from her back pocket. She opened her app, and sure as shit, it told her the account had been compromised and to call customer service. “Mother fuckers!”
“You can stay in ten-ten this week,” Remi said cheerfully, prancing up the stairs with Juno’s suitcase. “We’ll go start making dinner and give you some time to settle in.”
“Remington Novak! What the fuck? I can lose my job!”
“You’re welcome!” The door swung closed behind Remi, and Juno had no one left to glare at but Kamp, who stood there smiling with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said, not even trying to hide his smile. “You know Remi. Once she gets something in her head, she is relentless.” He gave her a bro-punch on the shoulder. “Good to finally meet you.” And then he walked away whistling. Whistling! They’d just made it even harder for her to get to the dang Beateaters concert and sign those hacks for the label. And he was whistling? Who was going to pay her bills when she lost her job? Huh? Who?
Fuck this. Juno stomped toward the trail that led to Kamp’s truck down the mountain. She could hotwire a car, no problem. Another benefit of growing up with the wildling delinquents of the Ashe Crew. Forget her luggage, she had her purse and her phone, and that was enough. She would go to the airport and fix this herself, get back to life after this emotional roller-coaster of a day.
When her legs locked against the snow, she skidded forward and almost lost her balance. Her purse went flying and hit the ground in front of her. What the hell? She hadn’t told her body to stop.
A deep rumbling growl clawed its way up the back of her throat, and when she tried to take a step forward, her body didn’t mind her. She took a forced step back instead, and a wave of pain rocketed through her body.
She was definitely, definitely going to Change. Her bear was pissed off, snarling, and she wanted to maul everything. Her skin began tingling with another sign of an imminent Change.
Her stomach hurt, and she doubled over the ache. She couldn’t Change. Couldn’t! She wasn’t prepared and she was somewhere unfamiliar and—
Wait…it was woods. Mountains. Vyr wouldn’t have put a bunch of last-chance shifters where they could Change and hurt people easily. Juno gritted her teeth and went to her hands and knees.
A pile of girl-stuff had fallen out of her purse she dropped and lay scattered on the ground. She focused on a half-empty tube of cherry-red lip gloss as the bear ripped her apart.
No, no, no! She was Juno Beck. She’d always had great control over her animal, so why couldn’t she stop this now? Fuck!
Pain sizzled through every nerve ending, and a single word blasted through the inside of her throbbing skull. Want.
What? “What do you want?” she gritted through clenched teeth to the bear inside of her.
Home.
And then the animal shredded her skin, and all she could see was that tube of lip gloss broken under her six-inch curved claws in the snow. Red lip gloss, white snow, and a bone deep need for…something more.
And then the world went dark.
Chapter Six
“What do you mean she won’t see me?” Rhett demanded at the front desk.
“She had a bad night last night, and Dr. Monroe said it’s best if she doesn’t have any visitors today.”
“So it’s not her choice but the doctor’s? That’s my sister. I only get to come here three times a week, if that. Any bad day she has, she can lean on me. Not your entirely human staff who doesn’t fuckin’ understand what her animal side needs. She needs a Pride. A Crew. And I’m that for her.”
Sharon pushed her glasses farther up her nose and shrugged. “I’m really sorry, Rhett. I didn’t make the rules.”
“Well, you used to be my favorite evening nurse, Sharon. Now you’re second place.”
He was pretty sure the lady rolled her eyes, but whatever.
“I want to talk to Dr. Monroe.”
“Rhett—”
“Save it,” he gritted out. “It took a lot for me to get to come here today, and I got us dinner,” he said, lifting the bag of Sara’s favorite Barney Burgers in the air. “Plus, she always has a good day after seeing me, and I’m not leaving until you get Dr. Monroe to explain what’s actually happening.”
Sharon sighed and gestured to the waiting area of the rehab clinic. “I’ll page him. I can’t promise anything. He’s busy tonight, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you,” he muttered, making his way to the waiting room where he would pace like a caged lion like he did every time they made him wait in here.
“I want to be your favorite again for this,” Sharon called.
Rhett snorted and repeated her words, “I’ll see what I can do.”
One of Sara’s favorite nurses waved to him on her way out of the clinic, but he only gave her the head nod as usual. That one tried to flirt from time to time, but he didn’t mess around here. This place was for Sara’s recovery, and that was it.
Ten minutes of pacing later, Dr. Monroe buzzed himself out of the main doors and gestured for Rhett to have a seat. “Look, I know you’re worried, but her bad day had nothing to do with relapse, and she’s minding all the rules still.”
“Then what happened?” Rhett asked.
“Well, you know how her halfway house closed?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“And she did the right thing by her recovery and decided to come back here instead of putting herself on the outside too early?”
“Mmm hmmmmm.”
“We gave her limited phone privileges. I didn’t see anything wrong with it. She already successfully finished three months here and three months in the house, and she’s tough, Rhett. She’s doing the work here. It’s time for her to start getting little lines to the outside world back so it’s not a shock to her when she is released. Or when she checks herself out of here, whatever comes first.”
“Okay. So what happened with the phone?”
“The Saga Pride has her number now.”
“Whaaaat the fuck?” Rhett whispered, leaning back in his chair. He shook his head, staring at a hairline crack in the wall, wishing he could burn his old Pride to the ground. They were the reason she was in here in the first place. “What are they saying?”
“That they’re watching her progress, and your dad wants her to come home and take her place in the ranking.”
“That’s all well and good except they don’t know how to take care of their own.”
“You feel that way, Rhett. Sara doesn’t. She hasn’t been in here working on staying clean just for herself. She’s been earning her place back in your Pride.”
“Not my pride. I left those assholes when they kicked her out. Fuck them.”
“Okay.” Dr. Monroe ran his hands through his thinning gray hair and sighed. “Let’s set up a session for tomorrow, and we can all get to the bottom of this. Because the second she got that message from the Pride, she wanted to check herself out today. I asked her to wait on it, think on it, and she had an unintentional Change in an unsafe situation with other patients here.”
“She’s in the cage?”
“Just until she Changes back. And it’s not like I want her there, Rhett. It’s the only form of containment we have so she doesn’t hurt or Change the other patients here.”
Rhett strangled the bag of burgers and puffed air out of his cheeks, ignoring the growl in his own throat. “Okay. Okay, I understand, and she’ll understand too, when she Changes back. She wouldn’t ever purposefully hurt anyone, but we understand you have to be safe. And you’ve taken a risk letting a shifter in your facility. I know you aren’t prepared for us. I was just…”
“Yeah,” she agreed, easing out of the hug to look Juno in the eyes. “And now it’s your turn to breathe.”
“What do you mean?”
“I got Bash and Ashlynn to hack your airline app. Your flight is cancelled for tomorrow and your account is locked so you can’t book any flights for three days.”
“What?” Juno barked out, yanking her phone from her back pocket. She opened her app, and sure as shit, it told her the account had been compromised and to call customer service. “Mother fuckers!”
“You can stay in ten-ten this week,” Remi said cheerfully, prancing up the stairs with Juno’s suitcase. “We’ll go start making dinner and give you some time to settle in.”
“Remington Novak! What the fuck? I can lose my job!”
“You’re welcome!” The door swung closed behind Remi, and Juno had no one left to glare at but Kamp, who stood there smiling with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said, not even trying to hide his smile. “You know Remi. Once she gets something in her head, she is relentless.” He gave her a bro-punch on the shoulder. “Good to finally meet you.” And then he walked away whistling. Whistling! They’d just made it even harder for her to get to the dang Beateaters concert and sign those hacks for the label. And he was whistling? Who was going to pay her bills when she lost her job? Huh? Who?
Fuck this. Juno stomped toward the trail that led to Kamp’s truck down the mountain. She could hotwire a car, no problem. Another benefit of growing up with the wildling delinquents of the Ashe Crew. Forget her luggage, she had her purse and her phone, and that was enough. She would go to the airport and fix this herself, get back to life after this emotional roller-coaster of a day.
When her legs locked against the snow, she skidded forward and almost lost her balance. Her purse went flying and hit the ground in front of her. What the hell? She hadn’t told her body to stop.
A deep rumbling growl clawed its way up the back of her throat, and when she tried to take a step forward, her body didn’t mind her. She took a forced step back instead, and a wave of pain rocketed through her body.
She was definitely, definitely going to Change. Her bear was pissed off, snarling, and she wanted to maul everything. Her skin began tingling with another sign of an imminent Change.
Her stomach hurt, and she doubled over the ache. She couldn’t Change. Couldn’t! She wasn’t prepared and she was somewhere unfamiliar and—
Wait…it was woods. Mountains. Vyr wouldn’t have put a bunch of last-chance shifters where they could Change and hurt people easily. Juno gritted her teeth and went to her hands and knees.
A pile of girl-stuff had fallen out of her purse she dropped and lay scattered on the ground. She focused on a half-empty tube of cherry-red lip gloss as the bear ripped her apart.
No, no, no! She was Juno Beck. She’d always had great control over her animal, so why couldn’t she stop this now? Fuck!
Pain sizzled through every nerve ending, and a single word blasted through the inside of her throbbing skull. Want.
What? “What do you want?” she gritted through clenched teeth to the bear inside of her.
Home.
And then the animal shredded her skin, and all she could see was that tube of lip gloss broken under her six-inch curved claws in the snow. Red lip gloss, white snow, and a bone deep need for…something more.
And then the world went dark.
Chapter Six
“What do you mean she won’t see me?” Rhett demanded at the front desk.
“She had a bad night last night, and Dr. Monroe said it’s best if she doesn’t have any visitors today.”
“So it’s not her choice but the doctor’s? That’s my sister. I only get to come here three times a week, if that. Any bad day she has, she can lean on me. Not your entirely human staff who doesn’t fuckin’ understand what her animal side needs. She needs a Pride. A Crew. And I’m that for her.”
Sharon pushed her glasses farther up her nose and shrugged. “I’m really sorry, Rhett. I didn’t make the rules.”
“Well, you used to be my favorite evening nurse, Sharon. Now you’re second place.”
He was pretty sure the lady rolled her eyes, but whatever.
“I want to talk to Dr. Monroe.”
“Rhett—”
“Save it,” he gritted out. “It took a lot for me to get to come here today, and I got us dinner,” he said, lifting the bag of Sara’s favorite Barney Burgers in the air. “Plus, she always has a good day after seeing me, and I’m not leaving until you get Dr. Monroe to explain what’s actually happening.”
Sharon sighed and gestured to the waiting area of the rehab clinic. “I’ll page him. I can’t promise anything. He’s busy tonight, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you,” he muttered, making his way to the waiting room where he would pace like a caged lion like he did every time they made him wait in here.
“I want to be your favorite again for this,” Sharon called.
Rhett snorted and repeated her words, “I’ll see what I can do.”
One of Sara’s favorite nurses waved to him on her way out of the clinic, but he only gave her the head nod as usual. That one tried to flirt from time to time, but he didn’t mess around here. This place was for Sara’s recovery, and that was it.
Ten minutes of pacing later, Dr. Monroe buzzed himself out of the main doors and gestured for Rhett to have a seat. “Look, I know you’re worried, but her bad day had nothing to do with relapse, and she’s minding all the rules still.”
“Then what happened?” Rhett asked.
“Well, you know how her halfway house closed?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“And she did the right thing by her recovery and decided to come back here instead of putting herself on the outside too early?”
“Mmm hmmmmm.”
“We gave her limited phone privileges. I didn’t see anything wrong with it. She already successfully finished three months here and three months in the house, and she’s tough, Rhett. She’s doing the work here. It’s time for her to start getting little lines to the outside world back so it’s not a shock to her when she is released. Or when she checks herself out of here, whatever comes first.”
“Okay. So what happened with the phone?”
“The Saga Pride has her number now.”
“Whaaaat the fuck?” Rhett whispered, leaning back in his chair. He shook his head, staring at a hairline crack in the wall, wishing he could burn his old Pride to the ground. They were the reason she was in here in the first place. “What are they saying?”
“That they’re watching her progress, and your dad wants her to come home and take her place in the ranking.”
“That’s all well and good except they don’t know how to take care of their own.”
“You feel that way, Rhett. Sara doesn’t. She hasn’t been in here working on staying clean just for herself. She’s been earning her place back in your Pride.”
“Not my pride. I left those assholes when they kicked her out. Fuck them.”
“Okay.” Dr. Monroe ran his hands through his thinning gray hair and sighed. “Let’s set up a session for tomorrow, and we can all get to the bottom of this. Because the second she got that message from the Pride, she wanted to check herself out today. I asked her to wait on it, think on it, and she had an unintentional Change in an unsafe situation with other patients here.”
“She’s in the cage?”
“Just until she Changes back. And it’s not like I want her there, Rhett. It’s the only form of containment we have so she doesn’t hurt or Change the other patients here.”
Rhett strangled the bag of burgers and puffed air out of his cheeks, ignoring the growl in his own throat. “Okay. Okay, I understand, and she’ll understand too, when she Changes back. She wouldn’t ever purposefully hurt anyone, but we understand you have to be safe. And you’ve taken a risk letting a shifter in your facility. I know you aren’t prepared for us. I was just…”
