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would accept the Council’s request but I was going to make them beg for it; between us we had a little unfinished business to attend to.
    Sudden fear gripped my heart at the very thought of leaving my home and territory. I hadn’t been anywhere since I had visited the old Priest. It seemed that every time I tried to live with others something always backfired. I thought of Gage and how good it felt to be near another like myself. Maybe I had underestimated the effect my self-confinement actually had on me. I decided I would wait. If things went okay with Gage, in a month or so, I would reevaluate whether I should leave or not. Then maybe I would be ready… but not now. If Elder Coon was so keen on having me back home, she could damned well wait for it.
    I walked to the bathroom and felt my world starting to tilt at an impossible angle. I realized too late that nothing was wrong with my vision; I was falling. The last thing I remembered was the sharp pain behind my head as I lost my battle with gravity and my head bouncing off the small bathroom sink with a sickening hollow thud.
     
     

 
    Chapter Five

    Gage opened one of my eyes. "Sorry, I didn't think you would have left any other way."
    I looked at my unfamiliar surroundings; I was obviously in some sort of chain hotel of some kind. "You drugged and kidnapped me?"
    "It’s just abduction if you’re over eighteen." He said, and he didn't sound the least bit sorry for it.
    "Elder Coon can't kill me." I crooked out. "I didn’t break any rules this time."
    "Elder Coon doesn't want you dead, Sugar."
    I sat up with some effort and leaned my throbbing head against the headboard feeling the tenderness of a lump developing where it touched. "I find that hard to believe." I rubbed the lump gingerly.
    Gage sat down on the bed and felt the lump for himself. "I think we'll hold off on calling Elder Coon ’til we get this taken care of. You aren't going to be any good to your pack until you’re healthy.”
    "It’s just a little bump, I'll be fine." I straightened up and hitched my chin. "If I could kick your ass I would." I narrowed my eyes at him and growled.
    "You're not your old self yet. Putting you in the pack right now would be a suicide mission. You're still in there somewhere." He reached forward and moved a wild curl of hair out of my face. He checked himself nervously and moved to a chair at the desk in the corner of the room near the window.
    I thought about what he said. "Do you know why I didn’t die? I don't know if I loved Jack as much as he loved me; maybe that's why? To be completely honest with you we weren't even truly mated. We got married and then he died. He would have been too weak..." I shrugged, embarrassed about saying it all out loud.
    He leaned back, looking a little shocked, but quickly changed the subject. "I'll go get you something for your headache."
    I got up and headed for the bathroom but stopped just outside the open door. I wanted to see my reflection, but I wasn't sure I could. I hadn't seen my own reflection in anything but dark glass for the better part of fifteen months. I didn't feel like the same person any more, I wasn't sure I could face her again. After everything that had happened I expected to look like a twisted mutilated old hag – not a young woman at all. I had suffered too much to still be young.
    Head down I stared at the sink as I flipped the light switch on. I took a deep breath and a feeling as if I were falling came over me as I looked up... My vision was still a little blurry from sleep but I blinked several times at the girl in the mirror. She was scary skinny and a little pale, but she was me.
    Gage came back in the room carrying a full bottle of aspirin in his fist. We heal fast as a species; I heal faster because I'm Alpha. This works in our favor because Alpha's tend to fight more and need to be healthy to protect their packs.
    He stood back to survey the swelling and I wiggled nervously under his assessing