They were threats, danger, they made her frightened. Instinct said “flee.” But safety was so near now. So tempting. As the packmates spoke, facing the other direction, the wolf lowered her body and moved forward. She stayed close to the wall, pausing when the words stopped. Always silent, careful, and stealthy, the wolf moved until the scent was overwhelming.

The packmates were still speaking when she followed the scent into a room. Slowly she padded along soft ground. There was another strong scent here. “Cat,” she knew. “Hunk.” It hissed when she neared the large object that contained safety, but it made no threatening move.

The wolf knew that she needed to climb to get to safety. There was another object. It smelled much like a tree. “Chair.” She hopped nimbly onto it and saw that the large object containing safety was like her prison. But there was no wall at the top. The wolf looked inside and inhaled deeply. A pup. “Kye.” Just like when Jaime had held him, the pup smelled to the wolf like safety and—

Movement caught her eye. Packmates. She froze. They froze.

“Dominic” spoke. “Trey…Tell me that’s not Jaime.”

“She must have attacked Dante and gotten out.”

The Alpha female spoke then. “I don’t smell blood.”

“Dominic” scented of nervousness. “What do we do? I don’t want to hurt Jaime, I really don’t, but what if she hurts Kye?”

“I wonder what made her come here.”

The Alpha male growled at his mate. “That’s not the important part of the situation we have here, Taryn.” He put an object to his ear. “Dante, you okay? Jaime got out. She’s in mine and Taryn’s room, hanging over the crib.”

The wolf didn’t like that the Alpha male’s voice was now loud and angry. She growled warningly. He growled back.

“Hurry, Dante.” He put the object away.

The wolf knew the scent coming from the Alpha male—panic. When he moved toward her, she growled again. This male who had challenged her was dangerous. Would attempt to dominate her, would hurt her and take her away from safety. From the pup, from “Kye.”

“Dominic, we can’t wait for him. On the count of three, I’ll dive at the wolf. You dive at the crib and protect Kye.”

The Alpha female’s voice lost its softness. “What am I, chopped liver?”

“I don’t want you near her. She’s unstable. You didn’t see what my mother did to Marcus.”

“Jaime isn’t rogue.”

“She almost is. There’s not much difference between the two, trust me.” He turned to the male.

“On the count of three, Dominic. One…two…thr—”

“No!”

The wolf flinched at the noise, surprised. Her mate was there now. He was in front of her. The Alpha couldn’t reach her. Her mate had protected her. Again.

Dante had never been so damn scared in his entire f**king life. Who could have blamed Trey for attacking the wolf before she had the chance to attack his son? But Dante just couldn’t allow any harm to come to Jaime. He couldn’t. Everything inside him rebelled against it, balked at it.

“Dante, move,” gritted out Trey.

“I can’t,” he said in an agonizing whisper.

“Hey, look.” Taryn sounded surprised, intrigued, and amused all at once.

Dante turned to look at his mate, who had now hopped down from the chair. She gave Trey a disgruntled look and settled beside Hunk at the base of the crib.

“I can’t believe I never thought of it before.”

He turned back to Taryn. “What?”

“My grandmother was the same.”

“Taryn, what the hell are you talking about?” demanded Trey.

She rolled her eyes at his tone. “Our son’s a healer.”

“A healer?”

“My grandmother was a healer, but she could only heal psychological wounds. She was the only reason my father survived my mother’s death. She didn’t help me with it because the other person has to want her help, and I didn’t want help from anyone. I was too deep in grief.” Dante frowned, still a little confused. “So…Kye’s an empathic healer?”

“No, that’s different. He won’t be able to help with emotions. Only mental scars. I thought Hunk followed him around because he was being protective, but Hunk was an abused cat, right?

Clearly he’s still got a little mental trauma, and so he’s drawn to Kye. It’ll make him automatically protective of Kye, too. That was how it was for my grandmother, anyway.” For the first time in a month, optimism flowed through Dante. “You’re saying he can heal Jaime’s wolf?”

“Um…no.”

“No?”

“He’s just a baby, Dante. But clearly, Jaime’s wolf finds his presence soothing, calming. You need to take advantage of her lucidity and try to gain her trust now while she’s receptive to you.” Trey shook his head. “No chance will I let her anywhere near my son while she’s in that state.

I’m sorry, Dante, I really am, but just as you need to protect Jaime, I need to protect Kye.”

“That’s the thing, though, Flintstone—she’s not in a state anymore. If there’s one thing I can guarantee she won’t do, it’s hurt Kye. Like Hunk, she’ll be protective of him.” Trey ground his teeth, scowling at Taryn. “We can’t—”

“Zip it, Trey. If that was me needing help, you’d be singing a different tune. Do you really think I’d do anything that would put our son in danger?”

Seeming to accept her point, albeit begrudgingly, he turned back to Dante. “We’re not moving from the room, and if she tries to hurt Kye, you won’t save her from me. Understand?” Dante gave him a curt nod, though he had no intention of letting Trey harm her. He looked at the wolf and then back at Taryn. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Sit with her. Talk to her. Touch her.”

“She never wants me near her.”

“Probably because she didn’t feel safe before. You can’t expect her to feel safe when she’s in a cage—it totally negates the chance of it. I’m not judging you for it—you didn’t have a choice. She wasn’t in a state that meant you could free her. Now she is.” Still unsure and off-center, Dante scrubbed a hand down his face and inhaled deeply. Taryn was right, though: the wolf did find Kye’s presence calming. Well, that was a start.