Heir To The Pack (The Cursed Pack Book 1) by Welling Laura

Author:Welling, Laura [Welling, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Laura Welling
Published: 2015-09-25T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

No matter his wolf-enhanced speed, Dash couldn’t get into Jack’s room fast enough. He barreled past his aunt and down the hallway, stopping on the threshold of the room, his heart beating in triple time.

He didn’t know what he’d expected to see when he got there, but it wasn’t this.

Annie was on the bed, her arms around Jack. The boy lay far too still for a child his age, his eyes open but hazy, his thumb in his mouth. The pallor of his skin made Dash’s gut churn. Annie stroked the boy’s hair, humming a tune that Dash couldn’t quite make out.

He hovered in the doorway, not sure what he could do or say to help. His fingers twitched at his sides. He needed to do something, but he was powerless.

Annie met his gaze. Her face, too, was pale, the shadows under her eyes huge, but she smiled at him, and she kept humming, kept stroking Jack’s hair.

The strength in her struck Dash like a blow to the face. She might be lightly built, and unable to change forms, and really far too much of an intellectual, but this was her strength, the strength of a mother. The strength that despite the odds and horrors that surrounded them made her a safe place, a happy place for her son. She’d keep her own fears for later, he knew, when she wouldn’t upset Jack. Did she cry into her pillow at night, or stare at the ceiling and hope for a cure?

Damn, there was something in his eye. He scrubbed at it with the back of his hand.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi, Dash,” Annie said, her voice calm. “Jackie wasn’t feeling very well, so we’re having a nice rest.” His son said nothing, but he heard the rhythmic sucking as the boy comforted himself with his thumb.

“Can I get you anything?”

“Oh, I think we’re fine,” Annie said. “You can come take a rest with us if you need to.”

He couldn’t tell her how much that invitation meant. Moving quietly, he laid down on the other side of Jack from Annie, and put his arms around them both, gently, trying hard not to disturb them too much.

Jack turned toward him and snuggled into his chest. Dash froze, amazed again by the smallness of the boy’s warm body against his. His face against Dash’s chest was hot, a reminder of why they lay there. His scent drifted up to Dash’s nostrils, and Dash inhaled deeply. Jack smelled sweet and clean, and as though he had recently eaten a cookie. His scent comforted Dash, as it held no hint of his illness. He leaned down and buried his nose in Jack’s shock of dark hair, absorbing the scent, learning it, and committing it to heart.

He glanced up, and met Annie’s gaze. Her face was soft, a smile at the corner of her lips. He smiled back at her, caught in the sweetness of it all, and squeezed her back against his hand.

He might not have planned this family, but they were his, damn it, and he’d be damned if he was going to let go.

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