Veiled Spirits

“That’s my line, sweetheart. How are you?” I dodge her question because I’m not fucking okay. How can I be anything other than destroyed when Izzy has been hurting for years, and I haven’t fixed it yet?

She shrugs behind me. “I don’t know. I just want to feel safe.” Her quiet admission completely undoes me and shatters my heart. Izzy is so reluctant to admit when she’s hurting or needs something. For her to tell me that, things must be worse than I thought. I would give anything to protect her, to wrap her up, to keep her safe. But I can’t when I don’t even know what I need to protect her from.

Rather than dwell on all the ways I can’t help Izzy, I try to think of ways to make her feel better. “Would having your other mates here help you feel safer?”

Her breath hitches, and I already know her answer. “Yes,” she breathes so quietly I can barely hear her.

“I’ll go get them.” Izzy’s hands are clasped in front of my throat. I bring them up to kiss them tenderly before I unwind her arms from my neck. Standing, I pull on my shirt from earlier and shove my feet into boots.

“What if they’re busy?” Izzy bites her lip in worry.

I barely contain my snort. Even if Luca and Cain were in an important meeting, they’d drop it in a heartbeat if Izzy needed them. Izzy doesn’t know it, but she already has the wolves wrapped around her finger. “They’re not. I’ll get them and be right back.”

When I get a nod from Izzy, I open a portal to Luca’s bedroom. I step through and close it behind me.

“Can I help you, Bishop?” Luca questions sarcastically from the mahogany desk in the corner of his room. I’m relieved to see he’s at least wearing pants. Wolves are weird about nudity. They walk around naked more often than I’d like.

“Izzy needs you and Cain.”

“What fucking happened? Where is she? Is she hurt?” Luca jumps up from his desk and storms over to me.

I clench my jaw, wishing I had more answers to give him. “I don’t know what happened. She’s at my loft with Arch and Levi. She’s physically fine.”

“But?” Luca perceptively realizes I’m leaving something out.

I sigh. “Arch thinks someone tried to sexually assault her. I’m inclined to agree. Levi’s the only one who knows anything, but he promised not to tell us.”

Luca’s eyes turn the amber of his wolf, and he lets out a wordless howl, full of anger and pain. His eyes flicker between amber and blue as he gets in my face. “How did this fucking happen?”

I’m used to dealing with his temperamental alpha wolf, so I don’t even flinch. As an alpha, Luca’s wolf is stronger than average and has its own personality. While it’s helpful for leading the pack, it makes managing strong emotions a challenge. “I don’t know, Luca. I get what you’re feeling, man. I really fucking do, but you need to rein it in. Izzy needs all of us to help her feel safe right now. What she doesn’t need is a rampaging alpha.”

“What’s going on?” Cain asks from Luca’s doorway. He must’ve heard his alpha howling and came running. Scrubbing my hands over my face, I tell him the same thing I told Luca. Cain grips the doorframe so hard, a chunk of it crumbles in his hand. The normally stoic wolf’s eyes are also flickering amber as he fights the urge to shift. His lips lift into a snarl, but he stays by the door as he struggles to regain control.

It takes ten minutes to calm the wolves enough so we can get back to Izzy. I’m drained from trying to keep my own seething rage in control and help the wolves with control too. When I open another portal and step through it, my steps are dragging.

I wake up when I see a massive bed in my room that definitely wasn’t there before. Izzy is spooned by Levi and facing Archer. Luca and Cain bump into me as I stop in my tracks. I turn to look at Levi, my brows raised in a question.

“Your bed barely fit us. It wouldn’t fit the other wolves too. I expanded it.” Levi looks at me from over Izzy’s shoulder, his tattooed arm curled protectively over our mate.

“How?” Mage magic doesn’t work like that. It can’t create things out of thin air. Our magic relies on manipulating what’s already there.

“I have my ways, wolf.” Levi doesn’t say any more, and I decide to leave it for now.

I toe off my boots and shuck my pants and shirt. As I approach the bed, I tell Archer, “Move.” The perks of having my mate sleep in my bed is that I get to sleep next to her. Archer rolls his eyes but scoots over. I climb in next to Izzy. Luca gets into bed on the other side of Archer, and Cain takes Levi’s opposite side. I brush a lock of golden hair out of Izzy’s face. “Feeling safer now, sweetheart?”

“Yeah. Thanks, St. James. You always know what I need.” Her words are soft and laced with sleepiness. With one last look at me, Izzy closes her eyes and succumbs to sleep.

As I watch her peaceful face and even breaths, I vow to do whatever it takes to protect her and provide her that peace when she’s awake too.

CHAPTER 24

IZZY

It’s been over a week since I’ve seen the wolves. I’ve been avoiding Bishop and Levi, too, after last Monday night.

Everything was just too much. My mates made me feel too much. I don’t know how to get back all the pieces of me they stole when they dropped everything to hold me and make me feel safe again.

The feeling of safety evaporated when I returned to school on Tuesday. Tyler glares at me and bodychecks me any chance he gets. I can tell that he’s biding his time to try something again.