“I’m coming!” Shaya gave Derren a weak smile. “If she wakes up, send for me.”
Once she’d left, he returned to his seat and clasped his hands beneath his chin as he continued to watch over Ally. Some of the color was coming back to her cheeks, but not enough for his liking. What worried him most was that she was so still. He’d seen her sleeping many times in her hammock, noticed that she fidgeted something awful in her sleep—especially when she was having nightmares.
He wasn’t sure what those nightmares were about, and he didn’t have the right to ask. But it both interested and concerned him that she suffered from them so regularly. The fact that she wasn’t his concern didn’t seem to matter to his instincts or to his wolf. And it was slowly not coming to matter to Derren either.
His thoughts cut off as her eyelids fluttered and one leg straightened. Then those almond green eyes met his. Confusion, wariness, and surprise fought for supremacy in her expression as she glanced around. “You’re all right,” he assured her. “You’re in Nick and Shaya’s lodge.”
Her gaze returned to his as she licked her lips, seemingly more alert now.
“How are you feeling?”
It was a long moment before she answered. “Okay.”
“Do you remember what happened? Do you remember the explosion?”
After another moment, she nodded. “What was it?”
“We think it was a rifle grenade of some kind.” He hadn’t made much of a contribution to Nick’s investigation, wanting to stay with Ally instead. “You healed me. It was hurting you. I could feel it.” He’d hated that. He was a dominant wolf shifter; it was in his makeup to protect females and children, especially those directly under his protection. But whether he’d wanted to or not, he’d caused her pain. And she’d still willingly taken his. “But you didn’t pull away. You took my pain and added it to your own. Why?”
She swallowed. “Because it was the right thing to do.”
“I didn’t deserve your help.”
“Oh, I know that.”
His mouth twitched into a smile. “Thank you for what you did.”
“Don’t thank me. It’s what I do.”
Apparently praise made his Seer feel uncomfortable. “I’m still grateful.”
Sitting upright, she threaded a hand through her hair. “How long was I out?”
“A little over three hours. You don’t seem surprised. Is that normal?”
“Only if the injuries I’ve healed are extensive.”
It was safe to say that third-degree burns counted as serious. “Do your eyes always turn white when you have a vision?” Although he’d met several Seers, he’d never been present while one had a vision.
“As far as I know, yeah.”
“I didn’t like seeing you like that. It was like you were somewhere else.” Like her soul had vacated her body, left it cold. His wolf had panicked. “Shaya died in the vision, didn’t she? You saved her.” Ally opened her mouth to speak, but then there was a familiar loud, rhythmic knock at the door that told him it was his Alpha male. “It’s Nick. You up for visitors?”
Ally shrugged. “Sure.” What she really wanted was to leave and get back to her lodge. She was feeling groggy and irritable, which wouldn’t make her good company for anyone. She watched as Derren opened the door, allowing Nick to enter, and then closed it on the faces grouped there. She was sure she’d seen Kent, Caleb, and Bracken—all of whom had been scowling at Derren.
Ally swung her legs off the bed to better sit up. Derren returned to her side, his stance oddly protective.
Nick noted it with a raised eyebrow before turning to Ally. “How do you feel?” His condemnation and annoyance seemed to have melted away, replaced by an appreciation that warmed her skin.
“Okay.”
“From what the others told me, it sounds like you had a vision. Is that right?”
She nodded, barely managing to repress a shudder as the sight of Shaya’s dead body flashed in her mind.
“Can you tell me what you saw?”
“I saw exactly what happened out there. An explosion.”
“But you were all hurt pretty badly in the vision,” he assumed.
“She saved Shaya’s life,” said Derren, wanting his Alpha male and friend to fully appreciate and acknowledge just what he could have lost today if it hadn’t been for Ally.
Nick only briefly flicked his gaze to Derren. “I’m in your debt, Ally. And I won’t forget that.”
She would have told him that there was no debt, that she owed him for letting her stay with his pack temporarily. But he was already leaving, ushering the wolves that stood outside the door into moving along.
“Ready to go back to your own lodge?” asked Derren once they were alone again.
She closed her eyes, holding up a hand. “Stop.”
“What?”
“Being nice. It’s weird.”
His mouth curved slightly. “You like me better when I’m a bastard?”