Chapter 315 Idiot Pup  

~ ZEV ~

"You fucking idiot."

Zev startled awake. Bald sunlight blazed through the cave mouth casting golden patterns on the stone floor where it filtered through the leaves. Zev blinked against the light, then squinted at the much darker shadow standing over him.

Skhal.

Shit.

Zev started to sit up. "Good morn—"

The slap was open handed and left his ear ringing. "Skhal! What the fuck!" Zev clutched it with a hiss and glared up at the male who hadn't punished him that way since he was fifteen. "What are you doing?"

"Treating you like the pup you apparently still are. What the hell were you thinking, Zev? Drugging me? You think that's funny?!"

"No, I was trying to keep you safe, and you know… calm."

"Calm? You think this is the way to calm me?!"

"No!" Zev threw the furs back and pushed to his feet, staring down at Skhal from his greater height. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to do it. But you wouldn't listen and I needed to leave last night, and I knew you'd fight."

"You went to get Sasha?"

"No! I mean, I went to the gateway…"

"Fucking liar. I know you, Zev—"

"Smell me, Skhal. No people. No roads. No nothing. I went to the gateway. That was all."

Skhal narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but leaned in to sniff him, then inhale deeper.

When he straightened, he folded his arms. "Not quite as much of an idiot as I thought. But still deserving of the title. What the hell, Zev? Why go all that way if you weren't going after her?"

Zev pursed his lips and turned away to pick up his clothing. "I needed to feel close to her."

He didn't think Skhal would ever betray his secrets, but instinct told him keeping his ability to mind-link with Sasha a secret was going to be beneficial. Lhars already knew. That was enough.

"Close to her?"

"I was cleared to walk okay? I took it slow, but I needed to do something. I had to move. I had to feel like I was doing something—and that took me as close to her as I can be right now, so… I'm not apologizing for going, Skhal. Only for drugging you. I'm sorry. I was desperate."

Skhal watched him shake out his furs and put them on, but different emotions chased themselves across his face—judgement, compassion, irritation, indignation.

Once Zev had the last of his buttons done he turned to face the older man. "Can you forgive me?" he asked quietly.

Skhal's lips twisted to the side. "I shouldn't. That's a dick move."

"I know. But admit it, you would have done the same thing."

Skhal's eyes went flat. "I might have."

"You're the one who told me how to do it, Skhal. Careful getting too high up there on your pony."

Skhal snorted. "I never taught you to put an entire people at risk by disappearing—again—when you're Alpha. That's on you."

"It's okay, I won't be doing it again. Not until we go get her."

"Why, what happened?"

"Nothing!" he lied. "It was just… hard. Really hard to be there and not go after her. Painful. I just… I can't put myself through that again."

Skhal nodded slowly, but still didn't look happy. "Well, we're taking a trip to the healers right now, and they're assessing you again. No more shifting, no more anything for you until they've checked you out."

"You know, when Allory asked me which of my friends was the most obnoxious and I told him you, I was trying to be funny. I didn't realize it was true."

"You're a riot, Zev," Skhal muttered, stomping towards the cave mouth. "Come on, I'm not feeding you until they've said you haven't lost your mind."

Zev sighed, but followed the male out into the sunlight, shading his eyes against it. He'd slept really late.

*****

Allory straightened from listening to Zev's chest.

He'd had Zev sprint several circles of the clearing, shift twice, then sit down so he could listen to his heart. Now he looked back and forth between Zev and Skhal, his forehead pinched into worry lines.

"How bad is it?" Skhal asked him when Zev was too frightened to do it. Had the bond tearing done damage to his heart?

"It's not," the healer said flatly. "That's the problem. I don't want to tell him that he's healing quickly, because it seems like rewarding stupidity."

Skhal snorted. "Too late."

Zev glared at both of them. "So, I'm good?"

"You're good," Allory said. "You're released. You still need to sleep and eat a lot. You need to give you body breaks. You'll get tired quicker than usual. But your body is ready to go back to normal functioning."

"Does that mean I can go to the City today? Check up on everything there?"

Allory sighed. "Yes, but eat before you go, take snacks and water with you. And don't sleep there. Give your body a true break—mental rest is as important as physical, Zev. You have to heal. That comes from within."

"I know that. And I'll do it. But I'm good to travel to the city?"

"Yes."

"Don't tell him that!" Skhal barked.

Allory shrugged. "It would be a lie not to. Whatever he did, it didn't harm him."

Zev grinned. "I went to bed early, then went for a walk on a clear winter night. It was beautiful." The two men glowered at him. "You're both acting like mother hens. You really should find something else to do with your time."

Skhal lifted a hand like he'd cuff him again, and Zev grunted and scooted out of reach, leaving Allory fighting a smile behind him.

"Thank you, both of you!" Zev called back to them as he walked to the door like that was where he'd been headed the whole time. "See you at lunch, Skhal?"

The male growled and Zev chuckled, but the smile fell off his face as soon as he got outside.

He was healing. For real. He was Alpha, and he was healing, and he needed to get his mate back.

He would eat. Then he would go to the City. Then he would put the final measures in place for their plan to free Sasha.

He'd give her three days to try and get the females out. Then he was getting her out of there, whether she was ready to leave or not.