It Was A Chore

It Was A Chore
LINCOLN

Ever since the first night I had marked Ginger, I’d known this might happen. I’d known she might be triggered by someone or something that would spark her first shift and as I wasn’t ready for the world to know that I’d claimed her, I’d prepared accordingly, carrying a petal of wolfsbane in my pocket at all times. 

Now, as she lay there writhing on the floor, her body contorting and her joints popping for the first time, I had to move quickly, using my gifted speed to ensure that no one saw what I did next. Reaching into my pocket and blocking sight of Ginger with my body, I tore a tiny piece of the petal then slipped it into her mouth, under her tongue. The effect of the wolfsbane in this form was immediate, but the flower was bitter, so no sooner had she stopped shifting, she began gagging.

I heard Alpha Rafael at my back, speaking to my mother, “What did you poison her with, demon woman? What have you done to my niece?” 

My mother was crowding my back, practically breathing down my neck, but when Rafael spoke to her, she stiffened, whirling on him. “Oh, shut up! I’ve done nothing! You saw her! She was fine a few minutes ago!” 

Gazing down at my Strawberry, I noticed the tiny scrap of a dress she wore was twisted out of shape and ready to spill her assets for all to see. My left side tingled with apprehension and I threw a quick glance in that direction to find my father’s eyes riveted on my girl, a look in them that I’d never seen before, one that made me want to pluck out his eyes. 

Am I really seeing this? Is that hunger in his gaze or is my obsession driving me toward madness?

Shaking off the unwanted thoughts, I turned back to Ginger, shifting my stance so that I effectively blocked all her most dazzling parts with my body and staunched my recurrent paranoia. She looked up at me, still coughing, and I lifted her from the floor to cradle her close to my chest. 

“L-Linc-coln,” she sputtered. “What did you-”

“Swallow it, Strawberry,” I whispered, placing my lips on her ear. “Swallow it now.”

Her eyes were wild and full of questions, but she nodded stiffly and I watched as she attempted to heed my command, swallowing and swallowing to no avail. 

Shit, her mouth is too dry.

Shuffling my hold on her, I balanced her entire body along my one arm and grabbed a goblet of water from the table with my free hand to aid her. Before I could pour it down her throat, and no doubt spill a good deal of it on her chest, she snatched it away from me and brought it to her lips, drinking greedily as I reinforced my hold on her.

“Better?” I murmured, unable to keep myself from dipping my nose in her hair for a deep draw of her strawberry and cream scent.

“Y-yes,” she replied, her body shivering against me. “Just…t-tired.”

Damn.

The wolfsbane she’d ingested would be making her feel slightly ill until it passed through her system. Fortunately, she didn’t have anywhere to be that wasn’t her bed tomorrow night and the wolfsbane should ensure that she remain there, unshifted, until well after the Run had been completed.

“I’ll take you to your room,” I said softly, and she began to shake her head in protest, her gaze falling over my shoulder toward where Marsha remained seated and steaming with irritation.

Silencing her protests with a single look, one that said she wouldn’t be alone there, one that promised to rock her to sleep, I made to step away from the table.

“Lincoln, where are you going?” my mother’s voice scalped me, her irritating timbre much too close to my ears, reminding me of what I had planned tonight before this shitshow began.

Shit. I’m going to have to sneak out after Ginger falls asleep.

Shoving my mother back with my elbow, I cradled Ginger tighter to my chest and replied, “I’m taking Ginger to her room, mother, where I will wait with her for the Pack Doctor. The rest of you should finish dinner and then get some sleep.”

Keeping my eyes averted as I stalked toward the exit, I watched the group in my peripheral, freezing the very moment I saw Marsha leap from her seat and head my way.

Turning only my head so that I could fix her with a stern glare, I said, “It was a chore meeting you, Marsha. Have a safe trip home.”

”Seriously???” she exclaimed and I smiled as I turned away. “But, you promised that we-th-that-I would-that you would-”

“I lied,” I threw back plainly as I stepped past the threshold and into the corridor. “Go home.”

The laughter that followed me into the hall came from the Beta and Alpha of the Thunder Wolf Pack and after glancing down at Ginger who was gazing up at me with thankful, sleepy eyes, I called out on a whim, “Alpha Rafael?”

His response was immediate, and I slowed my steps to accommodate his presence. “Yes?” he replied, falling into step next to me as I continued toward the common hall, mindful of whether or not my family was trailing me. They had yet to find out that I’d moved Ginger into her own suite and I didn’t intend for them to find out until I was ready.

“We should talk,” I said, shooting a quick glance around to be sure we weren’t being followed by Marsha, or worse, my mother.

Alpha Rafael’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “We should.”

“I’ll meet you in my office in twenty minutes,” I said quietly. “After I get Ginger settled.”

“You’re not really calling the Pack doctor, are you?” Rafael surmised with a quirk of one brow.

I met his astute gaze with one of my own and said pointedly, “No. I’m not.”