Chapter 213 Chapter 213
Jesse paused for a second and looked behind him at the bag he was dragged back up. It was an ingenious idea, however a lot of work he’d discovered. He looked down at the path, probably would have been easier when the trail was maintained.
His cat wasn’t all that thrilled with the harness around his neck, Jesse had to keep pausing to shift it so most of the weight was pulling across his chest. He’d packed the bars, some water, a few juices, the medkit, and most of the snacks he’d had in the van.
Shaelan had said the painkillers wouldn’t hurt, but he was still going to monitor her because if she’d never had anything like that before, there was no telling how it would react in her system.
When he got back up there, he really wanted to talk to Evanna some more. She seemed to cope with anything he told her. He needed to explain about the graveyard. Word had come from Shepard Addison and that word was the bodies would have to be removed, for the safety of the entire shifter world. It didn’t matter which one he told, he knew it wasn’t going to go over well. Hell, if someone told him they were going to mess with his loved one’s graves, he’d probably take a bite out of them.
His cat paused for a few steps and let out a low growl, before picking up the pace. That was his way of telling Jesse to shut up with all the thoughts in his head and to work more to get back to the top of the mountain.
When he picked up the metallic smell, he knew to stay on the path this time and cut a lot of time off the trip up. He couldn’t help thinking about things. That was his mate up there and so much was uncertain right now. The first thing that needed to happen after he got her down from here was he needed to get her the help Shaelan was talking about. The fact she’d survived this long out here on her own was miracle enough, he was taking no chances.
It occurred to him when he spotted the fence that his cat had been oddly quiet throughout the whole talk with Evanna before he went down to the van. He wasn’t sure why that was. Although knowing now that she was his mate explained the strange behavior of his animal side when around her.
Stopping outside the gate, he dropped his head, so the harness was off his neck and shifted. He’d left his clothes here.
Getting dressed quickly, he opened the gate and carried the bag inside. Securing it, he made quick work heading to the middle house.
Evanna was sitting at the table writing in the journal when walked in. She glanced up and him, “that was fast.”
Jesse shrugged, “it’s much shorter with four legs.” He motioned to the book in front of her, “you’re still writing?”
She rolled her eyes, “it’s hard to figure out how to say some things.” She glanced down at it, “I’m not much of a writer, Leah could go on for pages.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever written more than a few sentences at once,” he grimaced, “since I left school.”
“Aunt Tillie used to make me write paragraph after paragraph.” She grinned, “and there was no cheating and getting Leah to do it because our writing is so different.”
“Points for trying I guess.” He set the bag on the table and opened it. “I brought a little of everything.” He started setting it on the table. “Protein bars, water, juice, some chips, and jerky…”
“You have jerky?” She stood up and leaned over to look at it. “I miss jerky. Papa Low made the best.”
“Well, this probably won’t taste anything like that, because I bought it in a store.” He pulled out the medkit. “Shaelan says try one acetaminophen and see how it goes.” He opened the plastic box and got them out, “they might make you feel weird because you’ve never had anything like that.”
“If it helps my head, I’ll try it.” She looked at the bottle in his hand.
Jesse got one out and held it to her. After she took it, he handed her a bottle of water.
She read the label. “You buy water too?” Popping the pill in her mouth, she opened the bottle and took a drink. “It tastes different.”
“It’s purified.”
Evanna gave him a weird look, then capped the bottle and put it down. She picked up the journal and held it out to him, “can you look at this and see if I should add something else? I really want to get through to her.”
He nodded and took the book.
“Can I?” She motioned to the things he’d put on the table.
“Help yourself.”
She smiled at him, and it was the first time he’d seen that strained, ‘hard life’ look leave her face.
“You should smile more often.” He said quietly as he sat down and looked in the book. It was hard to take his eyes off her for more than a second as she picked up the things he’d put on the table. She ran her hands over the packaging and read the labels one after the other. “Try whatever you like.”
Her eyes widened, then she smiled. “I don’t know what to start with first. We need to save some of this for Leah to try too.” She nodded and picked up the jerky again. Frowning at it for a second, she figured out how to open it. Taking a bite, she nodded her head and with huge eyes looked back at him while she chewed.
Jesse smiled at her and then forced himself to look down at the book. Watching her was refreshing. Seeing her look at things for the first time made him see them in a different way too. He flipped back a page to where she’d started. The last entry was from her telling Leah it was time to leave the mountain. There was no reply.
Hi
That was quite the run Minn took today, huh? Jesse was there for me once I got her under control. He’s sorry for causing it. I believe him. There’s something about him that is sincere and I’m trusting him, so you can too. You know I always look out for you. I always have and always will, Leah.
He’s gone down to his van to get some painkillers that will help with the headache. I’m excited about that. He is also bringing up some other things like juice and these protein bars. You have to try those. They taste like nothing I’ve ever had before.
Leah, he knows what’s wrong with us and says there’s help for us if we go with him. I believe him. I’m going to talk to his healer when he gets back, on his phone. He can even send messages on his phone without talking. Almost everyone carries a phone with them. It’s completely crazy.
I need you to think about what you need to take with you when we leave. His friends at the Alliance are going to come back and pack everything else up for us. So please think about it and leave a list. We need to get off this mountain and get some help, for Minn especially.
If you feel like you’re going to lose control of Minn when you are with Jesse, just hold his hand. There’s something calming about it.
Get to work on the list.
Ev
He was humbled by her belief in him. She didn’t know him and yet she was putting her, no, their fate in his hands. Jesse cleared his throat and then looked up to see her eating a protein bar. He couldn’t believe she liked them.
She swallowed it. “Does it make sense?”
He nodded. “Do you think she’ll listen?”
Evanna shrugged, “I think so. I’ve never been wrong about a person before, so I think she will.”
“Okay.” He closed the book and handed it back to her.
She went over and put it on the table beside the chair. “She’ll check it.”
“Will she be back in the morning?” He didn’t understand how it worked really.
Evanna came back over and picked up the bottle of water. “Probably. I’m not out for long periods of time anymore, just usually when she needs to work through something.”
“What about Minn?” If he was going to load up the van and leave, he needed an idea of what to expect. Having Thera in there was going to be adventure enough, he was sure.
“I usually take Minn for a run when I’m out, sometimes Leah can if all is calm.” She made a face, “if it were up to Leah, she’d let Minn take control all the time. It’s just been the last two years she’s been able to be herself for longer than an hour.”
He stood up, “If you have any suggestions on how I can help, let me know. That includes the trip too, it’s going to be a long drive back and the smoother that goes the easier it will be on everyone.”
Evanna snorted softly, “I don’t even know if we’ll get Thera in a vehicle.”
Jesse blew out a breath, “yeah I was afraid of that.” He motioned to the door, “come show me what’s what. I looked around earlier, and made a list, but if you can shed some light on things it might make this go a little faster.”
“Yeah.” She paused and grabbed another bar and her bottle of water. “I really like these things.” She grinned and went to the door.
Jesse looked down at the protein bars and then picked up a pack of the jerky instead. “We’ll call Shaelan before we start.” He told her as he followed her out.