I felt rather weak at the knees but I was sure that it was just from the pain and slight concussion. I swallowed. “Errr…”

He came even closer so that I was forced to crane my neck to meet his gaze. “Could it be,” he purred, “that you are trying to avoid being invited to London?”

“Yes! That’s it. Definitely,” I said, jumping on the excuse.

“And why is that exactly?” His voice was laced with steel.

I took a step back, hating myself for it but worried that the lotion might not be enough to mask my scent at these close quarters. I looked at Tom for inspiration. He jauntily hooked an arm through mine and beamed effusively at the alpha. “She just can’t bear to be without me,” he said, and stroked my hair lovingly. I tried not to jerk away and stuck a smile on my face.

The Alpha’s eyes went cold. “I see. Well, you’d better shift so you can start healing properly.”

I cast around for an excuse. “I’m…ummm…..I’m….. in mourning. I have taken a vow not to shift until our alpha’s murderer is brought to justice.” I silently apologised to John for the lie but kind of also applauded myself for my genius.

“Indeed.” A muscle pulsed in his cheek. “What happens when it’s the full moon then? If his killer has not been found by that point, I mean.”

“I possess unbelievable self-control,” I lied and tried to smile at him disarmingly, although my head took that moment to suddenly start pounding with pain again so it came out more like a maniacal grimace.

He looked down at me unfathomably. I wondered if swooning onto his broad chest would be considered poor self-control. Probably should try and avoid it, I thought.

“Well, I’d better get this gorgeous girl back to her, I mean, our room, so that we can get her fixed up for this afternoon,” said Tom, rather breezily, although I could hear the note of underlying tension in his voice, before he carefully swung me round to head back for the stairs.

“Take care now,” the Alpha murmured at our backs.

I knew that he was still watching with the others so I tried very hard to pull myself up the stairs without crying out. Tom did a good job of pretending to be a gentleman rather than just providing the support I needed so that I wouldn’t fall and somehow we made it up to the landing and round the corner.

“Was that the best idea?” I wheezed.

“What?” he said innocently.

“Saying that we’re mated. And that we’re sharing a room.”

“I didn’t actually say that,” he pointed out. “He merely inferred it.”

“You said that we shared a room.”

“Oh, that. Well, maybe it’s best I did. You shouldn’t be left alone in your condition. Besides what was that about not shifting because you’re in mourning?”

“It was the best I could come up with at the time. I thought it was rather good.” I clutched at his arm as we rounded another corner. “You do realise that you’ve lied to the alpha of all alphas and you’re screwed if he takes you to London? He’ll use the Voice and you’ll be compelled to tell him whatever he wants. He’ll work out in about five seconds flat that you were lying just now.”

“That’s not going to happen now Anton’s beaten me, though is it?” Tom answered quietly.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“No, you’re not. But it’s okay.” He pushed open a door to one of the unused couples’ rooms. “Let’s use this one.” I sagged against him in relief and stumbled inside. He closed the door behind him and sat me down on the bed.

“I’ll need to get some first aid materials. And some clean clothes.” He looked at me. “Can you wait here on your own?”

I nodded back at him and lay down, closing my eyes.

Two minutes later, the door opened again. Go away.

A brisk voice filled the space. “Mackenzie? Are you okay?”

I lifted myself up with a struggle and saw Julia. “Hey,” I said weakly, before sinking back down. “I’m fine.”

“That was stupid,” she muttered.

“I had no choice!” I protested.

“I was thinking of Anton, but you could have handled it better too.”

“How?” I asked, rising up again. “How could I have survived what he was doing? If I’d died and they’d found out I was human…,” I didn’t need to finish my sentence.

“After that display, I think the human part remains to be seen,” she said softly. “All you’ve done is proven to them that you’re the strongest, fastest member of the pack. They’ll invite you to London.”

I grunted. “Well, I don’t have to go. Apparently I’m in love with Tom and we can’t bear to be separated.”

Julia laughed, surprising me. “I don’t think he’s your type, dear.”

“What am I going to do, Julia?” I felt flooded with despair. “I can’t heal, I can’t shift, I smell funny…they’re going to work it out sooner or later.”

“They won’t. This mourning idea of yours might work.”

“Oh, you heard about that then.”

“Yes. And anyway, there’s only a day and a half to go and then they’ll be gone.” She turned to leave.

“Julia? Have they found out anything at all about John?”

A flicker of grief crossed her face. “No. It’s as you said. There’s no trace of anything. They have arranged for a mage to visit the scene and scan it though.”

Alarmed, I sat up higher still, ignoring the shooting pain in my side. “A mage? But they’ll know straightaway that I’m not a shifter!”

“And won’t care. Mages are paid to do a job and that’s what they do, no more and no less. As long as you don’t get in his or her way, they won’t say anything.”

“How terribly mercenary,” I murmured.

“It’s the way of the world, dear. I’ll pass some of my yarrow ointment to Tom when I see him. It will help with the healing and make this afternoon easier.”

Oh yes, great, I still had the Spanish inquisition this afternoon. Zippideedoodah.

“Use damp cloths to get the worst of the blood off then re-apply the lotion. You’re probably safe to bathe after the interview, as long as you don’t go near them again for a few hours.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I snapped off a sloppy salute.

Julia sighed deeply. “Take care, Mackenzie.”

Tom returned not long after Julia’s departure. Fortunately, he’d remembered to bring some scissors to cut off my clothes, along with some brutally strong painkillers. I briefly considered saving my modesty and trying to dress the wound myself but I knew that it’d be more sensible to just accept his offer of help. He was actually surprisingly gentle, peeling away my blood-soaked t-shirt carefully to reach the ugly wounds within. He dabbed at them with the cloth that he’d brought, soaking up the worst of the leaking blood, and then used Julia’s ointment as an antiseptic and healing agent.

As he was binding my ribs up carefully with a bandage, Betsy entered. She didn’t look particularly happy to see me lolling around half naked with Tom, in fact there was a dangerous flash of something in her eyes. I’d taken enough painkillers to dull not only the pain but also my senses and wondered if I’d half-imagined it for a second. That was until she started speaking.

“What the fuck? You’re an item? Since when?”

Oooookay, then.

Tom, naturally, was oblivious. “It’s just for the Brethren.”

“Fuck the Brethren!” Betsy spat.

I couldn’t have agreed more.

“And what the hell were you doing in that fight with Anton?” She fixed him with a hard glare and put her hands on her hips. “Do you want to go to London?”

“It would be amazing, wouldn’t it?” Tom sighed expansively.

I didn’t think I’d ever seen Betsy that upset, not even when her favourite soap character was axed in a horrific ball of fiery death storyline. I gaped at her. She was already in the throes of shifting with her spine elongating and pockets of fur springing out on her bare arms.

“Jaysus! You’re tying that bandage all wrong!” There was a definite note of hysteria in her voice now. “Get out!”

“Huh?”

“Get out!” She pulled him to his feet and practically threw him out the door. I looked at her with shocked surprise and was about to start speaking but she silenced me with a growl and went to work on the bandage. Tom and Betsy – wonders would never cease. An uncontrollable urge to giggle overtook me. I tried to smother it and ended up snorting in a most unladylike fashion. She slapped me on my uninjured side.

“Don’t, just don’t, even go there, Mack.”

I snorted some more, now hiccupping a little too. She gave me a death stare until I managed to subside and she spoke. “Don’t think I’m letting you off with this either, Mack. When you heal, and the Brethren have gone, and we’re all safe, I’m going to kill you too.”

I hugged her fiercely. She seemed surprised to begin with but then hugged me back. “I mean it. You are going to be one dead human.”

“Whatever you say, Bets.”

She humphed for a few seconds before pulling back. “Now put some clothes on. We’re going to show those arseholes that one little fight isn’t going to knock you down.”

At least this time I managed to avoid the hole in the carpet on my way down the stairs. It was a painful trek to the canteen, however, despite managing to not fall on my bum down the stairs - and with being doped up on painkillers to my eyeballs. Even without shifting, pack members would heal quicker than your regular run of the mill human like me so I’d still have to do a fair degree of pretending not to be in mind-numbingly awful pain, despite my mourning excuse. Tom admitted that he felt bad that he’d shifted during his fight with Anton, otherwise he’d have jumped on my bandwagon to give my reason more validity. It was a nice idea, but I figured that if the truth did come out, the rest of my pack would have a better chance if they could simply pin the blame on the unshakeable geas. Voluntarily helping to cover up a human beyond the spell’s required bounds would be a different matter