I went on autopilot for the next few days. Though it had been my choice, leaving Liam and the others behind felt like I’d ripped out a part of my soul and left it with them. But, I knew in my heart it was necessary. With everything that had happened at the Langleys’ store, being topside had become increasingly dangerous for them. Liam needed me to be his eyes and ears in Shadow Springs whether either of us liked it or not.

The clinic stayed busy, and I found myself avoiding Bess and sticking to conversations only related to office matters. To her credit, she did the same. Until the day she didn’t.

At the end of the day, the week after I last left Liam, Bess found me while I was finishing up charting for the day. She came into the office and quietly shut the door. Everyone else had left, so it was just the two of us.

Bess stood with her back against the door. She chewed her bottom lip and made a few false starts with heavy breaths before she finally said what she’d come for. I stayed stone still, my pen poised above a pad of paper.

“Is it enough?” she said.

I waited a beat, then leaned back in the chair, tossing the pen to the desk. “Is what enough, Bess?”

With slow, halting steps, she came forward and eased herself into one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. It was a strange dynamic, me sitting behind her desk with her on the opposite side...as if I were the doctor and she was the patient.

She folded her hands and rested them on the desk. Leaning in, she spoke so quietly I had to strain to hear. It made my spine prickle. We were the only two people in the building. “For your friends,” she said. “Was the package you took them enough?”

I felt like I had quicksand under my feet. Alarm bells went off. She’d helped me. There was no doubt of it. But, could I trust her? I realized this had to have been the same sensation Keara must have had when Liam brought me to the caves for the first time.

I had a choice to make. In the span of a heartbeat, I made it. “No. Of course it isn’t enough. As long as things remain...how they are...it will never be enough, Bess.”

Her face fell. She slowly closed her eyes and sat back in her chair. When she opened them again, they were bloodshot with the first hint of fresh tears. “You don’t know how dangerous this is for me,” she said.

“I think I do. And I also think your conscience is telling you we have to find a way to do more.” I paused, took a steadying breath, then dove in with both feet.

“Bess, you know what happened to Bernie and Ellie Langley. And you know why it happened.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “And I know it’s going to keep happening.”

“Exactly. So help me. The Chief Pack is getting bolder. More people are going to get hurt or disappear just like the Langleys if people like you and me don’t step up and do the right thing.”

A tear slid down her cheek. “We’re the ones who will disappear, Molly. Don’t you get it? There’s too many of them. They’ve been in power too long. And don’t start lecturing me. You’re the one who is new to this. Not me. My father, the people who run this town. The Pack is entrenched. You’ve only now woken up to it. I’ve lived it my whole life.”

“What do you mean?”

Bess brought trembling fingers to her mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut and let the rest of her tears fall. “My father tried to stand up to the Alpha when I was a little girl. Every year, he’d take more and more. Installing Pack members in positions of power. There were payoffs, kickbacks. Everything in this town has been engineered so the Chief Pack has all the money and security they need. My father saw it happening. He’s a good man. Honest. But, he paid Molly. They...they made my brother disappear. He was twelve years old.”

My heart went cold. “Oh. God. Oh, Bess. I had no idea.”

She fixed her sad eyes on me and my heart broke for her. “You have no idea how far the Alpha’s reach is. No idea. Your friends are fooling themselves.”

I leaned forward. “But you’re going to help me help them anyway.”

Bess fixed her eyes on a point over my shoulder. She shook her head then looked back at me. “If they ever find out…”

“They won’t. I’ve been careful enough so far.”

She gave me a hollow smile. “That’s what everyone says.”

I came around the desk and put my arms around her. “You’re doing the right thing, Bess. We both know it.”

Bess squeezed me back. I felt strength in her I hadn’t seen before. I loved her a little bit for it.

“Give me a few days,” she said, sighing. “I have a couple of ideas.”

My heart was full. I hugged her one last time then left her alone.

---

Bess’s plan came in the form of a visit she arranged just two days later. Jason called me back for a tech visit. Nothing major, just a tabby needing her claws trimmed. It was the odd look on Bess’s face when I brushed past her that made me bristle.

When I opened the door to Exam Room Two, my heart burst.

“Keara!” I shouted a whisper and slammed the door behind me. Keara met me with a bright smile and open arms.

I sat on the bench next to her, beaming. She’d been near Liam, recently. I could catch his scent lingering in the air and it startled me. But, Keara understood.

“It’s going to be like that forever,” she said. “And even more intense if you ever...if he…”

“If he marks me,” I said. “We’ve talked about it.”

Her expression went instantly grave. “I would love to take the high road here and say it’s none of my business, but you know it is. And I also realize the kind of hypocrite it makes me for cautioning you to be careful with it.”

I touched her shoulder. “It doesn’t make you a hypocrite. It makes you wise. You know I put a lot of stock in your advice. But, that’s not why you’re here.”

She cast a furtive glance toward the exam room door. “No, it’s not. I took a chance coming here. Your vet friend found me. Did you know that?”

“She’s more than a friend, I think. Bess might be an important ally.”

Keara stood up. She grew restless, not quite knowing what to do with her hands.

“How is he?” I asked. I couldn’t pretend. To her credit, Keara didn’t torture me with half-truths and evasion.

“He’s terrible, Molly. I’ve never seen Liam like this. He’s bouncing off the damn cave walls all the time. Jagger and the others don’t know what to do with him.”

“He’s not taking chances he shouldn’t, is he?” My heart thundered. In some ways, I felt like a junior high school girl asking for news about her boyfriend. Except being away from him was tearing me up in every way.

“No,” Keara answered straight. “Liam’s smart. I’ll never admit I said this, but he’s smarter than Jagger. The caves were Liam’s idea. A few years ago, we’d heard a rumor that another exiled pack from Michigan had been using them to hide out in. That pack is all dead now. Liam did all the recon.”

She was babbling. It made me uneasy because it wasn’t like her. Something was wrong. She also wouldn’t have come here just for a social visit.

“Keara,” I said. “You have to tell me what’s happening. It’s killing me to be out of the loop. You of all people should understand why.”

She finally stopped pacing and rounded on me. “I’m sorry. You’re right. We’re in trouble, Molly.”

“Oh, God, please don’t tell me the Pack has found you.”

“No. God, no. Not yet. It’s kind of the opposite. Since the tragedy with the Langleys, most of our topside allies have gotten spooked. Some have just cut off all contact out of fear. Molly, I’m worried about supplies. Jagger, Liam, the others...they can’t hunt right now. It’s too dangerous. We have enough food stores down there to last a few months at best. Or at least we did...but...those who haven’t cut and run, well, they’re asking for sanctuary. In the last week, we’ve taken in twenty refugees. Eight shifters and some of their non-shifter families. Plus a few of our other suppliers who’ve gotten too scared of getting caught.”

My heart sank. “And you don’t have enough to feed and clothe them all. Never mind medical needs when they arise.”

Keara let out a sob that ripped through me. I’d never seen her cry. I’d never even seen her upset. It occurred to me that she probably had to keep up a brave front to keep the others from breaking down. I went to her, putting my arms around her.

“I’m sorry,” she snorted. “This is embarrassing.”

“Don’t be. Keara, you’re shouldering a lot. My God, it’s amazing really. Think of how many lives you’ve saved.”

She pulled away. “Saved? Molly, I can’t stop thinking of how many lives I’ve put in jeopardy. I’m not ready for this. We’re not ready for this. In a year, maybe. Once I’ve established a more solid network and stockpile. I don’t know what happened. Somebody got to the Langleys. I’ve gone over it and over it. We were so careful. I can’t figure out who betrayed them.”

“Maybe no one,” I said. “We’ll never know what happened in that store. Maybe they finally just came for Brady and Bernie put up a fight he couldn’t win. There’s no sense in beating yourself up over it.”

She sniffled and nodded. “I know you’re right. It just gets so hard sometimes. Everyone looks to me for answers. Even Jagger. I’m just doing the best that I can. I feel so alone sometimes.”

I put a solid grip on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You’re not. You hear me? You’re not. I’m here too. I’m not going anywhere. And now we have Bess.”

Keara’s eyes widened. “You’re sure?”

“Yes. Give me time. For the moment, I think we can at least trust her to help get more medical supplies. But, she has a reason to want to bring the Chief Pack down. I can’t go into it all now. You should get back. Bess has connections though. Give me a few days to work on her. I’ve got a few ideas.”

Keara’s smile deepened. It looked like a physical weight lifted from her shoulders, and I was so happy to play a part in it. She hugged me in earnest.

“You’re good at this, you know,” she said. “You’re a natural.”

“Good at what?”

“Recruiting. You have a way about you. I’m not surprised your Bess is willing to put herself out there for you.”

“Well, like I said. She’s got reasons of her own.”

The intercom buzzed. It was Jason calling me back to the front desk.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s slip you out the back.”

“Do you have anything you want me to take back for you? A message maybe?”

Keara’s eyes danced with mischief. God, how I wished we could just be normal girlfriends gossiping over a cup of coffee. I had the strange sensation things could never be normal again. Stranger still, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted them to be.

“Just tell Liam to stay safe.”

She hugged me. “Funny, that’s the only thing he could come up with for me to tell you.”

“Let’s arrange to meet. Do you know where my trailer is? If not, Liam can show you. I think it’s probably safer there than here. Like I said. Give me two or three days. I’ll find a way to get more supplies. Start coming up with a list of what you need.”

That devilish smirk came in Keara’s eyes again. She reached into her back pocket and produced a folded piece of paper. She thrust it in my hand. “I knew I’d be able to count on you.”

“Great,” I laughed. “And you say I’m good at this. Okay. Two days. Meet me at Shady Acres about an hour after my shift ends. Eight o’clock. You think you can keep those dogs on a leash until then?”

Keara rolled her eyes. “They sure are something, aren’t they?”

I opened the back door and peered into the alley. The coast was clear. My heart hardened as Keara stepped outside. She wasn’t Liam, of course, but she was a vital link to him. I just wasn’t sure how long I could go without seeing him. Just sensing him below me, miles underground, was torture. As Keara left, I decided I wouldn’t go much longer at all. I needed to find a way to see him.

Bess was waiting for me when I came back inside. She had a hard stare that made my stomach flip. For an instant, I worried she’d changed her mind about all of it. But, her hand on my arm put that to rest.

“Tell me what you need and when,” she said, smiling.