familiar. Instead, it was sickening, sweet and sticky and coating her tongue in thick, persistent layers.
She clutched the rim of the toilet bowl and heaved again, so violently she almost missed the sound of footsteps echoing across the wooden floor of the big cabin’s great room.
“Honor? Honor, are you okay?”
She bit back a moan, her fingers clenching as another dizzy wave of nausea swept through her. Her cousin’s voice sounded as soft and concerned as always and it was next to the last thing she felt like dealing with right now. She spit into the toilet, trying to rid herself of the taste of blood and bile.
“I’m fine, Joey.” As fine as a Lupine could be after chewing off the hand of one of her oldest friends and pretending to enjoy it. “I just wanted to wash off some of this grime.”
She heard a pause, then a soft question. “Why don’t you go upstairs, then?
Take a proper shower? I can make you some dinner and bring you up a tray.” The word dinner set her stomach racing toward the back of her throat, and she quickly shoved on the faucet full blast to mask the sound of more retching.
Trembling violently, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and forced her voice to sound steady as a rock and calm as Sunday church. “Well, I was going to finish up delivering this week’s wood to the cabins on the lumber road…”
13
Christine Warren
She let her voice trail off and crossed her fingers that her tenderhearted cousin Josephine would reply in form.
“Don’t be silly. You’ve done enough today.” Joey’s voice sounded firm and soothing, and made Honor’s shoulders sag in relief. “Michael can finish the deliveries. You should take a shower and relax this evening. Or if you have to, work on the books. But stay in and get some rest. It’s been…a difficult few days.” Honor stifled a laugh and flushed the toilet, grabbing a neatly folded towel from the bar beside the sink. A difficult few days? Why? Just because her previously healthy, arrogant, indestructible father had died, she had inherited his position as alpha over the White Paw Lupine pack, and had fought three alpha challenges in the same number of days? Pshaw.
She cupped her hand to her mouth and rinsed away the last taste of bile.
Then she wet one end of the towel and used it to wipe her pale, chalky face.
Damn it, she looked like hell, and that was not the sort of face she could let anyone in the pack see. Not even Joey. If Honor was going to assume the title of Alpha, she would need to act like an alpha at all times. Even when she felt more like crying.
Stuffing down those very dangerous thoughts, she draped the towel around her neck and used one hand to hold it to her face as if she were cleaning up, then reached for the doorknob with the other. One deep breath later, she stepped out into the great room with a false smile and the towel half concealing her face.
Joey stood just beside the door, her hands clasped nervously together, her brow wrinkled in concern. “I’m sorry it was Paul,” she said in that soft, come-down-from-the-ledge voice of hers. “I know how close you two always were.”
“Don’t be.” Honor forced her voice to come out casually as she turned and headed for the stairway. “If it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else.
That’s just the way it goes.” As soon as she had her back to Joey, she let the towel drop and reached for the banister instead. She made it a point to barely touch it 14
Fixed: Fur Play
rather than clutching as she wanted to as she walked up to the second floor. “Go ahead and tell Michael to finish the wood deliveries. I’m going to go take that shower. Send up a tray whenever it’s ready.” Her steps remained brisk and measured all the way down the hall to the master suite and did not vary until the door closed securely behind her. Then she leaned back against it, squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to cry.
Pallor she could handle with a
She clutched the rim of the toilet bowl and heaved again, so violently she almost missed the sound of footsteps echoing across the wooden floor of the big cabin’s great room.
“Honor? Honor, are you okay?”
She bit back a moan, her fingers clenching as another dizzy wave of nausea swept through her. Her cousin’s voice sounded as soft and concerned as always and it was next to the last thing she felt like dealing with right now. She spit into the toilet, trying to rid herself of the taste of blood and bile.
“I’m fine, Joey.” As fine as a Lupine could be after chewing off the hand of one of her oldest friends and pretending to enjoy it. “I just wanted to wash off some of this grime.”
She heard a pause, then a soft question. “Why don’t you go upstairs, then?
Take a proper shower? I can make you some dinner and bring you up a tray.” The word dinner set her stomach racing toward the back of her throat, and she quickly shoved on the faucet full blast to mask the sound of more retching.
Trembling violently, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and forced her voice to sound steady as a rock and calm as Sunday church. “Well, I was going to finish up delivering this week’s wood to the cabins on the lumber road…”
13
Christine Warren
She let her voice trail off and crossed her fingers that her tenderhearted cousin Josephine would reply in form.
“Don’t be silly. You’ve done enough today.” Joey’s voice sounded firm and soothing, and made Honor’s shoulders sag in relief. “Michael can finish the deliveries. You should take a shower and relax this evening. Or if you have to, work on the books. But stay in and get some rest. It’s been…a difficult few days.” Honor stifled a laugh and flushed the toilet, grabbing a neatly folded towel from the bar beside the sink. A difficult few days? Why? Just because her previously healthy, arrogant, indestructible father had died, she had inherited his position as alpha over the White Paw Lupine pack, and had fought three alpha challenges in the same number of days? Pshaw.
She cupped her hand to her mouth and rinsed away the last taste of bile.
Then she wet one end of the towel and used it to wipe her pale, chalky face.
Damn it, she looked like hell, and that was not the sort of face she could let anyone in the pack see. Not even Joey. If Honor was going to assume the title of Alpha, she would need to act like an alpha at all times. Even when she felt more like crying.
Stuffing down those very dangerous thoughts, she draped the towel around her neck and used one hand to hold it to her face as if she were cleaning up, then reached for the doorknob with the other. One deep breath later, she stepped out into the great room with a false smile and the towel half concealing her face.
Joey stood just beside the door, her hands clasped nervously together, her brow wrinkled in concern. “I’m sorry it was Paul,” she said in that soft, come-down-from-the-ledge voice of hers. “I know how close you two always were.”
“Don’t be.” Honor forced her voice to come out casually as she turned and headed for the stairway. “If it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else.
That’s just the way it goes.” As soon as she had her back to Joey, she let the towel drop and reached for the banister instead. She made it a point to barely touch it 14
Fixed: Fur Play
rather than clutching as she wanted to as she walked up to the second floor. “Go ahead and tell Michael to finish the wood deliveries. I’m going to go take that shower. Send up a tray whenever it’s ready.” Her steps remained brisk and measured all the way down the hall to the master suite and did not vary until the door closed securely behind her. Then she leaned back against it, squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to cry.
Pallor she could handle with a
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