Chapter 1

My mate, Rhys, brought his dead brother's pregnant widow into our house.

He swore up and down I'd never have to lift a finger for her.

The next morning he stood by the door with a packed bag and a grin.

"Babe. Big news. The pack called me up. Border post out east, two years. I ship out tonight."

He looked at me like he was waiting for me to promise I'd take good care of his brother's widow.

So I pulled my own bag out of the closet, right there in front of him and the woman in the back room.

"Funny. The alliance called me up too. Medic rotation. Two years."

"We can leave together. Lock up on the way out. Colette can rest easy with the whole house to herself."

---

The door banged open while I was stitching a torn glove at the kitchen table.

"Maeve. Come see who I brought home."

Rhys had that voice on. The warm one. The one he used when he wanted something and needed me soft before he asked for it.

I set the needle down and went out.

Colette stood in the doorway with one hand under her belly. Six months along, maybe more.

Bram's widow. My dead brother-in-law's mate, round with a pup, smiling at me like we were old friends who'd missed each other.

"I hope this isn't too much trouble," she said.

Rhys had a hand on her shoulder, careful, like she'd crack.

"It's no trouble," he said, before I could open my mouth. "She's staying with us. Just till after the birth."

"You won't lift a finger, I swear. I'll handle everything."

He'd sworn that once before. About Nell. I'll handle everything, Maeve.

"Where's she sleeping," I said.

"Back room."

I already knew the answer. I could see it from the hall.

He'd cleared the back room out sometime that afternoon, while I was at the clinic. My medic kits were shoved against the wall.

Half of Nell's boxes were stacked by the door, the way you stack things you mean to throw out.

Colette followed my eyes to the boxes. She didn't say anything about them.

She just laid her free hand flat on her belly and breathed out, soft, like the walk from the car had cost her something.

"I'm so sorry to land on you like this," she said. "I had nowhere else. Since Bram."

"You have his mother."

Her mouth trembled. "Ottilie's too old to care for me. And Rhys said. He said family looks after family."

"Did he."

Rhys stepped in fast. "Maeve. She's carrying my brother's memory. What was I supposed to do, leave her in an empty house?"

His brother's memory. That was a nice line. He'd probably practiced it in the truck.

I looked at Colette. At the belly, at the soft face, at the way she stood close to my mate like she'd stood in this house a hundred times.

Then I looked at Nell's boxes by the door.

"I'm going to bed," I said, and I did.

He came in an hour later. I felt the mattress dip.

I kept my eyes shut and my breathing even, and after a while he stopped waiting for me to say something and went to sleep.

I didn't.

He was up before me. Rhys was never up before me.

I came out and he was standing by the front door with a bag at his feet.

A big one, twenty-eight inches. The one we took on long trips before Nell, before any of it.

"Morning," he said. He had the warm voice on again. He'd had it on since yesterday. "Sit down a second. I've got news."

I stayed standing.

"The pack got a call-up." He watched my face while he said it. "Border trouble out east. Rogues pushing the line. They need bodies at the far post."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's a long posting, babe. Two years. Maybe more."

"Two years."

"I couldn't say no. You don't say no to a call-up. You know that."

He picked up the bag, then set it down again, like he needed his hands free for the next part. "My flight out is tonight."

"Your flight."

"The transport. Tonight."

He came a step closer, and here it was, the thing he'd been building toward since he walked Colette through the door. "Which is why it's good you're home. Colette can't be alone like this. Not this far along."

"She has a mother-in-law and a whole pack of aunts."

"They're not you." He said it gentle, like a compliment. "You've carried a pup, Maeve. You know what she needs. Who else is going to know what she needs?"

I looked at him for a second. You've carried a pup. He said it to my face, in the house where Nell's boxes sat by the door, and he didn't even blink.

I went to the closet.

I pulled out my own bag. Same size as his. Twenty-eight inches.

I set it on the floor between us, unzipped it, and it was already packed. Sweaters, boots, my good kit. Packed for a while.

Rhys stopped moving.

"Funny," I said. "The alliance called me up too."

"What?"

"Medic rotation. Cross-pack. They've been asking me for a year." I zipped the bag shut. "I finally said yes last week. Starts this week."

I looked up at him. "Same timing as yours. What are the odds."

He stared at the bag. Then at me. His mouth opened and nothing came out of it.

I picked the bag up by the handle.

"So we'll go together," I said. "Lock up on the way out. Save the pack the trouble of two empty houses."

"Maeve, that's not—you can't just—"

"Colette can rest easy with the whole place to herself." I got my keys off the hook. "Peace and quiet's good for a pup. Everyone says so."

From the back room, her voice floated out, thin and careful.

"Rhys? Is everything all right in there?"