Free Healer (Shifter Island Book 5) by Carol Davis Page A

minutes. No, Deborah decided; Gregory wouldn’t have come to her mother for help. Sitting with her mother was like being trapped in the midst of a nest of vipers, all of them anxious to strike at the intruder.
    She began to wish she’d stayed in the tub of warm water. She might have eventually dissolved, if she remained in there long enough, and then she wouldn’t need to worry about any of this.
    “Deborah.”
    The sound of her name made her wince. Healer or not, she wasn’t eager to talk to any more of her packmates, or listen to their problems. The fact that it was Sara and Rachel didn’t change her mind.
    “The alpha is looking for you,” Rachel said quietly.
    Wonderful, Deborah thought.
    She considered asking how Caleb hadn’t managed to find her, since she’d been roaming around the settlement for a couple of hours now—but the alpha wasn’t in the habit of searching for anyone. The wolves went to him . And no one wanted to be summoned twice.
    “I can’t find my son,” she said.
    Sara shrugged that off. “We’ll find him. Caleb is anxious to see you and Jed. He said he gave you instructions last night, and he wonders why you haven’t obeyed. He’s not in a very good mood.”
    Is anyone? Deborah wondered.
    Just yesterday, she would have kept Caleb’s instructions to herself, would have declined to discuss them. But something in the expressions of her friends prompted a gate to open inside her. After listening to her mother complain for almost an hour, she was desperate for some sympathy.
    “He wants us to go into Isolation,” she said.
    Clearly, the two females already knew that, and Deborah wondered if it would ever be possible to keep a secret for more than a few minutes in a pack of wolves who felt they had a right to share everything, good or bad.
    “He says we’re disrupting the pack,” she told them.
    Sara patted her arm. “I don’t know that I’d go that far. We all know Caleb can be a bit overdramatic sometimes. But if what he means is that the two of you are doing yourselves a disservice—I’ll go along with that.”
    “I—” Deborah started.
    Sara cut her off with a small gesture, a waggle of her hand. “We know.”
    “Everyone in the pack is trying to maneuver my life for me. It gets tiresome. I wish I could just—”
    But Sara wouldn’t understand. Couldn’t understand. She had no idea what it was like to be a wolf.
    Rachel did, though. “We all mourn for the ones who have gone on ahead,” she said quietly. “I may never see Luca again. I have to trust in the gods to keep him safe. Sometimes you just have to trust, Deborah.” Smiling, she moved closer and wrapped Deborah in a warm embrace. “Caleb is right. Perhaps it’s time to turn things over to the wolf. To listen to the deepest part of yourself. Even if it’s going to tell you something you don’t want to hear.”
    Her friend was holding her gently, but the embrace was exquisitely painful nevertheless.
    “I don’t want to let go,” Deborah moaned. “I can’t.”
    Rachel stepped back and held her at arm’s length. “Then surrender to the will of the alpha. Tell yourself that you have no choice, because you really don’t. I saw Caleb’s face this morning. He’s gone past being in a troublesome mood. If you cross him, he may name someone else as healer.”
    “He wouldn’t,” Deborah said stubbornly.
    “I wouldn’t test him.”
    Oh, if only she hadn’t gotten out of that tub. It had been so peaceful there.
    She shuddered, suddenly feeling very cold.
    “You should go,” Rachel said firmly. “You don’t want to make Caleb any angrier than he already is.”
    Deborah had a hard time believing that her life could get any worse, no matter what Caleb did, but she didn’t have the strength to argue the point.
    “All right,” she said, her shoulders slumping lower than she’d thought it was possible for them to go. “I’ll go talk to him now.”

Twelve
     
    The wolf found a place high up on the