Say My Name Page 3

  "I will have my Beta get some things from my home for you to wear and we can leave," Liam said before turning to walk out the door.

  Before leaving the room, Liam turned back, his eyes downcast, staring at the floor.

  "You may take your respite on my lands for the meantime," he told Giselle. "If you wish to join our community, we may talk about that in the future. Just...something for you to think about."

  He walked out the door, his heavy boots making a hard, clomping sound on the linoleum as he moved past the other rooms in the hospital.

  ∞∞∞

  "You what?" Blake hissed out, irritated he had been woken from his sound sleep to play fetch-the-foreigner's-clothing. He was not some lady-in-waiting or maid.

  "It just came out," Liam said, cutting his eyes at Blake. He didn't regret offering Giselle home and hearth. She seemed like a gentle soul, and he found he couldn't toss her aside after only just recovering from her horrific wounds. The girl had been broken both physically and mentally, and something in him was convinced she was no danger. When he had offered her a place to stay and possibly more, it was on a whim, an instinct. He trusted his instincts implicitly, and knew better than to ignore them.

  "You were the one who brought her here," Liam reminded his Beta. "You wouldn't have brought her if you felt she was a threat, so don't turn this around on me now."

  "Yeah, I offered her a place to recover, not to stay forever!" Blake frowned at the Alpha's rash, in-the-moment decisions, especially the one where she lived in his home with him. For the longest time, no one had lived with the Alpha. Not since her.

  "Let me worry about where she sleeps," Liam told him. "You just worry about getting to my house, picking up something for her to wear, and getting back here. You're not the only one that wants to go back to sleep."

  Blake cut a glance at his friend and Alpha, and loped off toward the clinic door before turning back.

  "Hey, Liam?"

  "Yes?"

  "Uhm...underwear?"

  Liam thought about that. He didn't know if she would be averse to wearing another female's panties, but he realized that that may be too intimate of apparel to share with someone else. Even if they were clean.

  "No bra. Just grab a pair of my boxers, some sweatpants, and a t-shirt. She's not going to be modeling in Milan any time soon," Liam finally told him and watched as Blake's wide body left the building.

  Once Giselle was dressed in clothing that was even larger on her small frame than he had originally thought, Liam walked her toward his house, which was the largest and most extravagant building in the community. It was also the brightest, as he had left the lights on before heading to the hospital.

  "I know you cannot speak back to me, but for what I have to say, I don't need an answer right away," Liam told her, watching as she nodded gently back at him.

  "I understand your trepidation about telling us which pack you come from, but at some point, I will need to know," Liam told her and watched as her form faltered slightly on the asphalt of the small backroad. "If you are to become one of us, we will need to know if there is a danger posed to us from whoever is pursuing you. Once you break the bond with that pack, their Alpha may feel it as well."

  Giselle slowed her pace, thinking. She hadn't thought about the bond that the Alphas had with their pack wolves. They could feel when someone was out of their territory or if they pledged to another pack, and that last part frightened her the most. Surely Jeremiah would feel when – or if – his true mate pledged to another pack.

  Liam coaxed her along and led her into his home before watching her look around the foyer of the house. It was large and bright, unlike the darker, more foreboding looking home of Jeremiah.

  "I will give you a tour of my house tomorrow," Liam told her before walking toward the curvature of the stairs. "Your room will be next to mine in case you need anything, though I doubt you will do much but sleep tonight."

  She nodded her head again at him, this time tilting it at him afterward, as if trying to figure the man out. Liam truly wished he could tell what she was thinking. If she wasn't so fragile, he may have forced her to speak.

  "I will have some paper and pens brought to you in the morning so you can communicate," he told her and stopped in front of a large oak door before opening it up for her.

  The room was large, but not ostentatious. It was simple in design, with a queen-sized bed and oak dressers bookending it. There was an overstuffed chair and a few bookshelves that Giselle immediately wanted to inspect. They were her favorite part of the room by far.

  "This is my sister's old room," Liam told her. "She had left some clothing when she found her mate, and you are welcome to anything in here as she will not be needing any of it anytime soon."

  He watched as Giselle immediately went to one bookshelf and started to run her hands over the spines of the many books that lined it. Liam's sister was a book fanatic and devoured any genre that could be read, so there was a good mix of them to choose from.

  Liam couldn't help but smile a bit at the apparent bookworm. He had never been one to read anything more complicated than the sports page, and his sister had been the voracious reader among the two of them. Just like their mother before her.

  Giselle started to slide out a book and seemed to stop herself. Her head snapped to Liam's and she looked frightened, as though he might be mad if even one book was out of place.

  "You may use anything in here as well," he assured her. "My sister has mated halfway across the country and is living in the Rockies at this time. Even if she were to see you in here touching her things, she would not fault you and insist you read as much as you like. She is a very generous woman."

  Giselle seemed to study him again, as if to test to see if he was telling the truth. Slowly though, she picked up the book. It had been one of his sister's favorites when she had still been living in the Alpha's home. Thirteen Reasons Why. They had made the book into some TV show so it was no wonder that Giselle had gravitated toward it. It had been quite popular at the time it aired.

  "Did you watch the show on Netflix?" Liam asked, gesturing toward the book.

  Looking confused, Giselle looked down on the book as if it was in some foreign language. Shaking her head, she walked over to the bed and set the book down on it, looking at it before opening the front page and caressing the dustjacket.

  "I will let you rest," Liam told her, heading toward the door. He had been standing in the corner by the closet. "There is a bathroom through that door for you to wash in the morning. I usually get up early and my housekeeper comes to cook for me as I do not know how. If she is not around, please help yourself to cereal, or eggs and bacon. Just don't burn the house down. I've come quite attached to living here."

  She looked over at him again as if terrified. When she saw his small, teasing smile, she returned it shakily and nodded at him in affirmation.

  "Goodnight, Giselle," he told her before closing the door behind him and moving toward his bedroom. He felt like he could sleep for another eight hours, but he doubted he would be able to rest for that long. He was never one for too much sleep these days.

  Chapter 4

  Giselle woke up the next morning wondering where she was. Her heart raced for a few moments until she sniffed the air and realized she was not in her own bed at Jeremiah's house and was far, far away from the brutish man.

  As her heart slowly calmed, she thought of the Alpha whose house she was in. He seemed nice enough, but so had Jeremiah at first. Then again, most of Jeremiah's issues were borne of his jealousy and anger. Jealousy that anyone should touch what was his, and anger that his future Luna was a lowly Omega. He felt he had deserved far better, and used to tell her so often.

  Looking over at the clock on the wall, she saw it was just past 7:30 AM. She wondered if the Alpha was gone or still in the house. She needed to find out some things and talk – well, write – them out for him.

  Clothing. She needed clothing, so that meant she
needed money to purchase it. She had left with none and if she used any credit cards or debit cards she had been given, it would give away the fact that she was not as dead as she hoped Jeremiah believed.

  In order to get money to buy clothing, she would need a job. A job in the nearest town would only draw attention to her as the newcomer, and she didn't have any skills with which to offer this new pack. If she decided to stay that is. She wasn't so sure about that. She would be both a liability and a weight on the community. Useless, like Jeremiah had told her so many times.

  Walking into the bathroom, she decided to take a shower and hurried her way through it. Scrubbing herself and then brushing her teeth, she found a comb in one of the drawers and she meticulously picked her way through her hair, irritated with the multitude of knots.

  When her hair was smooth and straight, she figured she would let it dry naturally and then took the stairs to the bottom floor, making almost zero sound on the hardwood flooring.

  Using her heightened sense of smell, she made her way into the kitchen and looked into the fridge. She had only eaten oatmeal and some dry cereal while living with Jeremiah, so she opted for the first hearty meal she'd had in months.

  Bacon. Sausages. She found a dozen fresh eggs, and decided to make herself some of those as well. She could use it for putting on some weight. Giselle knew she couldn't really rock the whole skeleton-esque look for very long, and it was beyond unhealthy.

  As she was pulling out some pans and a bowl to whisk eggs in, she sniffed the air, sensing another presence with it.

  The Alpha. So, he was still at home.

  Looking toward the door, she saw him come through the entranceway, doing up the last few buttons on his shirt.

  When Liam looked over at the tiny female, he noticed she was wearing tiny shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. The sleeves were far too long on her and drooped over her hands unless she rolled them up.

  "You should roll up the sleeves so you don't catch fire cooking," he told her and watched as she put down the utensils and pushed her sleeves up her skinny arms.

  "No...like this." Liam walked over to her and folded her sleeves up meticulously, roll after roll. After he finished, he stepped back.

  "There. Much better," he said and walked over to the fridge. He didn't like the strange, wide-eyed look she gave him. It was unnerving, piercing. She looked at him as if she could see inside him and witness the mess he was.

  She made a sound – an ugly, strangled one, and he looked over at her. Gesturing to the food, she pointed at the bowls, food, and then pointed at him.

  "You want to know if I would like some food?" he asked.

  Nodding, she smiled softly at him.

  "Sure, though the housekeeper should have been here by now."

  Liam looked off into the distance, presumably trying to reach out to someone through the pack’s mindlink. He eventually hummed in understanding.

  "She is still at home. Her littlest one is ill," he told her, though she didn't understand why he felt the need to explain. "Go ahead and cook if you have the mind to cook for a ravenously hungry wolf."

  While Giselle whisked eggs, Liam left the room for a moment and came back into the kitchen with a pad of paper and a pen.

  "You should always bring this with you, whether you think you will need them or not," he told her. "Not everyone is as good as I at reading your hand signals and gestures."

  She nodded at him and turned to place strips of bacon on one skillet and the freshly beaten eggs in the other. She let them simmer as she walked over to the pad of paper and wrote.

  How do you like your eggs? was the simple question.

  Looking up at her after reading it, he blinked and breathed out.

  "I'm not picky," he told her. "Scrambled, omelet, whatever you make is fine."

  Cheese?

  Nodding and smiling, the Alpha said, "Sure."

  Breakfast was quieter than Liam was used to, and he found that he didn't mind it one bit. His housekeeper was always chattering on about her children. Which was okay the first 57 times she told the same story. New teeth, colic when they were little, vomit, and diapers; they weren't topics he really wished to discuss over breakfast, nor at any other meal.

  Giselle picked up the pad of paper and wrote for a long time.

  Why aren't you at work already? I thought you would be gone long before this. I hope I didn't throw off your routine. Also, I need to get clothing. Underwear mostly, and would like to know how I can earn my keep so that I may be able to afford them.

  Liam took a while to read it, and answered her questions as he went along.

  "I was supposed to go in earlier, but I slept too long," he said. "I guess the middle-of-the-night call to the clinic woke me up and kept me awake far longer than I anticipated. You didn't wake me. I got up around 7:15. As for clothing, I will have someone come around to get your size. Do not worry about earning your keep for now. We have a rainy-day fund for such instances as this and we hardly ever use it. As for your occupation here at this pack – what are your skills, or what is it you like to do?"

  Giselle thought for a moment and then wrote.

  I'm sorry to have kept you up last night with the visit to the hospital. As for clothing, I would like to earn my keep, just like everyone else. I can still do some things, but my skills are limited to pretty much anything I can do around the house. Cooking, cleaning, things like that. I haven't had a job before. The only other thing I like to do is sing.

  Liam smiled sadly. It was ironic that what this girl would love most was something she was unable to do at the moment.

  "Well, we have no jobs open for Resident Songbird, so cooking and cleaning would suit nicely," he told her. "In fact, since you are staying with me, I think it's best you become my housekeeper instead of Sofia. She can be loud and obnoxious, and as much as I love kids, I feel like I'm living with hers without the benefit of having them around."

  Giselle looked like she was almost about to giggle. Almost. No sound came out though, and she looked down at her empty plate, saddened by the fact she couldn't make even the simplest of sounds.

  Liam put his hand on her shoulder and then tipped her chin up to him with a callused hand.

  "You'll get your voice back, little wolf," he told her softly. "Then you can sing me lullabies every night so I can finally rest."

  Grabbing the pen and paper, she wrote quickly.

  You have problems sleeping? Have you tried warm milk with honey?

  Laughing, the usually stern Alpha shook his head.

  "I've tried everything except medicines," he told her. "And I don't wish to become addicted to a substance due to the amount that it would take to put me down for the night. I get by just fine with a few hours a night."

  May I ask why you don't sleep well?

  Liam's face fell for a moment, but he schooled his features and gave her a lazy half-smile.

  "Tell you what," he spoke, using a napkin to wipe around his mouth. "When you tell me where you come from and why you're running, I'll tell you why sleep evades me. Deal?"

  Giselle nodded, but still looked uncertain.

  Standing from his seat, Liam looked down at the forlorn creature and sighed.

  "I'll have one of my she-wolves come around and get your sizes," he told her. "Bras, underwear, and some clothing that will actually fit you. You're swimming in my sister's stuff."

  Though he had to admit, they looked damn good on her anyway.

  ∞∞∞

  A knock roused Giselle from the book she was reading. Going to the door, she looked out the side window first before seeing it was a female wolf with red hair, a snub nose, and sparkling blue eyes. She opened the door, not knowing what to expect of the woman outside of it.

  "Hi! I'm Colleen, the Beta's mate," the woman told her before coming into the house after Giselle opened the door. "I'm surprised to see Alpha Liam actually has a visitor, though I know you are an unintended one at that."

  Giselle nodded and loo
ked for her pen and paper. She had kept it nearby as Liam had advised, but had left it on the coffee table near the couch she had been sitting on.

  "Blake told me you can't talk, and Liam said your name is Giselle," Colleen kept prattling on. "It might be better if you don't talk around me. I talk enough for three people and it can be overwhelming for some. But let's go ahead and figure out your sizes."

  They eventually looked around Giselle's bedroom and found the smallest of clothing that Liam's sister had owned. They still floated around her smaller frame, but it gave them a starting point. Jeremiah hadn't allowed her underwear or bras as he only ripped them off her when he was of a mind to. Not that any of them would have fit her anymore.

  "I know Liam said you are somewhat on bedrest and that you shouldn't go now, but we should have a girl's trip to go shopping once you're better," Colleen told her, smiling.

  Giselle didn't know what to say to that, so she just nodded and watched as the vocal young woman walked out the front door with her list of things to purchase for her with a hearty “see ya later”.

  Sitting back down on the couch, Giselle eventually ended up falling asleep while reading her book.

  ∞∞∞

  Her nose was high in the air, sniffing for the wonderful scent. She had just turned 18 a few days ago and she knew what that smell meant.

  It meant that she had found her mate. Following it to the source, she saw the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta all training with the pack warriors. Dozens of men on the grounds, and one of them was hers. She didn't know how to differentiate which, so she just waited and watched.

  Watching the men battle each other in both human and wolf forms was always interesting. A lot of horseplay along with some well-intended smack talk was to be heard, and the Alpha would sometimes break up the fun to get back down to business.

  A storm was due this afternoon; she could sense it from the way the breeze suddenly shifted that it would soon be upon them. Dark thunderclouds could be seen to the west and Giselle got up reluctantly to head inside before the rains came.