Page 86 of Chasing The Alpha's Son
“I could get in big trouble if I—”
“Mia,” Jasper interrupts, “if you think this person can help Max then you have to tell us.”
Mia’s shoulders drop. “Okay. You didn’t hear this from me, but there’s a woman who lives in the valley. She’s a healer but not like we have today; her methods are more old school.”
“She’s part of your pack?” Jasper asks.
Mia bites the inside of her cheek and shakes her head.
“A rogue?” Jasper’s lip turns up at the suggestion, and Mia, hesitantly, nods. “You would place my mate’s future in the hands of a rogue?”
Even in my pained state I look up, shocked when Jasper outright calls me his mate.
“She can help,” Mia says.
“How do you know she wouldn’t kill us the first chance she got? How do you know she isn’t a charlatan?”
“Because she saved me when I was little. Father doesn’t know, but when I was a child I ran away—I was upset because he told me that one day I would need to find a mate, and I didn’t want one. So I ran into the valley and it got late and I was so cold, and finally it was so dark that I couldn’t see and I tripped on a stone and fell. I was only a kid, but even I knew I’d broken my leg. The bone was completely out of place. I was alone at the bottom of the valley and I couldn’t walk. But suddenly this woman appeared out of nowhere and took me to her house, and the next morning my leg was fine.”
“It was probably a sprain,” Jasper interjects.
“It wasn’t,” Mia shoots back. “Do you think I’d forget what it looked like? My leg was at a right angle, in the wrong direction.”
Jasper presses his lips together.
“She healed me and she sent me home. And ever since then I’ve visited her, once or twice a year. Her pack left the valley decades ago, but she stayed. That’s why she’s a rogue. She’s peaceful, she only wants to help. Shecanhelp.”
Mia’s eyes are pleading with Jasper but he still looks unsold on the idea.
“Let her help,” I say.
Jasper’s head lolls about on his shoulders. He’s clearly had enough.
“Max, you can’t go running into a rogue’s nest based on some superstitious nonsense.”
“She might be able to help me,” I say. “And you’ll be with me. Nothing bad can happen.”
Jasper grinds his teeth but gives in. “How do we get there?”
“There’s a road—it’s narrow and icy, but it’ll take you where you need to go,” Mia says. “You can take my car.”
“Thank you,” I say, half pointedly at Jasper.
“No,” Mia says, grinning kind of sheepishly. “Thank you.” With a fresh blush in her cheeks, she leaves.
“This is a bad idea,” Jasper says.
“If there’s a chance this woman can fix whatever’s happening to me, I don’t care. Sometimes you have to take a chance.”
I stare Jasper down, and finally he relents and follows Mia out.
The second he’s gone, the pain eases off a little. The muscles in my chest release and I can breathe easier.
“You don’t really think this blood wolf thing is real, do you?” Katie says, coming forward. “It seems a little, I dunno, spiritual for you. You don’t think that you’re—”
“What?” I ask. “A monster? I don’t know. But we’re about to find out.”
THE ROADS WE TAKE
