Head Above Water (Gemini: A Black Dog #2) by Hailey Edwards

endure it without the pack’s support. That gaping hole in him should have made him weak, should have made me handle him with more care, but our negative spaces called to one another.
    Both of us had made decisions we regretted, both of us had taken actions we couldn’t undo, and both of us would live with those burdens. Ours was an isolated punishment, self-inflicted as all the deepest wounds were, but in this moment, trapped against the warmth of his body and breathing the scent of his skin, relishing the strength in his hands and marveling at the contented sigh he released, I wondered if perhaps the way to lessen guilt and grief was to share them.
    Gods knew nothing else I had tried worked.
    Forcing my muscles to loosen until I was cozied up to Graeson and he trusted me to stay put enough to link his arms around me, I tipped back my head and found his hazel eyes inches from mine, the pupils dilated and the striking emerald striations in his irises made more vivid by the greenery surrounding us.
    “Tell me about your sister.”
    Tension ricocheted through him, tightening his jaw where it rested against me. Feeling awkward, I started to pull away, but he held on to me as though I was the one thing anchoring him against the swell of his heartache.
    “Mom died in childbirth, and Dad never recovered. He was broken. Too broken to run a pack. That’s when Bessemer made his bid for alpha. He bled my dad and took over.” Old bitterness without much bite laced his words. “A few weeks later, Dad picked a fight with a warg a few rungs up the new dominance ladder and lost. I was seventeen. Marie was three. The pack let me hold on to the house, helped me find work so I could support my sister. A chain of mothers organized sitters for the days I was in school and the nights I was at work.” He sat there for a while, so long I thought he was finished. “Her favorite color was vermillion, because she said it was a million times better than the plain old green I liked.”
    Heart a wounded thing in my chest, I did for him what I hadn’t allowed others to do for me.
    I sat.
    I listened.
    And I held him as he told me the story of how his world ended.

Chapter 7
    “ W e’ve got company” were the first words past Dell’s lips when my feet hit the sweet, sweet ground. Graeson leapt from the makeshift ladder and landed in a crouch behind me. He rose and dusted his palms before placing one at the small of my back and pushing me in the general direction of the trailers.
    “Why the rush?” a woman possessing a rich Southern accent called. “I only wanted to say hello.”
    “Keep walking,” Graeson ordered under his breath.
    “She’s following.” Dell grimaced. “You’re going to have to talk to her eventually.”
    “Cord.” Petulance sat heavy in the new voice. Clearly she was one of those women used to pouting and getting her way. “You know my legs aren’t that long. Slow down. We haven’t talked since you got home. I’m starting to think you’re avoiding me.”
    Graeson, who kept to my back, remained unreadable. Dell I saw clearly out of the corner of my eye, and her wrinkled nose told me what she thought of the woman dogging our heels.
    A muttered curse brought his warm breath across my nape in the same instant as a hand closed over my arm. A petite woman with wide eyes and curves for days smiled up at me through straight white teeth as her magic prickled my skin.
    “You must be Ellen.” She beamed. “I’m Imogen.” A bashful shrug as authentic as her white-blonde curls bounced her thin shoulders. “Cord and I dated in high school. You know how that goes. I like to keep tabs on him is all, make sure he’s being treated right.”
    The jealous ex-girlfriend experience was one I had never had, and I wasn’t thrilled to be having it now. I didn’t bother correcting her about my name. She knew it. I could tell. That hard glint in her eyes some might mistake for a personable sparkle masked lethal intelligence. I