Blood of the Wolf: The Crown (Mackenzie Grey Book 11), Karina Espinosa [top 10 ebook reader txt] 📗

day off,” I lied and grinned easily. “I’m staying in bed and watching Netflix all day. What are you up to?”

He shrugged. “I’m at the compound, hanging out.”

“Is everything okay?” I asked suspiciously. I wondered if he knew anything.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“Oh, no reason. I just wanted to check in with you. We didn’t really get to see much of each other when you were here—”

“Kenzie, are you sure everything is okay?” He frowned. “You seem off.”

I gave him the biggest smile, though it felt stiff on my face. “I’m perfectly fine, Ollie! Everything is great. Couldn’t be better!”

He snorted. “You’re a horrible liar, Kenz. If anyone can read you it’s me. What’s going on?”

My smile fell a little, but I kept it plastered on my face. “Just work stuff. Nothing you have to worry about. I just missed my big brother. Can’t I call you?”

Ollie tilted his head a bit, contemplating what I said, and then nodded. “Of course you can, Kenz. Don’t overwork yourself.”

I chuckled lightly. “I’m not.”

We spent the next half hour talking about different TV shows, mostly shows I was missing because I didn’t have time to watch TV anymore. He said he’d send me a list to catch up on whenever I had the time. Now that I was on bedrest, I definitely had the time, though I certainly couldn’t tell him that. It was hard hanging up the phone because I didn’t want to let him go. Ollie was so far away. I felt like I couldn’t protect him from Scotland.

I placed my phone on the nightstand and just as I did, Bash walked into the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Do you feel better?” he asked as he brushed my hair away from my face.

“I feel worse,” I grumbled. “Should I just fly him over here? He’ll be safe in the castle.”

Bash shook his head. “Let me talk to Jackson. We need to make him aware of the situation so he can shield him from whatever next steps they take. Especially from Charles.”

“He should have stayed a lone wolf so he could avoid all this bullshit,” I said as I brought the covers over my shoulder.

“That seems easier right now, but in a pack he’s protected—”

“I would have protected him.”

“I know, Mackenzie.”

I spent the following week lying in bed all day long. Sometimes I moved to the couch in the common room, but the only constant was that I spent my days watching television. I started with “The Umbrella Academy”, moving on to “The Messiah”, which only pissed me off because it ended in a cliffhanger and then I learned the show was cancelled. Then I started watching “Cobra Kai”, which had me jumping around my room thinking I was a ninja. Definitely not what I was supposed to be doing on bedrest, but I was starting to get sores and needed to move. Now I was going international with the show “Money Heist”. I’d never been so invested in a show before in my life.

“Mackenzie?” Bash entered the common room where I was lounging on the sofa in my pajamas and a messy bun, eating a bag of Haggis Crisps. “When is the last time you washed your hair?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know,” I mumbled without so much as blinking away from the TV in front of me.

Bash grabbed the remote control and pushed the power button.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Nairobi just got shot!”

“Talk about a spoiler alert,” he grunted. “You’re done watching television. I can’t stand to see you like this anymore. You look like a bum.”

“Hey,” I muttered. “I resent that.”

Bash brushed his hand over my mouth and cheeks. “You have crumbs all over your face.”

I pushed him away and tried to tidy myself up. “What else am I supposed to do on bedrest? I can’t do anything but lay in bed!”

“Let’s go for a walk around the grounds. You need fresh air.” Bash started to pull me off the couch. “Get up and take a shower, then get dressed and we’ll go for a walk. We can even go for a ride with Shadow if you want.”

Wow, he must be desperate if he’s allowing me to ride Shadow. Do I look that bad? I looked down at my clothes and took a whiff of my armpit. Okay, maybe I didn’t smell like roses, but it wasn’t that bad.

Grumbling the whole way, I got up from the sofa and trudged over to our bathroom where I took a decadently long shower, thoroughly washing my hair and scrubbing every inch of my body. Once I was done, I felt like a brand-new person. When I exited the bathroom, I discovered Bash had already laid out clothes for me on the bed. I quickly dressed and found him waiting for me in the common room.

“Ready?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

We left the royal wing, followed by the Queen’s guards. I smiled at William as he came to walk beside me.

“How are ye, Yer Majesty?” he asked carefully, cognizant of my other guards in earshot.

“Good, thanks for asking.”

We left the castle through the rear entrance that led to the vast green landscape that wound to Caledonian Forest. Simply stepping outside and breathing the crisp, fresh air made me feel better. I’d been locked in the Queen’s chamber for a whole week. Bash was right; that much seclusion probably wasn’t healthy.

Bash took my hand as we stepped off the drawbridge and onto the grass. “I spoke with Dr. Harris. He’s going to stop by today and do a checkup. Maybe we can be a little lenient with your bedrest.”

“That’s not really how bedrest works, Bash,” I laughed. “But I appreciate the sentiment.”

He sighed. “You can’t stay cooped up in that room, Mackenzie. You look a mess.”

I didn’t respond to that; instead, I forged ahead with one of the things that had been swirling through my brain over the past week. “Do you have an update on Ollie’s situation?”

Bash cleared his throat and