“It’s not worth it! Please, just get us there alive.” She noticed how his hands tightened around the wheel, his knuckles standing out bone-white against his skin. “You’re starting to scare me. Please, it’s not worth it.”
That seemed to get through to him finally. Some of the tension eased, and when he spoke again, he sounded more like himself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay. I don’t like those guys, either. They could get somebody killed doing what they do, the way they do it.”
“You’re absolutely right.” His grip on the steering wheel eased. His shoulders loosened. She could breathe more easily now that his energy no longer choked her with its intensity. It was a double-edged sword, his personality. She loved how forceful he was, how strong. It turned her on.
It also scared her senseless sometimes—and even that, sick as it was, excited her with the sense of never knowing what was going to happen next. Maybe that was what drew her to her lifestyle in the first place, why she couldn’t seem to quit it even now when she’d seen the underbelly.
They took the first exit off the freeway. “The store’s only a couple of miles,” she announced in relief. “Aren’t you glad you decided to come with me?”
He saw this for the joke it was and managed to laugh slightly. “Oh, yeah. This is the most fun I’ve had in ages.”
It almost tripped off her tongue before she could stop it, the reminder of how much fun they had together on the couch. There was a limit to teasing. She needed to keep that in mind.
“Son of a bitch!” Braxton snarled, looking back over his shoulder. “They’re still there! At this rate, they’ll follow us all the way to the store.”
That wasn’t the whole problem. “It looks like they called in some friends,” she whispered, her heart sinking as she spotted at least two more cars carrying photographers snapping pictures like crazy, even though all she was doing was sitting in a truck.
“Are they always like this?” he asked, maneuvering them through busy street traffic.
“No, this is definitely worse than I’ve ever seen it. That’s the double-edged sword of fame, I guess. The more popular you are, the more desperate they are to take your picture.”
Horns sounded. People screamed obscenities at the paparazzi who struggled to keep up with Braxton’s progress. All she could do was cover her ears and close her eyes and wish it was over. Had she ever actually wanted this life?
“What the hell?” Braxton shouted. The screeching of brakes filled the air as the truck lurched suddenly, spinning out to the side. Serenity screamed over the screech of twisting metal.
And everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Serenity. Serenity!” He tapped her cheeks with his fingers as hard as he dared. “Serenity, wake up!” There was no blood, and he saw the pulse jumping in her throat. That didn’t mean there wasn’t internal damage.
What the hell had just happened? It was all so fast, even his instincts weren’t quick enough to save them, to spare them the crash. Someone had cut them off. He’d swerved to miss them, and that was that. The next thing he knew, they’d careened into a palm tree.
It was chaos, horns blaring everywhere, people in other cars involved in the accident screaming and cursing and a few of them gathered around the truck to see if they could help. He might not have sustained physical damage, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still shaken up and thinking slowly, trying to piece it all together.
The stench of gasoline was what spurred him to action. It was filling the truck’s cab and reminding him to get moving. Now.
He tore his seatbelt free, then leaned over Serenity’s unconscious body to unbuckle her belt. All the damage had been sustained on his side of the car, but the airbags deployed on both sides. The force of the impact must’ve knocked her out.
The door on her side opened, and a frightened woman peered in. “I called an ambulance!” she shouted while a pair of men arrived to help Braxton get Serenity out of the truck. They laid her on the grass strip next to the curb while he tumbled out the wreckage.
“How are you walking? Sit down! Lie down!” One of the men who’d come to their rescue stared at Braxton like he was a walking miracle. “Man, you could have a broken back or something. You just don’t know it.”
“I’m fine, really.” Except when he turned to look at what had become of the truck, he understood the man’s reaction. The entire driver’s side was crumpled in like a giant had taken its fist and rammed it against the metal. He looked down at himself and found his jeans torn, slightly bloodied thanks to wounds that were already beginning to close up.
“Man, you could have some serious injuries! You should really sit down.” In all the chaos, Braxton hoped this man was the only one who took notice of his condition.
Instead of sitting to rest, he knelt beside Serenity. She was starting to stir, her head turning side to side. “Braxton?” she mumbled, her voice thin and weak.
“Just stay still. Lie still as you can until the paramedics get here.” He held her face in his hands, looking down at her, searching for signs of damage. She was just as perfect as ever on the surface. It was what waited beneath that chilled him to the bone. “You’re just fine, but we want to be careful.”
Her eyes fluttered open, meeting his. He was glad to see both pupils were the same size, and that she looked alert as she searched him the way he’d done to her. “What happened?”
His chest tightened at the memory of sudden chaos, frantically cutting the wheel to keep the truck from careening into surrounding cars. “I’m so sorry. I am so, so sorry. Somebody cut us off, and I ended up crashing when I was trying to avoid them. I’m so sorry, Serenity.” He could barely breathe. His heart pounded painfully as he considered what might have happened. He might have lost her. And what if it had been his fault that she died? He felt the shift wanting to take over, the wolf straining to be free, to give voice to this sickening mix of rage and relief.
“Not your fault,” she breathed. But it was. He hadn’t been paying attention. He’d let himself get too distracted by what those photographers were doing. He hadn’t seen the SUV coming in from his left until it was too late.
Then, her eyes widened. “Are you okay?”
“It just fine. A little sore,” he lied. Already, it was as if nothing had happened. Maybe adrenaline had gotten him over the quick burst of pain that would have registered—being shifters didn’t make them impervious to pain. It only helped them heal quickly.
The wail of sirens told him the paramedics were on their way. A crowd had gathered around them without him noticing, and he realized he was surrounded by an array of phone cameras. Even now, they couldn’t help themselves, these people who had just been walking down the street and minding their business. None of them would help, of course. They only wanted to take what they could get, like vultures.
It was a blur of activity after that, people coming and going, lifting Serenity onto the stretcher. He waved off every attempt to assist him, knowing he didn’t need the help. At least theirs was the only car that had been seriously damaged. The rest were fender benders, incidental dents and dings.
“Were you the driver of the truck?” one of the paramedics asked Serenity as they carried her ambulance.
“No. I don’t need this! Braxton!” she called out, looking around for him though her neck was in a brace. He wasn’t far away. There was no way anyone would keep him away from her.
“Let them take care of you,” he called back.
“You’re the one who needs the help!”
“No, I don’t.” He turned to the paramedic. “I was driving. Somebody cut us off.”
The medic blinked at him, hard, like he couldn’t believe it. “You’re the one who should be on here, not her!”
“I don’t know, man. I feel fine.” He wished they would forget about him. He was walking, not complaining of pain, breathing normally. Why couldn’t they let it go? He wasn’t
about to leave Serenity’s side, but he could only tell everybody he was all right so many times. Pretty soon, they would start asking why he was all right.
They were at the hospital in no time, and he texted Jace to fill him in on what had happened while waiting for Serenity to finish getting x-rayed.
It’s already on the news, Jace replied. I was just about to call you. He then sent a photo of the TV in Serenity’s living room. Somehow, a news crew had flown overhead and taken a video of him leaning over her as she rested on the grass.
Vultures, he texted in reply. And they were, all of them. At least Melody was probably thrilled to death—this meant more exposure for Serenity, and that was all she cared about.
Serenity returned to the little private room off the ER minutes later. “This is ridiculous. I don’t need any of this. I feel fine.” She looked down at the IV in her left arm, at the blood pressure cuff on her right. “None of this is necessary.”
“You heard what the nurse said when we came in. You lost consciousness. That means something might have happened. I would rather not take any chances with you.” At least she was fighting. He could rest easy, knowing she was herself. If she’d gone along with everything without saying a word, that was when he would’ve worried.
“God, I must look like a mess,” she fretted, running her fingers under her eyes to pick up stray makeup that had smudged.
“You look perfect,” he told her anyway, and he meant it. Even now, with her hair a tangled tumble and the harsh overhead lights making her skin look sallow, she was an angel. The smirk she rewarded him with told him she didn’t believe a word.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she looked him over, shaking her head. “I saw the truck. How did you walk away from that?”
“I guess my guardian angel is working overtime. Hey,” he added when she frowned, skeptical, “I made it through a lot worse than that. I came back from Afghanistan without so much as a scratch on me.”
Not a lie. Not the entire truth, either. He wouldn’t have come back from Afghanistan at all, outside a pine box, if it hadn’t been for the testing.
“I guess…” She didn’t look or sound convinced, though. She was too smart to buy this for very long. He knew it and could only hope she’d get tired of wondering before long. Not that he thought she would, but he could hope.
“I’m sure my phone is blowing up by now,” she murmured, glancing toward the purse sitting on a chair near the bed. “Is it wrong that I don’t feel like talking to anybody?”
“Absolutely not. You don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to. You don’t even have to talk to me.”
He never knew the sort of gratification her smile brought at that very minute. “No. You’re a different story. I’m just glad you’re okay.” She reached out to him, and he took her hand.
“No gladder than I am that you’re all right. I thought I lost you for a second there.” He tried to chuckle, tried to lighten the mood, but it was no use. His voice broke, just a little.
Light touched her eyes, and her lips parted. “Braxton—” she breathed, and he held his breath in anticipation of what was coming.
“Everything looks fine, Miss Starr.” The doctor was all smiles as he joined them, looking proud of himself like he had anything to do with it.
“Thank you so much,” she smiled, obviously relieved.
“I can take her home?” Braxton asked, hovering over her.
“Absolutely,” the doctor grinned. “She might want to take it easy the rest of the night, but she should be just fine.”
He then turned to her, and his confident smile turned into something Braxton could only describe as embarrassed, sheepish. “Uh, Miss Starr, could I ask a favor of you?”
No. This wasn’t happening. Doctors didn’t do things like this, did they?
Serenity’s face fell slightly, and her disappointment was obvious. But she nodded, reaching out to take the notepad and pen the doctor handed over. It was like she wasn’t really there when she signed her name, like her body took over. The wolf snarled in the back of his mind, and he didn’t bother hiding his contempt for the son of a bitch.
She was all that mattered. Rather than pulling the jerk aside and asking what he thought he was doing, turning her near tragedy into some cheap opportunity for an autograph, he focused on helping her off the bed so she could dress, then turning his back to give her privacy to do it.
“When are you going to tell me?” she murmured as she dressed.
“Tell you what?”
“You know what I’m talking about. If you think I’m going to let this go, you’re crazy.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” Though he had his suspicions. While she spoke quietly, evenly, there was no ignoring the urgency underneath.
“That’s fine. Gaslight me all you want. We both know you’re lying.”
“I’m telling you I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re overwhelmed. You’ve been through a lot.”
“Don’t do that,” she warned. “I’m not some china doll who might break if she isn’t handled carefully. I know what I saw when I looked at the truck. The driver’s side was smashed in. There’s no way you walked away from that without a scratch on you, but you did. Here you are.”
He turned to find her already dressed, staring at him. “You might as well tell me the truth because I’m not going to believe your lies. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before now.”
“Why you didn’t see what?” He had to get her out of there. There was no way he was about to have this conversation with her in the middle of the hospital. Sure, they were sort of alone, but he doubted that would be the case for long. He’d already heard whispering and giggling and questions and speculation going on outside the door most of the time they were there.
If word got around that she’d been discharged but hadn’t left, that would set off a whole new bunch of rumors and questions. Was this what his life and become? Trying to anticipate what people were going to think and do just because there was a celebrity around?
She rolled her eyes. “There’s something different about you. I don’t mean, like, the way people say to each other when they have a crush or something. I mean there’s something really different about you. More different than anybody I’ve ever met. You’re not a normal person.”
“Neither are you.”
“Stop it.” It came out like the cracking of a whip, and only a fool would insist on pushing her buttons after that. “Stop trying to be cute. Stop trying to be funny. I need to know the truth, the actual truth, without you trying to hold things back, without you sidestepping or double-talking me away from what I know is real. And right now, I know you are really nothing like any other person I’ve ever known. You have this thing about you, this other side. Underneath. I wish I knew how to talk about it, but I can’t seem to put it into words.”
Was she for real? Was it possible that somehow his wolf had made himself known to her? Was that how it worked? Maybe this was the way it was meant to be all along, and he just didn’t know it. Maybe when mates found each other, it was easier for them to see beyond the external.
He was on a tight rope. He was going to fall; he knew it. Which side would he fall? Would he tell her the full truth, then tell her what he suspected she meant to him? Who he thought she might be to him, for him? Who he might be to her?
Or would he keep lying, keep walking away from what was real? It might mean protecting himself, protecting his team. None of them had asked for what had been done to them, and if their information fell in the wrong hands, it could mean the death of all of them. Could he take that chance?
Somewhere deep inside, the wolf growled. Some deeper wisdom, deeper and truer than anything he’d ever known as a man, told him there would be no questions, no doubts. She was the one; she always had been. His mate, his destiny.
He took a step toward her, relieved when she didn’t back away. She stared at him, defiant, and he held her
gaze as he whispered, “I will tell you everything. But not here. Can you wait until we get back to the house? Zane is on his way now. Only when we’re there and only when we’re alone. Okay?”
Uncertainty furrowed her brow. “So there really is something?” she breathed, her chest rising and falling faster all the time.
“You’re the one who was so sure, weren’t you?” he asked, smiling without humor.
“It’s one thing to be sure but another thing to know you were right.”
She was right, wasn’t she? And now he had no choice but to give her the truth she wanted. God help them both.
Chapter Thirty
Now that she’d gone and made such a big deal about this, Serenity wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Maybe it was the stormy silence he treated her to the entire way back to the house, only answering direct questions from Zane. Otherwise, he might as well have been a statue—a statue that lived and breathed, a statue that just about vibrated with dark, intense energy.
She wished she could take it back, all her questions. Now, it hardly seemed important, though she knew it was because there was something off about him. There had always been. Only now, now that Braxton had agreed to tell her under the condition of complete privacy, was she apprehensive, maybe even afraid.
What could he possibly tell her that demanded that level of secrecy? What had she stumbled into without meaning to? He was just a person.
Now she knew that wasn’t true. There was nothing simple about him, nothing normal. She had to know what it was that made him different. And she had to trust that whatever it was, it didn’t make a difference in the promise he’d made that he would never hurt her.
She didn’t believe he would. No matter how nervous she was about what she would find out as they made the drive back to the house, she knew that much was true. He would never threaten her, would never hurt her.
How did she know? She searched her feelings and couldn’t come up with an answer. She just knew, the way she knew tomorrow was tomorrow and yesterday was yesterday. Some things didn’t need to be explained.
Wolf Shield Investigations: Boxset Page 45
