Chapter Three
She’d thought herself prepared to see him, thought she knew what he’d look like all red and splotchy from the allergic reaction. But when she opened the door she found something from a nightmare or horror film.
He wasn’t spotted with little tiny blisters. No, he had palm-sized liquid-filled sores covering every expanse of visible skin. Between those were thin areas of reddened skin. Even his beautiful face sported sores and looked like he’d been burned. His naked chest, which usually gave her the urge to lick him, was completely covered in blisters. Amie had to brace herself against the doorjamb to stop from stepping back or falling to the floor. Even on the worst days, when she’d wanted to shoot him in the knees, she hadn’t really wanted to hurt him. But this? This was so horrible to see, and the pain-filled air washing over her dragged a sob from her throat. It choked her and burned her nose. Even the antiseptic smells of the clinic did nothing to cover the acrid stench of agony.
“God, Zeke, I am so sorry.” Her voice cracked. “I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”
He grinned, or grimaced, she couldn’t tell because of the swelling in his face and the cracked lips. But the beckoning hand was enough to communicate she was in trouble. He didn’t wave her over, no he crooked a single finger twice. When she still didn’t advance he growled low and quiet, moving his hand and signaled for her to approach him. The hesitation wasn’t because she was afraid of him. If she was honest with herself, she fully deserved to be beaten raw for what she’d put him through. Zeke could easily call for her banishment from the pack for her actions. No, she was scared to touch him, to add to his discomfort. How he was still awake and not moaning in agony she couldn’t fathom.
She shook her head and stayed still. Petulant? Yes, but at least she wouldn’t inadvertently cause him more hurt than she already had.
“Come here.” His words sounded strange coming from the tortured lips. His blue eyes were bright with pain and determination. They were nearly glowing from the splotchy face, the color so much brighter surrounded by the wounded skin.
She huffed. And puffed. But approached him anyway. Was it weak of her to focus on his eyes and not glance down to the fire-red skin of his cheeks? Probably. It definitely was weakness when she refused to follow his request to sit with him. Patting the exam table next to him had her shaking her head hard enough to make her dizzy.
“I can’t. Christ. I’m so sorry. Can I do anything?” Her hands fluttered as she glanced around the room. What could she do? Offer to hold a cup for him while he drank and remoistened his bleeding mouth?
“Sit.”
“No. I’ll touch you and hurt you more. There’s gotta be something we can give you to help. Why aren’t you sedated?” Panic welled. She avoided looking at him, but couldn’t help catching glimpses of his condition as she continued to look for something, anything, to help. “Are you on pain meds? Should I get the doc back in here? I could have Margie tranq you…”
“Amie. Stop.”
Swinging her gaze back to his she couldn’t help the tears that burned in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’ve said that.” He groaned when his attempt at smiling must have pulled at the skin around his mouth.
“What can I do?” She’d whispered the questions and whipped around when the door to the room swung open.
“You can tell me what the ever-loving fuck you thought you were doing by having Tommy run through that fucking patch.” Skip’s eyes blazed with a hint of coyote and the power in his voice had her baring her throat to him. Even as a cat she bowed to his strength. Fear coiled like a snake in her chest.
As she tried to formulate a response that would answer him and not get her in more trouble, a gravelly voice behind her broke the anger-filled silence.
“Skip, she didn’t mean it to go this far.”
Her Alpha scowled. “Zeke. You are in no shape to try and protect her this time. I’ve let you two dance around each other and cause havoc as long as it didn’t harm anyone. But, this? You realize the severity of your actions?”
The last question was directed to Amie. She nodded and squared her shoulders. “Yes, and I’m ready to take responsibility for it all. The boys were bribed to do as asked. Please don’t punish them. I knew full well that Zeke was allergic to poison ivy. I didn’t mean for it to go this far, that is true, but I’m still at fault. I caused this harm to him.” Glancing over her shoulder had a shudder of compassion stealing her breath for a minute. When she turned back to Skip she looked him in the eye. “I am truly sorry for this. I will take any punishment, pay any retribution requested, do whatever it takes for Zeke and the pack to accept my apology.”
Before Skip could answer her a growl rolled from Zeke. “I seek no compensation or actions at all against her. I won’t allow anyone else to either.”
“As your Alpha I am tabling this discussion for a later time when your mind isn’t clouded with medications and pain.” Skip turned to Amie again, disappointment evident on his face. “I really had hoped you’d give up this asinine game, but you’ve taken it too far this time. The pack has already decided its first action.”
She waited, holding her breath for him to continue but he didn’t. She opened her mouth to ask what she’d be required to do but Margie popped her head around the doorjamb before she could speak. The woman’s smile gave Amie a measure of reassurance that was squashed just as fast with the appearance of the vet’s trusty tranquilizer gun. “What… what are you doing, Margie?”
Skip looked down at the human and nodded slightly. A puff of air and a quick thunk was followed immediately by lethargy. “Fuck, you just shot me? Really? What’s going…”
Darkness stole her thoughts and wrapped her in a straight jacket. Strong arms caught her before Amie could fall to the floor. Fear, thick and choking, swamped her. She couldn’t move, couldn’t talk. Every freedom fled on the burn of the medicine as it coursed through her body.
Not again.
She couldn’t do it again. But this was her Alpha, her friends. They wouldn’t cage her, no matter how angry they were at her. Even as she and her cat fought the terror, her mind was fuzzing quickly. A roar filled the room, hurting her ears. Zeke was scrambling off the table behind her and another dart flew through the air. Through heavy eyes Amie watched the colorful feathers tremble as the dart stuck in his chest.
Skip moved quickly to help Zeke back onto the exam table. Amie’s eyes became too heavy to keep open but she tried to stay awake long enough for someone to say Zeke was okay. When the doc muttered something under his breath about both of them being asleep and ready to move she gave into the darkness.
*****
“I think he’s coming around. Do you want me to lock the door?”
The female’s voice seemed familiar but Zeke couldn’t put a name to it. A cozy blanket of warmth and mental cotton kept him floating. This feeling had become fairly well known to him. Either medicine or tranquilizers flowed sluggishly through his system. He couldn’t remember doing anything to Margie to get shot again, but then again he couldn’t quite remember anything.
He tried to stretch and a twinge of pain stilled his movements. Hm. Had he been hurt? The cool sheet covering his chest wasn’t his and didn’t smell of the clinic. Another sniff let him know they’d been freshly washed and hung outside not long before. The clinging scent of pine and mountain air calmed his coyote some as the animal stirred in his mind. The man always woke before the animal when he’d been drugged before. He suddenly wondered if that happened to everyone. He’d have to remember to ask once he was fully able to function.
An intense itch on his belly had his arms jerking, the medicine making his actions uncoordinated. Pain screamed across his skin when his heavy limb flopped hard onto his side. The searing agony came from every point of contact, confusing his brain for a moment. In an effort to stop the shards of misery from digging further into his nerves, he tried to lift his arm, but even that small task could
n’t be accomplished. All he could do was drag it down off his chest. The shout was muffled by uncooperative lips, but it was met with a flurry of movement in the room.
“Shh, be still now.” A warm, heavy hand pressed lightly against his shoulder and it took everything for Zeke to not attack whomever touched him.
One positive from the influx of adrenaline was the quick recover from the sedative. He burned through it like a piece of tissue paper. One moment his senses were covered with a thin haze, the next he was completely lucid. He fought through the last few strands of confusion to open his eyes and finally try to figure out what the hell was going on.
“Be still. You’re going to need a few minutes to get a grasp on the pain and discomfort.” Skip’s voice drew Zeke’s attention to his Alpha, who hovered over him, still pressing lightly on his arm.
“Wha…?” Zeke’s voice cracked and broke off. He tried to moisten the inside of his mouth but even that caused fissures of pain to make his facial muscles twitch. “Fucking tranqs.”
A glass of water appeared with a bent straw sticking out of it. He lightly wrapped his lips around the plastic and drew in beautifully cold liquid. The first few mouthfuls were greedily swallowed, but then he swished one around inside his mouth. Blissful moisture. When he was sated he pushed the straw from his mouth with his tongue.
“Thanks.” His voice sounded much more normal. “Now. I’m still a little fuzzy around the edges, but what are we doing in your hunting cabin? And what the hell did I do to myself to hurt so much? And itch… I want to find a garden rake and…” Like floodgates opened in his mind, the memory of what had caused his misery flowed over his thoughts. “Amie.”
Her name left his lips on a hiss. That stupidly crazy woman had done this to him. Paid off his students to get him running through that fucking patch of poison ivy. He was going to kill her, slowly. Maybe not kill her, just torture her a little. Tie her to a tree. Naked. In the moonlight. He groaned as the image of such a thing didn’t make him want to hurt her at all. No, his animal was in agreement that if he could get her trussed up in the wild with the moon beaming down on them he’d take his time and taste her, torture her with his tongue and fingers.
Shaking his head to clear the idea from his mind forced him to suck in a breath through his teeth. “Fuck. I hurt. And itch.”
Skip sat on the ground and his gaze held sympathy along with a healthy dose of amusement. “I do feel bad for you, but you have to admit she’s gotten really creative.”
Zeke struggled not to laugh, knowing it would hurt. He resorted to snickering. “Yeah, and I thought some of the other things she’d pulled off were good. So, you didn’t answer me, what are we doing in your cabin? And why the hell am I still in so much pain?”
His Alpha ran a hand through his black hair. “Well, you reacted so badly that the doctors think you might take four to five days for it to clear up, even with your shifter healing. We haven’t given you any additional painkillers yet, because Margie said we needed you to clear the tranquilizer first.”
“Okay. So I’m going to have to suck it up for a few days.” Zeke scanned the area he could see from his horizontal position. There seemed to be an awful lot of food on the counters and a small blinking light under the antique roller desk told him the Wi-Fi had been turned on. “Are we hiding out so I don’t scare the townsfolk with my gruesome visage?”
When Skip didn’t laugh, a small wisp of concern wound through Zeke’s thoughts. It was the glances the other man kept sending off to Zeke’s left that had him confused. Especially when a feminine groan came from that same direction. Before he could ask what was going on, or start to put together some assumptions, his Alpha started talking in a hushed voice.
“The pack has made some decisions about Amie. We need to wait for her to fully wake up before I discuss it with the two of you. And, no, it’s not up to you to seek reparations. She drew seven teenagers, seven different families, into this mess. She wronged each and every one of them along with you. The pack has full rights to challenge her or to find something else that is deemed acceptable for her transgressions.”
Zeke wanted to argue with him, but their Alpha was a fair man and in this instance he was completely right. By bringing the other families into her plans, unintentional or otherwise, she’d brought harm and disrespect to those members of the pack. In the past she would have been chased from the lands or killed. The fact that they were all together in one location and had what looked like a plan in place made Zeke take a deep breath and hope his mate wasn’t going to be harmed. He wasn’t in any condition to save her. He would still attempt to change places with her if he could, but he would wait until Skip told them what the punishment would be.
“How long have we been out?”
“Almost sixteen hours. We moved you here right after you both fell asleep but we had to have a pack meeting and gather supplies. Margie gave both of you an additional dose not long ago to give us a few extra hours. How’s the head?”
The dull headache hadn’t even registered with the influx of other pains. “Not bad, actually. Definitely not as bad as the last time Margie shot me.”
Skip laughed, shaking his head. “That human scares me.”
Zeke agreed with a grunt. Pretty much all women terrified him, but Margie was at the top of that list. Between Amie and Margie he wasn’t sure which one was crazier, although this latest stunt edged his mate up that particular list quite a bit. Was it sick of him to be slightly proud of her tenacity? Probably, but then again, he wasn’t quite normal either.
“Fuck. My head is going to explode.” Amie’s moan accompanied what sounded like her rolling over and climbing off the sofa. The old springs creaked when she sat back down with a hmmph. “I hate that shit. I’m going to get Margie the next time I see her. Maybe stool softeners in her brownies will teach that woman.”
Skip turned his attention to Amie, even though he remained on the floor in front of Zeke. “When you think you’ve recuperated enough to pay attention I will start our conversation.” The steel in his voice had Zeke flinching. The soft gasp Amie made had him fighting to move so he could see her. Skip must have deciphered the slight twitching and growl of irritation because his next words remedied the situation. “And come sit here on the floor with me so Zeke can see you. He’s in enough pain as it is, he doesn’t need to be struggling to sit up. He can’t have more medicine until we’re done because he needs to be of sound mind.”
A blushing and visibly shaken Amie slid into Zeke’s field of view and sat quickly next to Skip. She wrung her hands for a moment in her lap before she pushed her shoulders back, clenched her teeth and looked at Skip. “I’m ready.”
“You’re not going in front of a firing squad, girl, you don’t need to look so terrified.” Skip reached out a reassuring hand and patted her knee. “But we do have some things to discuss. Firstly, the pack has decided what they want done to you for involving the seven youths and their families.”
Amie nodded, the blood draining from her face. Zeke tried to reach for her, but the move did nothing but aggravate his skin. He tried to silence the grunt of pain but from the looks the others gave him he hadn’t done a good enough job.
“Let’s get this over with. I can’t stand seeing him in pain.” Amie’s words were whispered but still held truth in them. “What is the pack’s will?”
Skip rolled his head around on his neck, tension still evident in his shoulders, but he was the Alpha and this was part of his job. “Amie Dorner, as a member of my pack, of our pack, you have been found to be reckless with yourself and the safety of others. For your premeditated attack on Zekeil Marrow you are to be sentenced by me, your Alpha. Are you ready to hear the sentence?”
Amie swallowed loudly and Zeke fought the urge to protect her. She needed to hear this, to deal with her actions, or she’d be shunned within the community. She nodded once.
Skip continued, “For the harm you’ve inflicted on Zeke you will remain here with him until he
is completely healed. You will cook and tend to his needs as best as you can within the confines of a normal caregiver’s role. You will also pay for any and all bills created by this fiasco. That is part one. The second part is what I’m hoping you will pay closest attention to. You are not allowed to leave this building until a decision is made between you about your mating. It must be a mutual agreement with both parties accepting the decision.”
Amie started to open her mouth but Skip stopped her. “If you, Amie, leave without a written agreement, for mating or not, you will be banished from our pack. You’ve taken us for granted and put our group in jeopardy one too many times. If you run from this, you will be run out of town. Do you understand?”
Zeke was stunned. He’d never heard of anyone being banished from Skip’s pack. Ever. For the group to decide something so devastating to a shifter meant they really and truly were angry at Amie. “Wait, Skip, what if we decide right now? I will sign anything she wants as long as it keeps her from being banished.”
Skip shook his head. “No, she must remain here until you are healed. After Margie or the doc has cleared you, then you must come to an agreement.” The Alpha turned back to Amie. “If you two decide to remain unmated I will do the ceremony at the next full moon. Once completed, you will both be free of the connection. Know this though, it is not something I will do lightly. If you two truly do not want to be mates I will sever the tie between you, but it can’t be reconnected. There is no going back once it’s done.”
Chapter Four
Banished? Run out of her pack? Amie couldn’t make her sluggish brain accept the words. The people she’d known for years were willing to run her out? Had she really done something so awful?
For a moment she looked at her actions from the viewpoint of one of the teen’s parents. She’d placed the boys and their families in danger. Not only from Zeke and his brother seeking retribution, but from the rest of the pack. Being involved in a planned attack on another packmate was grounds for death.
Switching Gears: Coyote Bluff Series Book 3 Page 3
