by Susan Bliler
King shook his head. “Re-assign my position. Temporarily”, he amended. “I’m staying with Lilly until you find out what’s going on.”
Monroe nodded and was calling Legion through the mist before he’d even cleared the hall.
Chapter 11
Lilly had awakened two days after the accident, but King hadn’t been in to see her. Instead he relegated himself to standing outside the door of her room in the infirmary, interrogating all who tried to enter. Jenny had told him at least a dozen times in the past two days that he was making life hell for the Surgeon as well as for the nurses. King didn’t care. Until they knew why the man had tried to kill Lilly, he’d trust no one alone in her presence. He’d already fucked up once. He wouldn’t make the same mistake.
He was standing in front of her door with his back to it when he heard the familiar beep that summoned Jenny or one of the nurses to Lilly’s room.
As Jenny strode down the hall toward him, King could scent the anxiety and fear that the Surgeon couldn’t hide from him or any other Skin Walker.
King stepped to block the Surgeon’s entrance into the room, “What is it?”
Jenny looked up and whispered tremulously, “She wants to know the extent of the damage.”
King inhaled deeply and stepped aside allowing Jenny entrance into the exam room. He offered no advice or words of comfort for the young Doctor. He had none to give.
King was aware that Monroe had ordered the information withheld from Lilly until she’d had time to heal. But he knew Lilly, they all did, and if she wanted information she wasn’t going to stop until she got it.
“How are you feeling?” King heard Jenny ask as the door clicked closed. It didn’t matter. He didn’t need to be in the room to hear the entire conversation. He was a Skin Walker. Not just any Skin Walker, but a stage four Walker, which meant that unlike the Walkers of other stages, he could partially shift, which he did often, like now. His eyes, that usually shown with the glassy reflection of an animal’s when he was in human form, dimmed to a dull black as he partially shifted to enhance his sense of smell and hearing.
The women exchanged pleasantries for several moments before Lilly played her hand. “So, what’s the bad news, Jenny? It can’t be good; you’ve been avoiding telling me since I woke up.”
Standing in the hall King listened as Jenny gave Lilly the bad news.
“The wound in your shoulder should heal fine in time. You’ll need to be in a sling for several weeks. As for the gunshot wound to your abdomen…Lilly, I’m so sorry.”
Even through the door King scented Lilly’s panic as it hiked. The sound of the heart monitor attached to her increased in its rhythmic beeps to a rapid staccato.
“We had to perform an emergency hysterectomy.”
King could tell by Jenny’s tone that she wanted to push all the information out as fast as she could.
“It was a life-saving measure or else it wouldn’t have even been considered. But, you were damaged so severely, we had no other recourse. Lilly I’m sorry…” The last words were whispered, “There’s no hope for children.”
The scent of Lilly’s anguish hit King so hard he had to brace his hands on the wall. His belly dry heaved at the scent as he curled his hands into tight fists against the concrete that held him upright. He listened as Jenny tried to placate an inconsolable Lilly. Anguished sobs and a terrible moan filled with utter despair had King fighting to keep from punching a hole in the concrete wall.
“It’s alright, it’ll be alright. Please don’t cry.”
“Is he dead?” Lilly’s voice came out barely recognizable.
“He’s in custody.” A slight pause then panic was in Jenny’s tone, “Lilly! Don’t!”
The scent of Lilly’s rage seeped out of the room. King’s tongue darted out to lick his lips. He swore he could taste her wrath, could feel her hatred. He shared it.
An alarm went off in the room and Jenny was calling over the hospital intercom, “I need help in here!”
King shoved the door open and stood dazed for a moment as he watched Jenny struggling to keep Lilly subdued. IV’s were ripped out, and blood ran down both Lilly’s arms, creating a hideous contrast against the stark white sheets of the bed. Lilly’s ashen face was contorted into an anguish King had never seen and didn’t want to ever see again.
“Christ, King! Help me!” Jenny’s words had him springing to action.
Monroe entered the room flanked by Bronco and Legion. “What is it?”
Jenny glared up at the CEO. “She’s having a hard time understanding why that asshole’s still alive.”
Monroe, diplomatic as ever began, “Lilly, you must understand that we need to ensure that…”
“Fuck you!” The words were hurled from Lilly even as Jenny was buckling restraints around both of her wrists. Lilly drew in a deep breath on a harsh sob.
King, who held her shoulders pinned firmly to the gurney was also having difficulty accepting why the shooter was still alive. His rage was barely in check.
Monroe shook his head but spoke softly, “Lilly, what would you have me do?”
She sobered then and tried to steady the sobs that were catching at her breath. She leveled tear soaked eyes on Monroe, “The same as you’d do if it were one of your women. I want his fucking heart!”
The statement had the entire room stilling. Lilly knew what she’d done and she was too angry and hurt to care. It was time Monroe and everyone else was made aware that she would no longer live in the dark. She knew they were different, she knew they weren’t like her, and after dedicating her life for the past five years to working for them and keeping their secrets, she’d demand to be treated with the same regard.
Monroe’s jaw ticked and he hid a wince when Jenny looked from Lilly to King and then to Monroe as if seeking guidance. His tone was eerily calm, “How much do you know?”
“Enough to know that one of your kind wouldn’t be begging for vengeance.”
“It’s not that simple,” Monroe explained.
“I GAVE UP MY LIFE FOR YOU!” She screamed, clutching at her abdomen. She’d spent her life dreaming of the day she’d find her soul mate and finally settle down to build a family of her own. That dream was now shattered.
“He’s…,” Monroe stalled a moment before forging on, “He’s not one of us, Lilly, and we can’t just murder him. What are we supposed to do wipe him off the face of the earth as if he never existed?”
“It’s what you’re good at,” Lilly sneered, tears still flowing freely down her cheeks. “You’re fucking animals, that’s all you do is kill. You’ve wiped dozens of humans off the face of this earth for your fucking existence.” She was angry, hurt, and she was saying things everyone in the room knew she didn’t mean. She didn’t have a malicious bone in her body and they all knew it. She just wanted them to hurt the way she was hurting.
Monroe stared at Lilly for several moments, then she watched as his eyes slid up to Jenny who’d finished binding her wrists and was reinserting the IV’s back into her arms. Monroe gave an imperceptible nod and Lilly felt heat wash through her limbs. Her eyes snapped to Jenny who held a needle injected into one of the IV’s.
Warm tears rolled silently down Lilly’s cheeks as her eyes fluttered closed and King’s heart squeezed. He’d do anything to make those tears stop.
“I’m going to fucking kill him, Monroe!” King’s growled the vow. The guilt at the words he’d said to Lilly still gnawed at his gut. He couldn’t help but wonder if she remembered them, if she thought he had failed to protect her intentionally just to teach her a lesson. The need to explain himself to her was eating away at his insides.
Chapter 12
As badly as King wanted to race to the holding cells and murder the bastard that shot Lilly, he was forced to stay at the infirmary. Jenny had begged him. Crying, she told him she wouldn’t know what to do if Lilly woke up and tried to leave the infirmary. It was a lie, King could scent it. Jenny was trying to keep his
mind off murder and preoccupied with Lilly’s health, and Jenny was right. He didn’t want to leave Lilly alone now either. If she woke she’d need to feel safe, she’d need to feel protected. It was all he could give her right now, so he would.
Several hours later, King still stood guard just outside Lilly’s door. He was surprised to see Monroe returning to check on Lilly. It was out of character for the busy CEO, but she was his personal assistant after all.
“Any change?” Monroe demanded without so much as a ‘hello’.
“None.”
“Fuck! I need her awake. I need answers.”
“Maybe it’s time we take them from him.”
Monroe looked at King. A rare flash of indecision streaked across the CEO’s face before it disappeared and Monroe nodded. “I’ll talk to him. You stay here in case Lilly wakes up. I don’t want her putting her health in jeopardy because she’s pissed at us.”
“Us?” King asked mockingly. “I’m with her. That fucker should be dead.”
Monroe’s expression steeled and he scowled at King before turning to stalk down the hall. The click of his dress shoes on the tile didn’t halt when King threw at his back, “Get the information you need, Crow. He’s running out of time and you’re running out of opportunity.”
King turned to Jenny who had just stepped out of Lilly’s room. She was shaking her head sadly. She’d heard King’s threat. “It won’t solve anything, King.”
He turned from her to resume his position in front of Lilly’s door before straightening his shoulders and locking his hands together behind his back. The perfect soldier. “Wrong. It won’t solve anything for Monroe. But it’ll appease Lilly.”
Jenny raised a slender brow, “And since when do you care about appeasing Lilly?”
King turned his head to stare at the Walker woman. His eyes dimmed and he loosed a deep growl.
Jenny threw up her hands, “Okay, okay. It’s none of my business, but you do know she’s afraid of Walkers.” She turned to walk back down the hall to the nurse’s station.
King resumed his stance. Afraid of Walkers? We’ll see about that.
The next day while Lilly still slept, Monroe returned to the infirmary, “Christ, King, it’s been three days. Have you slept at all?”
“Some.” King answered on a growl. His short black hair was disheveled, and stubble was forming along his chin and jaw line. He needed a shave, shower, rest, and a hot meal. But he wouldn’t admit it. He couldn’t leave her.
“Go get some rest, and take a shower.” Monroe wrinkled his nose.
King kept his eyes straight ahead, “I’m not leaving.”
“You are. You’re no good to her or anyone for that matter with the shape you’re in.”
King simply shook his head, “I’m not leaving her with anyone else.”
“No one?” Monroe asked. He turned to look down the narrow corridor that led out of the infirmary and nodded. King followed his eyes and saw Bronco at the end of the hall watching through the small pane of glass that was set into one of two swinging doors. When Monroe gave the sign Bronco nodded then disappeared. King tensed for a fight.
“Easy man,” Monroe slapped him on the shoulder, “No one’s going to take you from her. I’ve got a better idea.”
King turned to stare down the hall as the doors swung open. It was RedKnife. He was King’s most trusted Sentry, and aside from Monroe, the only other man that King trusted with his life. But RedKnife despised being assigned to inside work detail. Claimed he couldn’t breathe. RedKnife hadn’t worked an indoor detail since he’d arrived at StoneCrow. The man even preferred to shift at night and sleep outdoors curled into a tight ball in wolf form on the perimeter of the estate. This was a huge favor and King recognized it.
RedKnife ignored Monroe and Bronco as he approached. He rarely spoke to anyone. When he finally reached King he took the same stance King had posed and stood beside King, so close that their shoulders were touching. RedKnife stared straight ahead, hands locked behind his back before he said the only words that could get King to leave Lilly’s side.
“I’ll protect her as if she were my own. You have my word.”
King dropped his head and took a deep breath making his massive chest expand. The words were meant to provide solace, but the implication of the ‘as if she were my own’ had King fighting to control the anger that washed over him. Damn he was tired. He was acting out of character. It had to be his exhaustion….didn’t it? Regardless, RedKnife was sacrificing his personal comfort for King’s sake, and it was more appreciated than RedKnife would ever know.
Monroe nodded as if he’d conquered some great feat. “Gentlemen.” He offered as he turned and strode proudly back down the corridor with Bronco in tow, clearly pleased with himself.
King turned to RedKnife, “Thank you.”
RedKnife nodded once, keeping his gaze on the wall.
King checked in with Jenny and peeked in on a still sleeping Lilly before he raced out of the infirmary to seek out Monroe. He needed some answers on the shooter.
Unfortunately for him, Monroe was not as forthcoming as King had hoped. Monroe dismissed King from his office with the wave of his hand and a, “Not now, I’ve got intel coming in and I don’t have time to discuss this with you.”
“You really should make time.” King threatened, but Monroe didn’t even look up from his computer before he picked up his cell phone to punch in some numbers.
Disheartened but not dissuaded, King returned to his home. His residence was a quaint two bedroom cabin. It was one of the first to be finished on the estate and was nestled just behind the large manor. As he opened his front door he was greeted by a large living room with rustic décor. An empty fireplace sat in front of a large leather sofa to his left. Just above the fireplace was a large flat screen TV.
He dropped his keys on a small waist-high table that sat just to the right of the front door, before he strode the short distance down the hall to his kitchen. Yanking open the door to his stainless steel fridge, he pulled out luncheon meat, cold-cuts, lettuce, and cheese slices, tossing each item onto the island that sat in the center of his kitchen. The fridge, stove, microwave, and dishwasher were all stainless steel, while his countertops, of a burnt-orange marble, gave the kitchen a sophisticated elegance.
King twisted the top off a cold beer before slamming it and grabbing another. Then he snatched a jar of mayo out of the fridge, made himself three sandwiches, and carried them and two extra beers upstairs to his bedroom. On missions like guarding Lilly, he’d partially shift to a nocturnal animal at night to stay alert, and then at day he’d partially shift to a diurnal animal to keep awake during the day. It was a costly maneuver. His human form couldn’t take the stress of those types of alternating shifts for any extended period of time. Three days was the longest he’d ever gone, and he’d just spent five days with Lilly. He was exhausted and cranky, and he didn’t particularly care for performing the feat but would if the situation required.
He polished off the last of his sandwiches and finished his fourth beer before dropping, still fully clothed, onto his bed and instantly falling into an exhausted sleep.
Chapter 13
When Lilly woke, she wasn’t sure where she was. Then she remembered, and overwhelming grief swamped her. She fought to hold back tears, and her eyes flashed open when she realized she wasn’t alone.
Monroe was seated in the chair next to her bed, with Legion Knight standing at his side, and the Walker she knew to be RedKnife KillsPrettyEnemy standing just inside the door, staring straight ahead at the wall above her bed.
Lilly sighed, looking from RedKnife to Monroe. She knew Monroe well, knew his moods. The thin line of his angry lips whitened as his lips drew tighter.
“What?” Lilly snapped, angry herself that Monroe would think she deserved to bear any of his wrath considering her recent ordeal.
His words were clipped, “It seems King has left you a little gift.”
Lilly loo
ked away from Monroe’s angry eyes to scan the room. She found no card, no flowers, no…then she saw it. Sitting on a table against the far wall was a small, fist-sized, bloody, object. Lilly blinked, trying to clear her vision. “Is that?”
“Yes,” Monroe bit out. “The heart of one Mr. Richard Jamison.”
Lilly sat dazed. She stared at the heart for several tense moments. She knew Monroe expected her to feel guilty. Christ, she expected herself to feel guilty, but the emotion wouldn’t formulate. A flash of anger, then pain were both replaced as a warmth ignited in the pit of her stomach and grew until her limbs were shaking with its power. Gratitude. She hadn’t expected any of them to care enough to avenge what had happened to her. But one had…King had.
Lilly’s peripheral vision took in the flare of Monroe’s nostrils. She knew he was reading her scents. Trying to decipher just how she perceived King’s gift. She didn’t want him to have to guess. Her voice was thickened with emotion, “It’s the greatest gift anyone has ever given me.”
Monroe snarled, “Christ Lilly, you’re starting to sound like one of us. Do you realize a man died today? By your order! You’ve got blood on your hands and whether you realize it now or not, blood won’t wash off that easily.”
Lilly let her head fall back against the pillow as she frowned up at Monroe, “Funny, I would have expected more from you.”
He smelt the accusation and the betrayal she felt. For a second his own regret flashed across his face. “I was trying to get answers. All we had was his name, and the knowledge that he was a local rancher. We tied you to him through your work with the Canis Lupus Coalition. Other than that we have nothing.”
Lilly closed her eyes, her throat convulsing as she swallowed. “Richard Jamison. He goes by RJ. He’s hated me for a very long time.”
“You knew him personally?” Monroe couldn’t disguise his interest.
“Only through my work with the Coalition. I told King this. We’re a non-profit committed to the protection of gray wolves. RJ has been our most ruthless opponent.
