THRAX

by Bonnie Burrows

  “You see, I want you, Daisy...I want you to be mine forever. I want this with every molecule of my heart. But I want you to come to me of your own free will and volition when you give your heart to me for good. No begging...no coercion involved. I want it to be your own choice. And I have no doubt this will happen. So, this is why I'm not begging. I'm just waiting. Just waiting for you to say the words that I'm all but dying to hear...that you've decided that you want to spend the rest of your life with me."

  My heartbeat, which had never really even slowed to normal post-wolf attack, now hammered in my ears. But before I could respond to what Damien had said, before I could even sort my thoughts and think of a response, actually, Claire came running across the square toward us with Eric on her heels.

  "My baby! My little girl!" Soon she reached me, took Lucy from my arms, and planted kisses all over her face, sniffling. "Is she all right? Did any of the wolves hurt her in any way?"

  I shook my head, my heart swelling with emotion at the sweet scene. "She's just fine."

  Just then, Lucy began flailing her chubby little arms, squawking, as if to prove that she was still in fighting form.

  Damien smiled, looking from her to Claire. "Not a scratch on her, thanks to Daisy. She held off a wolf with her knife until Nick and I could get here. Oh. And speak of the devil...."

  With his eyes darkening almost imperceptibly, Damien seemed to spot someone or something just over my shoulder, and I turned to look. It was Nick, and he was limping across the cobblestones toward us. The glow from several large candlelit pumpkins near him illuminated some sort of large, dark, wet-looking stain on the side of his shirt. Right where the doctor had had to give him at least two dozen stitches to close some of the gashes and stab wounds he'd received while being tortured. While being tortured for me.

  Gasping, I began running over to him. "Nick!"

  When I reached him, I told him to lift up his shirt, and he did. Even in the dim light from the pumpkins and the moon, I could clearly see that many of his stitches had been split open. Blood was trickling freely from several of his wounds.

  He shrugged, wincing. "I think something went a little wrong when I shifted. Wasn't quite ready for it, maybe. No big deal, though. All the wolves who attacked us have been killed, and no one on our side was injured, and that's all that matters."

  I continued peering at his wounds. "Well, thank God for that, but your injuries are a big deal. And you need to get to the hospital immediately to get stitched back up."

  Damien, Eric, and Claire had joined us, and Claire also examined his wounds, frowning.

  "Daisy's right. You need to get to the hospital right away."

  Damien suddenly stifled a chuckle, his gaze on Nick. "Well played, brother. What did you do? Make a little pit stop to rip open your stitches before coming back to Daisy? Knew she was talking to me, so you had to ensure you could keep her sympathy? Because that's all it is, you know. Just pity and sympathy. Those are the only things holding her to you right now."

  While Damien had been speaking, Nick had taken on an expression that could only be described as one of murderous rage. In response, maybe on instinct, both Claire and I had taken several steps backward.

  But Damien took one giant step closer to Nick, smirking. "Just pity. Nothing more."

  I didn't have time to scream, yell stop, or even take a deep breath before Nick swung a tightly-curled fist at him.

  CHAPTER 15

  Claire and I may have taken several steps back from Nick and Damien, but Eric, Claire's dragon shifter friend, hadn't. And now, he lunged in between Nick and Damien, taking Nick's punch right on the side of the head. He groaned in pain, but this had no effect on Nick. Snarling, Nick began trying to get around Eric to get at Damien, even as I yelled, begging him to stop. Seeming a bit dazed but determined not to let this fight happen, Eric continued to hold his ground between Nick and Damien, trying to push them both back, despite the fact that Damien was now trying to land blows on Nick.

  Eric gave Damien a really good shove. "Enough! Back off!"

  Damien ignored him, doing his best to get around to Nick, who was doing his best to get around to him.

  Horrified, I raised my voice even louder. "Please stop! Both of you!"

  But they paid me no attention. Nick was somehow able to land some sort of swiping blow to the top of Damien's head, and in return, Damien jumped, allowing him to reach right over Eric and deliver an open-palmed slap to the side of Nick's face. For some reason, this made Damien actually laugh, which, seemingly in combination with the slap, made Nick absolutely enraged.

  Feet scuffling on the cobblestones, he swiped and lunged at Damien, appearing frenzied. "Get back, Eric! As your chief and lord, I am ordering you to get back!"

  Frowning, Eric suddenly did. But at that same moment, Lucy, who was in Claire’s arms, maybe twenty feet away from the fight now, began wailing.

  Nick whipped his head toward her, giving me the chance to slide in between him and Damien.

  I pushed at Nick's hard chest until he took a step back. "That's enough! Both of you!" With one hand, I pushed him again while also pushing Damien with my free hand, until they were several feet apart. "That's enough."

  Panting, Nick looked over me to Damien. "I only didn't shift and kill you because of the women and the baby around. But that's it. You would have been dead."

  Damien chuckled, panting a little himself. "And I only didn't shift because I don't make it a habit of murdering wounded little boys. And I mean wounded in both the literal and metaphorical sense. And I mean little boy...well, go ahead and take that whatever way you want to. But just know that it's an accurate description of you."

  Beyond furious now, I glared at Damien. "And you! Both of you! You're both acting like little boys! You, Damien, for goading him into a fight. Real, real mature. You knew what effect your words would have, and yet you said them anyway."

  Giving them both another little shove apart, I turned my attention to Nick. "And you...what would possess you to take a swing at him with a baby around? Or for any reason? Real mature on your part, too. Way to be the big brother and not give into his obvious baiting of you. Complete sarcasm, here."

  For a long moment or two, nobody spoke, and I used the opportunity to catch my breath a little before continuing, my gaze on Claire.

  "Claire, I apologize on behalf of these two badly-behaved little boys. I'm sorry if they scared Lucy, especially considering what a scary night she's had already. These two little boys should feel ashamed of themselves."

  Barely visible in the darkness, Claire lifted her slender shoulders in a shrug while rocking a whimpering Lucy. "It's okay."

  "No, it's not." Turning toward her, Damien shook his head. "Daisy's right. Nick and I should feel ashamed, and I do. I should have never baited him with a baby around. I really am very sorry, Claire."

  Nick immediately apologized as well, sounding just as sincere as Damien had. "It won't happen again."

  Satisfied, I turned my gaze from Claire back to Nick. "You and I are now going to walk to the hospital to get your stitches fixed."

  Finally removing my hands from both of their hard chests, I turned my head to look at Damien. "And you...please just leave us alone."

  Damien began backing away. "Already gone."

  Nick and I didn't speak much during our walk to the hospital. I wondered if there was any possibility that Damien was right. That sympathy and pity were the only things still holding me to Nick. But after a minute or two walking down the pumpkin-lined lane, I dismissed this thought, because it just didn't ring true.

  I'd fallen in love with Nick long before he'd been injured, long before he'd been tortured for me. I'd begun falling in love with him the very first day we'd met. And even if I did feel sympathy for him now, which I couldn't deny that I did, and understandably so, that didn't mean that I still didn't truly love him. That didn't mean that love wasn't the real thing holding me to him.

  However, after seeing to it
that he was completely patched up at the hospital, I really didn't even want to be around him anymore. I was still too angry at him for taking the first swing at Damien. And so, with my knife back in my pocket to protect myself with, I told him I'd walk home by myself. Which usually, he agreed to, but not tonight.

  Running a hand over the fresh bandages covering his ribs, he shook his head. "I realize you might still be angry with me, and I deserve that. But I can't let you walk home alone. Not anymore after tonight. The wolves are getting too bold in their attacks, and they're somehow finding new ways to slip past the guards. And being that I know that these raids are specifically attempts to kidnap you...."

  He shook his head again, frowning. "No, I'm sorry. I can't let you walk home alone again. Not until Ezra is taken out."

  Who knew when that would be? Over the past couple of weeks, he'd talked about realizing the urgent need to take Ezra out, hopefully along with most or all of his wolves. Nick had also floated some plans to the council members about how exactly this might be done.

  However, being that he was leader and wanted to lead his men into a fight, and also being that he was determined to kill Ezra himself, Nick wanted to be completely recovered from his injuries before any attack was launched. And that was likely part of the reason Ezra had been stepping up his attacks lately and was being so bold as to send his men right into Crystal Falls. He knew Nick was in a vulnerable, weakened state, and he surely wanted to take advantage of it.

  After he'd walked me up to the porch, he came to a stop and took my hands. "I'm so sorry, Daisy...for everything that happened tonight. I should never have taken a swing at Damien. I don't even know why I did...why I fell for his baiting. It certainly wasn't very mature, and it certainly wasn't the behavior and strength of character that the chief of this community should display. Especially not in front of Claire, baby Lucy, and you. I completely understand why you're angry at me. I hope you can forgive me, though."

  I sighed, enjoying the feel of having my hands in the warmth of his. "Of course I can forgive you. You've been through so much lately, and I can hardly blame you for an angry outburst, especially when Damien makes such an effort to provoke you. But just please promise to try your very hardest never to fall for any of his goading again. You know he loves to get a rise out of you. He lives for it."

  "I know, and I promise. I'll try never to fall for any of his antics again. I'll try to be a bit stronger and more mature next time, and I know there will be a next time."

  I sighed again, knowing he was right. "Probably."

  He spent a moment or two caressing the backs of my hands with his thumbs, the sensation giving me butterflies, before speaking again. "I also want to apologize for something else. And it's the fact that you were attacked by a wolf tonight. The fact that you had to fight for your life." With his jewel-green eyes becoming filled with pain, he paused briefly before continuing. "You should never have been in that situation, and I have to admit that I feel deeply, deeply ashamed. And maybe that even had a little something to do with me trying to attack Damien. Sometimes shame breeds angry outbursts. And I felt ashamed that I couldn't protect you."

  "But you did. You did, Nick. You swooped right in and took out the wolf, even though it re-injured you to shift so soon. You did protect me."

  Now it was Nick's turn to sigh, and he did so, frowning. "Maybe ultimately, I protected you. But not before I'm sure you spent several minutes absolutely terrified. Though I know you were incredibly brave and strong, as you always are."

  "Well...I can't deny I was a little bit terrified. But that wasn't your fault. None of this with the wolves attacking us is your fault. It's no more yours than it is mine for just happening to be a woman of the star, making Ezra want to kidnap me for his own."

  Nick gave his head a little shake. "Apples and oranges. You can't help being a woman of the star, but I, as leader and protector of this community, have no excuse for not doing my job. Even though I've been recovering-"

  "Exactly. You've been recovering from very serious injuries."

  "Doesn't matter. Nothing should prevent me from keeping you and every single citizen of this town safe at all times, and I'm ashamed that my injuries have."

  Scoffing, I took a little step closer to him. "So much shame...and that's wrong. It shows that you're a man of honor to feel it, but you shouldn't. You shouldn't feel ashamed. No matter what you say, you did protect me tonight, and you have been protecting the entire town, despite the fact that you've still been recovering. I'll hazard a guess that you were checking in with the guard patrols even right before the wolves attacked tonight."

  Nick winced. "Which makes things all the more worse. They must have slipped in right under my nose."

  I scoffed again. "Not exactly. With miles and miles of forestland encircling the town, I think it's a pretty safe bet that they could have even entered miles away from you. Or from any of the guards. It's nobody's fault. Everyone's trying their best. The wolf situation is just something we're going to have to deal with once you've completely recovered."

  With the soft glow of the porch light making his skin even more golden than usual, he squeezed my hands. "And once I've fully recovered, I will deal with the wolves. I'll take Ezra out for good. I promise you this."

  I nodded. "I know. I have faith in you that you will."

  Nick squeezed my hands again and didn't seem like he was going to say anything more. With the butterflies in my stomach intensifying, I studied his face and strong jaw in the soft light for a moment or two. I realized I was not even the least bit angry at him anymore, and I could hardly even remember why I had been earlier.

  And suddenly, I rose to my tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "That was for...well, it was just because...."

  I honestly wasn't even sure. A grin slowly spread across Nick's face.

  "I won't even question what it was for, as long as you do it again."

  Smiling a little, I did. "There. And don't question me what that one was for, either, because I honestly still don't know. Just for you being you, I guess." With the butterflies in my stomach getting even a bit wilder, I paused, looking into his twinkling green eyes. "I guess just because you're the man who loves me so much he endured torture for me."

  "And I'd do it again. In a second."

  Before even fully realizing what I was doing, I rose to my tiptoes again and planted a long, lingering kiss on his mouth. "You still have my heart. And you always have. Even these past couple of weeks...even if it's seemed like I haven't wanted to get too close to you again...you've still had my heart."

  He pulled his hands from mine and took my face in them, his expression serious. "And you'll always have mine, until the day that I die."

  After moving his hands from my face to the small of my back, he then kissed me in return, his mouth passionate and hungry, claiming mine. With a pang in my heart, I realized just how much I'd missed his kisses, his touch, and his scent. I realized just how much I'd missed our physical intimacy. Just how much I'd missed everything about him.

  Making a sudden decision, I broke the kiss, reached over to the door, and opened it. "Come inside."

  CHAPTER 16

  The moment I asked Nick to come inside, a long, low whistle sounded from somewhere out in the darkened lane. Followed by a voice I recognized instantly.

  "That was a pretty steamy kiss for two people to have essentially out in public. Children walk down this lane, you know."

  Damien. Of course.

  Furious, I peered out into the moonlit lane, spotting him ambling along the dirt shoulder. "The only child out here is you! And how dare you spy on us!"

  He came to a stop maybe fifteen feet away from the porch. "Wasn't spying at all. Considering that the town was attacked by wolves tonight, I was merely checking to make sure you made it home safely, and that's the truth. I can't always rely on my dear brother to adequately protect you."

  Growling, Nick made a sudden move like he was going to lunge off the porch,
but I grabbed his shirt and held it. Tightly.

  "No, Nick! No. He's not worth it. He's not worth another fight and you possibly breaking open your stitches again. We just went through this, remember? And you said you weren't going to fall for any more of his baiting."

  With his strong jaw clenched, Nick glared out at Damien, but he didn't seem as if he were going to make any other attempts to charge him.

  And so, I now turned my attention to Damien. "And you...you grow up! How many more times are you going to try to draw Nick into another fight? You'd think at a certain point, you'd get sick of it. Not to mention, trying to engage Nick into another fight isn't exactly the definition of the whole 'waiting with patience' thing you described to me tonight."

  Nick whipped his face toward me. "What do you mean? What did he say? What is he 'waiting with patience' for?"