by J. E. Cluney
“Well, haven’t had a good fight like that for a while,” Kev mused as he followed after us with Lachy.
“Yeah, dingo shifters have some strength behind them. And those guys knew how to fight,” Lachy agreed.
Dingo shifters. So that’s what they’d been.
“Wonder how Bruce’s eye will go. You got it good, Tyler,” Lachy remarked.
“I hope the bastard loses it,” I spat. Fucking tuna fish. I should’ve walked right over and ripped it from his fucking skull.
Bite my mate like that. Asshole.
Lachy and Kev shut up after that, and I walked beside my three guys, grateful when Jackson slipped a hand into mine, noting my tiredness.
He gave me a soft smile, and I managed one in return as I focused on putting one foot before the other.
Damn, I’d really depleted myself. And it was so fucking hot.
Next time, we were holidaying somewhere cooler. Fuck this heat.
We finally slipped through the fence and returned to the SUV, where the two bottles of water were offered to Tyler before using some to clean off all his blood and then patching him up.
Darcy and I tended to him, although Darcy took over, since he had the actual medical expertise, and I climbed into the front passenger seat.
Dunno how we intended to fit everyone in the car, only five could fit.
Kev noted this, and while Tyler was being sorted, he made a phone call.
“Hey, listen, I’m really sorry for what happened,” Lachy said as he leaned against my door.
“Don’t be, you helped us find him,” I sighed. He really had helped us, and I couldn’t be mad at the two shifters. They’d done nothing but have a good time last night with Tyler, and then Bruce fucked it up.
“Yeah, still, we should’ve been more wary of Bruce. Shark shifters, can’t trust ‘em,” he managed a joking smile, and I gave him a slight one in return.
“Sounds like Kev has someone coming round to pick him up,” I noted as I overheard Kev talking to his girlfriend, Kira.
“Yeah, Kira will take him home. But I was thinking, would you guys like to grab lunch? I know you’re on holidays, and Tyler is probably starving, and he’s healing up,” Lachy gave me a sheepish, broad smile.
Honestly, I just wanted to sleep, but the mention of food did make my stomach growl. And I was super thirsty, Tyler had drunk both bottles of water already.
“Sure.”
“Great, there’s a Thai place just in Beerwah that’s really good, my shout,” Lachy suggested.
Thai did sound like a good idea. As long as there were drinks too.
With Tyler all bandaged up and packed into the center seat between Jackson and Lachy, and Kev having been picked up by his unhappy girlfriend (I had a feeling he’d clued her in on what had happened) we set off.
I relaxed as the air-con kicked in, cooling me down as I closed my eyes for a bit of a rest.
God, I knew I’d gone a little overboard with my powers, but this drained feeling was a little overkill, seriously. Maybe it was the heat too. I was unaccustomed to it.
I awoke as Darcy nudged my shoulder.
“You drifted off, T,” he chuckled.
Damn.
I yawned and stretched, blinking as I discovered the guys in the backseat were gone.
“They’ve headed inside to get us a table, you okay?” Darcy asked, his hazel eyes concerned.
“Nothing a cold drink and food won’t fix,” I assured him as I climbed out of the SUV.
I scowled as the sticky heat hit me yet again.
Tropical holiday was becoming less and less desirable. Next time, we’d vacation somewhere local.
Darcy took my hand before crossing the street, and I took the chance to appreciate the street art pieces that had been built here.
A strange metal creation that made me think of a steampunk novel I read made me smile as we passed it.
I sighed as I stepped into the air-conditioned restaurant with Darcy, and we joined the others at a table off to the side.
Jackson poured me a glass of water, and I downed it like my life depended on it as he chuckled and poured another.
I went through three glasses before I was able to sit back and relax, and Darcy handed me a menu.
“How are you feeling?” I asked Tyler, who was sitting across from me beside Lachy.
“Better. Headache has passed, shoulder still aches, but it’s healing,” he smiled, his charming grin relaxing me. He certainly did look a bit better, but maybe that was thanks to the beer in front of him, courtesy of Lachy I guessed.
I ordered a stir-fry, and Lachy made sure to order a few servings of coconut rice for the table, balking when I said I hadn’t tried it.
“You need to, it’s the best,” Lachy stated as he reached for his beer.
“Isn’t it a bit early to drink?” Jackson said, unamused by the alcohol.
“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” Lachy winked before sipping his beer. “Anyways, what do you guys plan on doing now?”
“Honestly, we’ve had our big adventure for this vacation, I just want to sleep,” I admitted. Hell, I was ready to go home, and our vacation had barely begun.
“So you had a rocky start, there’s heaps of epic things to do and see. Australia Zoo is always a hit, the beaches are gorgeous, lots of shopping on the coast, good food. Maybe go horse-riding or whale watching,” Lachy rattled off all the things we could do.
The zoo had been on our list, although I hadn’t considered whale-watching.
But today, I just wanted to go back to our camper and sleep. I was all adventured out for the day.
Fighting a shark-man, taking on shifters, searching for my mate, then healing him, it was all too much right now.
“Whale-watching could be fun, I was looking at the zip-lining and high ropes courses at Nambour, they look fun. We’ll be spending a few more days on the coast before heading up to Maleny and Montville for a while. Then we’re heading north,” Darcy explained.
“Going to be warmer up there,” Lachy warned. “But they’ve been getting a lot of rain lately, so nice and green.”
Great. It was probably nice and sticky too.
Sticky heat. Not something I liked at all.
Lachy discussed our various places we’d already chosen to visit, while I sipped my water and focused on staying awake.
Face-planting on the table probably wouldn’t go over well.
Just as my eyes were beginning to drift shut, our meals arrived, and my need to eat overrode my tiredness, and I dug in.
Lachy was right.
The coconut rice was utterly delicious, and I loaded up my plate with a decent heaping before chowing down on my satay chicken stir-fry.
Tyler annihilated his beef stir-fry, while Jackson couldn’t make it through his, along with Darcy.
I’d done quite well, cleaning my plate like it was a competition.
But I was stuffed, and the tiredness was back.
Good food after such an eventful morning needed to be finished up with a nap, and I was more than happy when Lachy paid and we headed back to the car, all of us thanking him profusely for the delicious meals and drinks.
As soon as we started driving, I drifted off in the comfort of the air-con, dreaming of battling a much more shark-like man, with a full fin and everything.
Of course, I won too.
11
Darcy.
I walked behind Jackson as he carried T, who’d fallen asleep on the drive home after lunch.
“She used too much power to heal me,” Tyler murmured, and I glanced at him, seeing the pained, guilt-ridden expression marring his face.
“I dunno, I think it’s a combination of stress, the whole ordeal, the heat, and then exerting herself. She seemed tired at lunch, but not too bad,” I pointed out.
She’d healed many times before, and she knew her limits now quite well. But considering it was Tyler, she may have pushed herself a little too far, and when combined with al
l the other factors, it really drained her.
I opened the camper door for Jackson, wincing as he struggled through the small doorway with her cradled against his chest. I held my breath, expecting her to wake as he carefully got through and headed to the bed.
She remained fast asleep, and he set her on the bed gently, while Tyler flicked on the air-conditioning for her.
I watched as Jackson stroked her cheek lovingly and brushed some strands of hair out of her face. She really was exhausted, which worried me a little. Hopefully a good sleep would have her back to normal in no time.
“We should go thank Lachy again, I feel like we just dumped him and ran,” Tyler murmured.
We sorta had done that, stopped at his camp, where he jumped out, waved goodbye and drove back to the camper.
“Will she be okay on her own?” Jackson murmured as he joined us by the kitchen.
“She’ll be fine, just needs some rest,” I said. At least, I hoped that was all it was. She seemed only tired, but we’d check back on her frequently anyway.
“I’ll stay with her, I should rest too,” Tyler said softly as he sat down at the table after grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
“Okay, we won’t be long, we’ll just go see Lachy and thank him for helping us out and for lunch.” I nodded.
Jackson followed after me, leaving Tyler to sit watch and rest.
Kev had returned to camp with his girlfriend, Kira, who he introduced to us.
She asked about Tyler, and was relieved when we informed her he was making a speedy recovery.
She was over being annoyed at Kev, and was just grateful he’d helped us out. He certainly had come in handy in the fight at least.
I sat down with Jackson as beers and barbecued chicken kebabs were passed around.
“So, Bruce was working with Rick, I’ll be damned,” one of the guys whistled.
“Feel bad we let Tyler head off with him, we didn’t suspect a thing,” another one muttered unhappily, clearly annoyed with himself.
“How were we to know? Besides, we got him back, and the Area Enforcer is handling it,” Lachy said firmly. He was right, none of them were to blame. Although, maybe if they’d been a little more suspicious and not so carefree and friendly, this wouldn’t have happened.
“We wanted to thank you both for helping out properly, and for lunch,” Jackson said to the pair.
“Don’t worry about it. Sure you would’ve done the same,” Lachy beamed as he waved us off.
“Glad it’s all worked out. How’s the sheila?” Kev asked as he wrapped an arm around Kira’s waist. “We don’t have many healers here.”
“She’s okay, just resting, think she overdid it,” I answered honestly.
“A healer? One of those shifters who can boost healing, right? Yeah, not common in these parts, heard about them in the States though, must be something to do with you big cats and wolves and shit,” one of the guys remarked.
He wasn’t wrong. Healers were known to pop up in only certain shifter species, and I wasn’t sure if there were any Aussie kinds.
“But a cliff ledge, that’s insane, he’s lucky he landed on it,” one of the shifters was gobsmacked.
Tyler definitely was one lucky bastard.
I hated to think what one wrong step could have done.
I accepted a chicken kebab, holding the skewer up as I took a bite. Plum flavor they’d said, and it was damn nice.
“So, going to pack it in early or keep doing your holiday?” Kev asked.
“Well, we’ve got nearly three weeks here, so I think we’ll stick it out,” I answered. I knew we’d all considered just calling it off after this episode, but we couldn’t let one bad thing ruin the whole trip.
Even if it had nearly been a life and death situation.
“Well, here’s hoping the rest of your holiday goes well, we’ll be heading home in a few hours, we all have work tomorrow, long weekend is over for us,” one of the guys held up his beer, and they all cheered drinks for us.
We sat with them for a while longer, discussing our plans, but I headed back once the conversation died, wanting to check on T.
“Maybe we should make tonight a nice quiet one for her. Comfort food, a movie,” Jackson suggested.
“Lachy told me there’s a local cinema, pretty quiet but decent, just here in Caloundra,” I mused. “We could take her out to dinner and then a movie, grab ice-cream at that Baskin Robbins ice-cream place afterwards?”
Jackson nodded. “Still quiet enough, maybe see if we can find a quiet restaurant too. I think she’s probably all people’d out for the day.”
I agreed. She’d had her fill for sure. People were not her strong point, even though she helped her mom in the bakery. She could wear the customer service smile, but when she got home afterwards, she was done dealing with people.
I found T still out, curled up under the blanket with Tyler spooning her.
“Has she woken up?” I whispered as Tyler opened one eye to acknowledge us.
He shook his head softly, and I frowned. She’d been asleep for a few hours now, right in the middle of the day.
Tyler gently pried himself away from her, tucking her in under the blanket and wincing as he touched his injured shoulder.
We headed back to the kitchen end, although Tyler made sure to close the curtain for the other end. I doubted it’d block out voices though.
“She’s really stuffed,” Tyler muttered as he plopped down at the table.
“I should check that,” I murmured as he touched his shoulder again. “You can have an early shower too and I’ll redress it. Just use this shower, I don’t want to risk contamination in the public shower.”
Tyler nodded, and I began undoing his bandages.
“What do you remember anyway?” Jackson asked quietly, shooting a look at the curtain.
“Having fun last night, drinking, joking, nothing too wild. Woke up with a killer headache, and Bruce said he had some Slog Grog which would fix it. The others didn’t seem to have any hangovers, which was crazy. Guess they handle it better,” he smirked. “Anyway, I jumped in his van with him, he gave me some water at some point, which I’m guessing was spiked cause it fucked me up, and —ow— he took me to the base of the mountain. I think he was meant to meet them there, but I managed to get out of the van. I knew something was wrong since everything was going blurry and shit. Serious warning bells going off then,” Tyler said as he shot me a disgruntled look. I was doing my best to be gentle, but his wounds were still healing.
“Anyway, I ran, got through the fence and kept going. Fell over a few times, my body was really getting messed up by whatever he gave me, and he finally caught up. We fought, and he shoved me, and I went over the edge. That’s pretty much it.”
“Well, lucky you landed on that ledge,” I murmured as I finished unwrapping his shoulder and arm and inspected the wound.
The open flesh had healed over, all the flaps of skin had healed back together, but you could see the bite marks, along with some horrible bruising. It was practically fading right before my eyes though, and I didn’t doubt that by tomorrow, it’d be as good as new.
I wouldn’t lie, I’d expected it to be more healed by now. She’d healed Jackson’s broken bones quickly when we’d hit him all that time ago, but this was just a flesh wound. A serious one, but easier than broken bones.
And she’d even over-exerted herself, so it really should’ve been more healed.
“I’m worried about her,” I admitted as I shot a look to the end of the camper. Was it just the heat and stress? Or was there something more going on?
“I know, same here,” Tyler murmured. “She was mumbling in her sleep too.”
I gazed at the back of the camper, the worry gnawing at me.
“Go shower,” I instructed him, and he did as told. It’d be good for him to wash his wound too before I rewrapped it, although, since nothing was really open anymore, I doubted I’d even bother.
“
What do you think is wrong?” Jackson murmured as the shower started up.
“No idea, maybe it’s nothing, just stress and heat. We’ll see how she feels when she wakes up,” I said softly. I didn’t want to start worrying too much when it could just be heat stress combined with today’s adventure.
Instead, I pulled out my phone and decided to check what food options were available for dinner and what movies were on.
Just as an option, because if she wasn’t up for it, we’d be having a quiet night in with some microwave dinners.
“I hope that warlock shuts that whole operation down. Can’t believe that’s how our holiday started,” Jackson rolled his eyes as he lounged back in the seat across from me at the table.
“I’m sure he will. They’re powerful beings. Never met one before, then met two in one day,” I scoffed. Typical.
There were a fair few restaurants around Caloundra, so I’d see what she felt like, and we had a few movies to choose from, but I had a feeling she’d want the action movie. She really did love a good action movie.
12
I stretched as I awoke, blinking at the odd darkness.
Hadn’t I been in the car?
Damn, I’d slept way too long.
I could hear the guys talking, and it took me a moment to gather my senses and realize where I was.
In the camper, in bed, with the curtain drawn.
A peek out the window revealed night was falling, and I scowled. I’d been asleep since lunchtime?! Why on earth had they let me sleep that long?
Then again, I felt like I’d really needed it.
“Why didn’t anyone wake me up?” I called out, their voices faltering before I heard footsteps.
“We figured you needed it,” Jackson said as he pulled the curtain back. “How you feeling?”
“Alright, think maybe the heat is getting to me,” I admitted. It was the only thing that made sense. That, and the chaotic morning we’d had.
“It’s been a crazy day,” Darcy agreed.
I heard the shower running, so I assumed that was where Tyler was.
“How’s his shoulder?” I asked as Darcy sat on the edge of the bed, giving me a worried look.
