by A. J. Colby
I landed heavily on the curb, the ice crusted snow doing little to soften my fall. I felt the breath whoosh out of me as I rolled to a stop on my back, my arms and legs splayed like a discarded rag doll.
“Ouch,” I managed to croak, grateful that at least my lungs were working, even if everything else felt like it was broken.
Trying to roll over onto my side to push myself up, I instantly regretted the decision as my entire body cried out in pain. Collapsing back onto the snow I stared up at the starless night sky, and marveled at the ugly shade of muddy pink in the clouds as they reflected the city lights.
Maybe I’ll just lie here for a minute.
I heard a car door open and someone cursing under their breath as footsteps crunched in the snow, moving towards me. The light from the car’s headlights flickered as a figure moved in front of them and came to crouch beside me. My eyes were already slipping closed as the person knelt over me, their backlit face hidden in shadow. Hair tickled my face, smelling faintly of citrus, and then I was gone again, sinking down into the welcoming arms of unconsciousness.
* * *
Passing headlights danced over my closed eyelids, appearing as starbursts of color against the black. I could feel the vibrations of the road beneath the car’s tires through the leather pressed against my cheek. The rich scent of leather was all around me, the fragrance of it spoiled by the sickly sweet aroma of imitation pine that made my nose itch.
My eyes were gummy and scratchy as I pried them open, my vision slowly coming into focus. I couldn’t see much from my vantage point in the backseat of the car, just the glowing lights of the center console illuminating the offending cardboard tree emitting the stink of factory produced pine, and shining on a fall of familiar blonde hair.
“Ah, fuck,” I slurred, the sound of my voice making Chrismer glance back at me over her shoulder for a second, the corner of her blood red mouth tilting up in a smirk.
Her eyes flared silver in the darkness, pinning me to the pale leather.
“Go back to sleep, Ms. Cray,” she said, the deep reverberations in her voice sending tremors up my spine. Although it was Chrismer’s lips that formed the words, the voice behind them came from someone else. Someone very old, and very powerful.
“No...” I tried to protest, struggling to hang on to consciousness for another moment, reluctant to slip back into the cold darkness, but my eyes were already sliding closed, my limbs going slack. “Bitch,” was all I was able to mutter before I fell back into sleep, though even in the darkness I could hear her laughing.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MUFFLED VOICES, THE smell of antiseptic, and...Chinese food? pervaded my senses as I came to, sure that I must be dreaming. My stomach rumbled when I focused on the smell of sweet and sour pork, and I decided that maybe I wasn’t dreaming after all. Prying my eyes open, I frowned in disgust at the crusty gunk sticking my eyelashes together. My mouth tasted metallic and gritty when I licked my lips, the cut in my lip still sore and swollen. I tried to reach a hand up to touch my lip and felt a flare of panic when my arms wouldn’t move.
Oh God, I’ve been dosed again, I thought in terror, struggling to move, only to discover that my arms were merely tucked beneath a scratchy woolen blanket pulled up my chin. Breathing shakily, I cursed my foolishness, glad at least that no one had witnessed my moment of weakness.
“Take it easy now,” a soft voice said, a cool hand brushing my hair back from my forehead as a face came into blurry view.
Guess I’m not so alone after all, I thought, my cheeks warming with embarrassment.
Blinking rapidly, I cleared some of the crud from my eyes, the blurred shapes and colors in my vision coalescing into the face of a young woman. I strictly bat for team penis, but even I was left breathless by her beauty. Bright violet eyes regarded me through a ring of the longest eyelashes I had ever seen, a warm and genuine smile curving the fullness of lips that looked like plump little strawberries. Thick coppery hair fell in a gently curling cloud over a slender shoulder.
I had the overwhelming desire to trail my fingers over her face, wondering if her skin was as soft and perfect as it looked. My hand rose as if of its own accord, reaching out to touch the apple of her cheek.
“Oh, sorry!” she said, looking more than a little chagrined, the rosiness in her cheeks darkening to crimson as she blushed. “Sometimes I forget to turn it off,” she added with a smile.
Just as quickly as the desire to touch her had rippled through me, it receded. It didn’t disappear entirely, but withdrew enough for me to resist. Clearing my throat, I dropped my hand to my lap, rubbing my sweaty palm against the rough wool of the blanket.
“Ah, sorry about that,” she said, tucking a lock of hair behind a delicately curved ear. “Sometimes I forget that some of you supes are even more susceptible to the pull than the mundanes.”
“What are you?” I asked in an awed whisper, my fingertips still tingling where they had brushed against her skin.
“Oh, duh!” she said, her hand once again rising to push a curl of red hair behind her ear. “I’m Alyssa Byrne. I’m fae, but I guess you can say I’m a succubus. I’m also the one who patched you up. Oh, that sounded like an AA introduction didn’t it?” she said with a chuckle, the sound of her laughter like a chorus of chiming bells, drawing an answering smile to my face.
Holy crap, she’s amazing, I thought, my brain turning to useless mush.
“You might want to tone it down a bit more, Doc,” Chrismer said from the corner of the room where she lounged against the wall. Her face was illuminated by the glow from her phone, the cool light emphasizing her sharp features. “I think she’s still crushing on you.”
I was startled by Chrismer’s presence, the wolf having missed her completely. I was also more than a little mortified that she had witnessed the interaction between me and the beautiful woman sitting beside my bed. The smirk plastered across her lips made it obvious that she knew it too. I so desperately wanted to wipe the smug expression off her face. Repeatedly. With my fist. But I was as weak as a puppy and doubted I’d even be able to stand under my own power, let alone face off against her. The last thing I needed was to get knocked on my ass by the uppity Day Servant.
Bitch, I thought, for what felt like the hundredth time.
I must have blushed a dozen different shades of red before I got my buzzing hormones under control, though at least I was able to take comfort in the fact that the other woman looked a little embarrassed too.
“Sorry, it’s harder to control when I’m nervous,” she confessed in a lilting voice.
“No problem,” I said, wanting to move past the awkward moment as quickly as possible. “What um... happened?” I managed to ask, though forming words required a herculean effort as I gazed at her.
“You were given a very large dose of Wolfsbane and beaten pretty badly. I’ve cleaned you up the best I can and given you lots of fluids, but there’s not much else I can do besides give you something for the pain. It’s hard to tell how soon your body will flush out the last of the Wolfsbane, but once it does you’ll heal like usual. Anything else I do might do more harm than good. Luckily, Jessica was close by and brought you in to see me.”
Sure, if you call the bitch running me over with her car lucky.
“You can thank me later,” Chrismer crooned, throwing me a mock salute.
“You’re very fortunate, Riley. A dose that strong could have done irreparable damage to the wolf bond,” Alyssa went on, ignoring Chrismer’s interruption. The sound of my name on her lips was the sweetest thing I had ever heard, the way her lips caressed the syllables of my name making me swoon.
Damn, she’s powerful.
Shaking my head to try and clear the fogginess in my mind, I focused instead on trying to sit up, feeling far too vulnerable lying flat on my back. Still, all I wanted to do was run my fingers through her hair and taste her strawberry lips.
It took more energy to sit up than I would have thought poss
ible, every muscle in my body seeming to chime in at the same time, all of them adamantly telling me that moving was a bad idea.
“So, what’s the damage, Doc?” I asked, resisting the alluring pull of her presence.
“You’ve got a pretty nasty concussion, a laceration on your left side that I’ve stitched up, a few broken ribs and a fractured cheek, but other than that you escaped pretty unscathed.”
If that was her definition of unscathed I didn’t want to know what she considered bad, but I just nodded in agreement with her assessment.
“Luckily there doesn’t appear to be any internal bleeding, but I want you to call me if you feel anything out of the ordinary. We won’t know if there are any lasting effects from the Wolfsbane until it’s all flushed out of your system, so you need to take it easy for the next few days. Can you do that?”
Fat chance of that happening.
“Sure,” I lied, smiling. The narrowing of her violet eyes let me know she didn’t buy it for a second, but thankfully she chose not to push the issue.
“I’m going to give you another shot for the pain, but after that all I have for you is some general painkillers.”
I flinched when she pulled a syringe out of her pocket, the overhead lights gleaming on the viscous liquid inside, bringing up memories of Johnson jabbing me with the Wolfsbane laden needle. Breathing deeply I tried to calm the sudden spike in my heart rate, hoping to God that she was one of the good guys, but it didn’t stop the panic that clawed at my gut as she bent to examine the IV trailing out of back of my hand.
Turning my head away I squeezed my eyes shut as she connected the syringe to the IV, my arm tingling with a wave of coolness as the drugs filtered into my blood stream, instantly making me sag into the thin mattress.
“All done,” she said, her voice taking on a dreamy quality. Blinking slowly, I turned my gaze back towards her, her hair appearing as a fiery halo through my blurred vision. She was breathtaking, and I would have been content to simply lie there and stare at her.
“So beautiful,” I murmured.
“Just rest now, Riley,” she replied with a smile, though even in my heavily drugged state I didn’t miss the soft flush that rose in her cheeks.
“Whatever you say, Doc,” I slurred, closing my eyes. Sleep was already waiting for me in the darkness and quickly wrapped me up in its warm embrace.
* * *
A grating, ear-mangling yowl cut through my drug-induced haze. Opening my eyes slowly, wincing at the gumminess of my eyelashes, I looked up and could barely contain the relief that swept through me. If I hadn’t already been laid out on my back, it would have knocked me off my feet.
“Loki!” I said, as Holbrook paused in the doorway, my errant furry companion appearing perfectly content draped across his broad shoulders. “Where did you...how did...I can’t believe...” I stammered, my eyes growing watery. Confusion flickered over Holbrook’s face.
“What do you mean?” he asked, moving towards the bed. “He was in your room. I got your message and went to talk to you and found the door open. Loki was just sleeping on your bed. I was about to leave to go looking for you and he practically tackled me. Haven’t been able to get the damn thing off my shoulder since. It made driving...interesting,” he added with a lopsided smile.
Sliding into the empty chair beside the bed, Holbrook grimaced as Loki launched himself off of his shoulders to land heavily in my lap, his deep purr rumbling through the room before I even laid my hands on him. The familiarity of him was like a soothing balm, the scent of his fur and the weight of him on my legs sending waves of relief through me.
“Hi buddy,” I whispered, cupping his angular face in my hands, tilting it up to rub my cheek against his. Purring contentedly he returned my greeting, his huffing breath stirring the hair behind my ear.
“How touching,” Chrismer said. “I’m all warm and gooey inside.”
Ignoring her jab I ruffled the fur behind Loki’s ears and turned my attention to Holbrook, just as relieved to see his dazzling green eyes looking back at me. I wanted to melt into his touch when he raised a hand to push my hair back from my face, being careful not to touch my swollen cheek. Laying a stealthy kiss on the palm of his hand, little more than a brush of my lips against his skin, I was pleased to see the flash of heat in his eyes.
Or maybe not so stealthy, I thought in response to the disgusted sound emanating from the corner. Rolling my head to ease the irritated stiffness in my shoulders I ignored the annoying Day Servant and turned back to Holbrook who was smiling at me ruefully.
“So, how’d you find me?”
“I called him, genius,” Chrismer said.
Gritting my teeth against the barb dripping poison on the tip of my tongue I shrugged off her reply.
“How did you know where to find her?” Holbrook asked, angling in the chair to glance at Chrismer.
“Yeah, how come you were there?” I asked, pinning her with a suspicious look. “Just happened to be in the neighborhood?”
“Your gratitude is overwhelming,” Chrismer replied, baring perfect white teeth in a toothy smile.
“Just answer the question,” Holbrook said, his voice dipping low to an impatient growl.
“By Eve, you two are melodramatic,” she retorted, making a show of rolling her eyes in our direction. “I heard the call go out over the radio that Cray was missing, and I figured in all the hubbub I might be able to convince some fine young agent to talk to me. Before I found any suitable targets I saw Johnson shoving something in his trunk and then speeding off in the opposite direction of everyone else. It looked a little suspicious, so I followed him,” she finished with a shrug of her shoulders.
“And then what? You just sat in your car while he beat the crap out of me?”
“I didn’t see what it was he put in his trunk, and he parked in the garage at the house. How was I supposed to know it was your ungrateful ass? Besides, I had orders to stay put.”
“From who?”
“Who do you think?” she asked, her eyes flaring silver for the briefest of moments, but even that brief flash was enough to make me shudder.
“So you didn’t actually see Johnson take her?” Holbrook asked.
“Isn’t that what I just said? No wonder you haven’t caught Samson yet with wits that sharp,” she snorted.
“Lose the attitude. I’m just trying to figure out what happened.”
“Your partner is what happened,” Chrismer supplied.
“Would you shut your mouth? I need to think.” Holbrook snapped, rubbing his hands over his face. “I need to take you in,” he said, looking at me.
“No fucking way!” I said, fisting my hands in the blanket in my lap, every muscle in my body tightening.
“Then you have to tell me what happened. I need more than Chrismer’s word on something like this.”
“My word isn’t good enough for you?” Chrismer asked with a mirthless smile that made her appear more dangerous than ever. The coldness in that smile made me shiver.
Ignoring her, Holbrook laid a hand over mine, curling around my trembling fingers and squeezing gently.
“I...I can’t,” I said, my voice a hoarse whisper. How the hell was I supposed to explain to him that his partner had kidnapped, beaten, and tried to rape me? That he had likely killed his wife and her were lover?
“That’s not good enough,” he replied, his voice tight, beginning to show the first hints of real irritation. “I have to go by the book on this. You’ve been missing for twenty-four hours, if I’m not taking you in now then I’m putting my career on the line, and I need a damned good reason.”
Holy shit, I’ve been gone for a day? I knew I’d been in and out of consciousness while locked in Johnson’s basement, but would never have guessed it had been so long. Then again, I’d been a bit preoccupied with other things during my brief moments of lucidity to track the passage of time.
Glancing past his shoulder at Chrismer I paused, unwilling to share the go
ry details in front of her. After several moments she looked up, and seeing me staring at her, rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Fine. I’m going to the little girl’s room.” Still tapping away on her cell phone she stalked out of the room, her heels clacking on the stairs. I waited several heartbeats after her footsteps had faded away before turning back to face Holbrook, his brows knit in a frown as he braced himself for what he knew was going to be an ugly truth.
It didn’t take half as long as I anticipated to recount the details of what had happened, the words sliding out of me with ease. Watching the pain fill Holbrook’s face, that was the hard part.
I sank back against the pillows when I was finally done. Telling the whole, gruesome truth had lifted a great weight from my shoulders, but it had exhausted me too. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and go to sleep with my arms wrapped around Loki.
“Riley...” Holbrook began.
“Story time over?” Chrismer asked, gliding back into the room with all her usual grace.
“Get out. I’m still trying to piece this all together,” Holbrook snapped without looking at her, his gaze focused on some distant point above my head.
“I already told you what happened,” I piped up. “Don’t you believe me?”
“I do. But...”
“But what?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, ignoring the nauseating tug of the IV in my hand.
“You said yourself that you were drugged, and you’ve got a pretty bad concussion,” he said, avoiding my gaze as if looking me in the eye meant he’d have to face the truth of what his partner had done. I understood his reluctance, but I didn’t have the energy to worry about his tender feelings.
“So?”
“So maybe, you’re a little confused about what happened. Perhaps you fell and hit your head, and all this is–”
