by Raven Snow
But then, I thought, what do the odds have to do with me? I firmed up my jaw and got to work, going as quickly as I dared.
My head started to sag about halfway through, and I had to prop it up on my shoulder so I could see what I was doing. Then, my eyelids started falling of their own accord and my skin went ashen and grey from the stress of it all. Biscuit whined at me, licking my face through the bars. Little did he know that he was only encouraging me to finish no matter the cost. I'd failed him once, and I wasn't going to do it again.
The last strand fell to the ground and with it, the cage collapsed in on itself. Biscuit, finally free, bounded off into the fight without a second thought. It took all of my energy to move around, so I could see what was going on. The effort left me weak, my vision fading in and out. It was very distracting.
Boone and Felly were still battling, both of them covered in sweat and blood but showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. They were too evenly matched, I realized. This could go on forever.
Biscuit changed the course of the fight. Lumbering right behind Felly, he threw her off balance and sunk his teeth into her leg. She cried out and tried to grab him, but he was already gone, running back to stand protectively in front of me.
The damage had been done, however. Seeing his opportunity, Boone rushed in and grabbed Felly’s neck. Her eyes went wide, fear wiping out the lust for blood. He hesitated for only a moment, staring into her eyes for the last time.
Then he ripped her throat out.
I covered my eyes, but I didn’t miss the worst of it. A whimper that sounded like one of Biscuit’s fell from my mouth. I had liked Felly. How could I have been so wrong about someone? How could I have just watched Boone kill her?
“I’m sorry,” I heard Boone whisper.
I couldn’t see him, though I felt his eyes on me. My vision had gone all wonky, and the next thing I knew was total darkness.
______
When I opened my eyes, I was still in the clearing, but Boone and Kline were gone. The first face I saw was Wyatt's, worried and staring down at me with what looked like a permanent frown. Trust Wyatt to be concerned about me after almost being killed a few minutes ago.
Except, it might have been longer than a few minutes ago, I realized, because there were new additions to our battleground. Kosher and Vic were there, taking statements. A couple of EMTs were inching towards Wyatt and me, looking like they wanted nothing more than to take us away.
"Where's Kline?" I asked. I wasn't sure what story we were going with, so I didn't mention Boone.
"Paramedics took him away," Wyatt said. "Major concussion."
"He hit his head?"
Wyatt leaned in, his face scrunched up in pain at the movement. I realized now that his arm was in a sling, and my leg was bandaged. "Boone went a few rounds with Agent Kline after you passed out." His words were bitter. "I couldn't do anything."
I pressed a hand to his cheek. "Of course, you couldn't. At least you didn't faint like a heroine in a bad romance novel."
"After saving all of us. Some damsel in distress."
But that wasn't true. Biscuit had saved everyone—including Boone. I looked around for him but saw nothing. Kosher, unfortunately noticing my alertness, came over to us. His face was stony, and he pulled out his notepad without a word.
"Not now," Wyatt growled, showing a rare flash of temper. "She needs to go to the hospital."
"You need to go to the hospital," I said, eyeing his arm.
"No—"
"You both need to go to the hospital," Kosher said, sounding bored. "I guess the questions can wait for the morning."
"Another reason to never wake up," I muttered.
After Kosher waved them over, a swarm of medical personnel helped us onto stretchers and hauled our asses out of the woods. A couple of ambulances were waiting for us, but Wyatt insisted on riding with me. Nothing anyone said could convince us to separate.
Once in the vehicle, an EMT said to me, "I'm worried about infection. We had to slap something on you fast in the field."
Letting a hand fall over my face, I said, "Perfect."
The nurses and doctors on call greeted us like old friends, but were instantly attentive to our every need. I was poked, prodded, and tested within an inch of my life. They ripped open my staples in favor of stitches and so they could inspect the wound to remove the bullet. I was doped to hell so what did I care.
Falling back on past procedure, they put Wyatt and me in the same room up in ICU. I wasn't allowed to leave the bed, so I contented myself with the coloring book and crayons they'd left for me—another staple of my stays in this hospital. Wyatt was passed out in the bed beside me, looking anything but peaceful. He would've been awake and talking me to death if the nurses hadn't given him something a little stronger than what I'd gotten.
A creak at the door alerted me to the presence of someone in our room. I didn't look away from Wyatt's beautiful face though, because I already knew who it was. His glare had an unmistakable, dirty feel on my skin. I shuddered and hoped this was the last time I'd ever feel it.
But when had I ever been that lucky?
"She was my pack mate," he growled at me, his eyes going pale, because the wolf was near the surface.
"She was more than that," I said, feeling emboldened by the drugs.
Silence reigned in the sterile room for a moment, and then he said, "I loved her."
"I'm sorry," I said honestly.
Boone was a monster, simple as that. He enjoyed hurting people. But even monsters, it seemed, could love. The practical part of my brain wondered if Boone would be weakened now, without Felly. If he'd just fall into his cravings and kill until he was killed. Kind of like Felly.
His eyes met mine for a moment, and I read my demise in them. But then, like all the times in the past, he reined it in. Boone was a smart monster.
"I'd kill you if I could," he said simply. "Someday I will."
He turned on his heel and left, leaving me to call after him, "Always a pleasure."
“Flirting with the nurses again?” Wyatt asked, his voice thick with sleep, and his eyes still closed.
“They just refuse to give me a sponge bath. And I pay for premium health care.”
Almost passing his subordinate on the way in, Daniel came into our room. Wyatt, instantly alert, tried to sit up. I rolled my eyes so hard I got a good peek at my brain. Men were so predictable. No wonder this case had given me trouble—a woman had orchestrated it.
Daniel crossed the room and placed a bouquet of flowers at both of our tables, probably grown himself. “I find myself needing to apologize for Boone again.”
Blinking, I tried to make myself focus on his words, when staring at the pretty colors of the flowers was so much nicer. I was getting some seriously good vibes off those plants.
“But it’ll be the last time, right?” I asked. “You’re leaving now.”
He nodded. “I think my pack has caused quite enough damage to your town.”
“You don’t know Waresville if you thought all of this was damaging,” Wyatt muttered.
Daniel shot him a look that I didn’t see, and he returned it with interest. Funny. In my head, those two had always gotten along. Then again, Wyatt was cranky with pain, and Daniel had just been through a stressful ordeal. For once, I was happy to be a witch, bouncing back quicker than your average Joe. Or maybe that had more to do with my inclination to get in deep trouble every other weekday.
“We owe you a debt, Harper Beck,” he said seriously.
“For killing your pack mate?”
He didn’t smile. “For keeping us from discovery.”
“It was nothing, really,” I said, waving a hand. “Let’s just agree to never do this again.”
His eyes were unreadable, but he inclined his head. “We don’t forget our debts. Until next time, Miss Beck.”
Chapter Eleven
The doctor came in a short time after that, telling us that we would live an
d all that. Wyatt listened much closer to the spiel than I did. To be fair, Wyatt’s drugs were also wearing off a lot quicker than mine were. I was still floating on a candy cloud in the middle of the gumdrop forest. It was nice.
But pretty soon, I had to come down from my cloud. The pain in my leg was fierce and persistent as Kosher questioned us the next morning. We left out Boone’s involvement to spare him the murder charge, saying that an unknown wolf had come to our rescue. I suspected it wouldn’t matter, as Boone was probably a couple states away by now.
Surprisingly enough, Kline wobbled into our room and corroborated the story. The entire time, he refused to meet anyone’s eye, and he left shortly after finishing his recount of things—which wasn’t exactly the truth. I was almost proud of the slimy git.
The hospital released us the same day, and we hobbled home with our tails between our legs. Wyatt couldn’t drive because of his arm, and I couldn’t because of my leg. That meant Vic had to pick us up. We almost ended up back in the hospital when she ran a red light two blocks from home.
“Remind me to never get in a car with her again,” Wyatt said while we waved to Vic as she peeled out of the neighborhood.
“Reminder: Vic’s your new partner, so unless you plan on walking everywhere….”
He groaned, half from the pain in his arm and half from the pain of the inevitable. I sent him up to bed while I made lunch—a surprisingly domestic task for me. I could hear him talking to Cooper and since no one was screaming, and no shots were fired, I figured he didn’t need my backup.
Humming to myself, I made some loaded up sandwiches, playing around with the combinations until I was pretty sure they’d be inedible. Oh well. My mind was still fuzzy enough to really appreciate the sponginess of bread. It was just so fun to play with.
That’s how Kline found me—sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, throwing bread around and rubbing it on my face to feel its texture. I stopped for a moment, looking at him and frowning. He couldn’t hold my attention for long, though, and I went back to my bread.
“Sorry,” he said, scrubbing his face with a weary hand. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
He sat down on the floor with me, watching me watch bread. I’d have been happy to go on like that, but it seemed the agent needed to talk as well as invade my home. A little bit was never enough for some people.
“You left your door open, did you know?” he asked. “Like, wide open. I could see you from the street.”
I shrugged, failing to see the importance of that. What did I have to hide now that Kline knew my “secret”? I snorted, wondering if he was having buyer’s remorse over the things that go bump in the night. He wouldn’t have been the first. It was easier for me; I grew up knowing.
“It’s all real,” he said dumbly. “Magic, the supernatural, all of that. I found what I came here to find.”
“Congratulations.”
He laughed without humor. “Problem is, I kind of wish I’d kept my big nose out of it. Felly….”
“No, I’m Harper,” I said, and then I giggled at my own joke. The sound of my giggle was so nice that I just kept laughing.
“Your dog—werewolf or whatever—“
I leaned back on the tile, letting the cool material make me cool as well. “He’ll come back if and when he wants to.”
“He saved our lives.”
“It’s the Navy Seal way.”
“What?” When I didn’t say anything more, he just nodded and got to his feet. I thought he was going to leave, but he stopped short of the door, hesitating. Eyes filled with grief and shame met mine. “I don’t know what to put in my report.”
“The truth?” In fairness, I was pretty high.
He shook his head. “Not that…not yet anyway.”
“I guess that’s your answer, then.”
He left me to my bread, and I was happy for a few minutes. Cooper came down before long, taking in the scene before him with a grin. Helping me to my feet, he was careful of my bad leg.
He brushed a couple crumbs aside. “My dad is going to have a fit when he sees this floor.”
Leading me upstairs, he pushed me down on the bed next to Wyatt, rolling his eyes and wandering off back to his room. I rolled over with great difficulty, grinning at Wyatt.
“Hiya.”
“Who was at the door?”
Even though he hadn’t asked, I told him everything. I started from the moment we’d picked up Biscuit and ended about two minutes ago when Kline left. He listened silently, bristling in place and groaning when he’d tense and hurt his arm. I figured that was more his fault than mine.
When I was finished, he seemed to take his first real breath in hours. “That’s quite a story.”
“One for the grandchildren, for sure.”
When I realized what I’d just said, I flinched. Wyatt didn’t let me dwell on it, though. He was good about that. It was probably why I’d ended up staying with him long enough to love him. Wyatt was a smart, patient hunter. Kind of like Boone but less teeth.
He reached out and grabbed my hand with his good arm and squeezed. “You scare the hell out of me, Harper Beck.”
Nuzzling closer to him, I said, “I know. You scare me too. But I still want you to be part of my story.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be.”
*The End*
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