Serenity kept the phone trained on my face. “Good boy,” she cooed. “Now, tear her throat out.”
I threw back my head and let out a roar.
Serenity screamed. I lunged at her, my jaw wrapping around her outstretched arm. She screamed as my teeth punctured her skin, and her body went limp in my arms. She sobbed as she brought up her other hand, still clutching the knife, ready to plunge it into my fur. I batted it away with my paw, and tightened my grip on her arm.
I’ll break you in pieces. I’ll tear your heart out while it still beats—
“Please, please, let me go,” Serenity begged. Blood dribbled down her arm, splattering over Bianca’s prone body.
Ryan leg go of my shoulder and dropped to the ground. He transformed into his human form, and lunged at me, grabbing my fur, shaking me so my teeth wiggled deeper. Serenity broke down into broken shrieks.
“Robbie, no,” Ryan cried. “If you kill her, you’ll never be able to see Bianca again.”
Bianca’s dead, I screamed inside my head, my teeth tightening around her arm. I tasted her blood on my tongue, hot and sticky.
She’s not, Caleb cried back, his voice falling into my head. Bianca’s breathing, but she’s in trouble. We have to get them both to a hospital.
She stabbed Bianca, I screamed, that anger shuddering through my body.
I know, and I know you want to kill her. I know how that rage burns in your veins. Remember how I felt when you and Angus took Rosa? I know what you’re feeling right now, Robbie. But if you kill her, we won’t get away with it. Humans will always believe werewolves are brutal. We’ll never get a chance to live a life of freedom.
I’ll never be free, I growled.
You’re free now. But if you kill her, I can’t protect you.
I’m not free. Not really. I thought I’d found a family here, but I’m useless. I’m a waste of space, just the way I was when I was a Maclean. If I’d even been able to do something simple like read, I’d have found the Benedict Ring by now. But I’m not smart like everyone else. I’m an idiot. That’s why you don’t want me, why you didn’t believe me, why you kicked me out and replaced me with Rolf.
Robbie, you should’ve said something if you felt like this, Caleb growled back. I would’ve told you you’re being a complete idiot. Of course we want you here. I wouldn’t have asked you to join us if I didn’t. You’re not an idiot, and even if you were, so what? Brains aren’t everything. You’re kind, and you’re incredibly loyal. You are exactly the guy I want by my side in battle, because I know you’ve always got my back.
I don’t believe you. I shook Serenity’s arm, and her femur crunched as it snapped. Serenity howled with pain, her body sliding to the floor and I held her arm tight.
Look, I’d love for us to discuss this in depth and find a way to show you that I really mean it, but I can’t do it while you’ve got your teeth around a girl’s arm and Bianca desperately needs an ambulance. So can you just drop her and come with me?
Caleb dangled his paw in front of my face, claws retracted – a sign of submission. I stared down at Serenity, wishing like hell I could eat her face. But Bianca … Caleb was right. We had to get her to a hospital. If there was any chance that she could live …
It took everything I had to unclamp my jaws. Serenity dropped to the floor, sobbing as she clutched her bleeding arm that now hung limp and bent at an odd angle.
She scrambled to her feet, blood seeping between her fingers. “You’re going to rot in fucking hell for this,” she snarled at me. “You disgusting animal. You were supposed to attack her.”
“That’s not how it works,” Ryan said. The girl spun around, startled to see a naked guy blocking the front door.
“You’re not supposed to be able to change during the full moon,” she scolded him.
Ryan took a step towards her, his naked bulk towering over her. He leaned in close, his face inches from hers. “Maybe … you don’t know everything about shifters you thought you did.”
I growled in assent. Serenity gulped.
Ryan held up a purse, and dangled a small wallet from his hand. “Well, it’s nice to make your acquaintance. Serenity Jones, journalist for the London Underground, I see.” He flipped to another pocket in the wallet. “Oh look, you have your full license, I see. And my, that’s a very nice apartment you have – in Chelsea, very posh suburb.”
Serenity grabbed for the wallet with her good hand, but Ryan held it out of reach.
“I know you’re rethinking that article you were going to write. I’d hate for Robbie and I to have to pay you a visit at that very nice apartment. Now.” Ryan stared at her phone on the floor. He picked it up. “I’ll just keep this, and you can be on your way. Go on, the door’s right here.”
You’re letting her get away! I screamed.
Caleb placed a paw on my shoulder. If Bianca presses charges, the police will get involved. And I don’t want them to have anything on you, brother. Look at her. She’s had enough justice for one day.
Serenity let out a moan. “I need to go to the hospital.”
“Well, you can get there on your own. You’re an independent woman. Go on.” Ryan gestured to the open door. “Out you go.”
Ryan thrust the purse into Serenity’s good hand. She stared at him, her eyes wide, her whole body trembling.
“Get out,” Ryan growled. “If we ever see you near Bianca again, we won’t be so kindly.”
“But—”
I growled low, baring my teeth. Serenity practically leapt out the door, tripping over the steps in her haste to get away.
I fell at Bianca’s side, placing my paw on her shoulder. Caleb was right, I could just see the faint rise and fall of her chest. She was still breathing. Ryan raised Serenity’s phone to his ear, and spoke to an ambulance dispatcher.
“You two need to hide,” he said after he’d hung up. “They can’t see any sign of wolves or foxes being here. Marcus, I’ve got a stash of clothes hidden in the garden behind the cherub fountain. Grab them for us. Quick now.”
I lay my head down on Bianca’s shoulder. Please don’t die on me. You are my whole life. I never knew what living really was until I met you. Please, Bianca. You have to stay with me.
Bianca didn’t more, didn’t respond.
Behind me, I heard Marcus and Ryan scrambling into some clothes. An ambulance siren howled as it rounded the corner. “Robbie, Caleb, get out of here!”
No! I lay down in the blood beside her, my paw across her chest. I can’t leave her. She needs me.
Yes, she does. Caleb’s teeth sank into the skin on the back of my neck. He dragged me back. I scrabbled at the floor, but there was nothing to grab hold of. She needs you to stay out of jail, and out of government testing. Come on, Robbie, there’s nothing we can do.
Caleb dragged me into the sitting room and pushed the door shut with his paw, just as the ambulance officers burst through the door. The last thing I saw before the door slammed shut was Bianca’s cold, dead face as she was lifted onto a stretcher to be carried away.
35
Bianca
Beep beep. Beep beep.
Fucking alarm clock. What bastard put that on?
I rolled over, my eyes determined to remain closed, and reached out a hand to shut the thing off.
Instead of my wooden bedside table stacked high with books and magazines and makeup, my fingers grazed a cold, metal surface. I couldn’t find my phone anywhere.
Something tugged on the back of my hand, yanking me back into the bed.
Beep beep. Beep beep.
I fumbled for the thing on my hand, and felt a long, thin tube attached to my hand with a piece of tape. My skin stung from where the tube pierced it.
Beep beep. Beep beep.
If that’s not my phone, what is it?
My eyes flew open, and I raised my hand to my face, trying to register the unfamiliar scene around me. Why did I have a tube in my hand? Why was I in this grey room, surrounded by beeping
machinery? Why did my thigh throb with pain and my head feel as though it was full of cotton wool?
“You’re awake.”
I snapped my head toward the voice. Big mistake. Pain seared through my skull. The air hissed from my lungs, and I gasped for breath.
“Dinnae move so much.” Robbie leaned over me, his warm hands settling me back into the bed. “You’ll damage yourself more.”
“Ow,” I moaned, as my tender head hit the pillow. I caught a better glimpse at the beeping machine attached to my hand, and realised at last that I was in a hospital. I tried to cast my mind back to remember what had happened to land me in this lumpy bed, but everything was a fuzzy blank.
Everything except him. Robbie. Sitting as close to me as possible without actually climbing into the bed beside me, his kind eyes sparkled with relief, the corners of his mouth turned up into one of his gorgeous grins. The smell of him invaded my nostrils – rich and sweet against the sterility of the room.
I thought I lost you. I couldn’t remember why, only that at the sight of him, a wave of joy surged through my veins. He took my non-tube hand in his, his touch sending that familiar shiver through my body.
“Stay still and never do that to me again, and you’ll be just fine.” His beautiful voice rolled over me, like a soothing drink after a bad day. If only I didn’t feel like I’d just been hit with ten hangovers at once.
“What happened to me?”
Robbie turned his eyes away. “You nearly died, Bianca. That’s what happened. Serenity Jones stabbed you. You lost a ton of blood. You’ve been unconscious for three days. It’s been … hard.”
A sharp pain grazed my temples, and I cried out. Robbie winced, as though he was the one in pain. “Should I call a doctor?”
“No, I just … everything hurts.” Flashes of memory tugged at me. “Sally … the reporter …”
“You mean Serenity?”
“No … her real name is Sally … I knew her in high school … that’s why she looked so familiar … she was my first girlfriend and she wanted revenge because I treated her like shite …” My fingers brushed Robbie’s. “Oh, god. I treated you like shite, too. Robbie, I’m so sorry.”
“Hey, don’t you go apologising to me. I’m not the one in hospital.” Robbie lowered his gaze. “I tried to save you, but Rolf’s smell … it nearly did me in. I nearly tore your throat out myself. Bianca, I’m the one who should be sorry.”
I shook my head. “You came to rescue me. That gets you an automatic pass on any transgression from now on. But how did you know?”
“Serenity … er, Sally sent me a text message from your phone. She mustnae have known we were …” He gulped. “You know, because it was too casual. I came back because I figured out where the Benedict Ring was, and then my full moon shift hit, but Anna read the text out to me and I just had this … feeling, I guess … that you were in trouble. I thought Rolf had attacked you. So I came, and she’d stabbed you and covered you in Rolf’s clothes to get me to attack you.”
“What?”
“She wanted me to kill you. She must’ve been listening to every conversation we had, because she knew all about the instinct I’d have when I shifted during the full moon. She wanted to film me mauling you to death and … I guess use it to expose shifters to the world. I managed to get her off you, but you were already so …” He gulped, looking away again. “I’m just so glad you’re okay.”
After a few moment he turned back, and I gazed into his beautiful, kind eyes. A lump rose in my throat. This man had saved my life. He mastered his own inner wolf, in order to protect me. “I’m trying to remember … what did we fight about again?”
“It doesn’t matter now.” Robbie rubbed my hand.
“It does matter, Robbie. It matters because it was probably my fault and I need to apologise.”
“No, Bianca. It was me. It was all my fault. I let Rolf get to me, and because of that, you’d naturally assume that I might’ve done the things—”
“Hey,” I croaked, rubbing my finger across his knuckles. “I’m the one in hospital. If I want it to be my fault, it’s my fault.”
“Fine. It’s your fault.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it, his lips like fire against my skin.
“So … I’ve been here for three days?”
Robbie nodded. “Aye. Elinor hasn’t left your side since they brought you here. I’ve been hiding in the bushes outside the window to be close to you until the full moon waned.” He withdrew one of his hands to pull his phone from his pocket. “I’ll text her, let her know you’re awake. She’ll want to see you.”
I placed a hand over the screen. “In a minute, okay? I just want to …”
Another memory tugged at my mind, of me screaming at Robbie that I never wanted to see him again. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to believe that I’d thought Robbie, beautiful Robbie, could have trashed my shop. I’ve been so selfish, so consumed with The Prim and my own stupid problems, I couldn’t see the wonderful man who was right in front of me.
I took a deep breath. I knew what I had to do. Once the thought came to me, I knew I’d never be able to rest easy until I got it out. I wondered briefly if I should be frightened, after all – it’s what I’d been resisting for so long, what I’d been railing against my entire life. But one look into Robbie’s eyes and I knew I’d never have to feel scared, ever again.
He leaned closer. “Are you okay? You look all weird. I’ll get the doctor—”
“Robbie Maclean, will you marry me?”
Robbie blinked. “Don’t take the piss,” he said, sitting up with a stiff back.
I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. “I’m not even remotely taking the piss. There’s nothing like being stabbed multiple times by an old high school hook-up to put your life into perspective. I was scared before, Robbie. I was so terrified that I’d open up to you, and then you’d turn around and throw it all back into my face, the way my parents did. But I was a fool, because you’re amazing, and I was so, so selfish. I wanted all the best bits of you, without giving anything in return.”
“Bianca …”
I held up a hand. “Let me finish. I always thought marriage would be a chain around my ankles, forcing me to conform, to do things I thought were disgusting, like marry my cousin and live in a stuffy, loveless house. But now I realise it’s the opposite. Because being with you – completely with you – gives me the confidence to be completely myself. Our marriage is not my parents’ marriage, or your parents’ marriage. It’s exciting, and challenging, and filled with love and joy and all that good stuff. Just because we missed out on that growing up, doesn’t mean we can create that together.”
Tears welled in Robbie’s eyes. “Oh, Bianca.”
My own fat, wet tears rolled down my cheeks. “I want to be the wife from your storybooks, because you’re already the husband I was too afraid to dream of. I love you, Robbie, with everything I am and everything I want to be. So come on, will you marry me again, for real this time?”
“Aye, I will.”
Robbie’s whole face broke into a grin, the smile reaching right to the tips of his ears. The grin that launched a thousand ships. My heart surged as I received his answer. He threw his arms around me, and I sank into his warmth, ignoring the pain arcing through my body. I rested my head on his shoulder – and for the first time in my whole life, I knew exactly what it meant to be loved, and to love in return.
Bianca
Two months late
“Ready to do this again?” Alex asked, standing back to admire the twisted black metal tiara she’d set into my hair.
I stared back at my reflection. The scar above my eye from where Sally cut me had been expertly hidden by Alex’s deft hand. The rest of my makeup was similar to the last wedding – the smoky eyes, the lips a slice of jet blue. The only thing different this time was that my skin glowed with the promise of love.
“It gets easier the second time.” I grinned back. “Especially when
this time you know you’ve got the perfect partner.”
“You had the perfect partner last time,” Elinor reminded me. “You just didn’t realise it.”
“Well, even people as awesome as me are allowed to make mistakes.” I stood up and smoothed down the front of my dress. “Bouquet, please.”
Grinning, Alex handed me the short viking sword Willow had ordered in special from a blacksmith in Prague. “Here you are, my warrior woman. Willow promised she’d get some swords in the wedding this time.”
“That girl is going to make someone an incredible wife one day.” I checked out my reflection in the mirror, giving the sword an experimental swing. Robbie and I were going to present each other with our rings on the blade, the way they did in traditional Viking ceremonies. Later, we would use the sword to cut the epic cake Belinda had made us.
Yet another awesome thing about having two weddings. Two cakes!
Willow poked her head around the edge of the door. “Bianca, we’re ready for you.”
I expected butterflies to explode in my stomach. After all, this was it. I was getting married. The only thing that wasn’t real was the paperwork. We’d already got that bit sorted. But this time, the rest of it was for real. I was chaining myself to another human being for the rest of my life.
I couldn’t bloody wait.
I flung open the Rose Room door and practically ran down the staircase. “Bianca, wait for us!” Alex cried, as the girls crowded down after me.
I picked up the hem of my dress and tried to slow my pace. To distract myself, I glanced around the walls Robbie and I had painted together. This time, every wall of the house hung with new art. Each piece depicted the artist’s interpretation of “family.” Above the staircase hung my second-favourite piece – a wedding present from Alex and Ryan, who worked together on a scene of two foxes and four cubs playing together in the forest.
Other artists had contributed sculptures to line the sides of the driveway and front gardens. Robbie’s piece – my favourite of the whole collection – stood proud right in the centre of the lawn. It was an amazing sculpture – a mother wolf and her cub made from scraps of furniture and crockery and some pieces of an old camera. The two wolves stood proud, ready to fight off any intruder who might come to harm our pack, our family.
Inking the Wolf: A wolf shifter paranormal romance (Wolves of Crookshollow Book 3) Page 26
