by Sam Burns
Vera chuckled, grabbed her coat, and followed after. She paused in the mouth of the cave and looked back. “Will you be able to walk okay, Devon?”
The fink.
“I—” He wanted to growl in frustration when he couldn’t say he’d be fine. Instead, he glared at her. Finally, he gritted out, “I’ll lean on Wade.”
She didn’t look the least bit sorry and laughed as she walked out.
Wade whined at him inquisitively.
“It’s just standard Devon-is-a-disaster-person, no big deal. I slipped and sprained my ankle. But I made it here okay. Ran, even.”
That didn’t seem to make Wade feel better. He gave a short growl and bopped Devon’s neck with his cold, wet nose. He stepped back and motioned with his head toward the exit, as obvious a “let’s go” gesture as Devon had ever seen.
Devon grabbed the mostly empty water bottle, stood, and didn’t fall down, which seemed like a good start. He looked at the fire, and then at Wade. “Should we put this out?” It was already getting low enough that the glow it gave barely illuminated anything.
Wade snorted and looked out at the snow, which was fair. It wasn’t as though there were any danger of a forest fire.
“Fine, I’m probably dithering,” Devon admitted. “I just don’t want to fall down again and hold everyone back.”
Wade walked up close beside him, his presence strong and warm. Devon buried his fingers in the thick, warm fur around Wade’s neck and headed for the exit.
The walk back seemed much longer than the walk into the woods with Vera. Wade wasn’t worse company, but Akiyama had been right about there being almost more than a foot of snow, and it was a slow slog to get through it. He could hardly see the forest canopy for the snowfall, and he was glad Akiyama was in the lead because he wasn’t sure he could find his way.
The snow had the benefit of numbing the pain in Devon’s ankle, but pushing through it took time. Devon worried that he was going to lose toes, and reminded himself that believing it made it likelier to happen. He was not going to lose any toes.
Besides, he’d said he would be fine, and his definition of fine included ten whole fingers and toes. At least this time, he was the most vulnerable member of the party, since Vera didn’t feel the cold and the kids were with Akiyama. Snow hardly seemed to be falling on them at all, which was a weight off Devon’s mind.
“So Takao’s impressive in a fight,” Devon observed.
Wade gave a nod and a little bark.
“But you told him not to help you.”
Wade gave a shifty look at Devon, then away, before approximating a shrug.
“Don’t think you’re going to get away with passing it off like that, Mr. Overprotective.” He tightened his hand in Wade’s fur to let him know he wasn’t really angry, and Wade leaned into him. He also gave Devon a look that said they would be discussing a great many things when they got home.
That was understandable. If Wade had disappeared into the woods during a blizzard without telling anyone where or why he was going, Devon would kick his ass.
Because he loved him.
Oh boy.
He loved him.
He’d known it all along, he supposed. They had been together for three months, and if anything, Devon wanted to spend more time with him than he had at the start. And not just because Wade had been kind of a surly jerk when they met.
On the nights that Wade was gone, Devon missed him. He was always turning to ask Wade’s opinion and being disappointed when he was alone. At first, he’d reveled in the nights when he had the enormous king-sized bed to himself. More and more, it just felt cold without the giant furnace of a werewolf pressed against him.
He sighed.
“I love you.”
Wade stopped walking and looked up at him. For a wolf, he did a good impression of incredulous. Devon could almost read his mind: “Now? You’re telling me this now?”
“Yes, I’m telling you this now,” he said, and tugged on Wade to keep moving. “If I don’t say it now, I might chicken out and not say it later. I think you’d rather hear it when you can’t say it back immediately than not at all.”
That was all it took for Wade to capitulate and start walking again. He gave a deep, put-upon sigh, but didn’t shove Devon with his shoulder, as he might have if Devon weren’t injured.
“I know you’d say it anyway. You already did. Which was a dirty trick, by the way, leaving me like that.” Devon paused for a moment and leaned against a tree, pulling his foot up to give the ankle a break. “I know, you were trying not to put me on the spot. Fail, by the way. Instead of reacting to you, the expression on my face made Salli worry the end of the world was coming.”
Wade looked up at him, and Devon recognized that unimpressed frown from human Wade. He wasn’t thrilled with the comparison between being loved and the end of the world. It was, a little, though. No one had ever truly been in love with Devon before. Maybe it wasn’t world-ending, but it was life-changing.
“Don’t look at me like that! You caught me off guard, and it freaked me out, then you ran off. Drove off, whatever.” Pushing off the tree and leaning on Wade, he started walking again. “But I guess I understand why you did it. I’d have sputtered and not been able to respond, even though I do love you, and that would have hurt your feelings, and we’d have ended up fighting.”
Wade nodded.
“You know, it’s annoying sometimes when you’re smart. I like to be the smart one.”
That made Wade huff and roll his eyes, as much as a wolf could.
They trudged through the snow, side by side, Devon leaning on Wade more and more as they went. He couldn’t feel his ankle, but walking miles on it still wasn’t helping anything. It didn’t seem to want to hold his weight anymore, anyway. He wished he were better at healing. He could accidentally damage buildings, but not deliberately fix one tiny ankle.
Wade whined and nudged him, and Devon realized that he was slowing down. “Sorry. I think my ankle is getting worse. It doesn’t hurt, but—” Wade was giving him a funny look, so he paused and took a nearly involuntary step back. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Wade turned his head as much as possible, looking behind himself and then back up at Devon. No, not behind himself, at his own back.
“I am not riding you out of the woods!”
Somewhere ahead of them, Vera and Akiyama laughed.
Jayden’s tiny voice barely made it through the snow. “You should, Mr. Wade. He’s strong, and he can carry you. That’s what husbands are for.”
Lisa’s voice, even fainter, asked, “Is that what wives are for, too?”
“Sure, I guess.”
“Do you want me to carry you?”
“No one is getting carried,” Devon announced over everyone. “No one.” He glared down at Wade. “See what you started?”
Wade didn’t look the least bit sorry.
By the time Devon stumbled out of the trees, the people in the parking lot were already on their way over. Obviously, they had seen Takao come out with the children.
Jayden, a kid who knew how to handle an audience, launched into a story about Deputy Wade and Devon defeating the giant, evil monster (with Akiyama’s help, he supposed) and bringing them all home to safety.
Despite the late hour and her obvious exhaustion, Aunt Alannah sprinted the distance between them and threw her arms around him. “Oh little bird, I was so afraid you were dead.” She pulled back and smacked him on the chest. “Never do anything like that again.”
“Sorry, Aunt Alannah. I didn’t mean to worry people.”
“Mother told you he would be fine, Alannah,” the mayor said, coming up behind her and wrapping an arm around her waist. He lifted his voice so that everyone present heard him. “And as much as I’m for the reunions, we can’t stand out here. Everyone who wasn’t lost in the woods, and isn’t related to anyone who was, stay here for a minute, and we’ll organize to make sure everyone gets home safe. E
veryone else, if you’ll go with Deputy Akiyama, I’m sure the clinic will want to check the children, Devon, and Ms. Owens over before they go home.”
The look Wade gave Devon was so conflicted, it made his heart hurt. If he knelt, he didn’t think he was going to get back up, so he leaned over and whispered, “It’s okay. You’ve got a job to do. I’ll be safe at the clinic. You make sure everyone gets home, and I’ll be there when you’re done.”
Wade barked, and then, horrifyingly, licked his face.
“Gee, thanks,” he said, wiping his face with the sleeve of his coat.
With a shrug that Devon translated as, “Well, you once told me you wanted a dog,” Wade went off to join the people organizing groups to travel home.
Aunt Alannah dragged Devon to her car to drive him to the clinic. Under normal circumstances, he’d have complained, since the clinic was less than a mile away. But he’d already walked what felt like a dozen miles that day, not to mention he was starting to worry his ankle was going to go out completely.
Since she drove a minivan that rode like a tank, the mayor talked the kids’ parents into going along. It saved time, since that meant everyone who needed medical attention was together, except Vera.
Vera had tried to slip away into the night alone, but Devon had pointed her out to the mayor, who had promised to bring her along. It meant Vera got to ride in the man’s car, which probably cost more than every single thing Devon had ever owned combined. He imagined Vera wouldn’t be impressed with that like he was.
They had barely pulled out of the parking space before Aunt Alannah started the third degree on what might ail him. He was so glad it was a short drive and hoped the snow didn’t make less than a mile into an hour-long slog. The clock in her car said it was five in the morning, and he wasn’t prepared to deal with that.
“Are you sure it’s just your ankle?” she asked.
Jayden’s serious voice came from the middle set of seats. “Deputy Wade wanted to carry him, but he said no.”
“He’s like your mom,” Lisa agreed from the back. “He doesn’t need a man. He can walk on his own two feet.”
There was a soft snort at that. Devon thought it came from Jayden’s mother, who looked amused in the rearview mirror. There were still relieved tears streaming down her face. Part of him wanted to cry in relief too. When she saw Devon looking at her, she bit her lip for a second, then mouthed out, “Thank you.”
He smiled at her but didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t feel like he’d done anything to be thanked for. He’d followed Vera. He hadn’t saved Leah Anderson. Wade and Akiyama had taken down the troll. He’d been a witness more than anything else.
“That’s right,” he said, responding to Lisa. “I can walk on my own. Most of the time.”
Aunt Alannah raised an eyebrow. “I take it you’d like help getting into the clinic when we get there?”
“Maybe a little,” he admitted. Then he shifted his foot, which was warming up with the car heater, and that horrible pins-and-needles sensation washed through it, combined with a sharp pain. His voice had gone up at least two octaves when he opened his mouth again. “Yes, please.”
The road was clear, and Devon wasn’t sure how they’d managed that, short of magic. Well, maybe it was magic. Either way, it meant that they arrived at the clinic in a few minutes instead of an hour.
Nurse Lane came out, apparently forewarned of their impending arrival, and he had a wheelchair with him. “Morning,” he called out. “I hear someone might need this.”
Devon tried not to glare at him or Aunt Alannah, who laughed. Nurse Lane and Jayden’s mother, whose name Devon couldn’t quite remember, helped him down into the chair without causing too much pain, and he let his head fall back.
“Does it hurt a lot, Mr. Wade?” Lisa asked, and everyone looked at her.
Finally, Devon decided he deserved credit for something. He didn’t groan at the kid for calling him that. Akiyama would have told someone, and it would have gotten all around town anyway, so it didn’t matter. Besides, the whole town had already been thinking it.
“For the record,” he announced, looking around and trying to appear as imperious as possible with an injured ankle and fatally wounded pride. “I will not be taking Wade’s name, first or last, no matter what anyone says.”
There were chuckles all around, but Lisa climbed up into his lap and looked at him seriously. “How come?” Her huge brown eyes were serious, and he had a feeling that his answer was going to have ramifications if she ever married anyone. Gods, he was a role model. He suppressed a shudder.
“Because I like my name, I’m proud of where I came from, and Wade would never ask me to let go of that.”
She thought about that for a second and then nodded. “Okay. I’m sure Deputy Wade won’t mind. He loves you too, you know.”
Devon couldn’t hold back a smile. “I do.” He looked up at her mother, who looked like she wanted to snatch her up and carry her around forever, and nudged Lisa. He leaned in. “You should give your mom another hug. She looks like she could use it.”
Treating the suggestion like serious advice, Lisa turned and looked at her mother, then back at Devon. She nodded. “You’re right. Can I come see you in the hospital though?”
“You can come visit me at the yarn shop. I’m not staying in the hospital,” he said, right as Dr. Jha walked up to the group.
One side of her mouth quirked up. “That’s funny, I thought I was the doctor here.”
He gave his best long-suffering sigh. “Really, Doc? Do I look like a man in need of a hospital stay?”
“Maybe a nice long stay in the clinic, with all the accompanying cuisine, constant attention, and lack of privacy would teach you to be more careful,” she suggested. Then she looked up at Nurse Lane. “Ankle, they said?”
“I thought I’d take him down to radiology while you looked at the kids,” he answered, nodding.
She nodded back and waved him down the hallway.
Jayden called after them, “If you’re nice to Nurse Lane, he’ll give you a sucker.”
Devon looked up at Nurse Lane. “No kidding?”
“You’re joking, but it might not be a bad idea. But you could use something a little bigger. I can try to get some real food if you want.”
He was about to dismiss the notion, but his stomach decided that even a lie of omission wasn’t going to happen, and grumbled.
Nurse Lane laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes and make a call while we’re getting your plates developed.”
He didn’t argue. He’d had one meal in the last twenty-four hours, and he was hungry. “They should feed the kids too. I know they know that, but all they’ve had since lunch was a couple of granola bars I had on me. That’s not enough for kids that age.”
“I’m sure the doctor is already on that. Fletcher called from the school to let us know you were coming, so we were ready.”
Thanks to his tendency to fall down and break himself, Devon was used to the process of getting X-rays, so it wasn’t too complicated. The problem was that as it thawed out, his ankle started to hurt like hell. At first, it was mostly pins and needles, but as the feeling came back, it got even worse. His expression must have been impressive too, since Nurse Lane offered him something for the pain. He thought of the last time he’d agreed to take painkillers at the hospital, and the spectacle he’d made of himself, and demurred.
An hour or so later, the pain had dulled to a continuous throb, since they weren’t moving it around for X-rays anymore. He was sitting in an exam room with Nurse Lane, eating the best cheeseburger he’d had in his life. He didn’t know where it had come from, but it was homemade and amazing.
Doctor Jha didn’t even raise an eyebrow at him eating when she walked into the room, just came over to inspect his ankle. “That’s quite a sprain. You won’t be surprised to hear that walking on it exacerbated the problem, but all things considered, it isn’t bad. In fact”—she paused and looked up at
him—“it looks a little like it healed, and then you reinjured it.”
Devon blushed. “I tried, but I didn’t want to make it worse by healing it wrong. And when we were going home, I didn’t even think to try it again.”
She nodded. “It isn’t bad. I’m putting you on crutches for at least two weeks, presuming you don’t accidentally heal yourself. Come see me if it doesn’t improve, of course, but it looks good.” She leaned over and looked at a clipboard she’d brought in with her. “Deputy Hunter says you have a cold, also?” She looked charmed by the idea of Wade tattling on him being sick.
He opened his mouth, intending to minimize the importance of having a cold, and realized he hadn’t coughed once since he and Vera had found the kids. His sinuses had cleared on their walk, and the low-level head pain he’d had for days had, at some point during the night, completely dissipated. He just shook his head. “I did, but I’m fine now.”
She gave him a wide smile. “If only all of my patients were as simple.” He wasn’t sure it was a compliment, and the way she handed him a red lollipop as she left reinforced the idea that “simple” hadn’t meant easy.
They insisted he stay in the wheelchair when they took him back out, and he wasn’t in the mood to put up a fuss. Not standing on his ankle was nice after the torturous process of getting feeling back in it. Hell, he might even let Wade carry him up to his apartment if he was up to the task after the long day they’d had.
Nurse Lane walked him down to the door of the waiting room and paused just inside. He squatted down next to the wheelchair, a serious look on his face. “Wade is out there with the Andersons.”
Devon couldn’t keep from flinching.
“I know. It’s not something you have to deal with. You can—”
“No, but it is,” Devon told him. He steeled himself. “It’s not on Vera, and it’s sure not on the kids. It’s my responsibility. Even if I hadn’t been out there, it’s my job to be there for them.”
Nurse Lane smiled and squeezed his shoulder, a tiny sign of solidarity. “And you’re darn good at it. If I had to go through it again, I’d want you there.”
