by AJ Skelly
“Megan,” came the strangled reply.
“All right. Megan, I’m going to need your help. Can you come over here and hold this flashlight up?”
“Of course.” Meg got stiffly out of the car and obediently held the flashlight as Jennifer cut the rest of my sleeve off.
“Right,” Jennifer said calmly. “Let me get this cleaned off, and we’ll check out the damage.” She worked quickly with a bottle of water, gauze, and iodine. “Well, your deep tissues are already starting to knit themselves back together, but I think we had better stitch this up to give it a little nudge.” She spoke soothingly, and her voice and assurance calmed some of the storm raging in my chest. The willow bark started to take the edge off the sharpest of the pain and allowed me to breathe easier.
Jennifer made quick work getting the sutures ready. The needle bit my flesh, and I flinched. Megan moaned.
“Oh, I’m sorry, but I can’t watch that!” The flashlight quivered as she turned her head away. “Move my hand where you need the light.”
“Megan, are you good?” Jennifer asked, concern evident in her voice.
“Fine. Just keeping my eyes shut.”
The stitches didn’t take long, and Jennifer covered them with antibiotic ointment and gauze and taped it in place.
“Try to avoid getting it wet if you can tonight and tomorrow. Tape a plastic bag over it in the shower. At the rate you’re healing, I’m guessing you’ll be tender for a few days but probably mostly healed up by the morning.” She hesitated. “I’m not trying to cause problems, but is there anyone else we should tell about this?” She bit her lip and fear radiated in her eyes for having spoken, and I briefly wondered what her life had been like with the Kentucky pack.
“Not at this point. Thank you, Jennifer. I won’t forget this.”
She nodded, relieved. “Will you be coming back to HarvestFest tomorrow?”
I glanced at Megan.
“If you think you can, I think we need to act like everything is as normal as possible. Are you up to coming tomorrow?”
“If you’ll be coming with me.” My heart warmed at her confidence in me, though I was still terrified for her safety. There were too many unanswered questions. But until I had answers, I didn’t want anyone getting spooked.
“I’m on duty for the morning shift. Either come find me or let me know, and I’ll come to you. I want to check those stitches tomorrow.”
“We can do that. Thanks again. Really.”
Jennifer nodded as she put the last of her supplies back into her kit. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“What’s the plan now, Sam?” Cade asked, his back to me, his eyes still scanning the surrounding area.
I sighed. Megan crouched beside me, taking my bloodied hand in hers. “Megan, are you okay to drive us back to the cabin?”
“Yes. I’ve had a few years scared off my life, but I think I’m okay to drive.”
“Cade, can you go back in, support the story that I’m violently ill from some festival food—obviously nothing from our favorite bakers”—I attempted to crack a joke—“but act normal. Keep your ears open.”
“All right. Stay safe. Meet at your place in the morning to drive down, or meet here?”
“We’ll meet you here,” Megan cut in. “That’s what we would have done. If you want things to be as normal as possible, that’s what we should do.”
“Megan’s right. We’ll meet you here at seven thirty. Keep your guard up.”
Cade’s dark hair flopped over his forehead as he nodded, the seriousness of the situation not lost.
****
The ride home was tense. I kept looking in the mirrors every few minutes to be sure we weren’t being followed.
“What were the rumors from up north?” Megan asked as she pulled out of town and onto the road that would take us to the forest and the cabin.
“There’s been talk of a sort of wolf rebellion.”
“Rebellion? Against what?”
“Essentially against our long-held traditions and rules. Austin Thornehill said he’d heard rumors—only rumors—that there are some wolves that want to overthrow the humans. Rewrite history and set werewolves up as some sort of demigods or something.”
Megan was quiet a minute.
“Could…could that actually happen?”
“No. We won’t allow it.”
“But, theoretically, if enough wolves got together and tried, could it happen?”
“It would take some serious masterminding. The human population has always far outnumbered the werewolf population, but fear is a powerful weapon. With wolves placed at the right spots, there could be some sort of overthrow attempt, though I doubt it would get far. The real damage would be the fear, distrust, and absolute chaos it would leave behind. Neighbor would turn on neighbor. There would be a hunt for wolves that would probably bring our populations dangerously low and cause the deaths of countless other innocents.” I shuddered. Too much death and near death tonight. We rode in silence, each lost in thought, processing.
“You know, I…I’d probably be dead if it weren’t for you tonight.” Tears rimmed her eyes. She glanced over at me as she parked the car in front of the cabin. The porch light shined merrily in its spot, unconcerned, and untouched with the heaviness of the night.
“Megan.” My heart clenched all over again. I’d die for you, rather than live without you. The words echoed in my head but wouldn’t exit my mouth.
“I don’t know what to say. Thank you is so inadequate. My brain is all mush trying to make sense of it. I can’t understand the why? Why is someone trying to kill me?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, suspicion clouding my thoughts. “Let’s go inside so I can hug you properly and get this shirt off. The blood is drying all stiff against my side. Let me get out first and be sure no one else is around though.”
She bit her lip but did as I asked.
****
I rolled over again for the fourteenth time, trying to get comfortable. I couldn’t help it. Every time I tried to close my eyes, that arrow imbedded in Megan’s heart instead of the ground. My brain knew that Megan was safe. She was fine, sleeping in the bed across the room from me. But that wasn’t enough to fully convince me.
She sighed into the dark room, and I knew I needed to see her—check on her again before having any remote possibility of falling to sleep.
The bed springs bunched. Their metallic noise was muffled by the layers of blankets as I swung my legs over the edge of the bed.
My bare feet made no noise as I padded over to Meg’s bed. To my surprise, I could make out little glints of light reflecting in her eyes. She was awake.
“Sam?” she said sleepily. My heart lurched, and my throat constricted.
“I—” How did I tell her what I really meant? “Can I hold you?” The broken whisper struggled past my lips. I brought my hands up in surrender, wincing as it tugged my bicep painfully. “I swear I won’t try anything. I just…need to be close to you for a little bit. I’ll get up when I get sleepy. No sharing the bed all night.”
I ached with the need to physically be near her, to assure myself that she was here, that she was all right.
She didn’t say a word, simply pulled back the blankets beside her in invitation. Breath left my lungs in a whoosh. I crawled over her quickly and settled, pulling the blanket back up over both of us. My body curled around her, pulling her as close to me as I could. My injured arm was on top, her shoulders snugged up next to me. I finally felt like I could breathe again with her body nestled against me.
We lay there for long minutes. Eventually, the heat from her body and the comfort of having her near started to make me drowsy. I knew I’d have to get up to keep my promise, but it was the last thing I wanted to do.
With significant effort, I shifted, pulling away to get up. Meg grasped my hand.
Stay.
Always, I replied in her mind. Knowing that I had been given an extraordinary gift, m
y body quickly found the right place again. Megan held my hand still, tucking it under her cheek. I dropped a kiss on the curve of her neck and buried my head into the pillow next to her hair. She wiggled back, fitting her body more securely next to mine. Her heartbeat thumped through her back against my chest, and the steady rise and fall of her breathing settled me. She squeezed my fingers lightly.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one that needed holding.
Chapter 40
Megan
I woke relishing Sam’s body pressed against my back. I’d fallen asleep with him spooning me, cradling me against his body, and it felt surprisingly right to wake up the same way. He’d kept his word and tried to leave before he fell asleep, but I had been selfish. I wanted to feel him next to me. He made me feel safe. After a second attempt on my life, I needed to feel safe.
But he made me feel things other than safe, too. He must have realized I was awake because his hand moved slowly from its tucked position under my head and slowly traced my arm down to my hand. His fingers curled around mine, and I felt his heartbeat pick up a notch, his chest still pressed against my back.
I turned enough so I could crane my head, and his face swam into view. He faced me, his head on the pillow, blue eyes blazing with a fire that took my breath away. While his actions were slow and sweet, his eyes were not. They were wild and fevered.
Before I could say or do anything, he reached up and slowly brushed an errant piece of hair off my forehead. His eyes trained to my lips, and my mouth was suddenly drier than stale bread.
Instead of leaning over and kissing me as I expected—and wanted—his whole body moved, leaving my side cold in its wake. His body slowly grazed mine as he moved to hover over me, supported on his knees and elbows as he straddled me, heat radiating from his body, but not actually touching me.
My eyes went wide, and the breath froze in my lungs as his gaze raked over my face, and he leaned forward.
His nose skimmed my collarbone, up the side of the pulse pounding in my neck to the back side of my ear, scenting me. With the lightest of kisses right behind my jaw, he was gone. The bathroom door shut, and I laid there, alarmingly aware. My breath came in short pants, my heart drummed, and my whole body tingled.
Oh…my…word.
Human. I want to stay human, I told myself as convincingly as I could while refusing to acknowledge how badly I wanted to feel Sam’s body against mine.
“Coffee. I need coffee,” my voice croaked. I forced myself to move, declining to dwell anymore on the scene that had just taken place in my bed. My face flushed as I thought about it. I turned my head once more to where Sam had lay, his scent still wrapped around the pillow. I inhaled before I could think better of it, his smell sending the wolf into ecstasy.
Chapter 41
Sam
Meg had a cup of hot chocolate waiting for me on the counter and a large pot of coffee brewed by the time I exited the shower. The gesture warmed me more than the hot shower had, especially since the first half had been intentionally cold, and I found my eyes straying to her bed, the covers still rumpled, where I’d nearly lost my mind when I woke up with my arms still wrapped around her.
“How’s your arm?” Meg’s question jerked me back to the present. Her eyes skittered to my chest, bare since I still had a plastic bag taped over my arm and hadn’t put my shirt on over it. I watched with satisfaction as her cheeks heated. Pushing it, I waited until she met my eyes again, a grin teasing my mouth, letting her know I’d caught her staring. She rolled her eyes and her flush darkened.
“Like what you see?”
“I don’t know. Let’s take the bag off and look,” she retorted.
I smiled, sat down at the table, and held my arm out to her. She helped me peel the tape off around the plastic bag and then she gingerly peeled back the layer of gauze stained with iodine and blood.
A wide, red, ropy scar with protruding stitches stood out starkly from the flesh of my bicep.
“Well, that arm is never going to look the same,” I mentioned as I flexed the muscle. It had healed together well. There wasn’t much pain, and I could tell the muscles had healed properly. I didn’t really care about the scar itself.
“It gives you character.” Meg smiled. I realized she was flirting with me. Her hand was still wrapped around my arm below my scar. My eyes trailed to her lips as her gaze flew over my bare shoulders. Her lips parted and for the first time, desire flashed across her face. My blood roared in my ears as I slowly angled my head to kiss her.
A familiar fantasy theme song blared from her phone two feet away on the tabletop, yanking us out of what could have been one of the best moments of my life.
“That’s Rachel,” Meg stammered, heat flooding her cheeks again.
“That’s Rachel,” I repeated dryly and moved to finish getting dressed.
Meg and Rachel chatted while I found a short-sleeved shirt that covered about half of the new scar on my arm. Over that, I put a dark gray quarter-zip sweater. The skin pulled some as I moved my arms up over my head, and for a minute, I was tempted to play it up and see what happened if I asked Megan to help me. I sighed, biting the inside of my cheek. Last night had bonded us together more firmly than anything else had yet. There was something about two people surviving a major scare that had a way of knitting them together.
The corners of my mouth tugged down as I thought about the festival today. I was going to have to go to Dad’s meet and greet for part of the morning. If I didn’t, he’d be mad, and if he was involved—ice lodged in the pit of my stomach at the thought—it would make him suspicious. I didn’t want to widen the circle of knowledge any larger than it already was. Cade was supposed to be there with me as my second. I wasn’t sure who else I trusted at this point. It was a horrible, hollow feeling to question the trust of the pack I’d grown up with, embraced, and was poised to lead someday. Bitter emotion rose in my throat. I choked it back down and wracked my brain for a solution. Maybe I was asking the wrong question. It wasn’t so much who I trusted, but who loved Megan, rather than had cause to remove her from the picture?
One person came to mind. Rev. He had been a part of Megan’s life since she was born, and I was pretty sure that loyalty to her went every bit as deep as his loyalty to my father. Rev would not condone or take part in an act that hurt Megan. I didn’t think he was above killing for the just cause—much like an officer of the law would be—Rev was, in many ways, an officer of the pack. He’d find a peaceful solution if at all possible. And it had been Rev that offered the way out for Megan if she stayed human.
“Rachel is significantly freaked out and angrier than she’s ever been.” Megan cut into my thoughts. “Only with the reading between the lines that she’s done. She surmised you weren’t sick.”
“I can’t say I blame her. I’m not exactly thrilled either,” I said.
“So what’s the plan today?” she asked, her eyes serious as she bit her lip.
“How do you feel about Rev?”
“What do you mean?”
“I need someone we both trust while I’m at the meet and greet this morning. I don’t think there’s any way I can get out of it and not look suspicious. Cade will have to be with me, too, so I can’t leave him with you either.”
“I trust Rev.”
I looked her in the eye. There was no wavering, only confidence.
“All right. I’m calling him now. I’m only giving him sketchy details though, until I have more information.”
She nodded. “Sam, I’m scared.”
“Me, too,” I whispered as I enfolded her in a tight hug.
****
I hadn’t liked it, but I’d left Rev at the booth with Meg. She and Rachel were scurrying around, and I could tell the daylight hours and the business of the festival was distracting Meg enough that she was more or less enjoying herself, despite the cloud of terrifying uncertainty hanging over us. Jennifer had removed my stitches first thing without anyone else being the wiser. I ran i
nto Kyp not long after that, and he was going to do a few rounds of patrols around and in the long building. I wasn’t entirely sure I trusted him, but he had no motive to hurt Meg and only got to Rock Falls a few days before the sedan tried to crush Megan into the pavement. I suppressed a shudder. I was going to have to confront Dad. Soon. I couldn’t let this sit. I wasn’t sure I had the luxury of time.
“Sam, you look angry,” Cade said quietly as we made our way to the enclosed space where we’d had our meetings last night.
I blew out a hard breath. “Right. Blank face.” Concern flashed over Cade’s face. “I’m fine. My arm is healing well. Just…thinking about a conversation I need to have.”
“You want backup?”
I smiled at my friend. “Yes. But I have to do this alone. Thanks.” He nodded, and we pushed through the door.
Sarah and Mr. Thornehill were there along with most of their top-ranking pack members. Most of our top pack members were present, sans Rev, though my attention was riveted on my father.
Nothing looked out of the ordinary. He even cracked a grin at a joke the man next to him shared. Mom flitted around in the background and smiled at me as I walked in. I waved back, never letting Dad leave my periphery.
He caught my eye, nodded once, and went back to his conversation. It felt like the casual gathering stretched on and on. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I used the link and checked in with Megan.
Are you okay?
The slight pause dragged on for eternity.
I’m fine. All is good here. I’m saving you a double-fudge chocolate-chunk cookie.
That drew a smile to my lips. Forty-five minutes later, most everyone had trickled out. The pressure built in my chest. I slowly approached my father, my palms sweating, Wolf pacing and tightly wound.
“Dad, I’d like to speak with you. Alone.”
His eyebrows raised, uncertainty quickly crossing his features and sending my stomach plummeting to my toes. Wolf rose up, ready to act quickly. I didn’t think it would come to an actual fight between us, but if it did, I had to come out on top for Megan’s sake. I swallowed, my mouth like cotton. I looked at Cade. We nodded to each other once, and he left, making his way back to Megan.
