Falling Hearts (Hearts of Wolves Book 1)

by Maggie Garrity

  “It’s really great to see you, Alex,” I spoke quickly, knowing I sounded a bit crazy. I snatched a rag up off the counter and started wiping down the area in front of him as I rambled on, “I planned on calling you this week. I think maybe we should slow down. Maybe just be friends for a while. Friends would work great right now. Then we could just see where things go from there.” I glanced up to find him sitting back his face blank as if he was schooling his emotions.

  “I don’t think that will work, Zee,” his voice was low, and it sent a shiver through me causing unhelpful parts to perk up and put in their two cents. Perfect time for my hormones to betray my brain. “We’re more than friends and you know that. I’ve never had a friend I want to strip naked and make love to until she is screaming my name. Definitely not friends, Zee. I’m sorry I can’t change who I am for you…” He cut off and I was panting so loud I barely heard the huge breath he took. I looked up to find his amber eyes on the door. He bared his teeth and just the hint of a growl escaped before he jumped to his feet and tore across the bar. I was left with my mouth hanging open like a fool in shock as he burst out the door without another word.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Alex

  Damned if my feelings for that girl weren’t going to get the whole pack in trouble. I knew I had smelled that strange scent while I was sitting in the bar, but I just had to talk to her. Now my pansy ass was trying to push through a crowd of drunks to get outside. The door opening moments earlier had let in a huge blast of cool air that was saturated with the sickly-sweet smell. Like the bastard had pissed on the bar’s threshold. I knew whoever caused it was still there, taunting me. I had to find them, especially after my talk with my dad.

  I finally pushed out the door and quickly scanned the lot, looking for anyone. Nobody was around but I could still smell it. I clenched my fists, forcing myself to stay human as I followed the scent across the parking lot. Son of a bitch, I knew where it was heading before I even reached my truck. Someone had been around my truck, no all over my truck. It was suffocating.

  I tried to stay discreet as I sniffed around the truck. It was strong throughout different intervals. The doors, the tires, the gas tank. When I came around the front of the truck, I noticed a very different smell, something much worse than the sickly scent. Shit, I had to get out of there. I started backing quickly away from my truck.

  The dark ignited. A fireball erupted out of my truck with an enormous explosion, the shockwave throwing me to the ground. I was peppered with glass and metal as I tried to get my bearings. My ears were filled with a horrible ringing that caused a whine to work its way out of my throat. I looked up to see what was left of my truck on fire. Pieces of burning ash fell on my and I looked down at myself in a daze. Fuck, my arm was on fire. I jerked out of my stupor and ripped my coat off and threw it away from me.

  That was when I saw the man. He was leaning against a car not twenty feet from me, completely unaffected by the explosion. He stood in jeans and a long sleeve grey shirt that did little to disguise his muscular build. He was older than me, probably late forties, with a bald head and a black and grey goatee. I tried to get a good image of him in my mind so I could tell the rest of the pack. His lips tipped up into a smug smile as he watched me assessing him.

  I pulled myself shakily to my feet. The world spun a little, but I forced myself to stand tall. This was not the kind of man I wanted to show any weakness. My hearing was coming back and with it the sounds of crying and screaming, as well as the sirens in the distance. I couldn’t shift and take this bastard out. He’d done this and I wanted to kill him. As if he heard my thoughts, the man nodded his head and smiled widely. I growled and he actually chuckled. But the moment I took a step towards him he dashed suddenly into the dark much quicker than I had expected him to move.

  Tegan’s gasp brought me back to my current condition. The pack surrounded me, trying to contain what anyone else shouldn’t see. Their eyes were wide with shock and fear. Nostrils flared and their eyes were wolf colors as they shifted restlessly taking in the scene. I glanced down at myself and fought the feeling of nausea. Holy shit, my stomach looked like ground hamburger.

  “Alex…” Tegan’s voice wavered a little as she took in my shredded shirt and the skin underneath. I didn’t know where to start, there was just so much metal and blood. Start big, I figured, as I pulled a large circular piece of metal from my gut. Holy shit that was the gas tank door, and I fought to stay on my feet. I had to get all this mess out of me before it started healing. I didn’t want to go through getting things cut out later. My mind tried to settle on a plan of action. I couldn’t go to the hospital, they asked questions. I couldn’t shift like this either.

  My only blessing at that moment, as the sirens grew closer, was that no one seemed to know I had been hurt. They were all staring stunned at the still burning truck. My eyes flashed around, searching for an escape, when a smooth little hand slid into mine. I looked down into Zee’s pale face. Her eyes were trained on my stomach and she gulped in air like she might be sick.

  “Come with me,” she whispered, pulling my hand gently, “Delilah might be able to help you.” Wyatt’s brow furrowed and I knew he didn’t like the idea of letting me leave without protection. I could see Delaney shaking her head furiously, her mouth opening as if she were about to say something, but Tegan put her hand up.

  “Go, Alex,” she seemed to have pulled herself together. Her mouth was set in a determined line as she pushed me gently towards Zee, “We can’t explain your injuries, and you’ve got to get that mess out of your gut quickly. We’ll stay, so it doesn’t look so bad. Wyatt and Ryker can handle damage control for a little while. I’ll call Jarren.” Pride swept through me as I watched her stand tall and tell me they would be fine. Her only tell was that her little hands were shaking, but she clenched them tight, and I gave her a small smile.

  “Tell Jarren to follow the scent. It was all over my truck,” I grimaced as I tried to pry a large piece of glass out of my burned arm. I think it was melted in a bit because it didn’t want to move. Zee pulled on my good arm. I quickly met first Wyatt’s eyes and then Ryker’s, “You keep them safe. Nothing else matters. Get the girls home, guard the borders.” Both men gave me a stiff nod. Tegan looked up from her phone, and a moment of fear crossed her face as she grabbed Zee’s hand on my arm. Zee stopped pulling on me and turned back.

  “Keep him safe, Zee,” Tegan choked out. Silly little sister, I could take care of myself, but before I could tell her, Zee yanked on my arm harder, forcing me to follow or risk more injury.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Zee

  There was so much blood. The metallic smell seemed to fill the entire car and I fought my stomach. I wasn’t an overly squeamish person, but I’d also never seen someone rendered almost unrecognizable from a car bomb. Hopefully, he was right about healing fast. I glanced at him quickly to see if he looked any better. He sat rigid with his jaw clenched and his hands in fists. I really hoped Delilah was home.

  “Thank you for helping me,” his voice was quiet, and it sounded like he forced the words past clenched teeth. I watched him flip down the visor and he gasped. Another quick glance showed me that he was staring at himself in the mirror. His gorgeous face was riddled with pieces of glass and other things I didn’t want to imagine. Blood was running freely in some places and drying in others. Any normal person would have passed out in shock or died. Perks of being a werewolf, I guess.

  “I couldn’t leave you like that,” I gave a small shrug, like I helped blown up werewolves all the time. No big deal. I pulled into my spot before I continued, “Besides, I kind of figure the hospital would be shocked if they saw you walking in like that.” I gestured at the bloody burned mess that he was. He nodded his head and gave me just the smallest of smiles. It was a sad ghost of what I was used to, and I jumped from the car to rush around and help him get to his feet.

  I was incredibly thankful for the cool night keeping my nei
ghbors inside. The trip up the stairs was slow and every time he grunted in pain I wanted to stop. When we finally got to the door, I had to fight the locks one-handed in the dark. I was going to change that freaking light bulb myself. The door was yanked open, and we almost fell to the ground. Delilah let out a shriek and jumped back. Her eyes went wide and horrified as she looked over us both. Maybe this hadn’t been the best plan. I was about to figure out a plan b when she suddenly snapped into nurse mode.

  “What happened?” she demanded as she helped me bring Alex into the kitchen. We lowered him on the edge of the table, and she walked away, I assumed to get her first aid kit. I didn’t know what to tell her. The explosion would-be all-over town soon if it wasn’t already. I raised my eyebrows at Alex, hoping he’d have some kind of plan for this part. How much should I tell Delilah? He closed his eyes and gave me a small nod. Everything then.

  “There was an explosion,” I told her as she lugged the black duffle bag into the kitchen and sat it in an empty chair. “Alex’s truck blew up and he was near it when it happened.”

  “How close?” her question was clipped as she sat all her medical supplies on the table. I had a moment of thankfulness that our parents had catered to Delilah’s love of medicine. She was her own little doctor’s office.

  “I was maybe five feet away when the bomb went off,” Alex answered quietly. Delilah paused and glanced between us before she sat a pair of tweezers beside him with a pile of gauze. She picked up a small flashlight and brought it up to his eyes.

  “A bowl please, Zee,” she ordered as she leaned in to watch his eyes, shining the light in first one and then the other. Her next words were directed at him, “A bomb? Were you unconscious at any point?” I sat the bowl next to her as Alex shook his head. She gave him a stern look, “Keep still please. Do any of your injuries seem to be worse than others?”

  “My stomach is the worst,” he grimaced as she helped him lie down gently. What was left of his shirt was shredded, but she grabbed scissors and cut it away. We both sucked in a breath as we took in the sight of his mangled torso. There was metal and glass imbedded in so many places and his sides were bruising badly, but the worst wound was low on his abdomen. A large horizontal gash that looked deep was letting out a steady stream of blood.

  “Why didn’t you go to the hospital?” Delilah whispered almost to herself. She pressed gauze to the largest gash and motioned for me to hold it there. Steeling my nerves, I did as she asked, pressing down and trying to ignore the warmth that seemed to seep out of his body. She wiped some of the blood away and ran her hands along his bruised ribs. His hiss of pain caused me to jump and my eyes darted away from all the gore to his face. His teeth were gritted as she pressed gently on his sides. “I can’t even begin to tell you how many are broken.”

  “He can’t go to the hospital Delilah,” I murmured as I pulled the gauze back to see that the bleeding seemed to be slowing down. I looked over small wounds and shuddered when I realized what I was seeing, “Is that a nail?”

  “Most of this doesn’t look like it’s from the actual truck,” Delilah murmured as she picked up her tweezers to remove the offending nail and drop into the bowl with a clink. “I’d guess there was shrapnel placed in or around the bomb to inflict as much injury as possible. What was in this large gash?” She pointed at the place that was still covered with gauze.

  “I think it was the gas tank door,” Alex panted as Delilah pulled the guaze away and probed the wound. She used the tweezers to pull out small bits of metal from the angry looking wound. Heat rushed through me and I fought the urge to throw up. I was definitely not the nursing type. I distracted myself by looking at his eyes. They seemed like a safe place, even though they were amber and full of pain. From the corner of my eye I saw Delilah reach for her needle to start stitching him up, but Alex shook his head, “Jut tape me back together the best you can. No stitches, it will heal too fast for that.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Delilah sounded furious, and I knew I was going to have to tell her the rest of this. My logical little sister would not handle this well. She was still fussing at him, “This will take weeks, more like months to completely heal.” Alex’s eyes faded back to light brown and he looked sad as he nodded his head at me again and closed his eyes.

  “It will heal Delilah, just do what he wants,” I couldn’t look her in the eyes. Instead I reached out to brush away some hair that had fallen across Alex’s forehead. He gave me a small smile before he grimaced again at something Delilah was doing. I heard the steady tink tink tink of metal and glass she was pulling from his torso dropping into the bowl. “You aren’t going to believe me, because really it won’t make a lot of sense. Alex is a werewolf.” Delilah gave a very un-ladylike snort and I looked back at her. She looked ready to start laughing but my face stopped her.

  “You’re serious?” Delilah’s asked, “I mean, come on Zee, a werewolf? What have they done to you? I know you love your fantasy world with your drawings and books, but werewolves don’t exist, Zee.” She was acting like I was stupid, and I opened my mouth to yell at her when I felt Alex’s hand on mine. I looked down at his face and found him watching me.

  “It’s okay, Zee,” his thumb stroked lazy soothing circles around the back of my hand. “She’ll see for herself. I’m already healing. My back doesn’t hurt as much, and my head isn’t pounding anymore.” His gaze slid over to Delilah who was starting to remove the glass from his face. “I know it’s hard to imagine a world where werewolves exist, but your sister hasn’t been tricked by us. I wouldn’t do that to her.”

  “Sure, that’s fine,” Delilah waved his comments away, and she didn’t speak again as she worked on him. She finished cleaning up his face and moved on to his burned hand. The skin had been black, but it was redder now. After cleaning it and putting burn ointment she started scouring his body for any shrapnel she had missed. Then she went back over him with antibiotic cream and bandages where they were needed. Whether she would admit it or not, many of his small wounds looked days old. The large gash was no longer weeping blood and she taped gauze over it before wrapping his ribs tightly.

  “I wouldn’t suggest moving around much,” Delilah’s voice was cold, and she still didn’t look at him. “I taped your ribs as well as I could, but they’ll hurt for a good long time. What you need is to go to the hospital and be treated.” She finally looked at him, glaring as if she dared him to tell her differently. He gave her a small nod of acknowledgement before he turned to me.

  “I have to get home,” his voice sounded stronger and I could almost see him mental steeling himself to get off the table. “We have to find out who did this.” I shuddered at the thought of him putting himself back in danger. I’d have to suck it up if I wanted to keep seeing him. Being alpha would mean the possibility of danger. Not something I ever expected to even need to consider. I pulled my keys from my pocket and handed them to him.

  “Take my car. I won’t need it until late tomorrow for work,” I told him as I helped him stand. I waited for a moment to see if he would stay upright, and I was pleased when he did.

  “I’ll get it back to you by morning,” Alex brushed a kiss against my cheek and I was dying for more, but Delilah was already an unattractive shade of burgundy, and I didn’t think she could handle much more. She completely ignored Alex when he thanked her, but the moment the door closed behind him she turned on me.

  “What is wrong with you Zipporah?” She was throwing her first aid supplies into the bag instead of looking at me. “He is obviously a criminal. Who the hell gets hurt from a car bomb in upstate Michigan?” Delilah’s voice rose to a screech at the end of her question. The jerk downstairs would be pounding on the ceiling soon.

  “He isn’t a criminal Delilah,” I retorted, “and I’ll thank you to not raise your voice at me. He is exactly what he claims to be, even if you don’t believe it. His wounds were already healing when he left, explain that! You can’t and that’s why you’re pissed off. You j
ust can’t stand when something doesn’t fit into your orderly little world. Well guess what, werewolves exist, and Alex is one. So is Jarren!”

  “Well…I never… he isn’t…,” Delilah sputtered as she searched for a comeback, and I had an immature moment of triumph. “I won’t believe it Zee. I can’t. And you can’t see him anymore. He’s obviously a messed-up guy.” Her eyes pleaded with me to agree. I wished I could. It hurt to see her upset.

  “I’m sorry, Delilah,” I tried to speak calmly, “I can’t do that. He’s not a bad guy and neither are his friends. He’s too important to me.” I turned away from her, so I didn’t have to see the tears shining in her eyes. We had always had each other’s backs but in this situation, I didn’t need my little sister’s protection. I had made my choice, and I hoped Delilah would learn to accept it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Alex

  Running would have been faster than trying to make it home in the clunker Zee called a car. I couldn’t shift until I was healed completely though. It wouldn’t take long. My skin was itching and I could breathe without pain. By morning I would be well enough to shift.

  For now, my only priority was getting home quickly. I didn’t like being away from the pack after an attack. If I hadn’t needed to get away from the bar quickly, I would have waited with them. A bloody burned but fully conscious man would have raised way too many questions. I passed into our territory and a flash of grey in the trees had me pulling over and climbing out of the car.

  “Anything?” I asked, searching the dark shadows for threats. I didn’t smell anything but Ryker scent on the air. He stepped from the woods in human form, and I could feel his nervous energy. His eyes took in all the bandages before he answered.

  “No, nothing at all,” he gave a slight shrug, but his eyes searched the night like mine. It was almost too calm. “Wyatt is at the house. Jarren and Aaron are running perimeters, too. Neither one has found anything yet.”