by Bella Falls
My mouth went dry as he exited the cabin. I grabbed my spell phone and stuffed it in my pocket. If things went south too fast, I wouldn’t hesitate to call in the cavalry in the form of Nana and Mason.
Sweat dripped down Silas’s face as he danced around me. My ability to evade most of his advances flummoxed him in the best way. No doubt, he figured I’d be an easy target for him to try and win his innocence and freedom. His confusion and frustration came in handy, and whenever I noticed him distracted by either emotion, I used the lessons from Cameron and Dash and got in a few solid shots.
The mob of shifters around us shouted all kinds of things, and it was better for me not to focus on them, especially when they stated some pretty unkind things about witches.
The binding between Dash and me worked better than I’d expected, and perhaps in the heightened environment we were in, it ended up supercharged. Not only did I have the premonitions of Silas’s movements but I could also sense suggested moves from Dash as the fight wore on minute by excruciating minute.
Time would be my biggest downfall. Sure, I’d leveled up in my fighting skills. But as a shifter, Silas possessed far more stamina than I did. If I couldn’t find an opening to deal a much bigger blow to try and take him down, eventually, I would lose.
Dash must have picked up on my own fears as his worries ramped up. A barrage of anger and desperation grew inside of him, and my anxieties over what he might do that would put his job as alpha in jeopardy increased. While his emotions distracted me, Silas landed a heavy kick against my side, and I doubled over in pain. Most of the crowd cheered, but Dash exploded with fury.
I held out my hand to keep him from crashing the fight and doing something to Silas. My opponent saw the brief interaction and cackled.
“Why don’t you let him tag in so I can take a shot at the big bad alpha myself,” he taunted.
“Is that what you want?” I asked, forcing myself to ignore the pain and straighten up to face him.
“That’s what a lot of people in this place are calling for. His kin may have been alpha, but that boy doesn’t deserve his position. His father was a better leader than he could ever be, and it’s only a matter of time before he loses.” Silas hocked up a huge ball of saliva and spit it on the floor. “In the meantime, I don’t mind messing with him through y—”
While the guy monologued, I grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him down while I lifted my knee into his torso. The second I made contact, I bounced away from him, keeping myself on high alert.
Silas groaned and called me a few unsavory names. “I should just shift and tear you apart.”
The second he uttered those words, I got an idea. “I don’t know why you haven’t. There’d be very little I could do if you did.”
At first, his eyes widened at my admission. But then they narrowed with intent. “You’d be taken down in less than a heartbeat if I did.”
“That’s if your wolf is big enough. I’ve seen Dash’s, and I’ll bet size makes all the difference in the world.” I winked at him for good measure.
Doubt and caution wafted off of Dash, but I pushed it away from me, staying in the moment.
“Oh, I guarantee my size is impressive,” Silas answered with a leering grin.
“Too bad you can’t prove it.” I dodged to my left and avoided a pretty clumsy jab. “Instead, you’re sticking to your skin and gonna lose to a girl. No, not just a girl. A witch.”
With a snarl, Silas dropped his fight stance. He ripped off his shirt to reveal his lean muscled torso.
“Silas, don’t,” Max shouted from the sidelines.
“You’re going down, witch.” His shoulders hunched forward, and after a crackle of magic filled the small space, a gray wolf with a white stripe down its back stood in front of me.
“Gotcha,” I said with a little attitude.
If pack members could fight each other to uphold their rules, then I figured if he broke them, there would be steep consequences. Because I’d set the terms for skins only, he wasn’t supposed to shift into his animal. His actions meant he’d forfeited the fight.
Unfortunately, the wolf didn’t care about the subtleties of my plan nor the rules. It snarled at me, bearing its fangs and crouching down in preparation to pounce. I called a little magic to my fingers and let my power flow through me. If Silas wanted to attack me in wolf form, he’d find out how fast I could hex his furry hiney seven ways to Sunday.
I didn’t count on the wolf’s supernatural speed. Before I could do anything, he leaped into the air, and his body crashed against mine. The world tilted on its axis as I fell, and my head hit the concrete floor with enough force for my vision to go in and out for a split second.
Before the wolf’s gnashing teeth could sink into me, the weight of the animal disappeared, and I heard a pained yelp come out of it when it hit the floor several feet away from me.
Dash’s broad figure stood over me, and although his clenched fists were the only outward sign of his anger, I could sense some darker, more murderous intentions on the periphery of the leader’s consciousness.
Cameron approached me and helped me up. “You did good,” she whispered into my ear.
“Thanks,” I replied in a low voice, keeping my focus on the wolf still growling at me. It snarled and gnashed its teeth to show its aggression.
“Enough!” Dash bellowed. “Silas Turner, you will yield.”
The wolf bared his fangs at his alpha once, but with a tilt of the leader’s head, the animal crouched down until its belly touched the floor in forced submission.
Dash held up his hands and spoke to the crowd in a loud, clear voice, “By shifting into his wolf, Silas has broken the terms set forth at the beginning of the challenge. He forfeits his claims and will stand trial for the crimes he is accused of.”
A murmur of discontent buzzed through the pack members, and several shouts of disbelief and absolute dislike for me rose in the room. Instead of staying and addressing his people, Dash grabbed me by the arm and dragged me through a small opening in the throng towards a door.
It took a little effort to keep up with his hurried pace. “What are you doing?”
“Getting you out of there. I’ve already allowed you to put yourself in harm’s way. I won’t subject you to what they’re saying.” He slowed a little when I tripped over my own feet and helped me stay upright. “Plus, there’s a bigger problem.”
Cameron’s SUV pulled up at a great speed and skidded to a quick stop in front of us. Elodie rolled down the window. “Get her in, boss man.”
Instead of taking me around to the front passenger seat, Dash yanked the door right in front of us and lifted me into the back seat. He barely waited for me to scoot over before he forced himself in, almost sitting right on top of me.
He slammed the door shut. “Where’s the first aid kit, Aunt Ellie?”
“Under the passenger seat,” she instructed, squealing the tires as she drove away in haste.
“Why do we need first aid? I feel fine,” I countered.
“That’s because you don’t feel it yet due to all the adrenaline coursing through you. Trust me, you’re hurt.” Dash leaned across my body to grab the kit. “You hit your head pretty hard.”
The second he reminded me of my fall, I suddenly noticed a pulsing ache. I lifted my hand to feel the spot and touched something wet. Pulling my hand away, I glanced at it and found blood trickling down my fingers. Fear chased away some of the adrenaline.
“How did you know?” I asked, still staring at the gore.
Dash tore open the kit and pulled things out. “Because I could smell it. And for another good reason that meant I needed to get us both out of there as fast as possible.”
“What’s that?”
He reached his hand behind his head to touch it. When he showed me his fingers, I understood why all I could sense from him was panic.
Dash waved his fingers covered in his own blood. “Because the connection of our binding may h
ave helped you fight, but it’s also caused an even bigger problem.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Quit your fussin’, I told you that I’m fine,” I insisted, waving off Dash and Elodie as they hovered over me.
“You are not fine.” Dash crouched down next to the couch he’d forced me to lie on. “I felt the blow to your head, too, so you can’t tell me it didn’t hurt.”
In truth, I was more upset about his injury than my own. “When you say you felt it—”
“I told you, the second Silas attacked you and you hit the ground, it was like my head smacked the concrete.” He stared into my eyes with great intensity.
“I would say I didn’t believe you, but I saw the blood on your hands.” I tried to move, but he laid a hand on my arm to encourage me not to. “Do you have my spell phone?”
He dug in his pocket and pulled it out, handing it to me. I saw the missed texts and calls from Mason and added guilt to my list of things I suffered from at the moment.
The doorbell chimed, and Elodie rushed to check the door. She came back in the living room with a woman I recognized following her.
Dash stood and greeted her. “Caro, thanks for taking the time to stop by and check on Charli.”
It dawned on me where I knew the woman from. She was Georgia’s older sister, and she’d been at my house checking out my niece’s unicorn, Sparkles. I pushed myself up to a seated position on the couch.
“It’s my pleasure,” said Caro, pulling the large bag she carried off her shoulder. “Although I’m not sure how much help I can be since my patients tend to be a little bigger. I’m glad I had an opening in my schedule, but I can’t stay for long. One of my client’s mares is close to giving birth.”
“Oh, right. I forgot you’re a large animal vet,” I said, watching her pull a few things out of her bag.
Caro asked a bunch of questions, and although she seemed surprised at the whole affair of the challenge, she listened and stayed quiet until Dash and I finished talking.
“Other than your head, do you feel pain anywhere else?” she asked as she picked up my hands to inspect them.
“He managed to land a pretty decent kick to my side,” I admitted.
“Show me,” the experienced vet demanded.
I glanced up at Dash, embarrassment heating my cheeks.
“I’ll turn around if that’ll make you feel better,” he groused.
I wore one of Cameron’s sports bras, so all he’d see was a bit of skin. Instead of asking him to leave, I lifted up my shirt and leaned over on my side so she could inspect the area. Caro palpated the skin, and I winced once or twice.
“You’re lucky he didn’t hit an inch higher or he might have broken a rib. As it is, you’ll have a decent bruise for a while. Since Dash caught me before I’d left my house, I managed to bring some of my special cream to help you heal. You’ll also want to take a bath with some Epsom salt to soak,” she instructed.
“I’ve got some I can give her,” Elodie piped up. “But I’m more worried about the bump on the back of her head.”
Caro nodded. “Me, too. Charli, do you have a headache, or have you experienced any nausea?”
The injury itself throbbed a little, and I could tell I was physically exhausted. “No, I haven’t.”
“Any double vision? How about when you’re upright. Do you feel dizzy?”
“Dash insisted on carrying me everywhere since we got back to the house, so I honestly don’t know.” I shot him an exasperated glance. “But no to the double vision.”
She took a penlight and flashed it in and out of each eye. “I’m not seeing anything wrong with your pupil reactions, which is good. Let me see the back of your head.”
I turned away from her and felt her fingers probing through my hair.
“The cut’s pretty superficial, so I don’t think it’ll require any stitches. There’s definitely a nasty bump, so let’s keep some ice on it and take some meds to keep the swelling down,” Caro instructed.
“I’ve got an ice pack ready to go,” Elodie volunteered, holding up a blue bag.
Caro accepted it from her and pushed it against my bump. I winced from the sting of pain and noticed Dash do the same.
The vet took my hands in hers and lifted my arms to inspect them once again. “I can’t believe you faced off against a shifter in a fight and managed to get away with so few injuries. Are you trained in martial arts or something?”
I glanced at Dash for a brief second. “Something like that.”
She blew out a whistle while she packed her things back in her bag. “Well, I think you got really lucky. The good news is that I’m inclined to say that you probably don’t have a concussion, although I’d feel more comfortable if you’d take her to the emergency room.”
“Unless you think that’s absolutely necessary, it might be better to keep this off the records,” Dash said.
“Yeah, I know a little about shifter life and the choices you make to take care of your pack.” Caro frowned in displeasure. “But I don’t think any of her injuries require a hospital visit. However, symptoms can take up to forty-eight hours to show up, so I want you to stay quiet and take it easy for the next couple of days just to be safe.”
“I can make sure she does that,” Dash answered for me.
I snapped my fingers at him. “Hey, I’m not an invalid nor am I hurt to the point where I won’t recover. Heck, I’ve been hurt worse when Matt and I used to horse around. This ain’t nothin’,” I said, brushing off his concern.
“See? I told you she was tougher than dirt,” Elodie crowed. “We country women pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and keep on goin’.”
Caro smiled at both of us. “Yeah, well, sometimes the best thing we girls can do is take care of ourselves.” Her phone pinged in her pocket, and she took it out to check. “Looks like my sister’s almost here with your brother.”
“Why don’t I put on a pot of coffee and we can all finish the last of the jam cake I’ve got left,” Elodie offered, scurrying off to fetch food and drink.
“I’m afraid I can’t stick around, although from everything G’s been telling me, I kinda wish I could.” Caro shouldered her bag again.
“Before you go, shouldn’t you check him out, too?” I asked, pointing at Dash.
Caro turned to him. “Were you involved in the fight as well?”
“Not exactly,” he said. “How much has Georgia filled you in on our little situation?” Dash waved his hand between me and him.
“Enough to know that she’s doing everything she possibly can to communicate with the ghost of an old woman who’s long been gone from Mystic,” the vet replied.
“Well, this has to do with our particular situation,” Dash replied.
“We don’t have time to be subtle,” I insisted, switching hands to hold the ice pack against the back of my head. “When I hit my head and got hurt, he felt it and got hurt as well.”
Caro’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious? How is that even possible?”
“I’ll be calling my leprechaun friend to get more information soon enough.” I shifted positions on the couch to get a little more comfortable. “But right now, I’d feel better if you made sure he was okay.”
The oldest Whitaker sister forced Dash to turn around so she could check the back of his head. “I see where there was some bleeding here, and there’s a faint bump right in the same area. But other than that, I have a feeling your shifter healing has you already on the mend.”
“Well, that doesn’t seem fair,” I complained, taking the ice pack off because holding it in place was freezing my hands.
“I’ll admit that I’m incredibly intrigued by the prospect that if one of you gets hurt that it affects the other.” Caro tapped her lip with her finger. “It would be interesting to find out just how it happens.”
Knowing Dash was okay from his sympathy injury, I indulged my own curiosity. “Did it feel the same during the fight?”
“Y
ou mean, could I feel it when you got in your punches? Not really, but then again, I was paying more attention to your actions than how I felt.” Dash’s brow furrowed.
“What about when I got kicked here?” I touched my side and winced.
“Kind of. I mean, I think I could have told someone exactly where you got hit if I’d been asked. But I didn’t feel the pain in the exact same way,” he explained.
I gave the fight some thought. “Honestly, I didn’t feel the effects of the kick as much as I thought I would have. I was more affected by it knocking the wind out of me than by the pain of it all. But now that I’m coming down off the adrenaline high, I definitely feel it.”
“Well, that’s just it,” Caro said. “The excitement of it all and the release of adrenaline could affect your pain receptors. And when you got more seriously injured by hitting your head, that’s when things got a little more serious for the both of you.”
“Or maybe it’s different because I ended up bleeding,” I proposed.
Dash crossed his arms across his chest. “Whatever the reason, it makes us both extremely vulnerable. It’s why I hustled us out of there as fast as possible. The last thing we need is for someone to realize just how connected we really are.”
Caro adjusted the bag on her shoulder. “Well, color me intrigued. I wish I could stick around and grill you with more questions. But honestly, you should take it easy,” she pointed at me, “and you need to watch your back.”
“Care to elaborate on that, Doc?” Dash asked.
“Nah, that’s my sister’s and your brother’s business to discuss.” She patted him on his shoulder once and then waved at me. “Charli, I hope to see you under better circumstances. If you get a chance, I’d love to have you over to my place for a meal. You may have a unicorn, but we’ve got a recuperating hippogriff.”