by Lauren Dane
Faine helped get her up onto the board. There was so much debris all around that they would have had trouble otherwise. But a giant Were could pick her up easily and transfer her to the board carefully. Even so she winced and gasped a few times.
“On our way.”
Sato walked next to the gurney as they pushed it quickly through the cleared path and out the hole in the wall to the hallway.
Sato looked pained as she paled when they hit a bump and she got jostled. “I’m better than you are. Listen to Gage and the doctors. I’ll be at the hospital shortly. I have my own press conference to give.” Sato turned to Gage. “I’ll have my aide send you everything we can as we know it.”
Gage nodded and jogged next to the gurney as they got it outside to the ambulances lined up. A crowd of PURITY protesters tried to push close but Gage was beyond caring. He filmed them all with one hand while he used his magick to shove them all back so they could get through.
“Nearly there.” He dared the paramedics to tell him he wasn’t allowed to ride along. Luckily for them they didn’t. Faine got on her other side and they closed the doors and headed off.
“I need to call Meriel; she’s already called and left voice mails. It’s made the news.”
But first he had to get himself together. Back from the brink of falling apart. He could have lost her. His hands shook a moment, but when he looked to Molly, she wasn’t falling apart so if she could do it, he could too.
“Faine, I need to speak. Can you get my phone and film me making a statement?”
Of course she waited until Gage was waiting for Meriel to pick up on the other line before she did it. He could hear the pain in her voice. She could just rest and let herself get treated. But no.
When Meriel picked up Gage started speaking. “I’m sorry it took me so long to call you back. I’m guessing the bombs were on the news. Lark is my next call. We’re on the way to the hospital now. Faine and I are all right, just a few scrapes from the flying glass. Molly . . . well, she’s got some broken bones. They want to check her out more thoroughly.”
Meriel sighed explosively. “It’s all over the news. Keep me updated. Have you heard about the rest?”
“About what?”
In the background, Molly stopped speaking and he knew she was listening to their call.
“Bombs have gone off in several major cities. All targeting Others. Lark will call you in a few minutes. Just take care of Molly.”
“Did they go off there? Is anyone in Owen hurt?”
She paused. “Heart of Darkness was hit. Dominic was there checking stock. He’s fine. Thank goodness he’s made of granite. There have been casualties in a few states. I’ve got to go. Have Lark fill you in on the rest and keep me updated on Molly, all right?”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Yeah.”
“Heart of Darkness was hit. I need to get on with Lark to get updated. Others have been targeted nationwide.”
Molly looked at him, pain on her face that wasn’t just about her physical wounds.
* * *
AS it happened, breaking a bone really hurt. Breaking two really hurt a lot more. She also had a broken rib, a sprained wrist and lacerations from flying glass and splinters.
The painkillers she currently surfed to avoid the bulk of that pain also made her grumpy as Gage paced around the room on his phone, barking orders and cursing under his breath. Faine calmly took it in from his place in the corner.
She waited for Gage to head down the hall to see if she could leave before she made some phone calls he’d squawk about.
Faine sent her a grin as he shook his head, and she blushed.
Once she hung up, Gage came back and verified that she could leave. He was still angry, that much was easy to see from his features. Part of it was her, she knew, but the details that kept coming about the other attacks, not only in the United States but across the globe, were frighteningly brutal.
“How is it you two are relatively unscathed? Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that flying glass didn’t cut up your pretty faces.”
“The podium you stood at was close to the blast point. Gage and I were off to the side, the post we stood near shielded us the first time. The others? Luck I suppose.” Faine paused. “And I believe the bomb was aimed at you directly.”
“Lay off the scaring part,” Gage said before going back to his call.
“He’s a multitasker. Now, the nurse says I can go and that’s what I want to do. I don’t like it here. First, a press conference. I managed a few pulled strings and they’re going to do it out front in thirty minutes.”
“I’ll call you back.” Gage put the phone back in his pocket and glared at her. “You’ll do no such thing.”
She sent him a raised brow. “I will, yes. And I’ll need you to brief me in the meantime. I need to be totally up to speed by the time the press conference starts.”
“Molly.” Gage looked heavenward for long moments, clearly marshaling all his patience and she tried very hard not to crack a smile, but it was really difficult, especially with the painkillers in her system.
“Gage.”
“You’re being a smart-ass now?”
“I get to be. I have two broken bones, a broken rib and a sprained wrist. And a lot of great drugs in my body too.”
Faine stood, hiding a smile behind a cough. “I’m going to check in with Simon. I’ll just be right outside.”
“You can’t have a press conference. Molly, one hundred and thirty-seven Others have been injured today. Including you. Six have died. You’re going to be a target outside. A big neon arrow pointing at you. I’m not going to allow that.”
“Others died today, Gage. Dominic and Simon’s business was bombed. A hearing in the United States Congress was cut short by bombs. Homes. Businesses. A pack school in Utah was bombed. Three children are in the hospital and when they get out, they’ll have one less teacher. Of course I’m going to have a press conference.”
She tried to sit up a little straighter, but the cast and sling weren’t much help in that department. Gage sighed, moving to her to assist. “Baby, please listen to me. All those losses are terrible. But you’re a loss I can’t . . . please.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “You like me.”
He sighed, kissing her forehead, over each closed eyelid and then her cheeks before he got to her lips. All just the barest of touches, all filled with so much emotion she couldn’t choke all of it back.
“You make me all sniffly and messy,” she mumbled.
“You make me all terrified and annoyed,” he countered.
“I’m not going to do this exactly right because as I mentioned, drugs. In fact I’d rather be with you in your apartment naked in your bed watching movies. You protected me today. You threw yourself in front of me when a bomb went off.” Her bottom lip wobbled and she started to cry but she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue he handed her. “I want to hold on to you and let you take me home and tuck me into bed and never come out of my room. But I can’t do that. You know I can’t. Things are bad. Like really bad and we can’t trust the humans in charge not to make this our fault.”
He paused a long time, swallowing hard. He looked at her face as if he were memorizing each and every feature. Finally he spoke. “I hate it when you’re right.”
She managed a smile. “I know. But it’s a cross you’ll have to bear. Go tell Faine he can come back in and then brief me while I fill out all this discharge paperwork.”
Chapter 26
HE noted that her hand shook slightly before she clenched her fingers into a fist. On the right only as she wore a cast on the left and a splint on that wrist as well. That rage bubbled up and he did his best to stoke it back.
She needed him to be calm and alert. Needed to lean on him because she was hurt and scared. He’d already failed her once that day, he wouldn’t do it again.
Molly stepped to the mic and cleared her throat. He noted the way she drew magick up through
the ground and also through the air all around her. It seemed to be second nature to her by that point. Her aura glittered as the power rolled from her and projected outward over the crowd.
The noise hushed.
“Good afternoon. Or evening I suppose. My name is Molly Ryan and I’m a witch. More specifically, I’m the Media Relations person representing Clan Owen and the Council of Others. Today at approximately half past one in the afternoon, the hearing room I was in was attacked. Three bombs the authorities are now saying were improvised explosive devices went off consecutively. Those bombs blew out an entire wall. Part of which fell on me.” She motioned to her arm and the cast she also wore on her leg where her femur had been broken.
She had to adjust her weight and he had to will himself to let her. She refused a wheelchair so she leaned on a crutch. She was pale. Her blouse was dirty, ripped in several places and blood spattered. Her skirt was in similar shape.
“At the same time, all across the globe, bombs went off in buildings, marketplaces, schools and places of public discourse like government offices. All told, as of twenty minutes ago, one hundred and thirty-seven Others—your neighbors, your friends and family—were injured in these attacks. Seven of those Others are children. Six people have died. One was a teacher at the school in Utah where four children were also injured.”
“How do we know you didn’t do this? You’re blaming humans with no proof.” A yell from one of the crowd.
Molly got closer to the microphone. “My proof is common sense. Everyone targeted was an Other. Everyone injured or killed was an Other. Organizations like PURITY and Humans First have been preaching hate and violence while smiling at cameras. They like to talk about decent Americans? I’m a decent American and I’m calling them out. And shame on any Americans who call themselves decent who don’t stand up and condemn this sort of violence. First it’s camps, then it’s summary execution? Who is Carlo Powers to decide this? Hm? Did any of you vote for him? This isn’t prewar Germany. This is the United States of America. This is a nation built on differences and our common goals. We do not execute people for being different. We do not put our citizens in camps and chip them.”
“You were testifying before Congress. How can you claim you’re oppressed?” The same voice.
Molly sighed. “As a matter of fact, the chair of that committee had a panel of experts on this bill that would strip Others of their citizenship and put us in camps. On that panel there was not a single Other. In fact, Senator Hayes changed the rules at three in the morning and then when the other members of that committee ceded their time to me so I could speak, the bombs went off. I call having a wall fall on me, breaking my bones oppression, yes. What would you call it?”
Silence.
“Yes, as I figured.”
“How do you respond to those who say that if the Others weren’t stirring up all this trouble, none of this would have happened?”
“That’s an absurd way to look at it, don’t you think? If she hadn’t talked back, I wouldn’t have had to hit her? Hm? If she hadn’t worn that skirt, she wouldn’t have been raped? That’s rhetoric we reject in every other case. Because it’s called victim blaming. Did my refusal to let my people get shoved into a concentration camp cause some violent bigot to try to kill me? That’s an astonishing thing to say, don’t you think?”
They got very quiet. Her magick flowed steadily, surely across the space. He realized she had it in her power to actually control their actions, but she didn’t. Gage knew she’d never even consider such a thing, even if it wasn’t a violation of the ethical rules that bound witches to do no harm.
Unless in self-defense.
He hoped like hell they never had to test that.
* * *
SHE took questions for another five minutes or so, but he knew she was about ready to fall over. Luckily for her, she figured it out too, and ended the thing before he had to do it.
A car pulled around and Gage noted the number of National Pack wolves who had shown up to guard her. He liked that allegiance. Liked that the humans would see they weren’t going down easy either.
Molly just sent him a raised brow but said nothing as he gently got her settled and they headed to the hotel.
But that didn’t last long.
“I don’t want to be in a hotel.”
“You’re about to pass out. You’re white as a sheet. You need to rest, damn it. The capital is closed for the rest of the day anyway, you know in case you thought you could start lobbying or something like that.”
“I want to go home.” She snorted and settled back, wincing as she did. “I want to sleep in my bed tonight, such as it is. I don’t want to be here a second longer than I have to.”
Oh.
“That can be arranged.” The shifter driving the car was Cade Warden’s personal bodyguard.
Molly sat forward with a gasp. “Is Cade all right? I can’t believe I forgot to ask that.”
“You were a little busy getting your bones broken.” Gage rolled his eyes.
“Even so.” She would have brushed a hand down her skirt, as she tended to do when she got prim with him, but she flinched and pulled her hand back. The leg that hadn’t been broken had a great deal of bruising from the huge oak desk that had landed on her.
The bodyguard spoke again. “He’s fine. We’d gotten as far as the elevators when the first bomb went off. He wanted to come back to see if you were hurt but we overpowered him down the stairwell and got him out of the building. He’s pretty pissed about that.”
“I’m glad you did though. It was bad enough that I got hurt. If more Others had, it would have been worse.”
“He wanted to be here, by the way. But Grace wanted him home and in the end, she persuaded him. We’ll take you directly to the airport. They’re getting the plane ready now.”
“Check in with Lark, I know you need to. I’m fine.”
“You are not fine. Fuck.” Gage shook his head.
“I’m as fine as I’m going to be. And that’s all I can be.” She turned to look him in the eye as she said it. Her unspoken and it’s all you can be rang out as clear as if she’d shouted it.
“When we get on that plane you’re taking some more medication and going to sleep. Got that?”
She nodded and leaned back again, closing her eyes.
* * *
MOLLY woke up as Faine picked her up. She’d been dreaming about the bomb. She screamed, beating at him, bringing tears and a well of pain so deep she nearly passed out again.
Gage was there, whispering in her ear. “Shhh. It’s okay. Molly, it’s Gage and Faine. Wake up, baby.”
She opened her eyes on a sob and then mortification. “I’m so sorry!”
Faine shook his head. “It’s all right. I startled you. I should have woken you up first.”
Molly couldn’t seem to stop crying, which frustrated her greatly.
“Faine, can you give us a moment?” Gage asked as Faine put her down carefully. The Lycian nodded.
“I’ll be right outside.”
Gage handed her some tissues. “Take a minute to get it out of your system.”
“I was dreaming of the attack. And then I was in the air. I just . . .”
He cocked his head. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Goddess, she hoped she wasn’t all snotty and puffy and goopy.
“Today. I didn’t protect you.”
“Are you kidding?” Suddenly the tears were gone and she was astonished.
“Look at you, Molly! I knew something bad was going to happen. Damn it.”
“You did and you warned me multiple times. You tried to get me to leave. I stayed, knowing I could be hurt. But they heard me. Every one of those fucking assholes who tried to silence me has just given me a platform far greater than I would have gained from sitting on that panel.”
“You’re going to kill me.” He heaved a sigh. “It’s late. Come to my apartment tonight. I’ll make you something to eat and you
can get some rest.”
“All right.”
Of course once they’d arrived at Gage’s apartment, people began to call and ask to come by. So she agreed to let him get her set up on the couch and to allow Meriel, Lark and Rita to visit. Rita was going to bring Shelley, Gage’s mom, who was a healer and wanted to see if she couldn’t help.
“I can’t even believe Sato today.”
She huffed a sigh. “What now?”
“The guy is all over you until you get hurt and then he’s nowhere to be found?”
Yeah, so being in a room when three bombs went off had given her a moment of clarity. She’d bitten her tongue enough. This friends with benefits thing never worked. Ever.
“You can’t have it both ways.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you get mad when he’s nice to me. And then you get mad when he backs off when I need to go to the hospital. He didn’t abandon me. He called to check in but he has his own work to do. And anyway, that’s not the issue here.”
“I know I’m going to be sorry for asking this, but what exactly do you think the issue is then?”
“You’re jealous.”
The look on his face was all the confirmation she needed.
“Jealous of what? He’s being a dick. He’s supposed to be your friend.”
“Jealous because you think he’s interested in me romantically. You don’t like the supposed competition.”
This painkiller thing was kind of cool. She could say all sorts of things.
“He’s no competition!”
“Exactly. No one is. Do you understand me? There’s only you, Gage. This fuckbuddy nonsense is stupid. You want to be with me, not just horizontally.”
“What are you getting at?”
She blinked at him. “Don’t insult me. I’m in love with you. I don’t want to pretend you’re just my guard. You’re so much more to me than that.”
He put his hands up. “Whoa. Look, this is not the time to do this. What we have is perfect. I don’t deny we’re involved. But I keep it mellow in public and I’ve told you why.”
“So all of my life I’ve been ambitious. I’ve never let anything stop me from getting what I wanted. I went to school. I built my firm. I’m damned good at what I do. The damned Magister threw a wrench into all that. But the basic fact is that I’m the kind of person who doesn’t do things halfway. I’ve been with men before you, obviously. Some even very seriously. Serious enough that I thought I was in love.