“It’s not like you were ever inappropriate,” Leah argued, completely on my side. “And really, the principal’s lucky he still has a job after allowing the Sheriff to leave with you without even calling your dad.” I shivered and this time it wasn’t because of the cold wind. Leah noticed and gave me a quick sideways squeeze, and I sent her a grateful smile as I wrapped my arms around myself as we walked down the sidewalk. The Hanley’s had sent the Sheriff to the school to grab me after creating a trumped up charge. It was only because of Dom’s sister, Sam, that I’d managed to escape.
“Trust me, Dom would love to tear him apart for that alone,” I agreed and Leah gave me a startled glance. I paused, curious about what I’d said had caught her attention.
“When you say Dom would tear him apart, you mean that literally,” she stated and I nodded. She shook her head. “That really takes some getting used to,” she confessed as we started to move again. “I mean it’s hot, but also terrifying.”
“That’s what you get when your boyfriend can shift into a massive wolf,” I answered, my heart giving an extra bump as I said boyfriend. I knew Dom would gladly use mate instead, but I hadn’t been raised in the Pack life and still stumbled over the word.
“Your life is weird,” Leah muttered again, her eyes wide as she stressed the words. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“You’re the one who stitched a guy’s guts up,” I retorted, bumping her shoulder. “I consider that equally weird and kind of gross.” I squished my lips together at the thought and suppressed a shudder. I was not that great with blood and guts.
She let out a snort. “Talk about the blind leading the blind. That was a Hail Mary job. I had no idea what I was doing.”
“You saved him,” I said with a lift of my shoulders. “That’s all that matters.”
“You know my dad wants me to be a veterinarian like him,” she revealed and I nodded in acknowledgement.
“Dads are like that, always wanting their little girls to grow up to be like them. Veterinarian, motel owner, you know….the usual.” A laugh burst from her as I made fun of my own newly acquired career path. Dad and I jointly owned the motel since he’d used my college fund to buy and renovate it, a fact I’d originally hated but now appreciated. The motel sat at the boundary between Hanley and Navarre lands and was essentially a no man’s land. Or had been before I’d thrown my lot in with Dom and the Navarre Pack.
“I didn’t want to be a veterinarian,” she confessed and my eyebrows lifted at the knowledge. She smiled mockingly at my surprise. “Yeah, crazy, right? Who wants to go to school for eight years, and then spend their lives trying to save sick animals?”
“Well, when you put it like that,” I responded, seeing some of the difficulty. “It sounds really noble,” I added, trying to be helpful.
“It does,” she agreed. “And really, really sad too,” she continued. “I’ve been there with my Dad. He always insisted I help him and I’ve seen him save a lot of animals and also lose a lot of them too. I couldn’t figure out why he did it. Why put yourself through that when you know you can’t save them all?” I shrugged one shoulder, staying silent. “Then I saw Liam dying and I was the only one who knew enough to even try to save him.” She turned to stare at me, “Which, by the way, you were crazy to let me try. I had no idea what I was doing. We’re lucky it worked.”
“I think Liam would disagree about how crazy it was,” I answered softly and she ducked her head.
“Maybe,” I heard her say softly before inhaling deeply. “Either way, I got it. I understood then why my Dad does it. Why he put in the years of schooling and the pain of knowing he’ll lose some.”
“Good?” I asked hesitantly, not exactly sure where this was going, but willing to listen.
“It was good,” she paused, glancing upward as she corrected herself. “It is good. I wasn’t sure I could do it. Now, I know I can. Saving Liam gave me courage and made me realize that maybe there’s a need for a specialist around here,” she added, a mischievous smile on her face. I laughed as we came to a stop in front of Wren’s old room. She’d moved to the room next door with Dylan since Liam had basically bleed out all over her room. I was pretty sure Leah’s dad’s emergency vet case was still in there on the floor unless Wren or someone else had moved it.
The door opened before we could even knock and I blinked as Liam stood there, his shirt unbuttoned over his chest revealing a red puckered scar that ran the length of his abdomen. He didn’t bother to spare a glance for me, his entire attention consumed by the girl next to me.
“You’re here,” he said, staring at her as she gave him an awkward one handed wave.
“Liam, this is Leah,” I introduced since he wasn’t planning to acknowledge me anytime soon. “Leah, I’m sure you remember Liam.”
“Yes,” she murmured, once again dropping her gaze to the ground as a shifter stared her down. I knew what it was like to be the focus of that kind of weighted attention and it wasn’t really all that comfortable.
“Liam, quit staring,” I chided, nudging him aside. “It’s rude.”
“I didn’t mean to be rude,” he replied automatically, his gaze still stuck on Leah. “I just….” He stopped talking and I rolled my eyes as I pushed past him to go inside the room. “Hey, what are you doing?” He cried, finally seeming to notice me as I invaded his space.
“Looking for Leah’s Dad’s vet kit,” I answered. “She came to get it.” I glanced over at Leah in time to see her peeking at the bare expanse of Liam’s chest. “Yeah, shifters have no problem with nudity. Supposedly, you get used to it.” I gave Liam a pointed stare. “I’m not there yet.” He didn’t take the hint, instead, propping his hands on his hips and causing the shirt to gape wider.
Leah gathered her courage and managed to look Liam in the eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, the words so painfully sincere it stopped both of us in our tracks.
“For what?” We asked in unison, staring at her in surprised shock at the unexpected apology.
She raised her hand, her fingers almost, but not quite brushing the raised red skin, and flicked her finger. “For this.”
“Saving my life?” Liam asked incredulously. “Because this,” he pointed to his stomach and the jagged scar, “Is proof I survived.” He captured Leah’s hand as she lowered it and pressed it gently against his abdomen. “And its thanks to you.”
Her gaze raised to his in shock. “You’re not upset?”
“No,” he denied instantly. “I’m thankful, grateful, but in no way upset.”
“Even though I scarred you for life?”
“At least I have a life,” he retorted and I noticed he hadn’t released her hand. “One gnarly scar isn’t the end of the world.” He gave her a lopsided grin as he added, “Besides, chicks dig scars.”
“Oh my God, I’ve heard enough. Liam, where’s the bag?” I interrupted, waving my hand around the room.
“Um,” he answered, glancing around, looking lost. “What’s it look like?”
I didn’t have an answer, since a lot of that night had become a nightmarish jumble of survival. I sent a questioning glance toward Leah, who seemed to realize Liam still held her hand as she tugged it free, blushing.
“About this big,” she said, spreading her hands about two feet apart. “Black, a little worn.”
“Oh, yeah,” Liam cried, nodding vigorously. “I put it in the closet.” He shoved open the bi-fold door to reveal a large bag resting on the floor.
“How could you not remember that?” I muttered under my breath and he threw me a quick glance, but ignored my words.
“Great,” Leah said, relief coating her words. “Dad was asking about it and I didn’t want to admit where it was or why it wasn’t in the car,” she revealed, and I found myself grateful once again for her discretion.
“I wiped the blood off it,” Liam told her proudly. She gave him a soft smile, relaxing slightly now that some of his earlier intensity had eased.
&nbs
p; “That was nice of you,” she told him as I mumbled under my breath, “Least you could do.”
There was a pregnant pause and then a sudden flurry of motion as Anna said, “I should go,” right as Liam started to say something.
“Uh, okay,” Liam said, cutting off whatever he’d been about to say. I could only hope he hadn’t planned to ask her out. We really didn’t need any more love triangles.
Leah grabbed the bag, emitting a soft grunt as she hefted it up. I caught Liam’s eye and made a jabbing motion toward the bag. He gave me a blank stare and I exaggeratedly mouthed, “Carry the bag.” His eyes bugged slightly and then he hastily nodded.
“I’ll carry that for you,” he offered, hooking his hand under the strap and lifting it easily off her shoulders. “It’s the least I can do,” he added, throwing me a dirty look. I smiled, not bothered in the least.
“You don’t have to,” Leah tried to decline, “You have an injury.”
“Ah, it’s nothing.” Liam winked. “I had a great doctor patch me up.”
I mimed gagging when Leah’s back turned and Liam shouldered between us, taking a protective stance as he followed Leah out the door, leaving me to trail behind.
“Do you live around here?” I heard Liam ask and a throbbing started behind my eye.
“I live a few miles away. On the other side of town,” Leah answered kindly as I pressed my thumb against my throbbing eye, and wished for sudden deafness so I didn’t have to listen to their painful flirtation. “I go to Banks High. Where do you go?”
I paused as Liam answered, “I don’t go to school.”
“You graduated already? Like Jess?’
He shot me a curious glance but shook his head, his bravado suddenly disappearing as he admitted, “I don’t go to school.”
Leah turned, her back to the forest, as she gazed at him questioningly. “At all? You homeschool?” Her curiosity wasn’t wholly unexpected and I had to admit I wanted to know the answer too. My attention was partially distracted though as I saw Monster standing next to Trent with an empty cookie container. I was about to call out to them when Liam answered her.
“We weren’t allowed to go to school,” Liam said, ducking his head as he shifted uncomfortably awaiting our reactions.
“Oh,” Leah said softly, clearly uncertain how to reply to that information as my gaze shot back to him. I hadn’t known that little nugget about the Hanleys, but what better way to control them than to keep them uneducated. “You can go now though,” she said encouragingly. “Plenty of the Pack go to our school. You could too.”
Liam gazed at her, his expression enigmatic, as he considered her words. “I might have to,” he finally answered, a smile curling the corner of his lip up. “Since you go there.”
I was about to interrupt when a howl pierced the air, the sound sending an abrupt chill through my bones at the sheer urgency behind it. Liam’s expression sharpened as his gaze honed in on the forest. “Move,” he shouted, the bag dropping from his shoulder as he shoved Leah toward the motel wall, his body covering hers protectively. He reached for me, but I jerked my arm away, running toward Monster and Trent. “No, Jess!” I heard Liam curse behind me but my attention was focused on the two in front of me. My heart hammered as I ran, determined to reach Monster before whatever was coming got there first.
Trent lifted Monster up in his arms, running away from the forest and angling back toward the motel, his long strides and shifter strength making short work of the distance.
I slowed as I realized he was carrying my brother to safety and it wasn’t until his head jerked back toward me that I noticed I was standing in the open, completely exposed to whatever they were running from. Trent veered, his eyes desperate, and I knew he was about to place himself in the path of whatever was coming, with my brother still in his arms. I shook my head, yelling, “No,” as I turned and ran in the opposite direction, making myself a target as something enormous lunged from the woods.
I spared a glance over my shoulder, quickly realizing what it was, a wolf that rivaled Dom in size, and it was headed straight at me. My foot slipped and I went down hard. It took a stunned second to realize I wasn’t going to make it to safety and rolled into a ball, tucking my head against my chest as I covered my arms protectively around myself.
I heard the pounding of its feet as Monster wailed, “Dylan, no,” and I curled myself into an even smaller ball, praying my brother wasn’t about to see me mauled to death by his new best friend.
Hot breath gusted over me as the massive wolf lunged close, and I squeezed my eyes shut, positive this was about to be my end, when suddenly he was knocked back as another larger wolf lunged over my head. I held still, my world reduced to a loud cacophony of snarling, snapping growls until one sharp bark ended it and silence rang around me.
I lifted my head slightly, risking a peek between my fingers, ready to shut my eyes in an instant at the sight of blood or guts covering the ground. When I didn’t see anything, I risked raising my head completely. I quickly regretted my decision when I saw a naked Dylan sitting across and slightly behind me, munching on a cookie he’d picked up from the ground. The sight was almost immediately blocked as a huge black wolf paced protectively between us.
A shaky sigh flowed from me as I fell backwards onto the dirt, my heart threatening to escape my chest as relief coursed through me.
“Jesus Christ,” Trent shouted, coming closer to us, “That was fucking close.” I felt myself nod, unable to speak as my breathing slowed. Dom sent a continuous stream of incoherent thoughts and emotions through the link, inarticulate as he continued to guard me. Trent must have sensed his volatility because he gave him a wide berth as he came toward me, the little boy crying in his arms the only reason he even attempted it.
“Sissy,” Monster blubbered, tears streaming down his face as he held out his arms to me. Trent dropped him next to me and then quickly scurried backwards as Dom’s head swung toward him, growling.
Trent lifted his hands, keeping his movements nonthreatening, as he eased toward Dylan. “Liam, pants,” he barked, and Liam snapped to attention, stepping away from a shell shocked Leah, to jog toward the motel.
Skinny, little arms wrapped around me as Monster rubbed his face against my shoulder, smearing snot all over me.
“I’m fine,” I whispered, patting his back, as I mentally sent the same words toward Dom. Fine, I stressed again when he didn’t respond and received a jumble of images from him. The sight of Dylan in wolf form lunging for me from Dom’s perspective was equally as terrifying as it had been from mine and I winced. There was no way he was letting that image go anytime soon and I was pretty sure I was going to have nightmares about it too.
You didn’t kill him, I sent back, the thought equal parts question and statement.
Nearly, he managed to reply and I gathered from the emotion behind the single word that it was a near thing. Once again, a tangle of emotion and images spilled from him to me and I saw him lunging for Dylan’s throat to knock him away from my curled up body. He’d managed to stop himself from clamping down hard enough to rip out Dylan’s throat, instead yanking on the heavy scruff of his neck to pull him away.
I don’t need to see anymore, I begged and the stream of images stopped abruptly. Thank you for not killing him, I added simply as Monster lifted his head from my chest, his face a blotchy mess of redness, tears and snot. I used the hem of my shirt to wipe most of it off. “Go see Dylan,” I told him and he shook his head so hard I was afraid it was going to fall off. “Yes,” I said firmly, “He’s your friend.”
“He almost killed you,” Monster cried, shooting a betrayed glance over his shoulder at Dylan. “He ran straight at you. I thought he was going to – ” He couldn’t finish, shaking from residual fear.
“You thought he was going to rip my throat out,” I finished for him, ignoring the snarl that tore from Dom at my words. “But he didn’t.”
“Because of Dom,” Monster said stoutly, hero
worship glittering in his eyes. “Dom stopped him.”
“He did and you know what else?” Monster shook his head. “He didn’t kill Dylan even though he could have. You know why?” Monster tilted his head questioningly. “Because killing Dylan would have been wrong.” Monster lowered his head, resisting my words. “You know it’s true. Dylan was reacting to the situation. He didn’t harm me even though he could have,” I suppressed a shudder at the memory of how close that hot breath had come, but I knew I was speaking the truth. Dylan could have easily tore into me before Dom stopped him. “You were scared because of the situation and what might have happened. Don’t let that change your friendship with Dylan. He needs you to be his friend.”
“You’re not scared of him?” Monster asked suspiciously, and while he couldn’t feel the hard thump of my heart at the question, I knew Dom had felt the jolt when he growled.
“No,” I lied with aplomb. “Not at all.” They both stared at me disbelievingly. “I’ll prove it,” I added, seeing Liam jog toward us from the corner of my eye. Leah edged closer, trailing behind Liam as she kept a wary eye on Dom. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen one of them in wolf form, but Dom was the exception with his larger than normal size. Liam passed the loose shorts in his grip to Dylan and I quickly averted my eyes. I really wasn’t prepared to see any more of Dylan in his glory.
“Does anyone need medical assistance?” Leah asked, the last part of the question coming out in a squeak when Dom’s head swung toward her and he pinned her with a hard, yellow gaze.
“Easy there, Kujo, you’re scaring the newbies,” I chided, walking over to him and resting my hand on his head. I raised my voice as I said, “I don’t think anyone’s hurt.” I paused, letting my next words drift in the air. “Just shaken.”
I moved to go toward Dylan and prove I wasn’t scared of the massive wolf who had almost eaten me when I felt teeth settle around my wrist. I gave an experimental tug but there was zero give. I shot him an unamused stare. This had no effect as he repositioned his grip on my wrist, and effectively kept me prisoner.
The Alpha (The Pack Book 3) Page 4