The Better to Bite

by Cynthia Eden

  “They killed her!” Cassidy charged. Okay, so maybe she was still enraged.

  My dad’s eyes narrowed on her. “Take her to the station, Jon. Keep her in the conference room until I get back down there.”

  I winced when the nurse wrapped my arm a little too tightly. Rafe took my hand.

  Jon led Cass out. More like dragged her out.

  “She knows about us,” Charles Channing said quietly. “We can’t have the folks in Haven—”

  “I’ll deal with her.” Again, my dad’s promise was ice-cold. I didn’t speak, not yet. I figured I’d already done enough with my whole getting shot bit.

  My dad glanced down at me. “Heather,” he said to the lady who’d just bandaged me, “take her to the hospital.”

  No. I didn’t want to leave him. No way.

  When my dad blinked, I realized I’d spoken. I cleared my throat and rose to my feet, with Rafe right beside me. My arm burned. Not bee stings anymore, but more like the skin and muscle had been doused in flame. I hadn’t realized that a bullet would feel so much like fire, but then, I hadn’t ever planned on getting shot, either. “I’m fine.” Maybe. Hopefully. I would be once the pain stopped. At least nothing vital had been hit.

  “Take her to the hospital.” His eyes glittered. “I don’t want arguing from you, Anna. I want you safe, and I want you damn well safe now.”

  Dad was definitely furious. I was the one who’d been shot. Shouldn’t I get some sympathy from the man who’d accidentally shot his own daughter? Huh?

  “I’ve got her, sir,” Rafe said and his hold on me was strong, but careful. His fingers didn’t come close to my wound.

  Brent stepped forward, too. “I’ll make sure she gets there safely.”

  Wasn’t that sweet. Pity the werewolves hadn’t moved fast enough to take a bullet for me. Maybe next time.

  My dad stared at me as a muscle jerked in his jaw. He didn’t speak. Didn’t relent. Fine. Whatever.

  I let Rafe and Brent lead me out of that theater.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Rafe muttered, his lips close to my ear.

  I shivered. Okay, I wasn’t feeling so well right then. The pain wasn’t lessening up. And what had I been thinking? “That I couldn’t let her kill you.” Again, my normal routine of blurting kicked in, but I was far past the point of monitoring myself.

  He glanced down at me in surprise.

  Brent made a faint growling sound.

  “Either of you,” I whispered.

  Heather held the door open for us.

  “There’s a killer in this room!” My dad’s voice thundered as we left. “And I’m finding out who he or she is!”

  The air hit me. Chilled and carrying the faintest scent of…smoke.

  Smoke? We’d only taken a few steps when the sharp odor fully registered.

  We all seemed to catch the scent at the same time. Light plumes of smoke rose from the sheriff’s office. Rising slowly, slowly…

  A loud boom rocked the night, and the station erupted in a ball of flames.

  I screamed then, as loud as I could, and I rushed forward. But Rafe hauled me back.

  “No, Anna, no!”

  The fire crackled and windows shattered. Orange and red flames flared higher.

  “Cass—she’s in there!” Not just her. “Jon and Shirley are inside! We’ve got to help them!”

  Brent stared at the flames with a slack jaw. Voices rose behind us as those who’d been in the theater rushed outside.

  Rafe nodded and pushed me back. “Stay here!” Then he raced for the burning station.

  Stay—

  Bodies pushed against me. My dad caught my uninjured arm and pulled me against him. The smoke was thick now, so thick. Chaos reigned as voices shouted and folks shoved to get away from the scene. My dad’s body curled around me, protecting me, as he led me around the burning station and to safety.

  In moments, I found myself standing in front of the station. “Baby, don’t come any closer to the fire.” My dad stared down at me, the lines on his face deeper than I’d seen before. “I have to go in…my people are in there. But you—please, stay out here where it’s safe.” He nodded and someone—nurse Heather—took my arm as he stepped away.

  I blinked against the smoke. I couldn’t see Rafe. Couldn’t see Brent. My dad had already advanced toward the blaze, and I could hear him, yelling orders left and right.

  A siren blared. The fire station was only a couple of blocks away, and I knew the truck would be there soon.

  Soon enough?

  Rafe burst out of the building then. He had Shirley slung over his shoulder. Jon and Cass were right behind him. Jon had Cass in a fireman’s carry and he was hauling butt for all he was worth.

  When I saw them all, I started to breathe again.

  The fire truck raced onto the scene. The firefighters leapt off the truck and yanked out their hoses.

  The station kept burning.

  Rafe put Shirley down on the grass. Ash stained her face and clothes and her wide eyes just stared at the scene around her with a kind of desperate shock.

  Cass still had on her handcuffs. She wasn’t crying now. I didn’t even know if she realized what was happening.

  Rafe turned toward me. His blue gaze seemed to sear me. I glanced down and saw the bright, red blisters on his hands.

  “Rafe,” my horrified whisper.

  “Jon, what the hell happened in there?” My dad demanded as he pulled Cass away from the deputy. “Is anyone else inside?”

  Jon shook his head. Like Shirley, ash covered him. “It’s clear.” He coughed, shoving some of the smoke from his lungs.

  The firefighters were headed inside the station now. The scent of fire stung my nose.

  Normally, at a fire scene, the crowd gets bigger as the firefighters battle the blaze. Onlookers come out to gawk. This time, the crowd was getting smaller, real fast. The wolves were slipping away, not wanting to be seen.

  Brent was gone. Mr. Knoxley had vanished.

  Rafe stayed, and he stayed right by my side.

  “Your office,” Jon managed to say between coughs. “The fire—it just exploded from your office.”

  The office I’d been handcuffed in moments before?

  It wasn’t my night.

  I glanced back at the fire. Then I realized I could have been inside when the blaze started.

  Huh. Maybe it was my night.

  An ambulance roared onto the scene. One, then another. My dad’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. “Go, baby…”

  The EMTs jumped out. One raced for Shirley. One headed for Jon and Cass. My dad dragged another over to me. “My daughter’s been shot, and she needs to get checked out ASAP.”

  “Shot?” The EMT’s dark eyes widened. “I thought—I thought this was a fire call.”

  The night was full of surprises. I motioned to Rafe. “He’s burned, he needs—”

  I saw his hands and realized that the blisters were already gone.

  “He needs to ride with her to the hospital,” Rafe said smoothly.

  My dad frowned at him.

  “Trust me, Sheriff,” Rafe told him, “I can take care of her.”

  My dad’s stare measured him. “You’d better.”

  Oh, this couldn’t be good. But right then, I was hurt and scared and I just wanted to get away from the flames.

  Maybe that made me a coward, but I didn’t care. I wanted to escape right then.

  I climbed up into the ambulance. My dad followed me. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sorry,” was his stark whisper.

  I swallowed. “What will happen to her?” My voice was as quiet as his. “Please, Dad, help Cass.”

  His head lifted, and he stared at me. I knew how serious the situation was. Cass had raised a weapon—been ready to fire—at a roomful of people. Sure, they’d been werewolves, but people.

  I told him, “I don’t think she even knows where she is right now.” Because Cass was in shock. Grief, pai
n, they could drive a person right to the edge.

  And beyond.

  His fingers brushed down my cheek. “I’ll do my best.”

  He would. That was all I could ask of him.

  “Sheriff! Sheriff!”

  The station burned behind him.

  “Go,” I said even though I wanted him to stay with me. I was a cop’s daughter. I knew the job.

  Hated it, but knew it.

  He kissed my forehead, and then he eased back.

  The ambulance’s siren screamed on. I shut my eyes as the doors slammed closed. Someone was unwrapping my arm. Checking my blood pressure. Asking me about the injury.

  “It was an accident.” Rafe’s voice. He’d actually come with me. For some reason, I hadn’t expected that.

  I opened my eyes and turned my head to see him better. He was close to my side.

  “It was just an accident,” he repeated again as the EMT frowned. I heard the growl lying beneath the words and the EMT quickly nodded. I figured that he’d heard that menacing growl, too.

  “R-right. Sure thing.” Then the EMT went to work on me.

  I met Rafe’s gaze. I didn’t know what to think of him. Dangerous, dark, but he’d gone into that fire. He’d saved those people.

  His fingers took mine, wrapping lightly around them.

  Right then, the big, bad werewolf made me feel safe.

  ***

  I had vague memories of being wheeled into the hospital. Of some guy in a surgical mask pushing one very long needle into my arm and then sewing my flesh back together.

  Rafe was in my memories, telling me that everything was okay.

  I felt like he lied, but I didn’t argue.

  When I opened my eyes to the stark white hospital room, I expected Rafe to be there.

  He wasn’t. My dad was. With stubble covering his jaw and his tired eyes stained by shadows, he watched me from the bedside chair. When he caught my stare, he smiled. “Hi, baby. Welcome back.”

  I didn’t feel like I’d been away. I’d woken up alert, and worried. “Cass…”

  My voice sounded a little hoarse. I wasn’t sure why. My dad immediately handed me a Styrofoam cup with a straw sticking out of the top. I slurped greedily and the water felt great on my parched throat.

  Why did I feel like I’d been screaming?

  I drank until I’d drained the cup, then I immediately asked again, “Cass? Dad, what happened to her?” My voice sounded a little less like a frog’s croak. A little.

  He put the cup down. I shifted on the bed, trying to sit up more. The stitches in my arm pulled a bit. One arm had been marked by claws and now, one arm sported a bullet wound. Nice. I’d be wearing long-sleeved shirts for a while.

  My dad exhaled on a long sigh. “There was only so much I could do. She had a gun, and when the firefighters and EMTs arrived, she started shouting about werewolves.”

  Crap.

  His lips thinned. “She’s in the psych ward now.”

  A chill rose on my flesh.

  “When you feel up to it, you have to talk to her,” he said. “If we can push it as a-a—”

  “Psychotic break?” Yeah, I knew the term. My dad had dealt with some really screwed up felons in Chicago. Thanks to him, and all those law and crime shows on TV that I liked to watch so much, I knew how these situations went.

  “We might be able to keep her out of jail.” His hand jerked through his already tousled hair. “Losing her grandmother, it’s understandable that she’s traumatized. She was emotional, over-wrought.” He shook his head. “I just wish she hadn’t come to the theater with the gun. What the hell was she thinking?”

  Vengeance.

  “She was going to attack innocents,” he said.

  Only Cassidy didn’t think werewolves were innocent.

  And my dad had been ready to shoot her. He had shot, that was why my arm throbbed with every breath I took. “She needs help,” I told him, and it was the truth. He knew that.

  “Yes.” His gaze held mine, then dropped. “Anna, I am so sorry.” He leaned closer to the bed and pressed a kiss to my forehead. I remembered him doing that—before, when the ambulance’s siren had been screaming. “I wouldn’t hurt you for the world. I just—I’d told her to drop the weapon. But she lifted the gun. I didn’t see you behind her, and I had to stop her.”

  I understood his job and the price he paid to do it. “It’s okay, Dad.”

  But I could tell by his expression that it wasn’t, and wouldn’t be, not for a long time.

  “Do you…did you get any chance to talk to the—” Should I just call them wolves? Werewolves? “Did you talk to them last night?” I asked instead, making sure my emphasis wasn’t subtle.

  A nod. “They all swore they hadn’t hurt anyone.”

  Like a killer would just straight-up confess. “Did you believe them?”

  “I believe Jon and Charles when they say they will patrol the woods each night. If a werewolf is out there, hunting, they’ll damn well find him.”

  If? They were long past the if stage.

  “And when they find him, then what?” I wanted the truth. At this point, I thought I deserved it.

  He gave it to me. “A prison can’t hold a werewolf. At the first change…” He shook his head. “There’s only one way to stop a wolf that’s gone bad.”

  Death.

  The door swung open then, and a pretty nurse came into the room. She smiled at my dad, that too-bright smile that I’d always seen pretty women give him. He acted like he didn’t notice her flirtation. Same way he always did.

  “You’re awake!” She said with high perk in her voice. “That’s so wonderful! You’re all stitched up and the doctor says that you can go home—”

  “She’s not leaving until tomorrow.” My dad’s flat voice cut right through her cheer. His gaze locked on mine once more. “You stay here tonight.”

  Because tonight was the full moon. Dad would be hunting with Charles and Jon, and I knew he wanted me safe.

  I exhaled and nodded even as the nurse stammered something about checking with the doctor.

  I was sure the doctor would back my dad. When he wanted to be, my dad was extremely persuasive. Maybe it had something to do with his badge. Or his gun.

  It didn’t take the nurse long to regain her perk, though, as she checked my vitals. She leaned over me and said, “Now don’t be too worried about that rash on your throat. With that necklace gone, your skin will be turning back to normal in no time at all.”

  What? My hand flew up to my throat. The skin felt slightly rough to the touch. “Where’s my necklace?”

  She motioned to the small, bedside table. “It’s safe.” The nurse pulled back. “But with your silver allergy, you shouldn’t be wearing it. It could be very dangerous. You’re lucky the doctor on duty noticed the signs of—”

  “Silver allergy?” I tried to look around her at my dad. I didn’t have a silver allergy.

  But dad wasn’t looking at me. I saw his stiff back. He was at the door. “I’m going to talk to your doctor.” His expressionless voice drifted over to me. “I’ll make sure he keeps you for observation.”

  “Dad!” Something was wrong. I was missing something.

  Silver allergy? Since when? Goosebumps rose on my flesh. I’d felt a chill a few times before. Now, I was nearing the freezing mark.

  His shoulders seemed to stiffen even more as he glanced back at me. “It’s okay, baby. You’re not the only one in your family to have allergies.” His smile was twisted, and that smile never quite made it up to his eyes. “You just take it easy, and rest, okay? This will all be over soon, I promise.”

  My dad always kept his promises.

  I told myself that, over and over, even as I wondered just what he was hiding from me.

  ***

  Rafe didn’t come to see me. Actually, no one came for hours, not until nearly four o’clock in the afternoon. Then, a light tap sounded at my door.

  “Come in!” I called, a
lmost desperate for company at that point.

  Valerie poked her head inside. Her eyes were wide and worried. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded and motioned for her to enter the room.

  “I can’t believe it,” she said, voice quiet but heavy with tension. “I heard at the diner…Cassidy actually shot you?”

  Um, no. “That’s not what happened.”

  She blinked. “But they said—”

  I wasn’t sure who “they” were. “Cassidy didn’t shoot anyone.” I shrugged and felt the pull of the stitches. Those stitches were already driving me crazy. “This was just an accident.”

  She licked her lips and inched closer. “When do you get out of here?”

  “Tomorrow.” Unless Dad got super protective again. A definite possibility.

  Her hands twisted together, and she glanced toward the door.

  I saw the fear flicker over her face. “Valerie? What’s wrong?”

  She swallowed. “The moon’s going to be full tonight. What if—what if the wolf comes hunting again?”

  A very scary possibility that I’d worried about all day. My advice? “Stay inside! Lock your doors and just stay inside.”

  Her teeth sank into her lower lip. “My parents are out of town. It was supposed to be a second honeymoon trip for them, and I-I couldn’t tell them not to go because I was scared of a—of a werewolf!” Her hair shifted over her shoulders. “I tried to tell them about this summer, about what happened, but they sent me to a shrink! He told them I was too stressed over school and cheerleading.”

  Because no one believed in werewolves.

  Wasn’t that why Cass was in the psych ward? I’ll get you out, Cass. Promise. But first I had to be sure Cass wasn’t gonna get trigger happy again.

  “Do you have some friends that you can stay with?” I asked Valerie. “Just for the night.”

  “Karen’s at a ballet recital this weekend, and Julia’s at her grandmother’s in Charlotte.” Her shoulders straightened, and she swallowed. “This is silly, isn’t it? I mean, I’ll be fine.”

  “My dad’s hunting the wolf,” I told her, wanting to make her feel safer. “He’s getting some of the—” What to call them? Shifters? Was that PC? “He’s getting some of the older wolves and they’re going out hunting tonight. It’s the full moon, they’ll be stronger, and they should be able to track the rogue.”