by Melissa Haag
“She’ll be okay. I promise.” I gave him a sad smile. “I accidently did this to my parents a ton of times while growing up.” I didn’t add that they used recreational drugs now because of it or that I almost killed them countless times.
He gave me a single nod, and some of his chaotic outpouring slowed. He didn’t put Gabby down, though.
I sniffled and wiped at my nose. It was already bleeding.
“We need to go,” Ethan said. The sound of his voice filled me with regret. He’d been strangled to the point he sounded like a chain smoker; I’d almost had my head bashed in and barely escaped being kidnapped. What had I gotten us into?
“Clay, put Gabby in the back with you,” the older man said. The man who’d helped Ethan moved with them. “Bethi and Luke, there’s room for you, too.”
Clay moved to the vehicle as a man I hadn’t noticed moved around to open a door for him.
“I need to go with Isabelle,” Bethi said. “She needs to understand what’s happening.”
“No, she doesn’t,” I said. “She needs to be isolated.”
She glanced at the blood dripping from my nose and nodded. She and Luke got in.
“You three are with me,” the woman with the white hair said.
Ethan and I walked toward her small car, and Carlos followed closely behind. Ethan opened the door for me. He kept casting worried glances at my nose. My hand was a bloody mess from swiping at it, but the blood wasn’t flowing too hard yet.
As I slid in, the woman got in behind the wheel and passed back some tissues. I pressed them to my nose and leaned my head back against the seat.
Ethan settled next to me, and the car dipped as Carlos sat in the front seat. As soon as his door shut, she started forward. The silence was nice, but her worry wasn’t. My tight skin and aching head made my empty stomach twist. The shadows were back in my peripheral. White dots danced with them. I focused on them, and they started to lead me away.
An elbow jabbed in my side. I opened my eyes and turned my head to glare at Ethan. He arched a brow at me as if saying, “Whatcha gunna do ‘bout it?” Right now? Nothing. But later...I closed my eyes. Two seconds after I started to follow the shadows and lights, he elbowed me again.
“Boy, you touch her again, and I’ll rip your arm off,” Carlos said softly.
My eyes popped open, and I lifted my head. Carlos was still facing forward. The woman had her hand on his leg. It wasn’t a sexy touch. It was a keep-your-butt-in-your-seat touch. Who did he think he was? I’d like to see him try to lay a finger on Ethan. I narrowed my eyes on Carlos.
“How are you doing, dear?” the woman asked.
I met her eyes in the rearview mirror.
“Not good. How much longer?”
She was quiet for a few minutes. “There are too many in this town. We need to keep driving for a while to confuse our scent trail.”
Ethan lifted my hand and gently squeezed it. “You’ve got an hour to get us somewhere reasonably safe. She needs at least thirty minutes when we stop.”
I set my head back against the seat. He wanted me to hold this in for an hour and then was only giving me thirty minutes to exercise it?
“I’ll kill you.”
His hand gave another squeeze. He knew what he was in for. A tear leaked from my eye.
* * * *
“This is good enough,” Ethan said, pulling me back from the edge yet again. “Stop the car.”
The urgency in his voice didn’t leak through his emotions at all. Or maybe it did, and I didn’t notice. The human sponge was full. So full, she was ready to explode.
He removed his hand from my face—when had he taken over holding the tissue to my nose?—and gently pulled me from the car.
My legs didn’t want to support me. If not for Ethan’s arms locked around me, I would have fallen.
“Tell them to drive ahead. She needs everyone to stay back for a while. The bleeding has to stop.”
While he spoke, he dragged me. My heels bumped along the ground for several yards, then he stopped.
“Z, stand up now, or I drop you,” he barked in my ear.
That annoying, little—
He dropped me, but caught me again. The panic of thinking he’d actually let me go, gave me an adrenaline boost.
“Ass,” I whispered.
“What are you going to do about it? Come on, stand up.”
He jostled me, purposely annoying me. I yanked an arm free and swatted at him. He laughed and jostled me again.
I pushed back against him and found my own footing. Stance wide for balance, I stood there with my head hanging down. My skull pounded, and for a moment, the slight sounds of nature around us seemed as if they were under water.
“Poor little Izzie,” Ethan said in a singsong voice.
He tapped my arm. I swung out at him, wide and loose, and he easily stepped out of the way.
“That’s it? All you have is noodle arms?”
I didn’t even have that. Tired and ready to let myself fall to the ground, I exhaled.
“No, Z.”
A slap cracked against my right cheek, the one Brick had bruised. Rage ignited in me. Ethan. My eyes popped open at the same time a roar echoed in the air around us.
Ethan’s eyes were wide. They should be. Then, I noticed his focus wasn’t on me, but over my shoulder. I twisted and saw the mountain explode into a beast. It was just like the fight in the bar. One minute he was a man, the next a gigantic dog. Only, this time, we were in a field and there was no one else around.
The beast charged at us, his angry gaze on Ethan. I bent low.
“Ethan is mine,” I yelled a moment before I ran at the thing.
It tried to jump over me, but I was too full of energy to let it pass by me. I jumped up and drove my fist into its soft underside. It grunted as it twisted and fell. I landed lightly on my feet and quickly turned, ready for the next charge. But it didn’t come. Instead, the wolf stood there, growling its fury but otherwise motionless.
“Stop,” someone yelled.
I turned and looked toward the road. A group of people stood clustered around the cars. The woman with the white hair and the man with the bright grey eyes ran toward us. They were so fast. I blinked and relaxed my stance, swaying on my feet.
“No,” Ethan said, stepping close to me. His arms steadied me. “Let them go. Now.”
“Boy,” the man with the grey eyes said, “he means to kill you.”
“Hear that, Z? He wants to kill me,” Ethan said, nudging me.
“No,” the woman said. “We don’t have time for this. We need to move.”
Ethan’s slow exhale moved the hair at the back of my head.
“Fine. Ten minutes. Please.”
He turned me to face him.
“Just me and you. Show me what you got.”
My eyes watered. Ten minutes? I wished they wouldn’t have stopped Carlos.
“It’s okay, babe. I’ve got you.”
A tear leaked over the edge as I rolled my shoulders and swung. I kept the first few strikes slow, so he would get the rhythm, and I stuck with traditional boxing moves. Jab, jab, uppercut. Always right then left. He blocked the first set with ease.
“I’ve got you,” he said again. “Come on!”
Another tear fell, and I opened myself up. My hands flew. Ethan stayed with me as best he could. I kept my targets the same. Right shoulder only, until I noticed him favoring it. Then I pulled back a bit and aimed for the left. I always pulled back on the left side. It was too close to his big heart.
“Time’s up,” the woman said.
I immediately stopped punching. Ethan opened his arms, and I fell against him.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered as I sniffled.
His hand gently feathered over the lump on my head. It didn’t hurt as much.
“I know you are, Z.”
Four
When I lifted my head from Ethan’s shoulder, I saw it was just us in the field. The o
thers had moved toward the cars once again. The mountain was no longer a wolf. He was a shirtless, angry man dressed in loose black slacks.
I stepped away from Ethan and wiped at my face.
“There’s no point to that,” he said. “You’re a complete mess.”
I stopped wiping and gave him a look. He grinned at me. I almost grinned back.
“Did I hit you anywhere too hard?”
“Not too hard. Just enough to remind me to keep up with you.”
“I’m—”
“Isabelle,” he said, stopping another apology.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he completely ignored it to jerk a thumb over his shoulder.
“Get your butt to the car before tall and half-naked goes caveman on you and drags you there by your hair.”
I snorted at Ethan’s description of Carlos.
* * * *
The car was quiet. Now that my nose wasn’t pouring blood and my head felt less like a drum, I looked around at what we passed—fields, open plains, and occasional wooded areas.
“I apologize,” the woman said suddenly.
I glanced forward and caught her gaze in the mirror. “For what?”
“For preventing Carlos from helping you.”
Carlos hadn’t wanted to help. He’d wanted to hurt Ethan. But I didn’t point that out.
“So, what exactly are you guys?”
She grinned slightly.
“I think you know. My name is Winifred Lewis, by the way.”
“I’m Isabelle.”
I felt Ethan’s humor a moment before he closed himself off again. His control was impressing me. It had been too long since we’d last seen each other.
“Why did you come for me?” I asked.
“Bethi can probably explain better than I can. However, according to what she has told us, you are one of six women with special abilities. There is a group—Bethi called them Urbat—that is trying to find you all. Their leader held Michelle, one of the young women riding in the car behind us, for a time. And, according to Bethi, he has the last one of you with him.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t really answer my question. Why did you come for me?”
“Bethi said we needed to protect you.”
I watched Winifred in the mirror and felt a wisp of some emotion from her. It was sour like regret and anger.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“We need your help.”
My help? I was a bruised and beaten mess. Ethan, my best friend, was more so. How did they think I could help them?
Ethan’s fingers threaded through mine.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“A friend has a place about an hour from here. Gabby had been watching the area and thought we should be okay there for a few hours. Bethi will want to talk to you,” she said, looking at me.
I nodded and glanced at Ethan. We shared a look, and I wondered if he was hearing the faint chords of dueling banjos like I was. They wanted to take us to a remote place to tell us why they needed me. The words of the letter continued to play in my mind. Were these the people the letter tried to warn me about?
I curled my right hand into a fist and winced. My sliced palm hurt. So did my wrist. Ethan, still watching me, looked down at my hand. He picked it up and started probing the wrist, somehow knowing the cut wasn’t the issue.
“Did anyone happen to grab our bags from the other car?” he asked.
“I’m sorry, no,” Winifred said.
The bags probably had my spare gloves and some wraps. Without the gloves, I’d continue to hurt my wrist. He and I both knew that taking a break from fighting wasn’t an option. I’d just need to change my style. Ethan hated kicking.
* * * *
I saw the barn as soon as we pulled up.
“Oh, yeah,” I said under my breath. Ethan and I had a new hang out.
As soon as the car stopped, I had my door open.
“I’ll be in the barn for an hour,” I said over my shoulder.
“We need to talk first,” Winifred said.
I stopped and turned back to her. Carlos was already standing beside the car, his gaze focused on me.
“No. There’s no way I can sit in a room with a bunch of people right now.”
The second vehicle pulled in and parked. The door immediately opened, and the dark-haired girl jumped out.
“It’s okay, Winifred. Let her go.”
I didn’t wait for Winifred’s permission but continued toward the barn. Ethan was right behind me. The structure was built into a hill, and we were at the top. I pushed one of the double doors open and stepped into an empty hayloft.
The floorboards held firm as I walked several feet in. Ethan’s steps scuffed behind me.
“Shirt off, handsome,” I said, turning on him.
His brows rose.
“I’m not lifting a fist until I see what I did to you the last time.”
He hesitated a moment then pulled his shirt over his head, using just his left arm. That alone told me how badly I’d hurt him. The blue covering his right shoulder said the rest. I looked down at the floor for several minutes. Ethan moved close with a sigh and gently touched the bruise on my cheek.
“It’s the price we pay. You know that.”
“No, it’s the price I should pay. Not you.” I met his gaze, feeling pity for both of us.
“None of that.” He took a step back and brought both hands up. “Let’s go.”
Shirtless, I could at least see if I did him any more damage.
“Fine.”
We started out with a slow rhythm. It only lasted a minute.
“Ethan, this isn’t working. You’re blocking too slow.”
Ethan dropped his arms and rolled his shoulders. A blast of frustration hit me. He quickly stifled it.
“Sorry.”
“S’okay.” But it wasn’t. My head was starting to hurt again. If I only had a few hours here, I had to empty myself. Of everything. After that, I would need a nap and probably a bag of ice for my wrist and my face and Ethan’s neck and his shoulder...
Ethan’s gaze flicked to the double doors. Carlos stood there, arms crossed while he watched us. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d followed. Not only was he quiet, but the country was quiet, which meant less emotional noise to notice a void. Plus, he was far enough away that I wouldn’t have pulled in any emotion if he’d actually projected anything.
“Hey, big and broody,” Ethan said. “Come here.”
I smirked. Ethan always tried to rub people the wrong way. He was a product of his upbringing. He didn’t make friends; he made frenemies.
Carlos walked toward us without any indication that Ethan had gotten under his skin. And maybe Ethan hadn’t. I certainly didn’t feel anything from Carlos.
“My shoulder’s not going to cut it. I need you to step in. But there are a few rules.” As he spoke, he walked around me. “You can’t take it easy on her. Ever. Got it?”
Carlos looked from Ethan to me and nodded.
“This isn’t a fight. This is a spar. A very fast, very intense spar. The goal isn’t to hurt one another.”
Carlos nodded again, and I turned to grin at Ethan. He was worried the big guy would hurt me.
“And no aiming for her face. She doesn’t look good with bruises.”
Carlos gave another stoic nod. I still didn’t feel anything from him. If I didn’t feel anything, it would be a lot easier to exercise the emotions I held. This might actually be fun.
Ethan must have been thinking the same thing.
“Go get him,” he said with a slap to my butt.
Before I could move, Carlos blurred. One second he was standing across from us; the next, he was standing before Ethan, his hand wrapped around Ethan’s throat. Ethan’s feet dangled in the air, and his hands flew to the fingers squeezing the oxygen from him.
Fear for Ethan made my temper snap.
“You son of a...” I let loose on Carlos.
&nbs
p; His kidneys were my punching bags. I hit hard and managed five rapid blows to each before he dropped Ethan and turned on me. I punched him in the throat and brought him to his knees. He wheezed and looked up at me. I kicked him in the face. Once. Twice. The third time brought him to the ground. I straddled him and drew back, ready to remodel his face.
“Girl, that’s enough,” a voice said. “He’s not fighting back. He won’t.”
I looked up and saw the man with the bright grey eyes standing in the doorway. Carlos moved ever so slightly underneath me, bringing my attention back to him.
His face was marked from the last kick. Why did I feel guilty for that? He’d had Ethan by the throat.
“No one touches Ethan. Ever. Got me?” I punctuated my words with a poke to his very hard chest.
Carlos nodded slowly, and I rose from him. I backed up a step and glanced at Ethan, who sat on the ground rubbing his throat. He gave me a thumbs-up. When I turned back to Carlos, he was standing, too.
“If he has more bruises from that, I’m coming after you.”
“I will let everyone know Ethan’s under your protection,” the grey-eyed man said. “Though, we’re all family here, so I don’t think that’s even necessary.”
“Really?” I said. “Was that an example of how your family treats each other? Some family.”
“Carlos misunderstood the situation when the boy patted your backside.”
The man’s worry carried a hint of humor with it. I didn’t find anything funny. I glanced at Carlos. He was so damn hard to read, but I was pretty sure he didn’t find anything funny, either.
“Ethan knows me. He knows my limits and what I need. There are no situations to misunderstand because when it comes to Ethan, he’s none of your business...unless he’s giving you advice about what not to do around me. Then, you might want to listen. He’s trying to save your lives.”
“I think they get the idea,” Ethan said.
I doubted it. Ethan had pushed me to the edge more times than I could count with his persistent interference. There’d been times I’d wanted to strangle him myself. But love always stopped me. And even when angry, I always knew, deep down, he was saving me from myself.