Of Flame and Promise

by Cecy Robson

  I wiped my tears and turned to Shayna, who clasped her hands tight around her mouth, an expression of horror lining her pixie face. “I’m counting on you to find those bullets,” I told her. “Don’t let me down.”

  Chapter 18

  Okay. Fast-forward to the longest thirty minutes of my life. Towels were spread along our kitchen table. I’d wanted Celia to perform her surgery on our bed, but when Shayna started marking off the location of the bullets with a Sharpie, it became clear Celia would need more room to work.

  God help me.

  Emme dumped several of our utensils along the granite countertop. Celia pointed to a couple of spoons and several knives. “I need about four clamps, three scalpels, and three tweezers,” she told Shayna. “You and Emme will need to pull the skin back. Make the handles long enough so you’ll have a steady grip. His wolves may be sick, but they’ll still try to heal him. Make the blades on the scalpels as thin and sharp as you can manage. Got me?”

  My hands covered one of Gem’s as he lay there. Just lay there. The merging of his twin had transformed his color from dark to light gray. At that point, I’d have given anything to have him return to the alabaster tone he’d had around dawn.

  That color would have been a remarkable improvement on what I was seeing now.

  Shayna went to work as Emme bolted around the kitchen filling bowls with water and collecting more towels. Celia approached me slowly and placed her hand tenderly on my shoulder. “How are you holding up?”

  “I want to gut something evil and strangle it with its lower bowel,” I answered truthfully. “If you screw this up, I might seriously burn the house down.”

  She blinked and patted my shoulder in a way that clearly demonstrated she doubted my stability just then.

  In all fairness, I was feeling pretty psycho.

  “She doesn’t mean that,” Emme assured the wolves. My glare told her I did. “Ah, but just in case, why don’t you boys gather the fire extinguishers from each floor.”

  Koda took off right away. Liam started to follow, but stopped to speak to Celia. Yet I wish to God and back he hadn’t.

  “Aric just texted,” he told her. “His search party was out toward Nevada, so it’s taking them a while to get back. But don’t worry—he won’t bring Barbara here, or have sex with her in front of you or anything.”

  Celia swallowed hard, clutching the scalpel she was inspecting tight in her hand. “Good to know,” she managed.

  Shayna threw her hands in the air. “Dude. Just get the extinguishers.”

  With my free hand, I smacked his arm as he passed. “What is wrong with you?”

  Emme frowned, although I hadn’t hurt him. “I know you’re upset, but don’t treat him that way.”

  As much as I wanted to lash out and tell her he deserved as much, I held back, knowing she was right. Liam was, at times, not the sharpest tool in the shed. But he wasn’t mean. “Sorry,” I muttered.

  Liam considered me. “It’s okay. I know you can’t help being a bitch.”

  I should have added fire to that smack.

  “Taran,” Celia warned, when lightning sparked above my head.

  “I’m not going to singe him,” I promised, even though it was hard to hold back. I shook away my anger when it occurred to me there was more to worry about, and met Celia with sympathy. “Are you going to be all right if Aric comes? I’m serious. ’Cause if you’re not, I need to tell him he can’t come.”

  “As Gemini’s Alpha and his friend, Aric needs to be here,” she answered.

  “Ceel, you know that’s not what I’m asking.”

  Her expression, while neutral, flickered with the barest trace of sadness. Her tone, though, remained even. “I swear to you, I’ll do everything I can to help Gemini and get him through this. No matter who shows.”

  As everyone gathered around us, I hoped she was right. “Okay, Ceel. Get it done.”

  With a stiff nod she addressed the wolves. “Are you feeling the effects of the poison?”

  Momma and Pop kept their die-hard poker faces, but it was Koda who spoke. “We can feel it, but we’re okay.” His eyes traveled to where Gem’s parents watched. “Honorable parents, as third-in-command to Leader and pureblood Aric Connor of the Squaw Valley Den Pack, I respectfully request you keep a safe distance, and allow us to take over Tomo’s care.”

  In other words, kindly move your asses.

  It was Gemini’s father who answered with a bow. Momma followed with a bow of her own, then went to sit beside her husband when he perched on a stool behind the raised counter. If Celia was fearful, she didn’t show it. Instead, she leaned in to whisper in Gem’s ear. “Okay, buddy. It’s time. I’m not going to be gentle. But if you let me, I can help you.”

  His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear him. Whatever he said widened Celia’s eyes. She collected herself and edged closer to her tools. “What did he say?” I asked her.

  “Nothing,” she muttered, passing her hand along the makeshift surgical instruments.

  A feeling of dread washed over me. “Celia, if this has something to do with Gemini, you need to tell me.”

  It was Koda who answered. He crossed his arms over his massive chest, his attention on Celia. “He swore that, because she was his Leader’s mate, he could never hurt her.”

  Celia shook off the comment like she hadn’t been kicked in heart. Ordinarily, I would’ve been upset at Gemini for saying what he did. But just then, I only wanted him well.

  “Koda, Liam,” she called. “I need you to carefully roll Gemini onto his back.”

  Liam pointed. “But he’s favoring his right side. Shouldn’t we leave him on his left?”

  “I need access to his chest,” she answered.

  Liam looked from me back to Celia. “Why?” he asked.

  She gave me a dark look, her hand on something that resembled a hedge clipper. “I need to break open his chest cavity….”

  —

  Each ding into the ceramic bowl signified a fragment of metal or gold Celia had dislodged from Gem’s chest. Each threatened to stop my heart. Emme was sick more than once, and Shayna was looking pretty green as she ran out to dump the pieces. The wolves were sweating, grimacing each time Celia plucked another shard.

  “The bullets don’t just contain slivers of gold,” Koda snarled. “The inner casing is lined with that shit.”

  I saw enough of one to know he was right.

  Celia ignored everyone around her, working fast, almost robotically. And thank God she could! Otherwise, no way could she have stomached the crunch that followed when she snapped Gem’s chest open at the sternum. Liam, for all his often inappropriate comments, held strong, keeping Gem’s ribs apart so Celia could remove the biggest shard inches from Gemini’s heart. Problem was, the cursed gold was starting to take its toll on all the wolves.

  “Okay,” Celia said, gasping. “Get him on his belly.”

  Everyone jumped when Liam released the ribs and they snapped back with a sickening crack. The wolves returned to Gemini slowly, waiting for the muscles and skin to knit closed before rolling him onto his stomach.

  I wiped Gem’s brow with a damp towel. Celia resumed her work, and another piece of metal hit the bowl. “Almost done, baby,” I told him. “Three left.”

  My wolf, so ill and weak before, wasn’t so ill and weak then. The next bullet Celia yanked forced his twin to punch his head through Gem’s back, his snarling fangs snapping at Koda and Liam. Liam narrowly missed having his face chewed off.

  At first the wolves had been patient, making animal sounds and using words to try to soothe Gemini’s furious inner beasts. Problem was, Liam and Koda were dominant wolves in their own right. It wasn’t long before their patience ran thin.

  “Hold him!” Celia urged.

  “We’re trying,” Koda grunted, breathing hard. “Shayna, stay behind me—Shayna.”

  In any other situation, no way would Gem ever think about hurting Shayna. But in his current state, he only
felt agony, compelling his animal side to protect him from the pain. Shayna lurched back, poking her head from behind Koda when Gem’s twin surfaced once more. “Ceel?” she asked as Celia discarded another extracted bullet from the tip of her instrument.

  Celia waited for Gemini to lull his twin back to sleep. She pointed near the center of his back as the wolf disappeared beneath his skin. “One more,” she said.

  A knock on the door froze everyone where they were, except for Gem, whose breathing was so harsh, his breaths lifted his upper body from the table.

  Shayna rushed to the door when another knock, this one harder, quickly followed. She stole a glance at Celia before disappearing around the corner.

  “Let’s keep going,” Celia said, lifting the scalpel and repositioning those hideous tweezers in her hands.

  “You can do this, baby,” I told Gem. “Almost done. I swear to God you’re almost there.”

  The front door was flung open as I spoke. “It’s okay—he’s hanging in, dude,” Shayna assured our latest visitor.

  “Wait here unless you’re called,” Aric’s voice ordered. Clearly, he hadn’t come alone.

  Heavy footsteps followed Shayna’s light ones as they raced into the kitchen. The tension that followed Aric’s arrival cloaked the room like the flash of a loaded gun. My grip on Gemini’s shoulder tightened when he bit back a snarl. Celia, in her haste to help him, showed no mercy. In a way, I was grateful. In another not-so-great way, it made me want to ignite this kitchen in a wash of blue and white.

  Gemini’s growls rammed against my chest like a stake. Sweet God in heaven, how much more could my wolf take after having a portion of his heart blown to bits?

  My chin jerked up when he bucked. Koda and Liam were practically lying across him, holding him down with their brawny frames, and yet Gemini tossed them around like they were nothing but rags. From where Celia knelt, I could see her twisting the makeshift tweezers, her face flushing from heat and apparent stress.

  Gem’s snarls increased and so did his volatile motions. Tears streamed down my face. “Celia, get it out!”

  She sighed and removed the tweezers, watching in frustration as his skin sealed shut, and taking care to avoid Aric’s gaze. “I’m sorry, but I’m trying to reach into a small space between his ribs.”

  “Should you break them again?” Liam suggested, at which point I almost wigged out on him.

  She brushed the perspiration from her crown with the back of her forearm, taking a moment to consider her options. “No. It would mean sawing a hole into his back.”

  I thought Emme would puke again. In truth, I wanted to. “Oh, goodness. Why?” Emme asked.

  Celia pointed with her tweezers, careful not to touch him. “You see that mark?” I craned my neck to look and nodded along with the others. “Given the spot, and how far I’m having to dig, I think the bullet’s lodged in his kidney.”

  “His kidney?” I rose slowly, but the moment my hands slipped from Gemini’s shoulders, he hurtled Koda into the wall and Liam against our granite counter. The sheer force Gemini used to break free sent Celia soaring. She flipped off the table, landing in a deep crouch, her tigress eyes replacing her own.

  Growls erupted from all the wolves present, rattling the windows. Gemini ignored them, along with the frantic shouts of his parents. He rose with his feet firmly planted on the floor, his glare trained directly on Aric.

  My hands gripped my lover’s waist. Although his human body remained, he was all wolf then. If it weren’t for the control he managed, two humongous wolves would be hunting prey in our kitchen.

  I splayed my hand across his chest, trying to keep him in place. “Baby, stop.” I whipped my head around to look behind me. “What’s happening—why is he acting like this?” And why was he going after his Leader?

  Aric met Gem with equal anger, biting out his words. “Rage stirred from his torment has replaced his humanity. His wolves demand blood and vengeance for his suffering.”

  Shock shrilled my voice. “But you’re his fucking Alpha!”

  “Which makes me the biggest threat here,” Aric ground out, his eyes flashing with ire.

  My insides shriveled as I realized what was happening. In the wild, wolves fought, often to death, to lead the pack as Alpha. In his pain, Gemini wasn’t thinking straight. If he were, he wouldn’t be challenging Aric for a shot at top dog—or demanding someone pay for his suffering. That was bad, but considering Aric was Alpha, he couldn’t dismiss the challenge or appear subservient before his pack.

  My hands pressed against Gemini’s chest. “Gem, listen to me—”

  I gasped when he pulled me into a protective clutch, his glare staying locked on Aric.

  Aric prowled forward, readying to fight if that’s what it took to control Gemini. “Don’t make me do this,” he warned.

  Celia lurched forward, intercepting him. “Aric, don’t.”

  Aric froze, his vicious wolf snarling at Gem, who growled back with identical force. Celia glanced back at us, fear reaching her features, knowing our wolves were seconds from ripping each other apart. She lifted her hands and placed them over Aric’s chest. “Aric, look at me,” she whispered. “I need you to look at me, okay?”

  Despite his anger, his attention left Gemini and focused on her as she whispered something I couldn’t hear. The thing was, I couldn’t keep looking at them. Not with Gem so out of his mind.

  Again, he lurched forward, growling a warning at Liam and Koda when they advanced. “Get back,” I hissed, surprising them and myself, as I held Gem in place with just a squeeze of my arms.

  I placed my cheek against his chest. I didn’t know what Celia was doing, or saying. I only knew it was enough to keep Aric from attacking. He wrenched her behind him, shielding her with his body but failing to move as she continued to murmur almost silently, pleading with him to hear her words.

  She was soothing her mate with her voice and touch. Maybe I needed to do the same. My lips passed along Gemini’s skin. I spoke softly as I stroked his sweat-soaked back. “I get that you’re pissed and that you’re hurting. But, baby, I need you to stay calm.” I looked up, witnessing enough fury lurking behind his dark irises to startle me. “Tomo, please look at me,” I begged.

  I wasn’t sure if he would, given his state. But he did, meeting my face with an expression so warm, my body melted against him. “You’re my strength. You know you are. You have been since the day you walked into my life.” I released a breath, not caring anymore who was listening. “I can’t tell you how close I am to busting everything up. So stay strong for me, so I can be strong for you.” By then I was crying, and I couldn’t seem to stop. “I love you, Tomo. Please…be the hero you’ve always been in my heart.”

  Everyone stilled, including me, fearful of what would happen next. Gemini might have been Aric’s loyal friend, but my wolf seethed with unfathomable rage.

  Aric’s jaw was set tight, his stare unflinching as he and Gem faced off once more.

  The strain in the seconds that followed threatened to snap my skull clear off my shoulders. Aric wouldn’t hurt me. And Gemini wouldn’t risk hurting me to charge him. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t hurt each other.

  My legs almost gave out from under me when Gemini responded by breaking eye contact with Aric to address Celia. “My apologies,” he said, his tone stiff with pain and his beasts’ remaining fury. “If you’re still willing to help me, I’ll return to the table.”

  “I’m still willing.” Her attention skimmed briefly to Aric. “He didn’t hurt me,” she assured him.

  “Good,” Aric growled in response. He looked to her, taking in the way that he held her against him, before releasing her slowly.

  Celia tore away from him the second his hands slipped to his sides. She bent to lift the discarded tweezers, ignoring him once more. “Taran, come here. I need you to sterilize them.”

  Weres were immune to diseases and infections except those caused by cursed gold or magic. Celia knew as
much, but old nursing habits died hard…or perhaps she needed a moment to collect herself. Anyone could see the effect Aric’s presence and contact had had on her, despite her best efforts to remain calm. I pushed up on my toes and kissed Gem’s chin, the gesture encouraging him to loosen his hold.

  Once I was satisfied Gem wouldn’t go wolf again, I walked to Celia and held open my palm, forming a crackling ball of blue and white flame. Celia spun the tweezers over them as Gem lowered himself across the table, his face scrunching with every movement. The holes in his back and chest had fully mended, but he favored the side where the bullet remained wedged in his damn kidney. It was all I could do not to lose it.

  Celia removed the tweezers from my flame. The air swooshed around my trembling palm as I withdrew my power.

  She kept her gaze dead on mine, but it was our sisters she spoke to. “Shayna, I need you to adjust the shape of the tweezers. Thin out the tips and add teeth, as many as you can manage. I also need a sharper and thinner scalpel, and more clamps so that you and Emme can hold the skin open from both sides. His skin and surrounding muscles are healing too fast and obstructing my view.”

  My full attention locked on Celia. She shook her head, apologetically. She knew I was close to my breaking point. “Taran, I have to get this bullet out.”

  Emme practically fell over herself to gather more utensils for Shayna to transform. Shayna inched over and lifted the tweezers from Celia’s grasp, her tone cautious when sparks of flame engulfed my hands. “She’s only trying to help, T.”

  My eyes stung because clearly I hadn’t cried enough. “I’m not mad. I just…it’s hard to see him like this. I don’t know how much more I can take.”

  “I know,” Celia said. “And I’m going to make it right. Just stay strong, okay?”

  I tried to nod, but the motion seemed awkward. I shook my hands out, and their fire. As I watched, Shayna’s magic manipulated the metal to roughen the ends, her concentration intense and her work detailed to create the fine yet jagged points.