by Ciana Stone
Zeb drove like a possessed man. His heart shot into a panicked beat when he saw the front door standing open. He drew his sidearm the moment he stepped from the vehicle and approached the house. He was at the front steps before he realized the wolf was standing off to the side, tense like he was ready to bolt.
Zeb dismissed that and cautiously ascended the steps. What met his eyes when he peered inside had his heart hammering. One man lay dead in the front room and another was unconscious on the floor, both suffering from what appeared to be shotgun blasts.
Thoughts for his own safety fled. “Willa!” He tore through the house looking for her.
She wasn’t there. All he found was Lobo standing at the base of the steps to the back porch and the ferrets scurrying this way and that in some kind of a panic on the porch. Lobo barked and drew his attention then took off across the back yard.
Zeb jumped off the porch and started after Lobo. It didn’t dawn on him for several minutes that he had not bothered to be mindful of snakes. That thought creeped him out but didn’t make him break stride. All he could think of was Willa. Where was she and what the hell had happened in her house?
On through the darkness he ran. Every now and then he’d lose sight of Lobo but the wolf always seemed to slow and wait on him to guide him to wherever they were headed. It was in that darkness, running toward an unknown destination that it fully hit Zeb. He loved Willa and the thought of life without her was like looking at a yawning abyss filled with nothing but darkness and pain. Please God let her be okay.
*****
Willa woke with a start. It took only a split second to realize she couldn’t move which caused terror to sink its putrid claws into her, making her want to scream her lungs out. She was tied spread-eagle on the ground, the ropes attached to crude stakes.
A fire was burning not ten feet from her. Carl Ellis stood beside it, a bottle of booze tilted up to his mouth as his brother Carter tossed dead branches onto the fire.
This wasn’t good. They were dangerous sober. Drunk they were downright lethal. Unpredictable and impossible to reason with. And to make it even worse, she was naked. Nausea born of fear bubbled in her gut and rose in her throat and her body started to shiver despite the warmth of the night and the heat rolling off the fire.
Willa knew the only way to mitigate her fears of what might happen from blooming into full blown mindless terror was to gather her wits and, as her brother had always taught her, evaluate her situation to see what was at her disposal.
She offered up a silent prayer for strength and looked around as much as she could without drawing attention. All of a sudden, she realized where she was. On her own property, near the hunting lodge her great grandfather had built when he first laid claim to this land.
It’d been years since anyone had used the lodge. Ethan, Zeb and their friends used it when they were in high school. They’d get beer and bring girls and party. She hadn’t been there herself for more than a ride-through looking for a stray since Ethan died.
It was a good ways from the main house, probably three miles, but still within Lobo and Bobby’s territorial range. Which meant they might have followed.
Not that a bobcat and a wolf were going to get her out of the predicament she was in, but the idea of not being completely alone offered some small comfort. If only she hadn’t sent Zeb away. She hated herself for the thought because surely if he’d been there he would have tried to defend her and could have ended up wounded or dead. No, it was best that he hadn’t been there. The idea of something happening to him was far worse that what she now faced.
She kept her eyes on the men at the fire as she tested the rope, tugging with both arms to see if she could loosen the stakes. They were sunk into the ground deep but she did feel a slight give in the right one, so she intensified her efforts.
Just as she felt a wiggle, Carl turned and looked her way.
*****
Zeb nearly tripped over Lobo as the wolf came to an abrupt halt. Zeb realized the reason. There was a light in the distance, a fire. He knelt down beside Lobo. “Okay, buddy let’s go.”
Together they crept toward the light. The closer they got the clearer the scene became and what he saw made his blood boil.
Carl and Carter Ellis stood before a fire, passing a bottle between them. On the other side of the fire was Willa, staked out on the ground. Carl took another swig from the bottle and looked in her direction. “Well, looky here who’s awake.” He handed the bottle to his brother and reached toward the fire. When Zeb saw what was in his hand, rage exploded hot and blinding.
He held a branding iron. “Not so high and fucking mighty now, are you cunt?” Carl stumbled over and waved the branding iron over her. “Yeah, I’m going introduce you to this, bitch. Just as soon as we’re finished with you. Oh yeah, we’re gonna have us a party. I’m gonna fuck you every way possible and when I’m done, I’m gonna let Carter have a go at you.
“And when we’re tired of that, I’m gonna brand you. Your ass, your tits, your pussy and your face. I’m gonna fuck you up the ass with this thing and then we’re gonna drag your ass back home and throw you in the snake pit and you can die the same fucking way you killed my brother.”
That did it. Zeb stood, raised his weapon and started forward. “Texas Rangers. Drop the iron and step away from the woman.”
Carl turned and stumbled then lurched toward the fire at the same time Carter bent down and grabbed a rifle off the ground.
“Drop it or I’ll put you down.” Zeb continued marching toward them.
Carter raised the rifle to his shoulder and Zeb fired. A howl came from Carl as his brother fell. “I’ll fucking kill you. Kill her, you mother fucker!” He whirled in Willa’s direction, the branding iron in hand. Zeb took a bead on his back but before he could fire, Lobo appeared out of the darkness and leapt onto Carl’s back.
The branding iron flew from Carl’s grasp as the wolf took him to the ground. Zeb ignored the screams of pain as the wolf tore into him and ran to Willa’s side. His hands shook as he untied her ankles and then her wrists. All the while Carl’s screams got weaker.
By the time Willa was free, all sounds from Carl had stopped. Rather than throw herself into Zeb’s arms, she got up and went to stand over Carl’s body. His throat had been ripped out, his face a mask of pain and terror.
She knelt down and opened her arms to Lobo who bounded to her with tail wagging. She hugged him tight for a long moment then stood and turned to face Zeb. “How did you know?”
Zeb gestured toward Lobo.
“I don’t understand. Lobo went all the way to town?”
“No.” Zeb stepped up closer. “I came back.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t honest with you. With myself. There is something here worth staying for, Willa. I had to come back and tell you.”
All at once, all of the emotion she’d been holding with such a tight rein released and she rushed into his arms. For a long time he just held her as she sobbed against his chest. When she had cried herself out, she pushed back far enough to look up at him. “You saved me.”
“I’m thinking it might just be the other way around, honey.”
“No. You came back. You saved me.”
“I love you, Willa and if Calder County is where you want to make our home and our life together then that’s what we’ll do. All that matters is that I have you.”
It was all she’d ever dreamed of. Who would ever have thought that dream would come true in such a place and in such a manner? Fresh tears streamed down her face. “I’ve always loved you, Zeb. Always.”
He smiled and reached out to cup her face, his thumbs rubbing away the tears. “Honey, I want to take you home, and I know that’s what you want, but I have to call this in and we have to wait for a team to come process the scene. Can you do that?”
She sniffed and drew herself up then looked down at her naked body. “I’m not real keen on a bunch of strangers seeing me butt nak
ed.”
“Shit!” Zeb quickly stripped off his shirt and helped her into it. “Better?”
“Yes. Thanks.”
He gave her a soft kiss on the cheek then pulled out his phone and placed the call to the Sheriff’s department. “They’re on their way.”
“He’ll come for me you know.”
“Who?”
“Clancy. When he finds out, he’ll come for me.”
“Then I’ll put him down.”
She nodded and sank to the ground, holding onto Lobo. Zeb sat down beside her, looping his arm around her. She leaned her head on his shoulder, grabbed his free hand in a grip like a vice and stayed that way until the deputies arrived.
*****
It was just a few hours until dawn by the time the statements were done, the bodies collected, and the house quiet. Willa stood in the front room of the house, looking at the blood on the floor. She was still wearing only his shirt.
“I’ll take care of that.” Zeb came up behind her. “Go get clean and get some rest. It’s been a long night.”
“No. I’ll do it.” She strode past him and returned a few minutes later with a bucket and a mop.
Together they cleaned up the mess in silence, her mopping and him changing out the bloody water. When they’d finished, she shut the front door, wedged a chair under the door knob to keep it closed then turned to face him.
“Go get clean and get some sleep, Willa.”
She wanted to do just that but something was weighing on her. You have to tell him.
Willa didn't want to. She didn't want to do anything that would threatened what he'd offered, but how could they have a future built on a lie?
"I will but first, we have to talk. I have to tell you something."
Zeb reached for her hand but she avoided his touch. "No, please. Just hear me out."
"Okay."
"I'm not – normal, Zeb."
"Pardon?"
"I'm not normal. I—I can talk to animals."
"That's pretty obvious."
"No, I mean I can understand them. They talk to me."
His eyes widened a bit and then returned to normal. "So you're saying you can actually carry on a conversation with them?"
"Yes."
"So?"
Shock rippled through her at his nonchalance. "You mean that doesn't bother you?"
"Why should it?"
"Because – I don't know, because it's not normal?"
"It is for you, honey and I love you, Willa – all that you are. Now will you please get cleaned up and get some rest?"
She nodded and held out her hand. Zeb hesitated then took it and let her lead him to the bathroom. She turned on the water, then faced him and peeled out of the shirt.
“Wash the ugly away.”
Zeb knew she wasn’t talking merely about soap and water. He understood. What she’d experienced was humanity at its worst, and it wasn’t a first for her. Her life since her family had died had not been filled with joy or security.
He knew that feeling all too well, the dirtiness that came from memories of pain, loss, and mistakes. The unclean feelings that could consume you because you had nothing with which to dilute or wash it away. He’d lived that for too many years to count and like her, was ready to be cleansed.
Zeb stripped out of his clothes as she stood there silently watching and then took her face in his hands. The kiss was soft, a gentle press of lips that was the most potent thing he’d ever experienced. She gave all that she was in that kiss, offered all she had, and in doing so claimed him. Completely.
Willa drew back and stepped into the old-fashioned claw-footed tub. Zeb climbed in with her and drew the curtain. Steam billowed around them like a cloud, warm and wet. Willa picked up the soap but he took it from her and slowly washed her. There was nothing sexual in the act. For him it was a reverent moment. She closed her eyes and surrendered until she was clean and then she took the soap from him and repaid him in kind.
It was not until they were in her bed, her head lying on his chest that she spoke again, in a soft whisper. “I thought I was going to die tonight and for a moment I wished I hadn’t sent you away. Then I realized how selfish that was.”
“Selfish?”
He could feel her nod against his chest. “I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you.”
Zeb hugged her tight to him. “Nothing’s going to happen to me, honey. And I wish I had been here for you.”
“But you were. You came back. You came back for me.”
Zeb smiled into the darkness. “You’re my ever after, Willa Hale.”
“You remembered?”
“I did, Willa. I sure did. And I’ll never forget again. Just promise me that you won’t forget. No matter how cranky I can be at times, or pig-headed, or just plain stupid. Promise me you’ll never forget.”
“Never. I love you Zeb.”
“And I’ll never love anyone else.”
She tightened her grip on him for a moment and then relaxed. And for the first time he could ever remember he met sleep with a smile on his face. His mama’s curse was gone. He’d found love.
*****
Willa was catapulted to consciousness by the sound of gunfire and glass exploding. The bedroom window burst, shards of glass and wood peppering the bed. Zeb was already rolling of the side of the bed, going for his weapon on the bureau when the figure of a man appeared in the doorway.
“Willa!” Zeb yelled as the blast from the shotgun blinded Willa for a moment. She screamed as Zeb collapsed and scrambled across the bed toward him. Just as she cleared the bed something slammed into her abdomen and sent her rocketing backwards. Another blast and something hot seared into the side of her head.
She fell back onto the bed, pain making it nearly impossible to form a coherent thought other than get to Zeb.
With pain lancing through her at every twitch of muscle and bone, she managed to roll off the bed. Zeb was on his back on the floor, blood pouring from his chest. She tried to get to him but her strength failed and she collapsed.
She didn’t know how, but suddenly he was there, his hand on her face. She managed to lift one arm and reach out. His hand found hers.
“I’m … so… sorry.” His voice was weak and sounded like he was talking thought water.
“Not your fault.” She managed to get out.
“My ever after,” he gargled the words then went silent.
My ever after.
Chapter Eight
Ronnie Camp and his wife stood in the hallway, watching as the EMTs worked on Zeb and Willa. They’d called the law at the first sound of gunfire.
It didn’t look good. Zeb had taken a shot to the chest and Willa had been shot twice. Once in the abdomen and once in the head. The EMTs were doing everything they could to stop the bleeding. One of them, a young woman who looked to be around twenty had tears streaming down her face as she worked.
“You’re my ever after, Zeb Childress.” Willa had whispered twice and struggled to feel for Zeb.
“Willa, Willa,” Zeb had answered. “Promise me.”
Willa felt a searing pain in her chest that became the entirety of her reality, leaving no room for anything else. On and on and then suddenly, it vanished.
She was lying in her bed. It was early morning and a lazy breeze wafted through the open window. Zeb lay beside her, his eyes still heavy with sleep, his voice soft. He spoke to her of love, of how he came back to her, how he hadn’t wanted to be there and how she’d made him change his mind. He reminded her of how she’d kissed him when he showed up at her door.
“I wanted it to be forever.” He looked at her with eyes filled with tears.
“Silly man. It is. Look, can’t you see?”
Suddenly they were no longer in the bed. She was a child again, sitting in her swing, smiling up at Zeb. “Push me, Zeb. Push me so high I fly away into the sky.”
He did and she felt the wind and sun on her face, that brief escape from gravity at
the apex of her swing where she felt as though she could lift up from it and fly into the heavens. She felt the sudden tug of gravity as she fell back to earth and suddenly she was motionless again, smiling up at him.
“You’re my ever after, Zeb Childress.”
He smiled and then they were no longer children, no longer in her yard. They weren’t anywhere. They were just alone in an endless sea of soft light. Zeb took her hand and smiled at her and Willa knew she’d never seen anything so beautiful or loved anyone so much.
“And you’re mine, Willa Hale. My ever after.”
“Zeb,” Willa whispered.
There was one brief flare of fear and then love and joy claimed her completely.
“We’re losing her!” The female EMT scrambled for chest paddles as Willa’s vitals failed.
“Him too,” the other EMT replied. “Nothing we can do.”
Both cardiac monitors coded at the same time, the shrill sound of patients flat-lining.
It was over. They were gone.
Epilogue
Zeb fell silent and reached for the plastic cup of water on the table beside the bed. He’d talked more in the last two months than in all of the previous years of his life. He stroked his fingers down the side of her face and leaned down to kiss Willa’s forehead. She’d been in a coma for two months. Every day he came and sat with her, talked to her, tried to find some sign that she could hear him, that she was in there, somewhere.
He’d told her everything he could remember about his life, and her part in it. How he’d come back and how she’d changed him, gave him back hope and love. He told her every detail he could bring to mind, hoping it would bring her back to him.
“Hey baby, I’m here. It’s a nice day today. It’s starting to cool off a little. Pretty soon the leaves will be changing. Ronnie and Polly are taking good care of the place but Lobo, Sassy and her clan and Bobby are really missing you.
“Willa please. Can you hear me? Honey help me. Give me a sign. Squeeze my hand. Open your eyes.”
Tears ran down his face. He didn’t know what else to do. He thought back to the night they were shot. He was sure they were going to die. Fully expected it. He remembered seeing her lying on the floor, bleeding.