Once again, the three Shifters found themselves in a triangulated stand-off, tensed for the next attack, an attack I couldnʼt let happen. There would be no winners in this fight. No matter what happened, someone I loved was going to end up hurt.
I didnʼt really have a plan other than stop them. Maybe I would have tried to reason with them. Or maybe I would have yelled and raged. I might have even smacked them all upside the head for being such chauvinistic morons. Instead, I collapsed onto my knees after attempting a single step. A pain, white hot and searing, tore through my stomach, robbing my lungs of oxygen and distorting the world in front of my eyes. The bottom half of my shirt was shredded, strips of cotton glued to my body with a disturbing amount of thick, warm blood.
“Jase.” My voice was choked, full of astonishment, hurt, and fear. I slowly raised my head to meet the gaze of the three Shifters, each forgetting the others as their attentions focused on me. “Oh God, Jase. What did you do?”
The world spun. I heard a yelp. A whine. Then a growl vibrated through my body, spreading dread down to the marrow.
Alex lunged. Jase scampered backwards, but not quickly enough. Alex was on top of him, his massive body easily pinning the smaller animal to the ground. He bared his teeth with an angry snarl before striking at Jaseʼs throat.
Charlie was almost too late, pounding into Alexʼs side just as his teeth sank into the vulnerable skin of Jaseʼs neck. The two went rolling across the clearing from the force of the impact, clawing and snapping as they went. Charlie dug his nails into the dirt, gaining just enough traction to sling his body around, narrowly avoiding plunging over the edge of the cliff.
He flattened himself against the earth as momentum propelled the wolf over him.
The night ripped a sound from my lungs, more piercing than a scream, more anguished than a wail. It echoed off the trees and rocks, amplifying my pain as I hefted myself off the ground and raced into the darkness of the forest. I slid on loose gravel and tripped over exposed roots as I made my way down through the trees, but I kept moving. Limbs smacked against me, leaving cuts and whelps on my face and arms, but I didnʼt care. I was only vaguely aware of the searing heat in my abdomen and the hair-raising sound of howls loud enough to be heard over the roar in my ears.
I stumbled through the dark, frantically seeking the thin stretch of beach, my throat growing raw as I called his name over and over. My chest constricted when I finally saw his body, naked and human, crumbled on the ground.
“Alex!” I fell to my knees beside him, ignoring the tiny stones that bit into my skin.
His breaths were quick and shallow. A ragged shard of wood protruded just below his left shoulder.
“Scout?”
“Shhh... Iʼm here. Youʼre going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.” One of my tears landed on his cheek. I wiped it away, along with some of the blood that had spilled out of his mouth.
He tried to speak, getting out a word with every other gasp of air. “Scout, I--”
“Shhh..” I brushed my thumb across his lips. “I know. You donʼt have to talk. Itʼs okay.” I stroked his face tenderly as I spoke to him. “I love you. I love you so much.” I bent down and pressed my lips to his, but for the first time he didnʼt kiss me back.
I held onto him as the Laodicean moon leeched the warmth from his broken body. I watched his eyes fill with fear as he struggled with his final breaths and laid witness to the emptiness that followed. Even after he was gone, I couldnʼt let go. I curled my body into his, struggling to tell him how much I loved him, how much I would always love him. I bathed him in tears and blood, and when I had none left to give, I finally surrendered to the darkness.
Chapter 19
Opening my eyes seemed like an impossible task, so I didnʼt even attempt it. People spoke in hushed tones around me, but I couldnʼt distinguish one voice from another, much less individual words. Strong cleaning chemicals strained to mask the decidedly more human smells underneath.
“Scout?”
I knew that voice. It took a couple of tries, but my eyelids finally managed to pry themselves away from one another. Everything was slightly blurry and surreal. The television blended seamlessly into the cabinet that faded into the wall that was attached to the head of a middle-aged woman with curly brown hair, petite features, and sky-colored eyes.
“Mom?”
Crap, that hurt. My throat was raw and bruised, my tongue triple its normal size.
“Iʼm right here. Everything is going to be just fine.”
“Where--?” Had someone washed my tonsils with a Brillo pad? I didnʼt know it was possible for a throat to hurt so much.
“Youʼre in the hospital. There was an accident.”