Within seconds, the struggle ended. All Wheeler could see was a tangle of the wolf’s legs protruding from beneath the bear.
Wheeler stalked toward the shotgun and picked it up off the ground. Honor or not, that bear was about to get a bullet in the head.
He approached the limp mass of bodies and paused, hearing a low grunt. The bear’s jaw hung lax, and blood poured from an open wound on his neck. Jericho’s wolf had torn out his throat.
And now he was suffocating underneath three hundred pounds of bear.
“Jesus!” Wheeler shoved the bear as hard as he could until it flopped over on its back.
“Jericho, shift,” Wheeler said harshly. He tossed the gun aside and lifted the wolf’s muzzle. “Shift, goddammit.”
In a fluid movement, the wolf changed over to a man. Jericho lay naked on his side, still suffering nasty wounds to his body. Bite marks were on the front and back of his left shoulder, and a long gash separated the skin on his thigh. It was hard to tell how many wounds he’d sustained because he was bathed in blood.
Wheeler lifted his eyelid to see how responsive he was. “Shift!” The healing magic was effective only when you were able to shift soon after an injury, and multiple times if necessary.
Jericho groaned, shifting back into his wolf. It looked better. Good enough that Wheeler picked him up and carried him back to the car.
The carcass of the bear would remain in animal form. Wheeler’s ass was going to be toast when Austin found out what went down, but for now, he needed to focus on getting Jericho back to health.
Chapter 27
It took five days before my heat cycle finally subsided, but not without a strange set of occurrences having taken place. Two days after Jericho had left, police sirens woke me up in the middle of the night. I drew back the heavy curtains and peered out the window, observing a group of curious men surrounding a dead bear in the parking lot. I didn’t know if bears lived in Texas, but being so far in the city, it led me to believe it must have been a Shifter.
But the peculiar part was that the animal was lying on the hood of my blue car. I wanted to throw on my robe and dash outside to make sure my vehicle wasn’t damaged, but it would have been too risky in my condition. Animal control finally showed up and dragged its heavy carcass away.
I returned to work and had a candid discussion with Jake. If all he wanted me for was to keep Jericho’s band around, then I would be turning in my resignation. He sat back in his chair, patting his stomach, and laughed heartily. He confessed that in the beginning, that was his intention. But after hearing good things about me and seeing an increase in profits, there was no way in hell he was going to let me go, regardless if Jericho stuck around or not.
“Your red hair draws them in, and your personality keeps them coming back,” he said. “Maybe I should fire you for the stunt you pulled in announcing to the whole bar you’re a wolf, but you know what? No one’s complaining. In fact, we got a few new customers when rumors began circulating about our sassy waitress.”
God bless men like Jake. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be doing the waitress gig, but Howlers felt like home. Jake even gave me an advance so I could put a deposit down on an apartment.
I hadn’t spoken to Jericho since the night we polished the dresser, so perhaps he wasn’t as serious about us as he had led me to believe. I couldn’t blame him. The poor guy had been under the powerful influence of all those pheromones flying out of my pores. I’m sure it made men say things they didn’t mean. I’d returned to work a week ago; the man could have at least called.
I kept the Pink Floyd T-shirt neatly folded on my coffee table. The table Rosie had given me because she’s awesome like that. She took off work over the weekend to help me furnish my apartment with some things she didn’t want or need anymore.
The marks on my wrists were mostly gone. Mostly. I’d have a permanent scar on my left wrist. I saw Denver each night when his shift began, and we’d mended the weirdness between us. In fact, he turned out to be one of the funniest people I’d ever met. I didn’t bring up Jericho’s absence, and neither did he. I needed to stop holding on to something I could never have and just accept the man Jericho was and will always be—a man with a good heart, but not someone willing to give it to just one girl. I couldn’t hate him; I just wish he hadn’t made all those promises to me.
I was wiping down a table when I heard a little girl scream. I stood up, eyes alert, and saw little Maizy bounding through the room with a smile on her face. Denver came around and lifted her up, setting her on the bar. He pinched her nose and she giggled, fishing her hand in a bowl of pretzels.