Chapter 15

My throat tightened and a sob wrenched from my battered heart, waking me from the haunted fever dreams. I tried to roll over, to curl in on myself in an effort to disappear completely, but realized my hands were tied. My heart raced with fear at the thought that perhaps Nikki’s parents had gone back on their word. The chance to study an Alpha was too great to pass up.

“Jaze?”

Nikki's voice chased away the pain, the fear, and even the memories for the tiniest moment. For that instant, her nearness was my world. I clung to the familiar way she said my name as though we had been friends for years instead of weeks. I inhaled and fought to let her scent chase away the memories of blood, gasoline, and tainted smoke. Fingers touched my hair softly, afraid of hurting me. I ground my teeth to prevent the wry smile from reaching my lips. I had been so damaged both inside and out that even love at this point hurt.

“Jaze?”

I opened my eyes slowly, squinting in the light above the bed. A shadow blocked half of it from view. My eyes focused and the light faded to the background as the face took on detail. Nikki gazed down at me, her beautiful blue eyes bright with worry. A few strands of long black hair fell near her face and whispered across my chest. She looked so perfect, so absolutely perfect and pure and innocent and untouched by the cruelties of the world that I could only stare. I wondered why she dared touch me, and was afraid that the taint of the shadows I carried with me would cross over to her. My breath caught in my chest.

“Jaze, are you okay?” she asked softly, concern rising in her voice. “Are you here?”

“What do you mean?” I managed to croak out past my dry throat.

She smiled then so sweetly that it took my breath away. “You’ve been talking in your dreams, calling out to people I don’t know, to your dad.” Her voice dropped off as though she was afraid she had said too much.

I closed my eyes, then opened them again. “Hunters killed my dad just over a month ago.”

Nikki’s eyes widened and I saw my reflection in the tears that filled them. “Oh, Jaze. I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry.” She shook her head and wiped at the tears.

I wanted to touch her face, to tell her she didn’t need to cry, but my hands were still tied to the table. “It’s not your fault. You don’t have to cry for me,” I said, willing myself not to break down.

She cupped a palm to my face, her touch so soft I barely felt it. She leaned closer so that her eyes stared right into mine. She whispered, her lips an inch above mine, “You took all this pain for me. You saved my life. I owe you the world and I will cry for you.”

“Because I'm so charming?” I forced out past the knot in my throat.

She gave a soft laugh. Her tears fell onto my cheeks and she leaned down and kissed me so softly yet so full of love that I couldn’t hold in my emotions anymore.

I closed my eyes as my tears coursed down the sides of my face to linger in my hair. Nikki rested her cheek against mine and just held me while I cried, my heart and my soul so exposed and vulnerable she could have crushed me with a single word or look. I tried not to care, and hoped she would take what was left of me and destroy it. But deep down I wanted to live, I wanted to fight and stop Mason from hurting anyone else. I didn’t want Dad’s death to have been for nothing.

My sobs slowed and Nikki rose back up. She loosened the bands on my wrists and slipped them off. “My parents were afraid you’d hurt yourself further if you moved,” she explained gently. I lifted up an arm and my body shook with the effort. My wrists were red and raw from the thrashing I had done during the silver fever. I definitely would have done more damage to myself if I hadn’t been secured.

I sat up slowly, holding an arm across my stomach to ease the pain.

“I don’t think you should be moving,” Nikki said worriedly; her hands moved helplessly in the air as though she wanted to help, but didn't know how to without hurting me.

I gave her a weak smile. “It’s okay, werewolves heal quickly.” I slid slowly toward the side of the small cot, noticing for the first time that I was still in the gray-walled room that smelled of antiseptic and blood.

“Not werewolves wounded with silver,” she argued, but when she saw I wouldn’t be stopped, she ducked under one of my arms and supported me with her body.

“Where are your parents?” A shard of pain laced up my side from the knife wound and I gasped the last word. I held my stomach tightly. I could feel the stitches through the bandages that ran lengthwise across the front. It felt like my whole body was wrapped up. Too bad it wasn’t Halloween, I could have passed for a mummy.

We walked through a door, down a hallway that smelled faintly of cat, and stopped at the doorway to the living room. Nikki’s mom sat on the arm of a couch and her dad perched on the edge of an armchair, their heads close together as if they were in deep discussion. They both turned in surprise at our appearance. Meg blushed slightly and I realized they had been discussing me.

“Nikki, what are you guys doing?” she asked in alarm, rising to her feet.

I stepped into the room and Nikki helped me into the armchair opposite her dad. Her mom and dad both stared at me. “You should be resting,” Meg pressed. There was genuine concern in her voice that I didn’t want to hear.

“I need to know a couple of things,” I forced out breathlessly at the ache in my ribs from the brief journey.

Her dad rose and checked my bandages. My instincts screamed at me to get as far away from the Hunters as I could, but I forced myself to hold still. I must have been too still because he gave me a strange look I couldn’t read, but it was all I could do to keep from letting my fight or flight instincts take over.

He tut-tutted behind me in a fashion that was so doctorly and normal I could almost pretend he truly was a physician, but my instincts demanded for me to phase and tear them all apart, to end the danger to my life, my mom's, Mouse's, and those of Chet's pack. I bit my lip and allowed him to proceed with his inspection. A few moments later he stepped back and gave a nod of satisfaction. “Everything seems to be healing, slowly, but healing. I’ve never seen a werewolf survive silver shards once they’ve reached the bloodstream. They have a nasty habit of heading straight for the heart.” He glanced at his wife as if afraid he had gone too far. She pursed her lips and shook her head with a sigh. He shrugged and went back to sit by her.

Nikki settled on the couch closest to me, her eyes studying my face worriedly.

“What do you want to know?” Meg asked. At my guarded expression, her voice softened. “You deserve that much,” she said.

I breathed in to clear my throbbing head, then gritted my teeth at the answering pain. “You hunt werewolves; you’re Hunters,” I said dryly.

Meg glanced at her husband as they both nodded together. Her eyebrows rose. “You already knew that?” she asked in surprise.

A sharp pain cut through my lacerated stomach. “Nikki told me,” I forced out.

They both looked at Nikki. Her mom frowned in disapproval. “Darling.”

“Don’t darling me,” Nikki cut her off angrily. “All you care about is killing werewolves. You don’t even know I’m here half the time. Sorry for finding someone I could talk to before I exploded with the frustration of not feeling like I exist in my own home.”

Her mother’s eyebrows rose, but she replied blandly, “Another Alpha, really?”

Nikki blushed slightly. “I know, a little ironic, isn’t it?”

A smile touched her dad’s lips. He turned to me. “Fortunate.”

I stared at him. He shrugged. “If Meg won’t say it, I will. We owe you our daughter’s life. We never thought Chet would react that way.”

“Of course he reacted that way,” I replied. “You hurt a member of his pack. A pack is a family, whether they’re related or not. He responded the same way you did when a member of your family was killed.”

They both looked taken aback at my strong words. I regretted them, but they had been said. I opened my mouth to soften the blow, but Nikki’s father cut me off.

“You’re right,” he said softly. Nikki’s mom set a hand on his arm, but he shook his head. “No, Meg. He is right. Nikki is, too. Ever since Randy died, we haven’t been able to think of anything but killing werewolves. But they have lives, too, and families.”

Meg’s brow furrowed and I could tell she wanted to argue, but she pursed her lips and kept silent.

I shifted on the armchair in an effort to find a more comfortable position, but just moving hurt so I gave up. “I needed a friend as much as Nikki did. I was lucky she found me. Without her, I don’t know what I would have done.”

Nikki grabbed my hand and held it tight. Her mom frowned. “What are you talking about?” she asked, her tone more concerned than defensive now.

I held the words in limbo, feeling as if every time I said them made it more real. Finally, I sighed. “My dad was killed by Hunters.” I breathed quickly, more spent than I wanted to admit. Dark spots danced before my eyes

Meg exchanged a glance with her husband. “How long ago was that?” he asked gently.

I closed my eyes in an effort to avoid the dancing spots, but they started to flash. A ringing began softly in my ears. “February 15^th,” I said. My words slurred slightly.

Nikki’s mom let out her breath in a rush.

I swayed on the couch and it felt like the world moved in a circle around me. Nikki’s hand tightened. “Roger, catch him. He’s going to fall,” Meg said quickly.

Strong arms caught me before I hit the ground. I was lifted up as though I didn’t weigh more than a child. “You’re gonna be fine, son. Just hang in there and we’ll take care of you,” Nikki’s dad said in a calm, reassuring voice that sounded so much like my father's a sob caught in my chest. I faded to the rhythm of his footsteps down the hall.