“
Ginny.” It was Jack’s
voice, hoarse and tired. “Are you all right?”
She stepped over Keller’s legs and hurried
to Jack’s side. Blood slicked his bare skin, and his eyes were
red-rimmed and exhausted. “I’m okay.” She propped him up with his
arm draped over her shoulders. “Ollie.”
He nodded. “I’ll make sure that’s
everyone.”
Jack’s body stiffened as he glanced around.
“Where’s Hazel?”
“
Hiding inside.” Ginny
urged him toward the house. “We’ll send --”
Shit.
She couldn’t send Hazel back to
town with Oliver, not after the way she’d almost lost control and
ravished him earlier. “We’ll send Ollie to fetch Thomas and Lottie.
Thomas can deal with Dawson’s crew, and Lottie will take care of
Hazel.”
“
That would be a good
solution.” He stopped and turned to look at Oliver. “Did you catch
that?”
“
Got it.” Oliver holstered
his revolvers. “Need anything else?”
Jack’s gaze flickered to Oliver’s arm. “How
badly you hurt?”
“
Already almost healed
up.”
“
Good. Thank
you.”
Ginny fought the urge to gnash her teeth
impatiently they made their way up the steps and to the door. She
knew Oliver would take care of the gunmen and be on his way as
quickly as possible, so she focused her attention on Jack. “Can you
manage the stairs?”
He shot her a tired but indulgent look.
“It’s my arm, Ginny. I bled a lot, but I’m not going to die. If I
hadn’t run on it, it’d already be knitting shut.”
“
You shouldn’t have.” Fear
sharpened her tone. “We were doing fine, and you could have been
killed.”
“
I had no way of knowing if
Oliver had gotten over here yet,” Jack countered. “You’re good,
Ginny, but you’re only one person.”
“
I could --” She bit her
tongue. Her arguments were naïve and silly, and all they really
boiled down to was that she didn’t want Jack in danger, no matter
what that meant for her. “Just… sit down and let me look at it, all
right?”
The soft sound of Hazel’s footsteps drifted
down the hallway, and Jack turned his head to follow the noise.
“Check on Hazel first.”
Ginny headed her off at the end of the
hallway. “Everything’s fine. Jack’s a little scratched up, that’s
all.”
Hazel still looked flushed and nervous. “I
don’t feel so good, Ginny. I feel -- not right.”
“
Hazel.” Jack’s low voice
filled the room, vibrating with the power of an alpha. Hazel’s body
went tense as he continued. “Can you get me a couple of towels from
the bathroom while Ginny checks my arm?”
The rush of magic wasn’t meant for Ginny,
but she felt it brush past her as it found its target. Hazel’s face
relaxed as the energy wrapped around her, an aura of pack and
safety tinged with the protective strength that Jack lived and
breathed. The girl’s eyes fluttered shut and she sighed as the
tight tension bled away. “Okay, Jack.”
Ginny watched her go and then closed her
eyes. “I’m sorry, Jack. I’m -- I’m bad at dealing with things like
this.”
“
Come here,
Ginny.”
She couldn’t let him comfort her while he
was bleeding. “Jack.”
“
Ginny, please. Don’t make
me come over there and drip blood on your floor.”
She avoided his gaze, keeping hers on his
feet as she made her way back to the table. “I don’t care about the
floor.”
His uninjured arm curled around her
shoulders and tugged her against his chest. “I just need to know
you’re okay,” he whispered, his breath warm on her neck.
The rest of the world faded as she touched
him. Her hands moved gingerly at first, and then clutched at his
back. She breathed in his scent, nestled her face against his
shoulder, and tried not to cry. “I’m okay, Jack. I’m not even
hurt.”
The faintest sound of shoes on the wood
floor heralded Hazel’s arrival. “The towels are on the table,” she
whispered. “Is it okay if I go get some air?”
Jack answered before Ginny could. “Don’t go
farther than the front porch before Lottie and Thomas get here, and
if anyone else shows up, come back inside.”
“
Okay.”
When she was gone Jack’s fingers tightened
on Ginny’s lower back. “You’re not bad at dealing with things like
this.” He laughed, the sound tired enough to make her chest ache.
“I can barely manage Hazel on the best of days, and I doubt that’ll
last much longer in any case.”
“
Special circumstances.”
She pulled away and picked up a towel. “Will you sit down, already?
Let me look at you.”
He wrapped the second towel around his hips
and sat without protest. “I promise I’m going to be okay.”
Ginny bent to look, and only the fact that
he’d already stopped bleeding kept her from dissolving into tears.
“Think I need to stitch it up?” she whispered, prodding gently at
the wound. “It looks deep.”
Jack glanced at the wound and shook his
head. “No, I heal fast. I just need a bath and some sleep, really.
And some food.” He smiled at her. “And for Thomas to go get me some
clothes, since I don’t think I’m squeezing my shoulders into
anything you own.”
She kissed him, hard and fast, because she
had to, and rested her forehead against his. “Bath. Do you need
help, or can I go talk to Hazel?”
“
I’ll be fine. Just… figure
out how bad it is, would you? I know she’s on edge, but I can’t
tell how close.”
“
I will.” She didn’t tell
him about the scene during the standoff, just straightened and
nodded down the hall. “You know where it is.” The need to help him
nearly overwhelmed her, but she forced herself to walk toward the
front door. “Yell if you need anything.”
“
Thanks, Ginny.”
Ginny found Hazel shivering on the front
porch even in the warm early-morning sun, her arms wrapped tight
around her legs as she stared at nothing.
“
I’m sorry about earlier,”
Ginny whispered as she slid down to sit next to her. “I didn’t know
Ollie would grab you like that. I don’t think he really planned on
it.”
“
I was being stupid.”
Hazel’s voice sounded flat. “He didn’t mean anything by it. And I
know it. I
know
it.
But she wants him so much it scrambles my brains.”
“
I know.” And she did. Even
now, with Hazel’s physical well-being confirmed, the animal inside
Ginny demanded that she go in search of Jack. “That’s the hell of
it, sweetie. He probably feels the same, but we’re not
just
the wolves. And Ollie
--” She broke off and scooted closer to Hazel. “Ollie’s been hurt
inside. And I don’t know if he’ll ever get over it.”
Even scared and confused, Hazel had no
problem seeing to the heart of the matter. “You talking about
Oliver, or you?”
“
Maybe both of us,” she
admitted. “I know what it’s like to not be sure if you want to risk
it.” She had to swallow past the lump in her throat, and her voice
still sounded ragged. “It’s no secret my parents weren’t happy. My
mother never got over the War and everything she lost, but my
father… He loved her, Hazel. More than anything, he loved her. He
always said she’d get better, but she never did. And when she died,
he gave up.”
Memories assailed her, and Ginny closed her
eyes and leaned back against the house, folding her hands in her
lap to hide their shaking. “I don’t know what I’m more afraid of,
really. Loving someone as much as he loved her, or -- or
disappointing someone as much as Mom did him.”
Hazel leaned into her side. “It was the War,
Gin. It fucked everyone up. Things may be harder now than they were
before, but Thomas says they’re a lot simpler, too. And you know
what else he says?”
She drew in a calming breath and glanced at
Hazel. “No, what?”
“
That werewolves aren’t
meant to be alone, and trying to live that way is like trying to
make water run uphill.”
“
Thomas is a smart man.”
Ginny wrapped her arm around Hazel’s shoulders. “I don’t think we
were meant to be alone, either. But I think some of us
have
to be.”
“
And I think you’re full of
shit.” She could almost hear the smile in Hazel’s voice. “I still
like you, though. I just can’t ever get within twenty feet of
Oliver ever again, so you might need to help me with
that.”
“
I’ll think of
something.”
Ginny heard Jack moving around inside, his
soft footfalls climbing the stairs, and she knew he’d head straight
for the bed. The kind of healing he’d done -- and still had to do
-- required enormous reserves of energy, and he probably wouldn’t
wake up until hunger drove him from the bed.
She and Hazel sat in silence until they
heard hoof beats, and several riders appeared in the distance.
Ginny recognized Oliver and Lottie, as well as Thomas, the tall
beta who served as Jack’s second-in-command.
Hazel’s nervous energy returned, magnified a
hundredfold as the girl’s gaze fixed on Oliver. A soft whimper
escaped her throat and her fingers tightened painfully on Ginny’s
arm. “Is it supposed to feel like this?”
“
I don’t know,” she
whispered. “I’ll send him out to Dawson’s place, sweetie. He won’t
be around for long, all right?”
“
Okay.”
The newcomers were still twenty yards out
when Thomas held up his hand and said something too soft for Ginny
to hear. Lottie nodded, and Oliver tugged off his hat and glanced
toward the porch. They both pulled up their mounts and stayed
put.
Thomas approached on his
own, stopping just short of the porch. His booted feet hit the
ground with a soft
thud
and he took the porch steps two at a time.
“Ginny?” He spoke to her, but his worried gaze was fixed on Hazel.
“What’s going on?”
She stroked one hand through Hazel’s hair.
“Jack’s upstairs, and he’ll probably sleep all afternoon. Hazel?
Can you go check out my cupboards and see what I can throw in a pot
for dinner?”
“
Okay.” Hazel rose to her
feet and scurried inside without so much as a glance at Thomas, who
watched her go with a distant, worried look.
When she was gone, he transferred that calm,
measured gaze to Ginny. “Do you know how long she’s been fighting
it for?”
“
Too long.” Ginny rose and
shoved her hands in her back pockets. “Today almost broke her,
though. I’m trying to talk her past the waiting, but I don’t know
how much good it’ll do.”
“
Shit.” Thomas pulled off
his hat and ran his fingers through his short hair. “She’s young
for it, so I hadn’t really noticed how bad it had gotten.” He
hesitated, then glanced at Ginny and asked the last question she
would have expected. “What do you need us to do?”
She wanted to protest, ask him why he was
asking her, but her answer came automatically. “Take Ollie and head
out to Dawson’s spread. Make sure anyone who has ideas about making
trouble knows what happened, and tell them to come fetch their
friends’ bodies before nightfall. Lottie can stay here and help me
with Hazel. All things considered, I think it’d be smarter for you
to escort them back to town instead of Ollie.”
Thomas studied her for just a moment too
long, and she got the oddest feeling he’d been testing her. The
corner of his mouth ticked up and he nodded to her. “Can’t argue
with your logic, Ginny. You’ll look after Jack?”
Her own smile was rueful. “He’s in good
hands. I hope Ollie told you he’d need something to wear.”
“
Ah, yes.” Thomas hopped
back off the porch without bothering with the steps and moved back
to his horse to unbuckle a saddlebag. “I brought some things from
my house. They may not be a perfect fit, but they’ll
do.”
“
Thanks.” She took the bag
and waved to Oliver and Lottie, both of whom raised hands in
greeting. “Send Lottie over. Maybe, together, we can talk some kind
of sense into Hazel.”
Thomas snorted. “Good luck with that,” he
murmured as he followed her gaze. “Can’t talk sense into a werewolf
in love.”
Which meant Lottie was still skirting his
courting with careful deliberation. “I suppose you can’t. Be
careful, Thomas.”
“
Mmm. You too, Ginny.”
Thomas shot her a serious look. “Take care of the
alpha.”
“
It’s the least I can
do.”
He smiled as if he found the comment amusing
and swung back up onto his horse. “I’ll see you later.”
“
Yes, you will.” She walked
inside as he rode away.
Hazel was in the kitchen, making more noise
than progress as she banged through the cupboards without focusing
on anything long enough to even see it. “Is he gone?” she asked
without turning around.
“
Headed out with Thomas to
take care of a few things.” Ginny opened her vegetable bin and
gathered some potatoes. “Can you peel these for me? Lottie will be
in any minute now.”
“
Okay.” But she didn’t move
toward the table, just kept pacing nervously until the door finally
opened to reveal Lottie. Hazel jerked to a stop and turned. “Pick
one,” she blurted.
Charlotte Daniel hardly ever looked
nonplussed, but she blinked at Hazel. “Pick one what?”
“
One of those boys,” Hazel
replied, her tone agitated. “Just… pick one. And I’ll do it. And
this can all be done with.”
Lottie shot Ginny a confused look. “What
happened?”
She sighed. “Oliver Russell is apparently
very hot in the middle of a gunfight.”