Authors: Judy Teel
As it was, all I'd accomplished was to piss him off. Worse, now he had something to prove.
I pulled up the left leg of my jeans and went for my second knife that was strapped to my calf. Before I could get to it, Deg sent Wolf's Blood clattering against the border of stones and charged at me.
I sprinted for the discarded weapon, my need to reach it before Deg caught me grinding against the need to keep my speed at human levels. I dodged when he made a swipe at me and ditched that idea. Life before subterfuge. I dove for the knife.
Deg slammed into me from behind, tackling me to the ground as his fist smashed into my right forearm. A crunching crack of sound rang through my head as the bones broke, and Wolf's Blood dropped from my grip. I went down, the furious Were on top of me, his fists pounding into my body like jack hammers.
A storm of torment erupted from every strike and the instinct to shift gripped me, pushing against my will as darkness edged my vision. The beast in me churned and heaved, wanting life, wanting to kill, but I fought it down as my ribs snapped, followed by the bone of my upper left arm as I attempted to protect my head from the blows. My thoughts fragmented as the world blurred, and the rage of the monster I was swelled.
Then something heavy hit us, taking Deg with it and dragging me for a few feet before the tangle of our arms and legs gave out and I was dumped into the dirt. I lay on my back, struggling to find my next breath. Everything around me, even my pain, faded as shock spread through my battered body. My gaze focused on the white clouds drifting across the deep blue of the sky above me. I wondered if they would be the last thing I'd see in this world.
As the blackness sneaking up on me closed in, I was vaguely aware of Noah sprinting toward me across the practice ring and Cooper lifting Deg over his head before launching him toward the onlookers.
Someone strong carried me, and they weren't doing a very good job of it. I knew this even from the bottom of the thick blackness wrapped around me because someone groaned every time I was jostled. Whoever it was sounded hurt. I sympathized.
When I came to again, I was lying on a cot and Cooper gripped my left arm, one hand near my shoulder and the other near my elbow. His silver-green gaze hooked into mine and if I'd had the strength, I'd have been surprised by the anguish reflected there.
Then he glanced away and his muscles flexed as he made a quick, jerking motion. The broken ends of the humerus of my left arm ground together and the darkness rushed over me like a waterfall. Far away, that same person from before screamed.
*
*
*
The smell of something meaty and vegatable-y wound its way into my awareness and my mouth filled with saliva. That was weird. I didn't cook. Neither could my cat Wizard. Something wasn't right.
Maybe I was dead.
I drifted back into the velvety blackness, happy to leave the string of confusing thoughts behind me. A moment later, the lovely smell of food called to me again. My stomach rumbled, pulling me awake with a sharp tug. Sounds drifted around me — birds, the distant bellow of a cow, which didn't make any sense. I shook my head, fighting my way back to consciousness.
"She's awake," a beautiful, rumbling voice said above me.
"Cooper." I sighed.
His warm hand touched my face and I turned into his palm, savoring the rough texture of it. "Did I oversleep again?"
"You're in the infirmary, behind the kitchen."
Oh, yeah. Fight with the nasty Were. Lots of pain. Only I didn't feel too bad now. Dr. Barrett must be really good at his job.
Kissing the tip of Cooper's thumb, I cracked open one eye and looked up at him. "It was nice of you to teach Deg to fly."
The worry on his face relaxed and a slow smile caught his pretty mouth, lifting up one corner in the way that I loved. Cooper glanced over at someone I couldn't see. "She's back."
"Miraculously." Dr. Barrett came into my field of vision and leaned over me, prying open one eyelid and then the other. "Still no sign of concussion. Another miracle."
"Good to see Cooper looking all better," I said, trying to smile past the stiff muscles of my face.
"As are you." Dr. Barrett gazed down at me, concern and that worrisome speculation back in his soft blue eyes. "You've been unconscious for almost thirty hours. In that time, I estimate that you've lost ten percent of your body mass. Which, if you were a Were, would explain why your cracked collarbone has completely healed, the bruises that covered eighty percent of your body are gone, your ribs will be as strong as ever by tonight, and why I suspect I'll be taking the casts off of your arms tomorrow afternoon."
His brow furrowed over the bridge of his nose and he stared first at me and then at Cooper. "If you have an explanation, I'd love to hear it."
Cooper shrugged. "You saw the scan."
"Yes. All four of them and I still don't believe it."
I gave him my best wide-eyed innocent look and he made a displeased noise at the back of his throat. "Small amounts of broth at first, Mr. Daine. And then sleep. She must build back the strength that she's lost healing."
As Dr. Barrett ambled down the row between the beds lining each wall, Cooper helped me into a sitting position. "He's not going to let this go any time soon," he said, tucking a towel under my chin. He picked up a wooden bowl from the side table. "We call him Dr. Pitbull behind his back."
Handing me a spoon, he held out the bowl of soup. I loved that he knew how much I hated feeling helpless, with a close second of having to be fed like an invalid. He even refrained from interfering while I mastered getting the broth into my mouth with both arms in casts.
"You shouldn't have accepted Deg's challenge," Cooper said when I was about halfway through filling my empty stomach with the warm, salty soup. "As a human, you wouldn't have suffered for backing down."
"Sure I would have. I already was."
His nostrils flared. "Who?"
I ignored the question and slurped up one more spoonful before calling it a day. Didn't want any of that delicious goodness deciding to vacate the premise prematurely.
I snuggled back down under the covers while Cooper took care of the nearly empty bowl and my spoon. He turned back, his expression pensive. "Dr. Barrett didn't mention that he ruptured your spleen too. You should be dead."
I pulled the towel out of the neckband of the sweatshirt someone had put on me and handed it to him. "Stillman once told me that I'd be hunted down and killed if I anyone knew what I was. By keeping my secret, all everyone has is curiosity and guesses. Much better odds of survival."
I considered bringing up the little issue of his near-royal status to change the subject, but decided I really didn't care about that anymore. Bone Clan could call him Chief Toilet Cleaner or King of the World and he'd still be Cooper. My Cooper. The thought made me smile. I closed my eyes, my body feeling warm and heavy. The bones in my arms tingled around the breaks like they were vibrating.
I heard Cooper blow out a long breath. The bed sagged as he leaned down, his scent of warm meadows drifting around me just before his lips touched my forehead.
"We're not done," he said in a low voice. "There are things you need to know."
"That's nice," I slurred as I drifted away.
When I woke up again, it was dark outside and Cooper was gone. The small light on the bedside table was on along with a bowl of what looked to be chicken noodle soup with plenty of meat and vegetables in it and a glass of frothy milk. The milk was still cold and the soup was steaming. Someone dropping it off must have been what woke me.
I scooted up into a sitting position, only feeling a twinge of discomfort when I put my weight on my arms. Definitely progress. I picked up the bowl of soup and noticed the leather-covered book it had been sitting on.
Where History and Myth Collide
. Looked like Dr. Barrett was up to his old tricks again. Which reminded me, as soon as I could, I needed to find out if Miller had done anything about the message I'd left him. Next time Cooper came by, I'd mention it to him.
Finishing my soup, I settled back with the book, sipping milk as I flipped through the pages.
Chapter Eight: The Ghost Clan — Legendary Interdimensional Walkers
A chill rippled over me. Dr. Barrett knew.
*
*
*
But by the time Cooper came to visit me after breakfast the next morning, I was restless and tense from all the worrying I'd done over being outed. The walls of the infirmary were starting to close in around me and I felt like an idiot for thinking Dr. Barrett knew about my secret. I'd been careful and there was no real proof. I was done here.
"I'm breaking out," I told Cooper as I pulled on the clean pair of jeans someone had put in the drawer of my bedside table and zipped them up.
He propped his hips against Dr. Barrett's desk, which stood against the wall a few feet from my bed. "We're going to have a hard time explaining how you're up and moving around."
"I'm young and healthy. End of story." I pulled my boots out from under the bed and started getting them on. "Speaking of stories, didn't you mention yesterday that you had something to tell me?"
I felt, or maybe heard, his heartbeat accelerate. Pushing away from the desk, he shoved the underside of his wrist in front of me. Carved into it was a white scar that looked like an equal sign with two crescent moons on either end facing outward. Whatever had caused that hadn't been an accident.
I stopped in the middle of lacing up my boot as a chill threaded through my stomach. "Weres don't scar."
He knelt down, bringing his face level with mine. Misery sat heavily in the depths of his eyes.
"Cooper?" I said, suddenly afraid. "What's happened?"
Gathering my hands into his, he kissed the tops of my knuckles, his gaze locked on mine. "I thought I'd lost you forever," he said, his voice catching on the words. "I never want to feel that again."
I swallowed back tears as the shock I'd pushed away when our bond was broken welled up, demanding to be heard. "We won't. Not ever."
"Ryker's sick." He bowed his head over my hands, the grief and guilt that churned inside him pressing against my heart. "I didn't have a choice. I'm so sorry."
Apprehension tightened across my shoulders. I slipped my hands out from under his. Framing his face between my palms, I eased his chin up until our eyes met. "Tell me," I said, though a part of me never wanted to hear his answer.
"I'm
Aesei Siian."
My heart stuttered. "The one who dies for all?" The urge to run and never stop gripped me. "What does that mean to us?"
"When Ryker...dies, I'll take his place as Alpha until his daughter comes of age."
"His... You have a niece," I stated, pulling my hands away.
"Come to the nursery with me. After that, I can tell you the rest."
*
*
*
Behind the garden and the grove of fruit trees bordering it was a stone wall camouflaged by a thick growth of raspberry vines. Beyond the narrow door hidden where the vines were the thickest, was another, even higher wall. Cooper had held up his scarred wrist to the camera mounted above the door. After a moment, the locks had disengaged and we pushed through.
In front of us loomed a small fortress built against the mountain. Armed guards were posted at regular intervals along the top.
When Cooper showed the two Weres at the entrance his wrist, they'd unlocked the small reinforced door and we'd ducked inside. To the left of the low-ceilinged room we stepped into was what looked like a heavy vault door, probably the armory. To the right, a spartan but comfortable break room and quarters, probably for the guards. In front of us, an ordinary looking green door with flowers and fluffy woodland animals painted on it.
In 2019 when I was five, my foster mother at the time used to plop me down in front of the TV to keep me quiet while she made dinner.
The Twilight Zone
was on every day at six. I was pretty sure that's where I was.
I wrestled my hand out of Cooper's grip as the guard shut the main door behind us. "What the hell kind of place is this?" I whispered.
He stepped around me and opened the cartoon door. "Please," he gestured for me to go in, "the temperature has to be maintained at a constant level."
I pushed past him and stalked into a cozy foyer. Primary colored polka dots flowed across the wall like so many soap bubbles. A large potted plant sat in one corner.
Cooper closed the door behind him and crossed for the open archway ahead of us. I could feel his deepening sadness and I dreaded what lay ahead. I had a terrible feeling that Cooper had been made to choose and that I was about to see why I was the loser.
Reluctantly, I trailed behind him as we tramped down a long hall, the wall on our right decorated with crayon drawings and finger paintings, and on the left an industrial level steel door every twelve feet or so.
"Every ten acolytes that vampires attempt to turn, results in three to four new vampires with life expectancies of infinity if they're careful," Cooper said as we walked. "Only four out of ten of those born to a Were couple live to see their second birthday. One out of that four will make it to adulthood, sometimes two." He stopped at one of the intimidating doors and looked down at me. "Children are very precious to us. All children."
As he pushed down on the latch, I swallowed, remembering the wolf that had defended me against a vamp during the early part of the war.