Feral Seduction (Feral Protectors 2) (16 page)

“Maybe.”

“One step at a time.”

She offered him a slanted smile. “Sounds like an AA mantra. My dad could use a lesson in sobriety.”

“Maybe prison will help him find his way.”

“Maybe.”

Stryde glanced at the clock. “It’s time.”

“Everything’s locked up, right?”

“Yep.”

He clicked off the lamp in the living room and followed her into the lit hallway. As they entered her bedroom, he switched off the hall light. He shut and locked the door behind them.

She sat on her bed with her back to the wall. He hated to see the worn look in her eyes. He turned off the bedroom light. Tonight her nightmare would finally be over.

Chapter 16

Brandy shivered as howling wind rattled the shutters. Gusts of air curled off the desert floor to create a sandstorm. Small grains of sand blasted the window and grated on her nerves.

Stryde sat fully clothed in bed beside her. But even through the layers of clothing, she could feel his heat. She longed to curl up in his arms, but she didn’t want to disturb him. He faced the bedroom door, never taking his eyes off of it.

She’d stared at the doorknob so long that she could have sworn it moved a few times. But it was only her frayed imagination.

Her voice quivered as she asked, “What if this doesn’t work?”

Stryde reached for her hand. “It will work.”

“But what if the stalker spots the police?”

“If that happens, we’ll find another way to catch him.” Stryde sat forward. Moonlight cast shadows filled with tension across his face.

Brandy placed her palm on his back. “Thank you for being here for me.”

He could have left her at any point, but he didn’t. He kept telling her that he’d abandon her with Ryker’s pack, but so far he’d done nothing but stay by her side and protect her. He hadn’t left her alone to fend for herself.

Warmth flooded her belly. She’d have to find a way to stay with him.

Stryde sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”

“What?” As she inhaled deeply, her eyes went wide.

Stryde vaulted off the bed. “Smoke! The house is on fire. We have to get out of here.”

She leapt off the bed and raced to the door.

Stryde grabbed her hand. “Wait! If the doorknob’s hot, we can’t go out that way.”

She tapped the metal briefly, then snatched her hand back. “It’s burning.”

Stryde’s gaze darted around the room. He grabbed a wooden chair. “Move back.”

She scrambled back toward the door and covered her face. The chair whooshed through the air and shattered the window.

Smoke curled under the door and swirled around her feet. She screamed and ran toward the window.

Stryde tossed a blanket over the shards of glass poking up from the window frame. He grabbed her waist and lifted her toward the window. She grabbed the frame and hoisted herself through it.

As she fell to the ground, she rolled away from the house. Stryde landed on his feet and scrambled to help her up. He grabbed her hand and raced toward the hill overlooking the houses. As they crested the hill, Brandy spotted the crumpled body of a police officer.

Boots crunched in the rocky earth. She spun toward the sound just as the hooded stalker stepped out from behind a thick Joshua tree. He swung a thin wooden board through the air. It shattered over the back of Stryde’s head. He fell forward and landed face down on the ground.

She screamed. The masked man dropped the weapon and lunged for her. She turned and ran, but he caught the edge of her t-shirt. He yanked back, bringing her to her knees.

In the distance, she could hear the shouts of the other officers. She opened her mouth to scream, but the man fell on top of her and clamped his hand over her mouth. She stared into the deranged charcoal eyes of a killer. Every muscle in her body froze. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t scream for help.

He pulled a knife out from behind his back. “It’s time, bitch.”

She sensed movement behind the stalker. She shook her head vigorously, hoping to distract him.

“Get off her.” Stryde’s gruff voice sounded from behind the man.

The second the man removed his hand from her mouth, she screamed, “Knife.”

Stryde sidestepped the man’s swinging arm. He punched him in the ribs. The man stumbled but didn’t fall. He spun toward Stryde and lunged. Stryde yelled as the knife sliced through his shirt. Blood poured from the wound on his shoulder.

Desperate to save him, she scanned the ground, looking for a rock or other weapon. Her gaze landed on a jagged piece of the broken board. She grabbed the wood. Splinters sliced into her hand.

She ran toward the tangle of fighting bodies on the ground. Dust swirled around them. She hesitated for a second to make sure she didn’t hit Stryde. She swung the wood through the air. She buried it into one of the men. She hoped she’d hit the right one.

Stryde shoved the killer away from him. The wooden spike jutted out from the other man’s back. He stumbled toward them before falling to the ground.

He wailed, “You should be dead like my sister.”

Brandy gasped. “Ivan?”

Stunned, she took a step toward him. She yanked off his mask. “Why?”

He grabbed for her ankle, but she’d stepped far enough away to avoid him. “Your father killed her. He should know what it feels like to lose someone. Family is everything, but your father destroyed mine.”

“Did you kill your father too?”

He huffed. “That bastard kept talking about forgiveness. He wanted to turn the other cheek. He let her leave that night even though she’d broken curfew the night before. She should have been grounded. If he had disciplined her properly, she would never have been walking through that intersection. She wouldn’t have died.”

Stryde staggered toward Brandy. She wrapped an arm around his waist. He leaned against her. His pale complexion sent terror slicing through her heart. He needed a doctor immediately.

“Help,” she yelled. “Over here.”

Black smoke billowed up from her house to obscure the hill. Sirens sounded in the distance. She’d almost lost hope when the first officers appeared in the haze.

“You have to help him.”

As she walked toward the police, Ivan crawled to his feet. He lunged for her.

A shot rang out. He collapsed to his knees and then fell face down. She stepped back. His lifeless eyes gazed up at her.

An officer pulled Stryde away from her. He half-carried him down the hill and was met by men from an ambulance. She raced toward him. She wouldn’t leave his side. Not ever again.

Her uncle stepped into her path. “What the hell happened here?”

She ran past him. “I need to go with Stryde.”

Her uncle grabbed her arm. “Let them take him to the hospital. He doesn’t look good.”

Her heart lurched. To go through everything they’d been through only to lose him would destroy her.

Her uncle said, “We can follow them to the hospital in my car.”

She scurried down the hill behind him.

***

Hours later, she paced Full Moon Bay Hospital’s waiting room. The injury was so bad that they’d driven him across the mountain to the only surgery center for a hundred miles.

While they waited, her uncle had grilled her for an hour. He’d recorded every detail of the attack and subsequent shooting. Satisfied that it was a good shooting, he’d wandered off to talk to the sheriff from Joshua Village.

A nurse had brought a steaming cup of coffee which now sat cold on a small table. Brandy couldn’t drink. She couldn’t eat. She wouldn’t be able to do anything but pace until the surgeon came out to give her an update. She glanced at the clock. Four hours. They’d been in there for four hours.

She charged the nurses’ station. “What’s going on? Why hasn’t the doctor come out to give us an update yet?”

The nurse gave her a placating look. “Depending on the extent of the injury, it could take a while.”

Brandy wanted to reach across the desk and shake her. Didn’t she know that her whole life was on that operating table? Without Stryde, she’d be completely alone. She couldn’t imagine life without him and the second she could speak to him, she intended to confess her love. She loved him so much that her heart was close to bursting.

The twin doors to the restricted hallway swung open. A surgeon clad in blue scrubs walked into the room.

She raced toward him. “How is he? Is he awake? Is he alive?”

The surgeon smiled. “It took a while, but we were able to extract all the splinters from his shoulder. We had to repair most of the muscle. I’ve never seen anything like it. His flesh already seems to be healing.”

Her knees buckled with relief. The doctor caught her and gently set her into the nearest chair. “He does have a concussion, so we need to keep him overnight to monitor him. But you should be able to see him as soon as the anesthesia wears off.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Just doing my job. I’ll have the nurses take you to his room in a few minutes. Sit tight.”

She leaned forward and put her hands over her face. Unshed tears flooded her cheeks. She sobbed as the tension she’d been carrying drained from her body. Suddenly very tired, she leaned her head back against the wall.

A few minutes later, a nurse approached. “You can see him now. Come with me.”

Brandy wanted to shove her to make her walk faster. She desperately needed to make sure he was alright.

The nurse stopped in front of a room. “He needs to rest, so don’t do anything to agitate him.”

Brandy brushed past her. Stryde lay in the center of the room in a stark white hospital bed. A white bandage encircled his head. A blue gown partially covered his chest; only his bandaged shoulder was exposed.

“Hey there,” she whispered as she approached the side of the bed.

“Hey,” he murmured.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I got into a fight with a bear and lost.” He laughed once then winced.

“Shh. The doctor said you need to rest. You have a concussion and your shoulder sustained a lot of damage.”

He stared at her with his big gray eyes. “I almost lost you.”

She clasped the hand that didn’t have an IV in it. She searched for the right words to say but ended up blurting out, “I love you. I don’t ever want to lose you. I know you lost someone, so I can wait for as long as it takes until you’re ready. I just want us to have a chance.”

He squeezed her hand. “I don’t need any more time. I love you too. I want to spend every minute of the rest of my life with you.”

She choked back a sob and rushed to hug him. He groaned and she pulled back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“It’s okay. That side’s just a little tender.”

“The doctor says you’ll need to stay here at least another day.”

“I already can’t wait to get out of here.”

She smiled. “I can’t wait to spend my life with you.”

He frowned slightly. “There’s something I need to do before that can happen.”

Her heart dropped. “What?”

“I need to straighten things out with my pack.”

***

Stryde walked through a hazy scene, deep within dreamland. He stood on the sandy beach along the bank of the Silver Creek River. In the distance, an ethereal figure drifted along the river’s edge.

As the figure drew closer, he recognized Leah. Her haunting voice sighed across the wind. “You can let me go now. As long as you yearn for me, I’m bound to this world. I want to move on to the next one.”

A filament of energy connected him to her. He traced the connection with his gaze. “I don’t know if I can forgive myself for not protecting you.”

“I made the choice to leave the den. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was my time, but now it’s time for you to move on with your life.”

He hung his head. “I’ve felt so much guilt for so long, I don’t know how to let go.”

“You’re the one who’s still holding on. All you have to do is let me go.”

He stared at the gossamer thread of energy wrapped around his palm. “I don’t know if I can.”

“You’ve found another love. It’s time.”

“I don’t know if I can be a good man for her.”

Leah’s image began to fade, but he could still see the smile on her face. “You’re destined to be together.”

He stared at the thread, his only connection to the past. “I loved you so much.”

“I know.”

He pinched the thread between his thumb and forefinger. “Are you at least at peace?”

“I will be.”

He opened his fingers and released the thread. Leah smiled and floated up toward the sky. A sense of peace he hadn’t felt since her death settled over his heart. He was finally free from all the guilt and pain. He could finally move on.

Stryde jolted awake when a nurse poked at his IV. His head was still groggy from the dream, so he growled at her.

The nurse frowned. “Sir, I have to give you another shot of morphine. Please hold still.”

He hated the fuzzy feeling the medicine gave him, but he welcomed the relief from the pain. He lay still as she injected the drug.

As soon as she left, he struggled to lift his head. Where was Brandy? He needed to see her, to know that she was okay.

He spotted her slumbering figure curled up in a chair. She’d washed the streaks of soot from her beautiful face. His heart soared. She was the woman he’d been waiting for. She’d broken the spell of despair that had followed him around since losing Leah. He was more than ready to move on and spend the rest of his life with her.