Protector (Copper Mesa Eagles Book 3) (16 page)

“No,” Ellie said, opening her eyes a crack. “Why do you want him so bad?”

Pierce looked at her in disbelief.

“He can turn into an
eagle
,” he said.

“I know,” Ellie answered.

“Can you
imagine
what someone could do with that?” he said, his voice still astonished. “You could
fly
, you could get from place to place so easily. You could spy on your enemies, you could spy on your friends, you could spy on
anyone
. Think of the places you could break into if you could
fly.
”

He pursed his lips and exhaled, looking dreamy.

“And that’s just the birds,” he went on. “If I unlocked the key to shifting? Changing from one life form into another?”

He shook his head.

“Ellie,” he said softly. “Anyone who can figure out how your boyfriend and his brothers do what they do could be a
god.
Imagine the things I could do, the
power
I could wield.”

“What do you want that you don’t have already?” she asked.

Very, very slowly, she moved her right hand to clutch the door handle. Pierce didn’t seem to notice.

“I want to turn into an eagle,” he said. “I thought I just made that clear.”

Ellie took a deep breath as Pierce accelerated, neatly dodging a large rock in the middle of the road. The move sent them within inches of the edge, and she could feel the blood draining from her face.

“So you killed his parents?” she asked.

Pierce squealed around a turn, rear tires sliding out.

“Whoops,” he said.
 

Ellie could feel her breakfast beginning to rebel.

Do not throw up
, she thought.
Absolutely do not.

Unless you think it’ll help somehow. Then, barf everywhere.

“That was an honest mistake,” he said. “I just wanted video evidence that she
could
shift. That idiot’s the one who took things too far.”

“Wait,” Ellie said.

They went around an inner curve, her window within inches of the rock wall, and she gasped.

“You didn’t mean to kill them?” she said, her eyes shut again.

“Not at
all
,” Pierce said. “I almost killed that idiot, but I was afraid something would come to light, so I paid him off. For a long, long time I thought I’d lost my chance. At least until Seth fell off a cliff and shifted.”

They swung around another curve, Ellie’s heart in her throat. Even though she wasn’t watching the road half the time, she could tell they were coming up on the spot where the Monsons had gone off the road.

From this side of the road, the curve didn’t look nearly as sharp as Ellie knew it was.

He’s going too fast
, she realized.
He’ll take that curve too fast, and he’ll never slow down in time
.

She had an idea.

The next curve, Ellie put a hand over her mouth and pretended to retch, her eyes going wide.

“Oh God,” she moaned. “You’ve
gotta
slow down...”

“It’ll be over sooner this way,” he said.

She did it again, this time heaving her shoulders and making the worst cat-with-a-hairball sound she could manage, though truth be told, it wasn’t much of a stretch.

“Do you have a barf bag or something?” she whispered.

Without waiting for an answer, she opened the glove compartment.

“Don’t open that,” Pierce said, annoyed. He took his eyes off the road for a split second to bat it closed, hitting her hands in the process.

“Ow!” she exclaimed, but his eyes were on the road again, so she just groaned theatrically.

“Get out of there,” he said, his teeth clenched, his knuckles white.

Ellie’s side of the car scraped the rock wall next to her, and she yelped, jumping away from the window.

“You’re going to kill us both,” she said.

“Don’t be stupid,” he said.

Ellie scrabbled through the glove compartment again, Pierce glaring at her.

“Stop,” he said.

“I am
not
going to barf all over myself,” she said. “You’ve already got me, can I have some dignity?”
 

She glanced through the windshield. The curve was coming up, and she felt every muscle in her body
tense
.

At last, she found something long and skinny in the glove compartment.

Hope it’s a pencil,
she thought.

Then, Pierce
laughed
and pointed one finger at the sky.

“Here he is,” he said.

Barreling toward the windshield at top speed was an eagle, fury written on every feather.

Pierce didn’t slow down. Neither did Garrett.

Pierce rounded an inner curve, then hit the short straight stretch and gunned the accelerator.

Garrett was still coming, still in his dive.

I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing but this is it,
Ellie thought, and braced herself.

She whipped the pencil out of the glove box and jammed it into Pierce’s thigh,
screaming
like a banshee.

Pierce
roared
and grabbed at her wrist, but Ellie jerked it out of his grasp, undid her seatbelt, and opened her car door.

Below, gravel and dirt zoomed by, and she heard an inhuman scream.

“SHIT!” she heard Pierce shout.

Ellie closed her eyes and jumped out of the car.

Chapter Nineteen

Garrett

High above the Piñon Gulch road, he circled, the black car below winding in and out of the sharp curves.
 

Almost
, Garrett thought.
Almost there.

The car zoomed around an inside curve, then sped up, heading toward
the
hairpin turn. The one that had claimed Garrett’s parents.

Just get him to stop
, Garrett thought.
Get Pierce to stop the car and figure it out from there.

He dove.

The wind whistled through his feathers and he picked up speed, going faster and faster, almost like he was cutting through the air.

This is incredible
, he thought.

The car loomed closer and closer. Garrett could see Pierce, and then he could see Ellie, and then everything happened at once: a roar, a scream, a crunch, and he had to pull out of the dive so hard he scraped one wing against the canyon wall as everything went silent, wobbling in the air before he straightened out and saw what had happened.

Garrett felt like it was in slow motion.

On the left, a black car, tail lights bright red, careening off the road, its passenger door hanging open like a broken arm.

On the right, a small human figure with long black hair rolling toward the edge of the cliff.

He didn’t think, he just
acted
, diving again for the figure on the right. Garrett closed his talons around Ellie’s upper arm and then pulled up with all his might, his enormous wings beating at the air for everything he was worth, and for one second, he thought he was going to go over the edge with her.

Then she stopped, one leg hanging over the edge, her arm hanging limply in his talons.

Ellie’s eyes were closed, but she was on the road. She wasn’t falling.

Garrett shifted. He forgot to land first and fell three feet onto his hands and knees, knocking the wind out of himself.

“Ellie,” he gasped, crawling toward her. “
Ellie.
”

She had a pulse. She was breathing. Garrett nearly went limp with relief and knelt over her, touching her forehead with his.

Thank you
, he thought.

He didn’t know who he was thanking, but it didn’t matter.

She coughed.

“Fuck,” she gasped.

“Ellie,” Garrett said.

“
Ow
,” Ellie said, her eyes going wide.

“You’re okay,” Garrett told her. “You’re fine. You made it.”

“I think my arm’s broken,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
 

Then she gasped.

“Maybe both of them.”

Garrett touched her face gently, then stood.

“I’m gonna go get help,” he said. “I’ll be right back, I promise. Don’t go anywhere.”

“Not funny,” Ellie whispered.

* * *

Walking down the hallway of Blanding General Hospital, Garrett had to admit it was
nice
.

At least Boudreaux’s money bought some good things, too
, he thought.
I bet he inadvertently saved some lives.

He passed a few nurses and smiled. They both looked at the bouquet he was holding and then up at him.

“She’s running out of room in there,” one said.

“I’ll figure something out,” Garrett said.

They both laughed.

“Seriously?” Ellie said, laughing, when she saw him. “Garrett, you made your point three bouquets ago.”

He bent to kiss her cheek.

“I’ll give you flowers if I want to,” he said.

On the other side of the hospital bed, a man cleared his throat.

“Garrett, this is my family,” Ellie said, pointing with one hand, IVs still sticking out the back of it. “My mom, my dad, my brother Cody. Guys, this is my, uh...”

Ellie’s voice trailed off.

“This is Garrett,” she finished.

“Nice to meet you,” Garrett said, shaking their hands over the bed.

“We’ve heard
all
about you,” her mother said, and Ellie made a face.

“Weren’t you guys just saying you were hungry or something?” Ellie asked her parents and brother.

“I don’t think so,” her father said.

“We’ll go stretch our legs for a bit,” her mother said, standing.

She and Ellie’s father looked at each other for a moment. Then her father and brother both stood.

“Be back in a few, sweetie!” her mother said brightly, leading the two men out the door.

Garrett pulled a chair up next to Ellie and sat down.

“Any news in the last three hours?” he asked, brushing his fingers over her hair.

“They want me one more night, just to make sure the concussion is healing okay. But tomorrow, I’m out,” she said with a smile.

“It’ll be good to get home,” he said.

“Well...” Ellie said, and looked at Garrett. “I’m not supposed to make a six-hour car ride for another week or so, with these.”

She held her arms a few inches off the bed: one was in a full-length cast, and one was in a forearm cast.

“If it suits you, I know a place right outside of Blanding,” Garrett said. “Up in the mountains. It’s got a hot tub, too.”

“As long as it’s got somewhere my mom can sleep, too,” Ellie said.

“She can take the bed, I’ll take the couch,” Garrett offered.

“Sorry that’s not terribly romantic,” Ellie said.

Garrett grinned.

“She can’t watch us all the time,” Garrett said.

Ellie glanced at her casts dolefully.

“And as long as I can get my face between your thighs, we can get up to no good,” he whispered into her ear.

Ellie went
bright
red, and Garrett laughed, pulling his head back.

“By the way,” he said, reaching into his pocket. “I brought you something else.”

He held a check in front of her for $75,000.
 

Ellie opened her mouth, but Garrett shushed her.

“Ninety-six hours of overtime, plus expenses, plus medical, plus two weeks convalescence, and Ellie, I do not want to
hear
you protest.”

“Garrett—”
 

“What did I
just
say?” he teased. Then he let his face go serious. “You’re not working right now, and I know hospital bills aren’t cheap. Just take it, Ellie.”

She frowned at the check.

“I’ll take that as acceptance,” he said, then reached behind him and took a single rose from a bouquet.

“Now,” he said, handing it to her. “When can I take you to dinner?”

Ellie laughed.

Epilogue

Ellie

“Seriously, you two, go sit down. I’ve got this,” Seth said.

“I’M AN AIRPLANE!” squealed Violet, arms spread, as she ran full tilt toward Garrett, her ruffled blue dress flouncing.

“And I’m an AIRPLANE MONSTER!” Garrett growled, catching the three-year-old and heaving her over his shoulder until she screamed with delight.

He grinned and winked at Jules and Ellie.

I think I just spontaneously ovulated
, Ellie thought.

Behind Seth and Garrett, wearing matching suits, their youngest brother Zach just looked nervous.

“C’mon,” whispered Jules. “You heard the man.”

She and Ellie left the dressing room and sat in the
reserved for groom’s family
section.

“She’s gonna sleep
great
tonight, at least,” Jules said. “She hasn’t talked about anything besides how she’s gonna be Uncle Zach’s and Aunt Katrina’s flower girl for a month.”

“It’s ridiculously cute,” Ellie said. “I hope someone still pays attention to poor Katrina.”

Jules laughed.

“I don’t think Katrina minds,” she said. “I think she’s a little tired of having all the attention on her, anyway.”

Before Ellie could say anything, music started playing through the speakers, and a hush fell over the crowd. A few last people hurried into their seats.

They waited.

Then, finally, a small red-haired girl emerged from a door at the far end of the room, beaming.

“C’mon, kiddo,” Jules whispered to herself.

Looking perfectly angelic, Violet walked down the aisle tossing flower petals as the guests cooed and snapped her picture. When she got to the front, she turned around and stood, hands folded over the handle of her basket.

Jules gave her a subtle thumbs up.

“I never know with her,” she whispered to Ellie.

Next down the aisle was Seth, Katrina’s sister on his arm, followed by Garrett escorting Katrina’s best friend. When they got to the front and stood to the side, Violet sidled over to Garrett and whispered something.

He crouched down, very slightly, to give her a high five.

Ellie had a
lot
of feelings just then, between Garrett looking
seriously
good in a suit, Garrett being at a wedding, and Garrett being beyond adorable with his niece.

Jules glanced over at Ellie, a smirk on her face.