Chapter 22
Boon carried another stack of chairs from the storage barn and set them down near a group of tables scattered here and there.
He even took the time to arrange them four or five at a time to each table Marauder was busy putting in place.
He’d just finished up and was heading back to the barn to grab the last stack of chairs when a commotion behind him caught his attention.
He turned in time to see several women running toward the tree line at the edge of the clearing, while yet another ran toward Destroy and Rowan’s home.
Boon took a step or two toward the individual they carried toward the rest of the people gathered to set up for the party, then stopped when he realized who the sobbing individual was. He shook his head, rolling his eyes in disbelief as he turned back toward the storage barn.
Marauder stepped out of the storage barn and hesitated for a second, taking in the chaos before him. “What’s she done now?” he asked without any emotion at all in his voice.
“Who knows? I’m sure some poor soul will be blamed for whatever it is, though,” Boon said.
“Where is she?” Rowan demanded as she ran from her home, her screen door slapping closed as she rushed to the downed woman’s side. “Oh, my gods, Saige, there’s so much blood! And your face is cut! What happened?”
Saige sobbed even harder, screaming woefully between the sobs. “She attacked me,” Saige said brokenly, even managing to make her body tremble rather convincingly. “She shot me! All I did was try to befriend her! I welcomed her to Whispers and she shot me!”
Boon changed direction immediately, rushing to where Saige lay on the ground doing her best to give the impression that she was truly injured.
Saige looked up at Boon, tears streaming down her face. “Boon, Boon, help me!”
“What have you done to my mate?!” he bellowed.
“Nothing! I only went to befriend her, she attacked me! She tried to kill me!”
“Boon! Do you not see the blood pouring from her wounds?!” Rowan asked defensively.
“I see wounds. I see blood. There is nothing pouring. And I repeat my question, what did you do to my mate to make her defend herself?”
“She attacked me unprovoked! She has to be driven out of Whispers! We aren’t safe with her here!
” Saige cried, looking to those around her for support.
“She’s a horrid, vile, murderous human the same as those we established Whispers to be safe from!
And you brought her here! You invited this violence into our midst.”
Boon stood over Saige lying on her side where she’d collapsed on the ground, looking down at her injuries and realized Angelle had actually taken the time to use practice bolts rather than the hunting bolts he’d originally had his cross bow loaded with.
“You’re only alive because my female chose to leave you alive.
The bolts I had loaded into that weapon are meant to kill.
She changed them to practice bolts before she took aim at you.
I would not have! I don’t know what you did, but I will find out.
And just so that you and all here understand me, if you approach my mate, me or our home again, I will kill you with my bare hands.
The only person that should be banned from Whispers, is you.
You are the most cold, most calculating, most uncaring, most self-serving individual I’ve ever known.
You pose more danger to all of us than anyone else in existence. ”
“He’s right,” Marauder said.
Rowan had been watching Boon, listening to his claims as she tried to tend to Saige’s injuries.
Her gaze shot to her son, then back to Boon.
She opened her mouth to defend her daughter, but couldn’t as she realized that unfortunately, he was probably right.
Saige never did anything simply for kindness, there was always something she hoped to gain from it and if anyone ever accepted her kindness, they always paid a price later.
Closing her eyes and trying to roll Saige further onto her side so she could get a better look at the bolt lodged in her backside, Rowan tried to shove her own doubts about how her daughter ended up like this down deep so that she could take care of her.
Rowan was unaware that she’d begun to shake her own head slowly back and forth disbelievingly.
“Stop shaking your head!” Saige shrieked at her mother. “This isn’t my fault! What type of jealous, bitter female tries to kill someone who tries to befriend her? A murderous one! That’s who!”
“Jealous? Bitter? Saige, Angelle is anything but that. What did you do?”
“What is going on here?” Lily demanded as she misted into place just behind Rowan.
“You’d better pray my female is safe and unharmed. If a tear has fallen as a result of your evilness, I will return and you will die,” Boon threatened.
“You threaten me, rather than comfort me?! What kind of mate are you?” Saige sobbed.
“Not yours,” Marauder said.
“You’re supposed to be my brother!” Saige screamed at Marauder.
Marauder shook his head dismissively. “No, not anymore.” He looked over at Boon. “Don’t include me in with her.”
“Boon, please, I have no doubt who instigated this, but she’s my daughter,” Rowan pleaded.
“If Angelle is harmed, there will be no pass given.” He glared down at Saige.
“You will answer for your actions. No one will be able to stop me,” he threatened as he backed away from them with a snarl in his throat, running the first few steps before he tore his shirt off, his wings extending and taking him into the air to get him home as quickly as he could possibly go.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Rowan said to Saige.
“I did nothing but offer friendship!” Saige screeched. “She did this! She tried to kill me!”
“Boon already pointed out that she took the time to change out the bolts in his weapon so that you wouldn’t be killed.
That alone shows that she didn’t want you to die.
This was you, you caused this. When you left here, you went to confront Boon’s mate and she obviously felt threatened. Why? Why would you do such a thing?”
“Get away from me! Someone please help me! Please, someone who actually cares, help me!”
Rowan stood up and took a few steps away from her daughter. “Gods help you, Saige. You’ve gone too far this time.”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You stupid, stupid woman! He’s mine!
He’s always been mine! And this whole thing is your fault!
If you didn’t choose to live in the middle of a dirty, filthy swamp, I might have actually had a chance at a decent life!
I hate it here! I hate you! I hate everything about this place!
There’s nothing here! Nothing! And I hate that horrible human in Boon’s house!
It’s my house! If I have to live in this hell hole, it should be my house whenever I want it to be my house!
” Saige threw her head back and screamed bloody murder, pure rage pouring out of her as she let her body collapse flat on the ground in the middle of her tantrum.
Her body arched off the ground as she screamed, the bolt lodged in her back side stabbing further into her as it got pinned between the ground and her body.
She looked around for any understanding face and found Lily watching her quietly.
“Lily! Please, Lily, make the pain go away! Save me!”
Lily shook her head. “You’re not dying. And you deserve the pain at the very least. I’m not making the pain stop. You’ve crossed a line, Saige. I want nothing more to do with you.” Lily’s mists began to gather as she prepared to mist away.
“Wait! Lily, please!” Rowan cried. “I know! I know, I do. But she’s my child!”
Lily met Rowan’s gaze and took pity on the woman. “I’ll send Aubreigne, but I won’t lift a finger to help her. You know as well as, I Saige caused this. What must she have threatened to push Angelle to protect herself?”
Rowan nodded. “I’m sorry,” she said through tears.
“Aubreigne will come.” Lily looked around the clearing already partially set with the tables and decorations for the party. “The party is off.” She gathered her mists and disappeared from sight.
~~~
Angelle stood at her kitchen island, very calmly eating the slices of another tomato.
She’d put a little dab of mayonnaise on a plate and heavily salted and peppered it so that when she dredged the slices of tomato through it, the salt and pepper would attach to the slice she was eating.
A glass of water sat beside her plate, and her cross bow, once again loaded and cocked, sat beside her plate on the kitchen island.
She leaned her hips against the kitchen island, as she took her time relaxedly snacking, giving the impression that she wasn’t the least bit on edge.
But contrary to the initial impression she gave, her eyes never stopped sweeping the windows.
She’d made a brief tour of the house, ensuring that every window and door was locked.
She’d even taken a large walking stick she’d found in the corner of Boon’s man cave and leaned it against the back door so that if it opened unexpectedly, the stick would fall and let her know someone had entered.
There wasn’t a sound in the house, though, as she stood there silently, snacking on her tomato.
If anything at all moved or shifted she’d have heard it anyway, and she’d have armed herself with the cross bow.
She thought of the sight of Saige holding her ass as blood seeped through her fingers as she hobbled away, and snickered a little once more.
Then her eyes jerked back to the door. A loud noise — something heavy, without a doubt — had just landed on her porch, just outside the front door.
Angelle licked the juice of the tomato slice she’d just eaten off her fingers while with her other hand she reached for the cross bow.
She wiped her fingers dry as she shouldered the cross bow, then brought her other hand up beneath the bow to take aim at the door.