Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-three
Parker
Billings and Turney have been watching me for years.
Billings has even tried to take me down on his own on a few different occasions.
I've only been alone for one of those attempts and I'm lucky he didn't have anyone with him to help him or I would have been fucked.
Literally. Only one male has successfully come close to taking what Billings is after, and Drew turned him inside out. Literally.
If I could shift, I'd be alright. I can take both of these assholes.
It wouldn't be pretty, but I'd walk away from it on four paws and my head held high.
Without shifting… I'm in a lot of trouble.
They're still going to have to take it if they want it.
I'm not laying down for anybody but Drew and they know that.
I roll my shoulders and pop my neck. "Ready whenever you are."
Billings takes a step toward me, but a low growl comes from behind me, and he stills.
The growl becomes louder, more threatening, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up.
From the corner of my eye, a dark brown wolf steps lightly from the darkness of the thick trees and comes forward, her body wound tight and aggressive as she places herself between Billings and me.
Her fur brushes against me as she paces, and I catch her scent on her second pass.
Genie.
What the fuck is she doing here? To protect me?
Surely not. She's supposed to be watching a movie right about now.
But one look at her tells me that's exactly why she's here.
I'm not stupid enough to turn down help when I need it so desperately.
"Well, boys, it looks like it won't be as easy as you thought.
" I take a chance and reach down to stroke the tip of Genie's ear, praying she won't change her mind about helping me and rip my fucking hand off.
She doesn't snap at me, but she doesn't acknowledge me, either. That's fine. This isn't the time for a friendly cuddle.
Turney lunges then, and the fight is on.
She doesn't let either of them get within sniffing distance of me.
She takes several terrible bites, one especially bad one on her left flank, but everyone always underestimates a protective female.
Billings and Turney never stood a chance.
Sure, they would have eventually worn her down, but not before she really fucked them up.
They made the intelligent choice to back down and leave after she ripped Billings's right ear right off of his head.
It was beautiful, and right now I'm fighting every instinct within me to stop myself from running my hands over her to check her injuries and show my appreciation.
I can't do that, though. She wouldn't appreciate it at all.
Not after everything that's happened to her because of me.
Still, I can't do nothing. "Thank you for helping me, Genie. You didn't have to do that, but you did. I owe you."
She blinks at me and looks back toward the Recovery buildings.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going back. I tried to go to my room but I was ambushed in the hallway.” Stress, shock, hell, a lot of things tighten my throat all at once as I look into her eyes and tell her what happened to me.
It's overwhelming and I reach up to pull at the collar.
I tried to get it off earlier when I realized how closely I was being followed, but the clasp is different than before and I need help getting it off. “I can't breathe with this thing on."
She blinks again.
"Okay. I'm going." I start back through the woods and get the shock of a lifetime when she steps in front of me to lead the way.
She's limping badly on the side of that awful flank injury, and a little whine escapes every few steps.
She doesn't falter, though. She looks back every so often to make sure I'm following closely enough until we get to the dorm building where Cross is pacing back and forth in front of the main door as he glares into the surrounding forest.
For the life of me, all I want to tell him is how amazing Genie was when she was protecting me from Billings and Turney.
I want to tell him that she walked me all the way back here to make sure I'm safe when this is probably the last place she wants to be.
But I don't get the chance. He rushes right past her and pulls me to his chest. He doesn't even look at her, and even I feel the blow.
"I've been so fucking worried, Parker. Are you alright? I saw Billings and Turney come back ripped all to shit and talking about you. I've been terrified. I was giving you three more minutes to show up before I went looking for you."
I try to separate myself from him a little. "I'm alright. She was there. She protected me, Cross."
"She?"
I jerk my head back. He can't be serious. He walked right past her. No way he didn't see her. "Genie."
"What did she do?" His eyes narrow, clearly not comprehending what I've said.
I shake my head. "No, Cross. She didn't let them touch me. She was amazing. She kept me safe. But she's hurt. We need to get her to the infirmary." I crane my neck to look around him.
She's not there.
I spin my head back and forth trying to catch sight of her. She's hurt. She was just there. "Where did she go?"
"I'll check on her later. I'm so glad you're okay. I thought it was going to be like before."
Is this how we really are? She risked her life for mine, and he doesn't care? This can't be who we are. "It wasn't because she was there. If Genie hadn't been there, it would have gone differently. She's hurt, Drew. Don't you care about that?"
"All I care about right now is you."
The truth of the situation that we have created hits me all at once despite how many strides in the right direction we made last night and I retch. This is my fault. "You really don't care that she risked her life for me? That she's seriously hurt? At all?"
"You're alright. That's all that matters to me right now. We can check on her later."
I gag again. This is wrong. "She's your mate, Cross. She put herself on the line to protect me. Because you chose me. Oh Goddess. I'm going to puke. She was ready to die to save something important to you and you don't give a fuck. You really don't. And it's my fault.”
He holds me out and away from him, studying my face. “I do give a fuck. You know I do. I'm trying to fix things. But I was so scared, Parker. I thought something had happened to you and I was scared.”
“That's no excuse. You just destroyed every drop of progress you made last night.” I almost can't speak around the knot in my throat. “Fuck you, Cross. I've never been so mad at you in my life.”
He shakes his head hard and grips my arm. “Come on.”
We run towards Genie's room as fast as we can, both actively ignoring the scent of her blood from the trail of droplets on the floor. The trail suddenly turns right to the main door when she should have gone down the hall to the left.
“You go to her room,” Cross barks. “Get her some clothes. Meet me back at the suite. They'll let us use it again.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find her.”