Chapter 35
WOLF
Igo from never wanting to talk about intense feelings—let alone actually feel them—to immediate word vomit the second Molly is safe in my arms. As I crush her on top of me, taking in how heroic she is in this moment, I can’t hold in even a single word.
“I love you,” I tell her between clumsy kisses.
“You’re so fucking amazing ,baby. I can’t believe you did that… ”
I knew from the first roll of thunder that I had to get to her.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with her being alone during a thunderstorm out in the open with no shelter.
I wasn’t necessarily expecting to find her in the fetal position, but I was damn sure blown away to find her climbing and pulling herself out of a ravine.
Wet strands of hair that have come loose from her ponytail are sticking to her face, and I push them out of the way, just trying to get a good look as I kiss the hell out of her at the same time.
She doesn’t say anything, still trying to catch her breath. I can feel her heart racing through both our wet shirts, and I pull her tight against me again, hoping I can slow everything down. She’s been brave all this time. Now, I want to make her feel safe.
“Are you okay?” I ask into her neck, and despite the cold rain, she still smells like a warm field of wildflowers basking in the sun.
She nods as her body starts hitching against mine. Her adrenaline is wearing off, and her breath is starting to come in gasps.
“It’s okay, baby. Stay with me,” I urge, hugging her tighter. I roll us so that she’s on her back, and I give her a little of my weight, a sense of security, a sense of holding her together. “You’re safe now, Moll. You understand?” I ask, rubbing a hand up and down her wet back.
She nods again and wraps her fingers in my soaked T-shirt. “I’m okay,” she says on a breath out.
“You’re fucking phenomenal is what you are,” I speak over the rain. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
Her shoulders continue to heave up and down as her breath tries to escape her, and she suddenly snaps her head up to look at me. “Riley!” The word comes out throaty.
“We found him, baby. He’s in cuffs,” I assure her. “It’s over.”
“It’s over.” She nods and brings a hand to her forehead, covering her eyes. Her body wracks as a sob breaks free from her chest.
“Shhh…” I try to soothe her, squeezing her tighter. “I’ve got you. You’re safe. I’m going to take you home,” I promise her.
She lets out a few more sobs and hiccups but manages a watery smile. Talk about mind over matter. My girl has been fighting falling apart all this time, and she deserves a goddamn medal.
Maneuvering my body just right, I’m able to get to my knees and help her stand while still in a hug. When I shift my feet, however, she jerks and yells out in pain.
“My ankle,” she explains between a couple hiccups. “I twisted it in the fall.”
“Come here.” I lift her into my arms and start trudging through the woods. The storm has passed—the last clap of thunder was ages ago—but the rain continues to pour, making the ground beneath me slick and muddy.
“I want to walk,” she protests. “It’s not broken.”
“It’s going to stay that way,” I argue back.
“Then keep talking to me,” she insists, but her breathing is slowing down, which is a good sign but seems dependent on distraction.
I take a moment, maneuvering us over a log, trying to think of what to say. Then I realize it doesn’t matter. “Velvet helped me find you.”
Despite the dark, I see her face turn toward mine in my peripheral vision. “She did?”
“Yes.” I nod, recalling the moment I broke the barrier of the woods and heard the howling.
“She was howling, and I wasn’t sure it was her, but I followed it.
Whether it was her, or you were about to become some random wolf’s dinner, I knew I needed to get to it, and then I saw her.
She ran off before I got to you, but I saw her.
I know it was her.” I shake my head at the phenomenon.
Molly swallows hard and takes a breath. “I think she woke me up. I hit my head when I fell,” she explains. “And I think I felt her when I was out. Something wet nudged me a couple of times, and I think it was her. She woke me.”
I take a quick look at her before angling us through the trees. “You hit your head? Molly, Jesus…” My heart starts working overtime, and it’s not because I’m carrying her.
Eerie lights glow up ahead, which turn out to be police lights shining through the break in the trees.
I hustle us the last few yards, and once we’re in the clearing, I set Molly down to take a look at her head.
The reds and blues are way up at the access road, but I can still see that they’re there.
I didn’t bring my flashlight with me, but I’m determined to focus on her. “What side of your head?” I ask.
“Wolf, I’m okay now. Can we please just get home?”
“Not on your life. You’re getting checked out,” I inform her, though the organ in my chest definitely relaxes a little at the words we and home.
“Wolf?” Forest’s voice calls from a distance, close to the police cruisers.
“I’ve got her!” I yell back before crouching by Molly again. “Does your head still hurt?” I ask, trying to get a good look at her.
“Yeah, it still aches, but?—”
She doesn’t finish as I pull her to me. “I’m so sorry,” I say into the top of her wet hair.
“For what?”
“I’m so sorry this happened. And I’m sorry for the rest of it, for everything else. I’ll tell you everything you want to know just please keep being my wife.” The words spill in a desperate ramble until my voice gets drowned out by Hawk’s approaching engine.
“That’s good.” Molly sighs but still speaks loudly to be heard over the ATV. “Because after getting chased, shot at, and knocked unconscious, the fact I don’t know your favorite color is really gnawing at me.”
“The smartass is back. That’s a good sign.” I chuckle.
Hawk dismounts his machine and comes over to crouch by Molly. “Felt like causing some trouble for us tonight, huh?” he asks with an easy smile.
“Well yeah, I was bored,” she volleys. “And I thought, what’s a good way to fuck up my brother-in-law’s night?”
“Joke’s on you—I was bored too,” he fires back as he and I both take one of her arms to help her stand.
When Molly is safe on the back of Hawk’s quad, I tell her, “Hold on tight but not too tight,” quirking my eyebrow.
“You’re sexy when you’re possessive.” She winks, and the lights highlight a cut above her eye.
I’m cataloging every ding and dent to fuel my rage fire against the two assholes we have in custody.
Hawk keeps his speed to a steady roll, not going too fast, just getting Molly over to the ambulance parked near the police cruisers. It doesn’t take me long to catch up, and after helping her off the quad, I’m ready to help her limp the few feet to the ambulance door when she stops us.
Turning in the direction of the sheriff’s cruiser, she ambles over, still limping slightly but clearly not giving a shit about it. The back seat door is still open, and she looks down into it, a fire raging in her hazel eyes.
“Stay the fuck away from my land!” she screams at Riley, whose head is bowed toward his lap. The coward can’t even look at her.
“Molly.” I reach a hand out, trying to coax her away. With the cut on her head, I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to get her heart rate up, though I don’t blame her.
“You hear me?” she demands, screaming at him through clenched teeth. “Say it!”
Riley nods weakly.
“Where’s the other shit bag?” I ask Hawk as he approaches my side.
“Fire and rescue had to take him to County,” he says, referring to the hospital about forty minutes away. “He had a nasty animal attack wound.”
I don’t even need to think about it or consider any other possibilities. Velvet.
“Don’t worry. He’s cuffed to the stretcher, and as soon as he’s stitched up, he’s getting sent back to Boise,” Hawk concludes, pulling me back out of my musings.
“Might want to grab your girl.” He tips his chin in the direction of the cruiser, and I look over to see Molly’s hand on the door frame, actually leaning in.
“Say it, you pathetic excuse for a piece of shit!” she screams to a scared shitless Riley, who just keeps frantically nodding as I come up behind her.
“Baby,” I take hold of her waist from behind and gently pull her back, “I don’t think he’s going near any land anytime soon.” I lead her away and lift her, carrying her the last few feet to the ambulance, and set her on the rear step. “I want you checked out,” I inform her.
She sits dutifully, and a medic wastes no time getting a blood pressure cuff on her and runs through a set of vitals.
“With the concussion, we need to get you to an emergency doc,” the EMT says. “So we need to transport you to the hospital Ms—” He looks to Molly.
“Owens.” She confidently offers the name, and my heart collapses against my ribcage. “And wait,” she says looking at me. She reaches up with both hands, takes hold of my face, and brings me close., resting her forehead against mine. “I love you too,” she tells me.
I close my eyes briefly, just soaking in the moment for however long it lasts. Then I say, “You love me,” and my brow crinkles against hers.
She nods. “You told me you loved me in the woods. I don’t know if you meant it or if you were just?—”
“I meant it with every fiber of my being,” I say.
“Well, I love you too.” She pulls back just enough to show me her eyes, as if she wants me to see the proof of her love in them. “Will you come with me?”
“Like I was going to let them take you without me.”