CHAPTER 39 #2
His bare skin was streaked with blood and dirt. Bruises were already darkening across his ribs and shoulders. His breathing was uneven, the fight finally catching up with him now that whatever power had driven him was fading.
I pushed myself off the granite wall and rushed to him before he fell. “Jonathan,” I said, my voice shaking more than I wanted it to.
His head dipped slightly as he tried to steady his breathing, one arm coming up instinctively as I moved beneath it to support his weight. Up close I could feel the heat radiating from him and the tremor running through his body.
“Are you all right?” came his question, urgent even in his pain. “He didn’t—”
“I’m fine,” I breathed out. “Just shaken up. You?”
“Fine,” he grated with a tight grimace. “Blanche, I thought…I worried that—”
Then something carried through the trees.
Voices.
Distant at first, echoing faintly down the slope below the clearing. “…over here!”
Beams of white light began cutting through the trees beneath us, bouncing between the trunks as several figures moved through the forest. The glow of headlamps and flashlights flickered across the rocks and branches while voices called to one another, growing louder as they climbed the incline.
Jonathan lifted his head slightly and let out a slow breath. “Looks like…we’ve been found.”
The lights grew brighter as the group approached the clearing. Several figures emerged. Paramedics moved quickly with medical packs slung over their shoulders. When their flashlights finally swept across us, the beams paused.
“Over here!” one of them shouted.
Two paramedics hurried forward, their lights dropping to examine Jonathan’s wounds.
“Easy, easy,” one of them said calmly as he knelt beside us. “Get him stabilized.”
They moved with efficiency, one of them checking Jonathan’s breathing while the other pulled supplies from a red kit.
A pressure bandage was pressed against one of the deeper gashes across his side while another wrapped a blanket around his shoulders to slow the shock beginning to creep into his system.
And all the while, I never left Jonathan’s side.
I needed to be here. With him. Present. And I was.
Jonathan…my Wolfe who came to protect me.
By the time we reached the Hollow, the worst of the night had already begun to settle into memory. Emergency lights flashed between the trees where police and paramedics moved around urgently and smell of faint smoke still clung to the air.
May stood near the edge of the path when we arrived, wrapped in a shawl, relief washing across her face once she sensed us. She pulled me into a tight embrace when we finally got close.
“The cabins…” Jonathan inquired quietly, gaze drifting toward where the fires had burned earlier.
“Eight through eleven are gone,” she said softly. “We’ll rebuild. Hollow’s still here and we’re safe. All that matters.”
He barely nodded in agreement, exhausted, his wounds having now begun to heal.
A familiar voice called from behind us. “Blanche! Thank the gods.”
Bernie pushed through the small cluster of deputies standing nearby, looking rumpled but unmistakably proud of himself. “You’re all right?” he asked, his expression tight with worry.
“I’m fine, Bernie,” I said, placing my hand briefly on his shoulder. “How are you here? What happened?”
He blew out a long breath, his shoulders loosening a bit after he looked me over.
Besides some dirt streaking my clothing, I hadn’t received so much as a cut.
After a loud swallow, Bernie said, “Soon as I got the data you sent, I went straight to the police and the feds. Your friend, Megan, she had already got a couple units sent out. Timing couldn’t have been better either.
” He jerked a thumb toward the activity across the clearing. “Looks like they arrived just in time.”
Relieved, I hugged him. “Where is Megan?”
“I called her to let her know they found you. She’s back in Graymore, still giving reports to the police. I promised to have you call her once you’re checked over.”
“Thank you, Bernie,” I said. “Thank you both.”
Just then, I saw a paramedic wheeling a stretcher across the drive.
Erik Skoll lay strapped to it, pale and bloodied while paramedics worked quickly around him. Several armed officers surrounded the stretcher, their posture rigid as they escorted it toward a waiting ambulance.
Suddenly two beams of light pierced the clearing. A sleek black car rolled to a stop, its engine humming quietly before the door opened and a tall, silver-haired man stepped out. Once he closed the door and turned around, I could see him more clearly.
Eldritch Skoll.
He approached the stretcher slowly, his expression concerned as he looked down at Erik.
“Why, son?” Eldritch said painfully, though some anger beneath his voice carried across the distance. “I’ve given you everything. Education, position, opportunity…”
Erik turned his face away from his father’s eyes in shame as the paramedics lifted the stretcher toward the ambulance.
Eldritch continued. “You were supposed to carry the Skoll name. Our company and everything I built.”
The ambulance doors swung open.
He turned away as the officers began loading the stretcher inside.
For a moment he didn’t move at all, his shoulders heavy, the posture of a man who looked less like a powerful businessman and more like someone standing at a funeral.
The flashing lights washed over his face, but he said nothing more.
The doors slammed shut.
Slowly, Eldritch turned back. His gaze drifted until it found me, and for a brief moment I could see deep regret across his face. He lowered his head and gave a small bow—an apology that carried more weight than anything he might have spoken.
Then he walked back to his waiting car.
The ambulance pulled away first under police escort, its lights fading down the road. A moment later, Eldritch’s car followed, the dark vehicle slipping quietly into the night.
Beside me, Jonathan’s hand tightened around mine.
For the first time since the nightmare had begun, the forest no longer felt like a part of that. What once felt hostile was now protective. The Hollow still stood. The people I cared about were safe.
The nightmare had finally ended.
I allowed myself to believe that what came next might actually be good.