Chapter 12
Margaret didn’t speak on the drive back to their apartment building.
It was just her and Gary, with her driving.
Mr. Baldner was taking a shift at the Griz base, so he’d stayed behind.
That left her navigating the city streets and watching around every corner for a riot to break out or a rampaging hybrid.
Not that they saw any.
Five minutes away from their building, Gary spoke up from the back.
She’d known when they locked in his wheelchair that he was descending into a dark place; he wouldn’t look her in the eye, and his shoulders were slumped as if he carried the weight of the world.
She wanted to reach out to him, wanted to comfort him somehow, but what could she say—thanks for the amazing orgasm, so sorry it didn’t work out for you?
He didn’t want platitudes, and he sure as hell didn’t want false promises.
So she’d remained silent and watched for chaos in a city on edge.
“I’m sorry, Margaret. I’m…I’m just sorry.”
“For what?”
“For scaring you. I wouldn’t ever hurt you.”
“I wasn’t afraid of you, Gary. I’m afraid for you. But we don’t have to talk about this tonight. There’s so much going on. I’m overwhelmed.”
“Yeah,” he said as she pulled into a parking spot in front of their apartment building. “Me too.”
Except, he didn’t sound overwhelmed. He sounded depressed.
She climbed out of the van and opened his door, went through the steps of unlocking his chair and lowering the ramp. He waited as he always did, sitting patiently while the machinery worked. But this time, instead of looking at her face, he was staring at his hands. Or rather, his clenched fists.
“You’re still angry,” she said when his wheelchair ramp touched concrete.
He looked up, but not at her. “I’m furious.”
She sighed. She didn’t know how to help. “You can try again in a few days. You’ll be stronger. A whole lot can change.”
“Or nothing.” He looked at her, his expression bleak. “Remember what Dr. Sherilyn said? I have to move fast. But I can’t. Talk to me, Margaret. Please. I’m spinning, and it’s taking me to some dark places.”
She squatted down in front of him, needing them to be eye to eye when she said this.
“Here’s what I’ve been thinking. I just had the most amazing experience in my entire life, a delightful orgasm with my best friend.
It’s the first time I’ve ever felt that.
There was no pressure to perform or a need to please him, it was just about me sharing something wonderful with him. No pressure, just…fun.”
His expression lightened. “It’s supposed to be fun.”
She nodded. “I just discovered that I’m not dead down there, or up here”—she touched her heart—“because of you. And I believe you would have stayed with me even if I hadn’t learned that, but I did.
And we can’t enjoy the discovery because you’re wrapped up in risking your life for a pair of legs.
A pair of legs that I don’t need to love you back. I never have.”
He banged his hand on his thigh. “I want to be a whole man, Margaret. Don’t you get it?”
“Yes. But you’ve always been a whole man to me. I was the broken one.”
“You’re not!”
She flashed him an impish grin. “Apparently not. Thanks for showing me.”
He smiled and waggled his eyebrows. “There’s a whole lot more fun to discover, you know.”
She nodded, her heart beating faster. “I assumed. But we can’t if you’re dead or insane from trying to get back your legs. Gary, I don’t care if you ever walk or not. I never have. I care about having you in my life.”
He stared at her a long moment. She could see the hope sparking there, and fear, but she didn’t waver one iota.
“I love you,” she said. “And I want to explore more with you. For the rest of our lives.”
He nodded, transfixed. “Whatever you need.”
She smiled. “A shower. And some time alone to process. I need to get my head and heart settled before we embark on happily-ever-after. And I need to know that you’ll be okay waiting tonight. That you won’t—”
“I won’t drink any more tap water. I swear.”
She squeezed his hand as they walked into the apartment building foyer. “Good. I’ll bring breakfast over first thing tomorrow morning. Deal?”
He smiled and hit the elevator button. “Deal.”
The elevator arrived, and they went in. Margaret relaxed, thinking that she felt good. Gary had promised not to try anything stupid tonight, and she wasn’t dead below the waist. She knew a shimmering glow of happiness because she loved him. Somehow, they would make the future theirs.
He squeezed her fingers then stretched up his head to look at her.
She understood, bending at the waist so she could kiss him.
She didn’t care that the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Gary had all her attention.
Gary with the light brown eyes and the teasing smile.
Gary with a mouth that tempted her and the dimple that was the secret to all his charm.
He cupped her cheek as she angled her head to meet his, and then their lips met.
Heaven.
“Is that where you’ve been all this time?” a harsh voice demanded from the hallway. “Fucking a cripple?”
Margaret’s head jerked up, and she felt Gary tense.
Down the hall, a person stood before her loft door, and a closer inspection told her it was Jesse the pilot.
She could tell by his voice, mostly, because the Jesse glaring down the hall was nothing like she remembered.
He was huge and his face was distorted in horrible ways.
“I’ve been waiting for you all day! And you’ve been out with him?”
“Jesse, what are you doing here?” she gasped. “What’s wrong with your face?”
Except, she didn’t need to ask. She’d already guessed. He was a hybrid just like Vic. Or worse than Vic because his eyes were wild and his teeth seemed to be growing. Oh God, was he shifting in front of them? And the smell! He reeked. Did this mean he was one of the crazy ones?
He could be on them in a split second, so she started pushing elevator buttons. Her entire body was screaming, Run! But there was nowhere to go except down, and only if the damned elevator doors would close.
They almost made it. Something seemed wrong with Jesse’s legs and he wasn’t walking normally, but the elevator doors were slow as he half lurched, half lunged at them. He caught the doors before they shut all the way, and Margaret got a good look at his paws with sketchy fur and sharp claws.
“Back away, buddy.” That was Gary, his voice cold and surprisingly calm. “This isn’t a fight you can win.”
Jesse snarled in response, and yes, his face was now more animal than human. She couldn’t identify the species. Dog? Cat? Bear? It seemed like a sick mishmash of all.
“Go home, Jesse,” she begged as she half gagged on his smell. She didn’t want him and Gary to fight. Jesse looked murderous, and the man she loved was in a wheelchair.
Jesse grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the elevator. “Come. With. Me,” he snarled.
She screamed and fought him, but he was ten times stronger than usual. And she was gagging. She knew self-defense, she’d taken classes years ago and kept practicing, but this required fighting when you couldn’t breathe. Every part of her wanted to throw up from the stench.
It was a losing battle. Step by lurching step, he dragged her down the hallway toward…she didn’t even know where. And then she heard it, a sound that once might have terrified her but now flooded her with relief: a roar, deep and guttural.
But how?
Jesse whipped around, banging her against the wall.
Then he froze, probably in shock at the sight of a grizzly bear shedding ripped sweatpants and bursting through the elevator doors at him.
Go Gary! Margaret thought. Then she wrenched free of Jesse’s grip, though her skin stung hot from the marks of his claws.
She kicked at him as she tumbled away, right at his knee. The blow connected, and he buckled. If she were alone, she would have run to the stairs and escaped. But there was Gary. She had to worry about Gary.
Or, maybe she didn’t. He landed on Jesse with both front paws.
The pilot was a hybrid, larger than normal, but nowhere close to the size of her grizzly.
Jesse was flattened backwards, a snarl coming out as he swiped with his own claws…
that didn’t seem to affect Gary at all. Gary loomed over him and roared again, loud and terrifying, straight in Jesse’s face.
Jesse lunged, open mouth, bared teeth going for Gary’s neck. Margaret tried to scream, but she was still choking on Jesse’s stench.
Gary batted the jaws away with a single backhand swipe.
Jesse’s head snapped back, and his body followed, flying boneless into the wall.
Margaret thought he’d stay down—hell, she’d be unconscious or dead from a blow like that—but the hybrid stumbled back to his feet.
She started to stand up as well, but Gary’s bulk blocked her.
His huge grizzly body pressed her tight against the wall, protecting her as Jesse lunged.
“No!” She didn’t want Gary hurt, and it seemed this fight would be to the death. But at the last second Jesse pivoted. He lurched for the stairs, and a moment later they could hear his uneven gait on the steps before the heavy fire door closed behind him.
He was gone.
Margaret dropped to her knees, her breath heaving. Gary turned, his huge bulk awkward in the hallway and his face moved next to hers. Hot breath, narrowed eyes, and a light whimper. He pressed his nose to her face.
“Are you all right?” she gasped as she gripped his ruff. “How did you change? Did he hurt you?”
A rumbling grunt of a response, which she took to mean no, especially since Gary looked fine to her, not hurt at all. When he extended his tongue in a quick swipe across her cheek, she closed her eyes and laughed.
“I’m fine, too. I’m fine.”