Chapter Twenty-Two #2
“I should check on Adam.” He’d ducked into his room after he’d been interviewed by the police. There’d been so many changes in her son’s life, so much upheaval.
“If he needs you, he knows where to find you.” Cyrus started to push upright, grunting as he did.
“What are you doing? Lie back down.”
His jaw was taut. “You want to check on Adam, we’ll check on him. Then we’re lying down.”
“We are, are we?” Hands on her hips, she faced off with him.
“Vinnie, I can feel your exhaustion beating at you. I know damn well you have a headache but haven’t taken anything for it. Please,” he added. “You want me to rest, and I will, if you’ll join me.”
“Blackmail?”
“Whatever it takes.”
Independence was one thing, but she was taking it to the extreme, and she knew it.
“Fine.” She ditched her jeans and carefully climbed onto the bed beside him.
The window was open, bringing with it birdsong and the buzz of insects.
She started to lie on her side but sucked in a sharp breath when every muscle in her back protested.
“Not doing that.” The room seemed to spin around her.
Closing her eyes only made it worse. She settled on her back and breathed through the pain.
With a grunt Cyrus rested his hand lightly on her stomach. The small connection helped anchor her. “I’m sorry Wilkes hurt you, that I couldn’t stop him.”
She caught his hand and brought it to her lips, pressing a kiss against his palm. “You saved my life.”
“He should never have gotten close to you.” The lines of tension around his mouth deepened.
“Cyrus, you’re a wolf. You’re not God. You did everything possible to protect me.
” She’d never met anyone who took his responsibilities so seriously.
She didn’t want to be simply another burden for him to shoulder.
“I got you shot.” And that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
A growl rumbled up from deep in his chest. A thought occurred to her.
“Would you heal faster if you were in your wolf form?” Now that the authorities had come and gone, no one would bother them.
“Probably, but then I couldn’t hold you.”
“You can’t hold me now. Face it, wolf man, we’re a mess.”
The surprised a laugh from him, followed by a groan. He pressed his hand against his bandaged chest. “Wolf man?”
She shrugged, unrepentant. “It fits. If I wasn’t here, would you shift?” She saw the answer in his midnight eyes before he reluctantly nodded. “Then do it.”
It took longer than it had the last time she’d watched him, a sign of how depleted he was.
His bones contorted and reformed, fur pushed out from beneath his skin, and his face changed shape until the man gave way to the wolf.
Panting heavily, the giant creature lay alongside her.
A long rough tongue swiped over her shoulder.
It should have felt odd to be lying in bed alongside a massive wolf. Instead, it felt right. This was still Cyrus, no matter his form. Closing her eyes, she gripped a handful of fur and slept.
****
Two days had passed since the shooting. She’d spent much of it sleeping, her body demanding rest after the physical and emotional trauma.
Cyrus’s recovery was nothing short of miraculous.
Other than the scar on his chest, there was no other indication he’d come close to dying.
Her injuries hadn’t been nearly as severe, but she was recuperating at a much slower rate.
The bruises on her back were nasty to look at and tender to touch but would fade with time.
The mental scars would take much longer.
Cyrus had been nothing but solicitous, looking out for Adam, making sure she ate and slept, but there’d been no more stolen kisses, no mention of the future. It was time to confront him.
He blames me for the shooting. It was the only conclusion she could come to. Done with waiting for him to bring up the subject, she showered, dressed, and headed to the kitchen.
Zach was at the table working but glanced up from his laptop and frowned. “Should you be out of bed?”
Ignoring his inquiry, she got straight to the point. “Where’s Cyrus?”
“He and Adam went out for a run earlier. Nowhere near where Wilkes was,” he hurriedly assured her.
Well, damn. Now that she was ready to talk, he wasn’t around. It figured. “Any idea when they’ll be back?” The words were barely out when the door was pulled open and Adam rushed in.
“Mom, you’re up.” He frowned, looking more like Cyrus than ever. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”
“Not you, too. I’ve slept for almost two days straight.
I need to be up and moving around.” If she wasn’t mistaken, he’d grown an inch, or maybe it was the healthy glow making him appear larger.
While she’d been out of commission, he’d thrived.
Envy, sharp and bitter, clutched at her stomach.
She shoved it away, refusing to indulge it. “Did you have a good run?”
“Yeah, it was great.”
Zach pushed up from the table. “I’m heading into Jackson for groceries. Want to come along?” he asked Adam. “We can hit a drive-thru, pick up some burgers.”
When Adam looked at her, clearly torn, she patted his arm. “You should do that. I have an ice cream craving. You know my favorite.”
He hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans and gave her a pitying look.
“Mom, I’ve told you a hundred times, vanilla isn’t worth eating.
It’s, well, vanilla. You need to expand your horizons—cookie dough, chocolate, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, butter pecan, rocky road. Live a little.”
“Vanilla.” It was an old argument, one they both enjoyed. “The good stuff. Not the generic brand.”
He bent down and kissed the top of her head. “If you insist.”
“I do. I’ll get my purse.”
“I’ve got it,” Zach insisted.
Rather than make a fuss she nodded, but this was something else she and Cyrus needed to discuss. The Sin brothers couldn’t keep housing and feeding her and Adam indefinitely.
“Give me a second to change.” Adam disappeared down the hallway while Zach vanished upstairs with his laptop. In less than two minutes they were out the door. The big house was quiet and lonely.
She wanted coffee in the worst way, but she needed to talk to Cyrus more. The heat hit her when she stepped onto the back porch. She raised her head to the sky, soaking in the healing warmth. When she lowered her head, he stood a few feet away.
Shaggy brown hair brushed the top of his broad shoulders.
Every muscle in his arms was sharply delineated, his biceps huge, forearms thick.
A bead of sweat rolled down the center of his bare chest, sliding down his washboard abs, and disappearing into the waistband of his jeans.
Her bare toes curled against the wooden porch boards.
Black eyes, dark and fathomless, studied her intently.
“Have you eaten?” His deep voice resonated in every cell of her body.
She shook her head. “Not yet. We need to talk.”
He crossed his arms over his massive chest, appearing as unmovable as the mountain itself. “I’m listening.”
Uncertain what to say now that they were alone, she leaned against the porch post. The scar from the shooting was an abomination, shiny and paler than the surrounding skin.
The injury on his leg was barely visible, but this one was taking longer to fade.
According to Cyrus, it might never fully disappear because of the severity of the wound.
“How are you really?” She held her breath wondering if he’d be honest with her or if he’d brush off her concern the same way he did when his brothers asked.
He squinted against the glare, sighed, and came up the stairs to join her, leaning on the opposite post. “I’m fully healed. Not quite back to full strength, but almost there. You?”
“Stiff and sore, but that will ease the more I move around. I’m feeling more myself than I have in a long time.
” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I didn’t realize how much of a weight I was carrying until it was gone.
” Wilkes’s death had severed her connection to her past once and for all.
It had freed her, but it had also left her strangely adrift.
“I need to decide what I’m doing next.” She held her breath, wondering if he’d take the opening she’d given him.
“What do you want to do?”
She released a sigh, deflated and unsure. “I have to find a job.” That had to be priority. “The sale of the house will take time to settle, but I don’t want to spend any of that money unless I have to.” That was earmarked for a new home.
When she’d agreed to come to Kentucky, she’d pictured herself staying a month and then leaving. She hadn’t been here anywhere near that long, but the thought of leaving left her cold and empty. It wasn’t the place or the house. It was the man she’d be leaving behind.
When he remained silent, a piece of her began to shrivel up and die.
“You must blame me for the shooting and all the strife I’ve brought to the mountain.
Adam and I will leave tomorrow.” Or maybe later today.
This was why she never let down her guard, refused to depend on anyone.
It was too easy to have the rug ripped out from beneath her.
She’d begun to believe they might have a future together.
“Are you done?” The icy polite chill in his tone sent a shiver down her spine. This wasn’t the Cyrus who’d made love to her. This was the dangerous bounty hunter, the wolf.
“I want to apologize for dragging you and your family into all this.” There were so many things she regretted, but finding and spending time with Cyrus, getting to know him, wasn’t one of them.
She’d never forget all he’d done for her and Adam.
Her heart was breaking for what might have been.
It seemed she was doomed to forever be unlucky in love.