Chapter 18 #3
I darted past them into the clinic and went straight up the ladder, only to come to an abrupt halt when I saw Sam sleeping in my bed.
Oh, right. I’d forgotten about Sam.
I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot, so I kicked off my boots and shrugged out of my jacket before crawling in next to Sam. He opened his eyes slowly and then visibly startled at the sight of me climbing into bed with him.
“What—” he started, his voice hoarse with sleep.
I curled into him, hiding my face in his shoulder. His arms slowly wrapped around me. Neither of us spoke as I tried to catch my breath and stop fucking smiling.
“So, is this a thing we do now?” he finally asked, sounding sleepily amused.
“Guess so,” I tried to say casually but started giggling silently.
Sam pulled away and looked at me, but his worried expression faded to relief when he saw I was laughing.
“What’s going on?” We heard Tuck yell from the porch.
“Wolf just got hoodwinked by his miniature,” Kai howled.
Sam raised an eyebrow, a crooked grin crossing his face.
We could hear them continuing to tease my brother outside, and eventually, Wolf started harassing them back.
Sam and I listened to them insult each other, attempting to stifle our laughter with Trey’s quilt.
I expected Wolf to march inside and drag me down the ladder, but the door didn’t open.
“So, what the hell just happened?” Sam asked after the commotion outside quieted.
I groaned and pressed my face into the pillow, my voice coming out muffled. “I healed Nemo. He collapsed ?cause he’s been hurt for the past three fuckin’ months. Internal injuries from… from Madame.”
“Oh shit.”
“He’s fine now,” I added.
“So…why were you running?”
Talking with my face hidden in the pillow was easier. “Nemo wanted to talk to me, and I… panicked.”
“I’m shocked,” Sam deadpanned.
“Shut up,” I mumbled.
“What did he want to talk about?”
“I told him I didn’t blame him for not wanting me to heal him after… after I helped torture him.”
“He said he didn’t want you to heal him?”
Hidden in the pillow, I grimaced. After a few seconds of silence, Sam sat up, ripped the pillow away, and smacked me in the back of the head with it. “So you made assumptions and ran away?”
“No,” I lied stubbornly.
“Fuckin’ hell, Emmy.” He glared at me. “You are always jumpin’ to assumptions and runnin’ away.”
I jabbed a finger into his side.
“Ow!” he yelped dramatically. “I think you just broke my rib.”
“I did not,” I muttered.
“How would you know?”
“I’m a healer, I’d fuckin know.”
He snorted, and the corner of my mouth lifted slightly. He motioned for me to lift my head and replaced the pillow, then flopped on his back beside me.
“You know you can always do this, right?” he asked.
“Do what?”
“Tell me shit.”
“Why? So you can yell at me?” I grumbled.
“I’m not yellin’ at you. I’m gently tellin’ you that sometimes you’re a big ol’ dummy.”
I huffed. “I’m not good at talking.”
“Well, I’m excellent at talkin’, so I’ll help you get better.”
I choked on a laugh. “Just cause you talk all the fuckin’ time doesn’t mean you’re good at it.”
He grumbled about how mean I was, but I suddenly remembered the question I’d meant to ask.
“Where did Mac go? Why aren’t they back yet?”
I felt him stiffen and quickly lifted my head to look at him. He grimaced at me.
“What?” I demanded. “Where are they?”
“We got a distress call from Lana.”
I stared at him, sure I’d heard him wrong. “From Lana ?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, “It wasn’t a secret, but I kinda forgot to tell you with everything goin’ on. She’s apparently real sick—on her deathbed.”
“ Lana? ” I repeated.
“Look, what she did to you was horrible, but she’s our family. Mac couldn’t let her die alone, and Raven and Griz wanted to join.”
“They’re not bringing her back for me to heal?” I felt strangely numb.
Now Sam looked surprised. “We’d never ask you to do that after what she did to you.”
I stared at him without really seeing him, my mind whirling.
“What’s goin’ on in that head?”
“Why aren’t you going?”
He smiled, but it looked pasted on his face. “I know if I caught it, you’d probably kill me yourself.”
I stared at him, struggling to pull in a deep breath as my throat ached.
I saw his pain through the fake smile and the joke.
It obviously hurt him that he couldn’t say goodbye to someone he considered his family.
I tried to push away the suffocating memory of being pinned to the floor.
Lana had hated me, still hated me based on what she’d told Wolf and his crew, and while I wasn’t exactly a fan of hers, I couldn’t entirely blame her. She’d lost her twin brother.
Was I seriously considering this?
It’s what Trey would’ve done.
“Shortcake?” Sam asked, his brow furrowing.
“Would they bring her back if I wanted to heal her?”
“You don’t?—”
“ Would they?” I interrupted.
He hesitated for a few seconds. “Yeah, probably.”
“Can we send them a message?”
“Okay, wait, are you sure about this?” He sat up, his face serious. “She’ll probably still hate you. Maybe more if you save her life.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to feel guilty. Lana made her choices, and she knew the cost.”
I swung my legs over the side of the mattress, getting to my feet. “I know,” I repeated.
“Emmy, I’m serious.”
I shoved my feet into my boots. “I am, too.”
He studied my face with narrowed eyes. “You’re absolutely sure?”
“Yeah.”
He heaved a sigh. “Alright, well, let’s go to the bunkhouse.”
Wolf and his whole pack were outside measuring and marking the outside of the clinic for the new window. I let Sam do the talking, but annoyance stabbed me at feeling like I had to get my older brother’s permission to leave my own clinic.
The radio was hidden in a small secret compartment in the wall of the crew’s bunkhouse. Sam gave me a basic rundown of lingo, including Lana’s call sign of “Nightshade” and Mac’s call sign of “Alpha Leader.”
“Nightshade? A poisonous plant, really?” I asked dryly, and he shrugged. “What’s mine, Shortcake?” I added curiously.
“No, yours is Sunshine.”
My eyebrows raised, and his smile turned sad.
“Trey.”
My eyes filled with tears, and he caught my hand, squeezing it gently before returning to the radio. With a practiced ease, he pushed a series of buttons on the radio and handed me the worn pair of headphones.
“Mac should respond soon.”
Sure enough, after about thirty seconds, Mac’s voice crackled in my ears. “Go for Alpha Leader.”
Some tight knot in my chest loosened at the sound of his voice. I pushed the button on the walkie and spoke into it, trying to keep my voice steady. “Alpha Leader, it’s Sunshine. Over.”
“Go ahead. Over.” His terse voice replied quickly.
“I just found out where you are. Over.”
There was a pause.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you myself. Over,” Mac replied.
“I’m not upset. Bring Nightshade home, and I’ll heal her. Over.”
There was another pause.
“Say again. Over.”
“Bring Nightshade home. I will heal her. Over,” I repeated.
“Are you sure? Over.”
“Yes… I mean affirmative. Over.”
I glanced up at Sam in the pause.
“He’s probably gonna want to talk to me,” Sam said.
“Requesting contact with Shadowfox. Over,” Mac finally said.
“Are you Shadowfox?” I asked Sam, raising an eyebrow.
He grinned. “Yes, I am.”
I handed over the headphones.
“This is Shadowfox. Go ahead, Alpha Leader. Over,” Sam said into the radio.
He listened for a moment, nodding. “Affirmative. Over.” Whatever Mac said next made him roll his eyes.
“I copy. Over.” He was quiet for longer this time, but then he grinned and eyed me in a way that made me suspicious.
“Sunshine appears sober and has at least most of her wits about her. Over.”
Now, I rolled my eyes.
“Roger that. Over and out.” Sam waited a moment before removing the headphones and turning the radio off. He blew out a dramatic breath and looked at me. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” I replied.
“Great,” he drawled. “This oughta be fun.”