Chapter Nineteen #2
It wasn’t until Dominic and Cole descended the stairs that the women were filled in on the details.
“He’s going to be all right,” Dominic told Kimberly. “The doc’s giving him some shots to detox his blood. The silver almost made it to some vital organs, but we got the bullet out in time to slow the spread. He’s going to be tired for a while. You both are welcome to stay here until he recovers.”
Kimberly could have collapsed with the relief but stayed mute and unflinching.
“What about the body?” Erica asked, a hitch of apprehension in her question.
“Hank and I are going to take care of it,” Cole answered, voice so cool as if he didn’t talk about disposing of a corpse. “But not before we go through all his pockets to figure out who he was.”
Erica’s gaze hopped from Dominic to Cole. “Do you think he’s a hunter?”
“After what we learned from Andy, I’d bet money on it.” Dominic leveled a stern look at Kimberly. “Is there anything you can tell us?”
She swallowed and found her throat cotton-dry, the effort like shards of glass raking her esophagus. They let her take a sip of tea to collect herself, then worked through the story, step by step.
“He had no scent,” she recalled. “Something must have been masking it. He had his gun pulled before I even turned around, like he expected to run into someone. I can’t say why he hesitated or if he was there to kill me. Even after my first lie, he kept putting it off.”
Cole folded his arms. “You probably confused him. He couldn’t be sure of what you were without undeniable proof and couldn’t risk killing a human.”
Kimberly blinked and looked away. “Maybe … he didn’t even try to lie about why he was there either.”
“Sloppy,” Dominic said. “Not quite unprepared, but in some ways, he was. Could have been a new recruit.”
“Do you think he came alone?” Erica asked.
Cole shrugged. “We haven’t heard anything else, but I’ll make a few calls and have everyone check-in. If he’s alone, he didn’t get far into town.”
“Likely just a scout too,” Dominic assessed. “Someone to gather information, get proof, but not to engage. Maybe that’s why he didn’t shoot her on sight. That would have drawn attention and caused a scare. Pulling a gun was more to protect himself than to take a target.”
Kimberly nodded as if to confirm. “He said he wasn’t after me.”
“Might have been looking for Andy,” Cole offered. “And if that’s the case, he had to be part of the group that took him. Then, our suspicion that they let him escape has some credit.”
Kimberly felt as if she missed something but decided she would ask later.
“Then he was either looking for a pack or looking to tie up a loose end.” Dominic heaved a big breath. “Either way, if he goes missing, eyes will turn to Tolstone.”
The parlor fell silent, and Kimberly couldn’t help but feel the weight of guilt drop on her shoulders. Even if she hadn’t killed the hunter, he had seen Shane and would have proof that wolves were in Tolstone. That would have drawn unwanted attention. She didn’t know which was worse.
Erica rubbed up and down Kimberly’s back to soothe out the bunched muscles, as if understanding her heart. “This isn’t your fault. You did what you needed to do to protect yourself and Shane. That was brave, and anyone else would have done the same.”
She couldn’t bring herself to agree. Erica might have been right, but maybe there had been another option. Maybe she shouldn’t have been there to be found in the first place. The hunter might have found what he wanted in the end, but it was because of Kimberly that they had a big mess to clean up.
“I’m thinking,” Cole began, “it won’t be smart to burn the body like we did Nathan.
If we take the body far enough away, to a town we know has no pack, we can dump the hunter.
The news will assume an animal attack. The hunters may assume Andy fled to that town and they’ll do a sweep.
If they find nothing, they may think the assumed pack moved on.
It’d take the heat off Tolstone, at least for a while. ”
Dominic nodded. “If anyone looks too close at the body and there’s any suggestion that the body was moved, it may still lead back to us.”
“What if the hunter stayed in close contact with his group?” Erica asked. “If his last known location was Tolstone, we’re still screwed.”
“We can hope he had some sort of other way to be tracked,” Cole suggested. “They likely have some sort of way to keep tabs on their field operatives. Either on his body or vehicle. Radio, GPS, something.”
Dominic’s brows lifted. “I didn’t think about vehicles. Do we know where it is?”
Cole nodded. “There was an unaccounted-for car at the park. I’ll run the plates when we get back to also verify identity. We’ll search the body for trackers. Maybe Gage can search the car while we’re at it.”
Dominic scratched at the stubble on his cheek.
“If there is a tracker on the car, taking it to an auto shop could be interpreted as if he got a flat tire or something. That could help cover up why he was in Tolstone. Got a flat in transit, stopped here for a fix, and moved on, but neglected to report about it.”
Kimberly flattened her palm against her forehead. “There are so many moving parts.”
“We’ve had to make people disappear before,” Dominic assured with a conciliatory smile. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“But I’m going to worry about it.”
Erica’s hand settled on Kimberly’s shoulder. “We all will for a while until this is over.” She looked to her mate. “Can she go see Shane yet?”
Dominic nodded. “As long as doc gives the all-clear.”
Erica offered Kimberly assistance in getting up the stairs, but she turned her down.
“I’m not that helpless,” she muttered, a surprising note of bitterness in the way she said it that made her instantly apologetic. “Sorry. I’m a little touchy right now.”
Erica didn’t seem the least bit offended. “It’s all right. Go see your guy … You two are still together, right?”
“Oh, yeah.” Dominic’s answer was edged with a laugh. “They are. About time, too, right?”
Both of the men in the room shared the same knowing grin.
All other shifters would be able to sense the mating bond between her and Shane.
There was no hiding it, no denying it. They would all know that she, a shifter with no dominance, was mated with an alpha.
But, just like Shane predicted, no one seemed to care.
She set aside her mug on the coffee table and tenderly made her way out of the parlor and up the stairs.
She shouldn’t have felt so nervous and tried to beat down the butterflies in her stomach.
They were mated. They made love. She killed for him.
She saved his life. Nerves should have been steady, but they had so much to discuss.
Though the authenticity in their mating bond told her otherwise, she was afraid he’d want to take it back somehow; to say it was just a tool in the moment and they should sever the bond.
Kimberly didn’t want to. Maybe that was why she was so scared.
Funny, she thought. I can rip out an armed hunter’s throat with my teeth, but I’m scared to face rejection from the man I love.
*
Shane let Nolan peek under the covers at his bare, wounded hip.
The flesh still throbbed with a pain he didn’t think was possible.
The necrotic tissue didn’t look so blackened and shriveled as it had even half an hour ago.
The damage inflicted by the silver stretched from just below his lower rib to halfway down his thigh, and almost to his midline around the front and back of his lower torso.
His muscles ached like they were stuck in a tight seizure, and his skin burned like he had been roasted over an open fire.
He wasn’t a stranger to pain, but never for this long and this intense.
The doctor gave an approving nod. “The antitoxin seems to be working. It’s going to take time and a lot of rest. I don’t recommend moving for a few days, and don’t cover the open bullet wound with clothes or anything too abrasive.
Just a light bandage until the hole closes up.
Your healing should kick in and take care of most of the work over time. ”
Bandages. Shane didn’t even own a first aid kit. Shifters never needed one. Yet, in the span of one evening, he became a bedridden invalid.
“Anything for the pain?” he asked as Nolan lowered the blanket.
Just the weight of the fabric felt like a thousand needles jammed into his flesh. He had a hard time hiding his wince from the doctor.
“I can apply a local anesthetic, but I don’t know what good it will do for the deeper pain. It may just take the edge off.”
Shane gritted his teeth. “I hate to sound like a wimp, but I’ll take anything you’ve got.”
Nolan chuckled and reached down to the medical bag he brought with him. The weathered, beaten leather told him that this wasn’t the first house call he had to make for an ailing shifter.
Footsteps sounded down the hall, and he felt Kimberly’s approach through their bond.
His heart, already racing from the adrenaline caused by his pain, beat even faster.
Mostly, it was residual nervousness coming directly from her down the bond.
She was afraid, but of what exactly? The bond was good to tell him what she felt and some nuances, but not always the reasons.
She stopped just outside the cracked door, as if waiting to be granted permission to enter.
He only had to whisper her name, and she shyly stepped through just as Nolan had pulled out his anesthetic tools. In one hand, he held a wand with a heavy cotton swab on the end, and a tub of some pungent golden liquid in the other.
Kimberly watched as the doctor lifted the blanket to reveal the wound, careful to cover Shane’s more private regions. Still, the sight of what the silver had done to him made her gasp. Her hands flew to her mouth and nose, her stare fixed and wide as Nolan applied the medicine.