Epilogue #3
I keep my eyes on her tracker noticing it hasn’t moved more than a foot or so. It’s causing my nerves to short-circuit. Her heart rate is erratic, yet she’s standing still. My mind begins to fly through every terrible possibility of what could be happening.
I know my little rabbit is strong. I know she’s fierce and bloodthirsty, but this is Antonio Vallero. He’s an abusive piece of shit with no regard for women. What if the sedative wasn’t enough? What if he managed to get the upper hand? What if he’s hurting her? What if he’s…
“Stop it, Noah. She’s fine,” I quietly curse myself.
I glance down at the tracker again and angle my path slightly more east. I’m almost there.
A shrill, primal scream echoes off the forest surrounding me followed by the sickening sound of bone being crushed.
“No,” I scream as I rush forward.
“You fuckingsonofabitch,” she screams in the darkness.
The loud slur of curse words flowing together has my heart rate calming.
She’s not dead. As I get closer, all I can focus on is the sound of something heavy striking against something soft.
Sickening sounds fill the darkness. The moonlight is barely shining through the canopy in this area of the trees casting creepy shadows across my path.
I can finally see her, and my steps slow.
She’s facing away from me with a blood-stained rock in her hands.
Snuggs is sitting next to her not even noticing me as I take a few steps closer.
He’s watching her with that big dumb puppy dog look on his face, which is quite comical since our white floof-ball is currently coated in crimson. That’s going to be a long bath.
She’s currently straddling Vallero from what I can see and is bringing the rock down onto him in rapid succession. Each hit is followed by another curse from her beautiful lips.
I watch in awe as she destroys this monster once and for all. After witnessing this, I realize she’s honestly a bit more terrifying than I originally thought, and her darkness rivals my own. I think she might even be a bit more bloodthirsty than I am.
I wait silently until I can see her slowing. Her shoulders finally give in to the weight of slamming that rock over and over into his skull. The once crackling sounds of rock against bone are now nothing more than a squish. Blood pools around them, and more is sprayed around the forest floor.
A twig snaps as I take another step forward causing Snuggs to whip his head in my direction. Once he sees I’m not the threat, he stands, brushing his body against her arm before walking over to me.
I take a step closer and can finally see the carnal damage she did. She drops the rock onto Vallero’s head…Well, what was his head. Now all that lies on the ground above his shoulders is a pile of blood, brain, and skull fragments. She destroyed him.
“Easy there, Little Rabbit,” I whisper as I come up and kneel beside her.
She slowly turns her head to look at me, and that’s when I see all the damage on her face. I could see blood along her arms, but I thought it was just splatter from the impact. Now that I’m up close I can see that it’s because both of her arms are torn up.
Her nose is broken and still dripping blood. Her right eye is swollen and blood is dripping from a large gash just below it. Her lip is split and another gash is along her chin. Blood is coating her shirt and face. Saying she looks rough is an understatement.
Her gaze is distant, but when her one eye finally focuses on me, it’s like she finally feels safe enough to let go. Her body slackens, and she falls against me as her eyes close.
“Damnit, Willow! Hey. Wake up. Come on,” I plead as I quickly pick her up and start back toward the house.
“I did it,” she whispers against my chest as I cradle her against my body.
“You did, Little Rabbit.”
“He deserved worse,” she mumbles as she laughs.
“I don’t know. I think you did a pretty good job of destroying him. He doesn’t even have a head anymore,” I joke.
Her eyes suddenly open as if she didn’t even realize the carnage she just unleashed upon that monster. Snuggs trots along next to us looking happy as can be, blood-soaked and all. Cujo’s got nothing on our giant, murderous cotton ball.
“He doesn’t?” she asks with a strange tone of hesitation.
“Let’s get you cleaned up first, then we can talk about what happened,” I tell her calmly as we get closer to the edge of the forest.
The moonlight is brighter through here with the trees being less dense. I can see the damage on her face better in this lighting, and my heart drops into my stomach. Her eye is badly swollen and bruised. He hurt her, and I wasn’t there. I should’ve never let her go alone.
I failed her…Again.
“Hey,” she whispers as she slides her palm along my jaw.
“Hmm?”
“Stop. It’s just a few bumps and bruises. I’m fine,” she says nonchalantly.
She stares up at me as I raise a brow giving her an annoyed look as she blatantly lies to me.
“Okay. Maybe a bit more than just a few. But I’m fine. I swear,” she tries to convince me, but I’m not hearing it.
When we get inside, I set her on the kitchen counter and pull out my phone. I immediately call Jeremy and put it on speaker.
“Wassup, Cuz? That fucker dead already?”
“Yep. Willow did it all on her own,” I answer with pride.
“I told you, she’s even more terrifying than you are,” he teases.
“Phones on speaker. And I’m not terrifying,” Willow huffs.
“Oh, you most certainly are terrifying, Little Rabbit. But it’s one of the hottest things about you,” I say as I place a gentle kiss against her blood-stained cheek.
“Anyways, moving on before y’all start fucking while I’m still on the phone…again.”
“Sorry about that, again,” Willow laughs.
“I hope I can forget it one of these days. So, why did you call?” Jeremy asks.
I glance over her one last time and realize she definitely needs to see a doctor. I don’t want to risk a brain bleed or a severe concussion.
“That connection of yours, does he have a real doctor?” I ask.
“Oh. Uhh…My connection does have a doctor on call. That’s who patched me up after that night. Why? Are you hurt, Willow?”
“I’m fine,” she snaps before closing her eyes and wincing from the pain she caused herself by shouting.
“She’s not fine. She needs to see a doctor, but I don’t want to risk going to a hospital.”
“Okay, let me call him. Come to my place. That’s where he’ll most likely want to meet.”
“We’ll be there in two hours. Oh, can I give Snuggs a bath at your house?” I ask, only slightly joking.
“That giant fur-ball? You’ll clog my drain. Ughhh! Fine. Why though?”
“He’s not a cotton-ball anymore…more like a tomato.”
“Jesus, there’s that much blood?” he asks.
“Yeah…Let’s just say they’re both covered in blood, and Vallero doesn’t have a head anymore,” I answer as I hand Willow the phone then lift her off the counter and start toward the front door.
We’ll come back tomorrow and take care of the body if the coyotes haven’t eaten him by then. Right now, she’s my only priority.
“Yep. You’re terrifying, Willow. Okay. I’ll call him now. See you guys soon.”
“Thanks,” we both say before she ends the call.
“I’m fine, you know,” she growls as she rests her head against my chest.
“I know. I just want to make sure.”
“You don’t have to worry so much.”
“I know, but I’ll always worry about you. You’re my little rabbit,” I tease as I open the passenger door and set her gently into the truck.
“You’re crazy,” she huffs as I step up onto the side step to put her seatbelt on.
I cup her face. Kissing her gently before resting my forehead against hers. I take a moment to breathe, realizing how much worse this could have gone tonight.
“Only for you, Little Rabbit.”