Chapter Twenty-Five ABBIE #2
The pain is just starting to burn through my nerve endings when there’s a faint clatter outside.
A branch, maybe, dragging against the side of the bus.
Or a trickle of rocks, kicked up by the wheels.
Except we’re not moving… “How secluded?” I ask as he holds the blade against my arm, a nick more than a cut.
“Don’t you think you should go check? Someone might be calling the police right now.
They could be telling them they found an ambulance parked all the way out here. ”
“It’s just the wind.” His hand jerks, his mouth tightening as he digs the blade deeper. “Tell me where he is, or I'll keep cutting until I reach your wrist.”
I shudder, thinking of all the delicate veins and essential arteries in his path. “You think I’m afraid of a couple of scars?”
His glasses flash, his eyes full of malice. “I think you will be if I cut those ugly claiming bites out of your neck.”
“Jedi!” The voice is so loud, I jump, accidentally digging the blade deeper. But Hargreaves’ head is turning, following the sound of a sharp whistle as it bounces against the side of the bus. “Here, boy! Stop chasing squirrels, you dumb mutt, and get back here.”
I blink, my mouth caught between a gasp and a cry for help. “Someone's out there. They’re going to report the ambulance…”
Hargreaves snarls as he stuffs the wad of gauze in my mouth.
He pushes it in so deep, I choke, but he’s already turning away, the scalpel clenched in his fist like a weapon.
I drag a breath through my nose, trying to will my dinner to stay in my stomach.
Throw up now, and I’ll be dead before Bluff can save me.
Because it has to be him knocking on the back door. I know that voice, even if the panic in my chest is burning too hot to feel his bond. “Hey, is anyone in there? Open up, will you?”
Hargreaves jerks like he’s been electrified. “Go away! I’m busy.”
“I’m just looking for my dog, man.” A fist thuds on the side, hard enough to shake the wall. “Can you open up and I’ll show you a picture?”
“I don’t have your stupid dog!” Hargreaves holds the scalpel up, the blade red with my blood, as he opens the door an inch. “I said you’re looking in the wrong place…”
I catch a glimpse of Bluff’s face, the scar bright as a lightning bolt, and then he wrenches the door out of Hargreaves’ hand. “Looks right to me, motherfucker.”
Hargreaves lunges at him, but a leather slapjack slams down on his wrist, cracking the bones.
Hargreaves screams in agony, but Bluff is already dragging him out of the bus by his neck.
He hurls him onto the muddy ground, savagely stomping on his broken wrist. Hargreaves howls again, but Bluff grabs his hair, dragging his head back until his neck is straining at a painful angle.
“Only a really stupid motherfucker would touch what's ours.”
I’m making small, helpless cries behind the gauze when Ark leaps into the bus, Pitt on his heels. “Fuck! Abbie!”
They both start tearing at my restraints, Ark ripping the gauze from my mouth and hurling it against the wall. His anger is incandescent, his shoulders heaving as Pitt pulls me into his lap. “Fuck, she’s bleeding.”
Pitt is as stiff as a board under me, but Ark drops to a knee, taking another roll of gauze from the open drawer. He unwinds it slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. “Do you think it needs stitches?”
“Maybe one or two,” I croak, nodding towards a dressing on the shelf. “Put that on first to soak up the blood.”
He nods, placing the dressing on the wound and wrapping the gauze around it. He’s careful, methodical, but I can see the tremor in his fingers. “What else did he do to you?”
“A sedative to knock me out, and a different drug to get me talking.” I decide not to give him any specifics on Hargreaves’ demon drug while he’s radiating so much dominance, it’s burning the back of my throat. “I banged up my knee but I’ll be fine. I just want to get the hell out of here.”
“You’re not fine,” Pitt says tightly, his mouth pressed hard against my temple. “We can feel you, Abbie. Your bond was there, then you were gone, and then you were so scared, I nearly ran us off the road…”
“He wanted information,” I whisper, hating the way my voice cracks. “He abused a patient of mine and he thought I knew where he was hiding. He was behind the butterflies in bed incident. I don’t know about my bike…”
“We don’t need to know this now,” Pitt growls.
“We do. Because it ends here.” I look at Ark. “Is it really secluded out here?” He gives me a sharp nod and I take a deep, shaky breath. “Then we take care of him here. Not a scrap of his existence left.”
Pitt and Ark exchange a look before Ark turns towards the door. “Bluff, strap him into the driver’s seat and then burn it to the ground.”
“Wait.” I squeeze Pitt’s arm. “Can you take me out there? I want to talk to him first.”
Ark glowers, but when he gives a terse nod, Pitt scoops me into his arms. I can feel the strength coming back into my limbs, but I let him carry me right over to where Hargreaves is sprawled in the dirt.
His glasses are gone and his dark eyes are blinking at the sky.
The front of his white coat is torn and stained with mud, and his face is a swollen, bloody mess.
I glance at Bluff, who’s looming over him with a savage grin.
“Princess,” he says slowly, “you want to say something to this worm?”
Hargreaves turns his head, malice burning through the bleary pain in his eyes.
I nod, glad that he still recognizes me.
“Damien was never yours. He was barely a patient, since you were barely a doctor. But other than that, you were nothing to him. Just an ugly, pathetic man who tried to cage something that you knew you didn’t deserve.
He’s happy now, strong and free. He also has an alpha who will protect him with his life, so even if you got close to him, you’d still be bleeding in the dirt.
You lost, Hargreaves, and Damien is thriving.
So, think about that while you rot in a shallow grave. ”
His face twists, but before he can reply, Bluff laughs and drives his boot into the other man’s chest. “He’s not gonna have time to rot, princess. This guy is catching the bus straight to hell.”
I don’t stay to watch Hargreaves die. Ark wants to get me to Patch as soon as possible, and Bluff isn't in the mood to leave until the ambulance is a burned-out husk. Pitt insists on holding me the whole way back to the compound, while Ark takes the driver’s seat.
It’s strange seeing him behind the wheel of a van instead of straddling his bike, but Pitt tells me they always use them on the raids, and it was the closest thing at hand when they got Wings’ call.
I frown, hazy with the timeline. “What did he say?”
“He felt something was off, so he called Goldie. He checked your access records, but you didn’t log in. He told Wings to call us while he pulled up the CCTV.”
I suck in a sharp breath. “Wings must’ve been out of his mind.”
Ark’s gaze flicks to me in the rearview mirror. “Your bond was gone. And when it came back, I could taste blood in my mouth.”
“Shit.” I swallow, imagining his panic. “He jumped me. Needle to the neck and then I woke up strapped to the gurney.”
Pitt’s arms squeeze around me, a growl vibrating in his chest. “We know. Goldie caught most of it on CCTV. But the fucker was gone before anyone could raise the alarm.”
I nod, because it happened so fast. I still can’t believe he got the jump on me. He might have been an alpha, but he was a wreck of a man, existing only through hate and obsession. “So, if you couldn’t track the bus, how did you find me?”
“Ark’s stalker tendencies.” Pitt chuckles softly as he hooks a finger around my neck and pulls my dog tags out from under my shirt. “He put a tracker in them before he gave them to you.”
I squirm, feeling more outraged than I probably have any right to be.
“Don’t,” Ark says before I can open my mouth. “They’re the only thing that got us to you in time.”
I swallow back my protests, since I don’t really have the energy to fight anyway. The sedative might be wearing off, but my adrenaline is crashing, and I still don’t know what side effects I might have from the cancer drug. “I just want to crawl into bed and sleep for a week.”
“That can be arranged,” Pitt says, kissing my forehead. “But first you have to brace for Wings.”
I groan because I can feel an ache in my chest, next to the relief and the exhaustion.
Ark and Bluff’s bonds are big and all-consuming, like a looming shadow that I’m guessing won’t subside for some time.
Pitt’s bond is gentler, but also sharper, maybe because I’m in his arms, or because he can feel my heart skipping erratically against my ribs.
But the little pocket where I’ve always kept Wings’ soul feels torn open, the edges as fragile as gossamer wings.
He’s waiting at the front door, Jedi tucked close to his chest. Tricks and their parents are there, too, along with Glory and Lyla, huddled together like they’ve stepped out to greet a storm.
“Is she alright?” Wings calls before we’ve even stopped, his voice high with strain.
“I’m fine,” I call back, squirming off Pitt’s lap.
He grunts but lets me go, and I stagger out of the van and limp straight into Wings’ arms. The breath leaves his body in a strangled whine, and I think we’ve squashed Jedi between us until I feel little teeth tugging at my bootlaces.
“I’m sorry,” I pant, covering Wings’ face with kisses. “I never should have left you.”
“I knew something was wrong.” He pulls back to stare into my eyes, his misery and fear written all over his face. “I could feel it, the second you left.”
“I was fine, Wings. I mean…”
“Until you weren’t. You’re too… offhand about your safety, Abbie. Do you have any idea how I would’ve felt if you were really hurt?”