Chapter 8 #2
“Liam inducted her into the Walsh clan.” Burdock lifted his hands to repel our arguments.
“He didn’t have many good options. The bond snapped on the operating table, and Ana is right.
Sloane wouldn’t have survived injuries of that magnitude without the biofeedback we receive from a magnus, or an alpha, in her case.
Without the strength of a pack pouring through that connection, she would have died in his arms.”
“Liam can do that?” I had never heard of such a thing. “Bring someone into the clan without Rían?”
“Not fully, but he can jumpstart the process.” Rían stood in a rush. “I better go finish it.”
A pained expression swept across his features, and Burdock sighed as he rolled up his sleeves.
“Go.” He shooed Rían away. “Help her friend.” He began removing the wrap on my arm. “Ana and I will start our session a little ahead of schedule to give you the time you need.”
As soon as he was out the door, I found my mouth full of questions. “He asked her first, right?”
“Yes.” He gave me an odd look. “We would never bind someone to us against their will.”
“I meant no offense,” I rushed out, hoping I hadn’t insulted him. “I’m still learning the ropes here.” I swallowed hard, but my mouth was too dry to offer any relief. “Things weren’t always what they should have been in my pack.”
“I’m aware.” He examined my arm, which was thinner but with unblemished skin stretching taut over what had been muscle and exposed bone.
“We knew Sartori was unhinged by the way he stalked your mother, but he was clever. He hid himself, and you, from us very well.” Smoke drifted from his nostrils.
“I’ve got half a mind to fly over his compound and burn it down around him. ”
“No.” I gripped his weathered hand. “There are families living there and—”
“I would never harm a child.” He fanned away the cloud forming in front of his face.
“Sartori, however, wouldn’t survive an encounter with me.
” He stared at my injury. “Even if my rage had mellowed over the years at the lives he cost, and it hasn’t one whit, this would be a fresh spark to a keg of dynamite. ”
Yet again the stark difference between the Sartoris and the Walshes slapped me in the face.
I had watched Dad tear through innocents to reach his targets or order his people to do so on his behalf. His view on shifter society was survival of the fittest. I had seen enough of that same bloody mindset echoed in the people who allied with him to believe the same was true all over.
That was why, even at my lowest, my most desperate, I never considered running away to another pack.
I hadn’t expected life to be any better there.
Humans were the sanctuary I imagined, getting lost in a sea of them in a city where no one had ever heard the name Sartori. I would have dived in, eventually.
But then I was given the deed to the house in Brentwood, and life suddenly didn’t seem quite so claustrophobic.
I had been such a fool to ever trust the fantasy Dad—Carmichael—spun for me about my mother, my aunt. All of it had been a desperate dream for a desperate girl.
“I’m going to put you out for a few minutes, okay?” He searched my face, his kind and gentle. “You don’t need to be awake for this part.”
Glad for the reprieve, when darkness swept over me, I embraced it with both arms.
“Lesh me shee her.”
“Ana.”
“Lesh me…”
A jumble of slurred words dragged me up from the depths where I had been resting, and I woke to find a very drugged Sloane crawling on her stomach on the floor toward me like a roach who had been hit one too many times with a shoe.
Her hospital gown had come untied, leaving her rear end on full display, and her limbs were oddly twitchy.
“I’m dreaming,” I decided, my arm still tingling from its healing.
“Ana.” Sloane lit up when she saw my eyes were open. “You’re nosh dead.”
Not until Liam stormed into the room with the promise of vengeance burning in his eyes did I believe what I was seeing. As soon as it clicked this was real, this was happening, I threw the cover off my legs and swung them over the side of the bed.
“What are you—?” Liam took one step toward me. “Sit down, Ana, before you hurt yourself.”
I wobbled on my feet, pitched forward, and landed on my shoulder about a foot away from Sloane.
“Ouch.” I left my cheek mashed to the floor. “How’re you here?”
“Ran.” She reached for my hand, barely making it, and meshed our fingers. “Away.”
“Rían is going to kill me.” Liam smacked his palm against a button on the wall, and a siren blared through the room. “What is wrong with you two?”
“Besh friend mosh pish.”
Bright eyes glassy from the high of her pain meds, she began flopping like a dying fish. Maybe she was doing the worm? I couldn’t tell, and I didn’t have the energy to join. I lifted a hand and managed a few finger pumps, since fist pumps weren’t going to happen, but even that drained me.
“Ana.”
With my face planted on the tile, I watched Rían run to me horizontally and kneel at my hip. “Legs.”
“Yes, we’ve established I have long legs.” He smoothed his hands over me, searching for injuries. “What were you thinking?” He pivoted toward Sloane then stared at his cousin, who was two-fisting his hair and ripping like he meant to tear it out by the roots. “How did she escape ICU?”
“Damned if I know.” Liam growled, spun, and punched a hole in the wall. “I took a piss, came back, and she was gone.”
“Hey,” Rían barked, jabbing a finger at the mess. “You broke it, you fix it.”
“I thought—” He shook plaster off his hand. “I don’t know what I thought. That Sartori had come for Ana and taken Sloane as leverage.”
“Bush ish cold.”
The guys whipped their heads toward Sloane, whose teeth were chattering.
“Your what is cold?” Liam flushed dark purple. “You mean your…?”
“Butt.” I noticed I was drooling, that it had stuck my skin to the tiles. “She’s having trouble with t’s and s’s.”
“That’s because your ass is hanging out for all the world to see, Sloane.” He stomped over, covered her backside, and lifted her into his arms. “I’m taking her back to her room, and I’m chaining her to the bed.”
“Kinky.” Sloane burst into giggles. “Chainsh wonsh hold me.”
“Then I’ll wrap my hands around your throat and—”
“Perfersh.” She drilled a finger into his chest. “Verpersh?”
Feeling helpful, if gummy, I supplied, “Pervert?”
“Yesh.”
As he marched from the room, I couldn’t help smiling. Sloane felt well enough to give him hell, which meant she would be fine. I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing until I remembered the magnus crouched before me with zero amusement on his face.
“You could have hurt yourself.” He hooked his hands under my arms. “You two must be more careful. I know you worry about each other, but Sloane is going to pay for this little stunt.”
A jolt of panic fluttered down my spine. “How so?”
“Ana.” Regret and remorse battled for control of his expression. “We won’t hurt her.”
Gently, he lifted me into a bridal carry and eased me back onto the bed. “I know that, but…”
After yesterday, my faith in everything had crumbled like the crust on week-old bread.
“I meant that when I completed the bond, she got a spike of energy from the clan. The jolt woke her, and she must have thought her body had healed enough to get up and move around, but it was only that initial burst of magic acting like adrenaline.”
A tinge of regret mingled with my relief. “She’s really a Walsh now.”
“Your situation is different from hers. There’s no rush for you to decide.” He covered me with my sheet, tucking me in tight. The activity had drained me more than I realized. “You’re always welcome to join us, Ana, and I hope you will, one day.”
Neither of us pretended I would suffer the same fate. To get free, I would have to break the ties myself.