Chapter 20
I coughed uncontrollably. While on all fours, I tried to figure out what had just happened.
My ears were ringing, and nothing made sense.
I just remembered a strong rush of air and a deafening noise.
Since my hands were dirty, I wiped my stinging eyes against my arm before sitting up and assessing my surroundings.
Chunks of the wall were on the floor, and when I stood, my reflection wasn’t staring back at me.
Jagged pieces of glass covered the sink and floor.
The main lights were out, and a single strobe light flashed on the wall.
Thick smoke continually poured in, and through the cloud, Salem breached the darkness like a silver lining.
He gripped my arms, and I watched his mouth move, unable to hear anything but a muffled voice.
“What?” I touched my ears to see if something was blocking them.
His eyes meticulously scanned my face and shoulders until they settled on my dress. I glanced down at the red stain.
“It’s not blood,” I said loudly. “It’s spaghetti sauce!”
Salem pulled me into his arms. Still unable to process what was happening, I hugged him tight. When his calming emotions morphed into fury, I shoved him away.
“I’m fine.” My hearing was slowly returning, but the ringing didn’t stop.
He scanned the room and located my purse. Handing it to me, he retrieved my Sensor gloves. “Put these on.”
The look on his face frightened me, so I put them on, struggling because my hands were shaking.
“It was a bomb,” he informed me while assessing my belly and legs for injuries. “Do you feel any pain?” Without waiting for an answer, he examined my head and turned me around. Then he stared at the wall behind me as if he wanted to destroy what remained.
Somehow I’d wound up below the long sink.
A bomb.
As reality sank in, I thought about the delighted faces I’d seen before leaving the room. People who were enjoying their meals and laughing. Couples holding hands. “Oh no. Joy and the baby are here. I-I saw… Tak and—”
“I know. Come with me.” He tucked me protectively against his side and ushered me through the dark hall, the air thick with soot. I covered my mouth and nose. When we emerged from the hallway, heat and flames licked at me from the right.
It seemed like a totally different place from just moments ago. The tables were mostly empty, but the ones closest to us were toppled or in pieces. Flummoxed customers filed in from the adjacent room and covered their mouths as they evacuated the restaurant.
I spotted the amiable server with the black-rimmed glasses lying on his stomach in a fetal position.
Salem and I rolled him onto his side. He was clutching the little boy I’d seen beneath a table just moments ago.
The man’s glasses were broken, and most of his clothes were burned off in the back.
I inwardly recoiled at the smoking flesh.
A woman shrieked when she saw the boy and then scooped him into her arms. “Honey, are you okay?”
“I wanna go home,” he cried.
Salem gave him a quick assessment. “He looks okay. Get him out of here and go to Milly’s for an X-ray. Tell her what happened.”
The woman fled.
I removed the server’s broken glasses and touched his cheek, but the glove protected me from his emotions.
“What’s your Breed?” Salem asked.
His eyes fluttered. “Mage.”
“We need a Mage!” I shouted. “Is there a Mage? We need help!”
Just then, I spotted Scott emerging from behind the partition wall.
He stepped over a body before jogging up the stairs to safety instead of helping.
Even if he didn’t want to use his Sensor gifts, the least he could’ve done was carry someone out.
In that moment, I realized I could never trust him to take care of me through my sickness.
A wolf snarled, and I jerked my head up to see.
Salem shot to his feet. “I need helpers. You!” He singled out a random guy. “What’s your Breed?”
“Mage.”
“Get over here. We need your energy.”
While the man knelt and provided his healing light to the server, I glanced around the room.
A Vampire was sitting at a table with a glass of wine as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
Then a piece of metal popped out of his cheek on its own and clinked against the table.
An injured woman shifted into a deer before shifting back.
“Salem, people are shifting. What if they have shrapnel inside them?”
He visually assessed the room, his years of expertise likely helping him categorize everyone like it was a trauma ward. Some were healing themselves, others fleeing the scene. Then his eyes fixed on a woman lying on the floor, her long blond hair splayed, her face bloody. “Serena?”
Tak charged into the room, his eyes wild. When he spotted us near the burning carriage, he rushed over and cupped my face in his hands. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
Tak’s hug was brief but filled with what I could only describe as courage. A true alpha was made for chaos. He snapped his fingers at Lakota. “Look in here. Watch the stairs.”
“Look for what?” I asked, confused at what he was talking about.
Joy burst into the room sobbing, mascara smeared beneath her eyes. “Violet!” She got down on all fours, and only then did I realize the horror: Her baby must have shifted and run off with the crowd.
I rubbed my ear, which was still ringing, and then I caught sight of Catcher across the room. He trotted toward us as if in slow motion, holding the wolf pup in his mouth by the scruff of her neck.
Tak collected the little wolf and clutched her protectively. “We found her!”
While Salem ascertained whether the baby wolf had injuries, Robyn helped Joy stand before they hurried to our group.
Salem stroked the frightened pup’s head. “If she was in pain, she would have shifted back again. I don’t see any obvious signs that she was trampled.”
“My baby! Give me my baby.” Joy collected the white pup in her arms and snuggled the whimpering pup. “Mommy’s here, sweetie. I’m here.”
Salem returned to the woman on the floor.
Atticus burst onto the scene from the stairwell, his eyes wide with fright. When he spotted Joy, he flipped an entire table out of the way to get to her. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight. They said Tak was here but didn’t mention who else.” He held them in his arms. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” She sniffled and kissed Violet on her head. “Salem said she’s not hurt, but it was dark and she got loose. Everyone started running and left the doors open. I couldn’t see where she was. I was so afraid that…”
“We need to get her out of this smoke.” Atticus met Tak’s eyes. “I have a safe room.”
“It’s safer upstairs,” Lakota pointed out.
Atticus shook his head. “It’s not safe until we catch the fiend who did this. It could be a ruse to draw everyone into the open. Did anyone see what happened?”
We shook our heads.
“Can someone else come along and keep an eye on my girls?”
Robyn followed. “I’ll come.”
Montana snatched her hand briefly before giving her a kiss.
I grabbed Atticus by the sleeve. “Do you see that man?” I pointed at the server with the broken glasses, who was now sitting up after receiving healing light.
Atticus twisted around to look. “He’s new.”
“He risked his life to protect a child. I think he deserves a raise.”
“Done.”
They hastily made their way to a steel door off to the side.
One of the workers was putting out a fire with an extinguisher, which created a cloud of white smoke. Inside the remains of the carriage, a charred body.
When I moved back, I stepped on something and realized it was a hand. On that hand, a silver ring with a large red stone I’d seen somewhere before.
Montana and Lakota branched apart to help the wounded.
Salem knelt by the young woman. “Can you hear me? It’s Salem.”
I moved closer to listen.
“Serena, I need you to tell me if it hurts.” He put pressure on various places on her stomach, but the woman ignored him and stared listlessly at the ceiling. She must have been in shock.
A dark-haired man shouted at Salem. His thin, cream-colored turtleneck was spattered in blood. I was certain I’d never met him before because I would’ve remembered that posh English accent.
“Do something about her face!” he snapped, his lip curled in a snarl.
Salem steered his gaze up. “Has she gone through her first change yet?”
“No. Hurry up and heal her!”
Salem examined her face closely as Atticus rejoined us.
“If she can’t shift, the only alternative is Vampire blood.
Since she hasn’t gone through her first change, all we can do is stitch her up.
I don’t have my medical equipment, so you’ll have to take her to Milly’s.
I’ll be there soon. She’s probably slammed. ”
“You want to sew her face up with a needle? Are you mad?”
Atticus lowered his head. I hadn’t spent a great deal of time around Vampires but knew there was a dark history with immortals using them for their healing blood.
The British man pointed at Atticus. “This is your fault. It happened under your protection, so give her your blood.”
Tak tried to be the peacemaker. “Salem is doing what he can to help.”
Ignoring him, the man charged toward Atticus. “You can fix her!”
Tak stepped between them. “No one is entitled to a piece of him, Ian.”
“Says who?”
“Says his Packmaster.”
Ian scoffed. “I see. We’re not good enough for your pack, but a bloodsucking Vampire is.”
Tak squared his shoulders. “Your sister was good enough for my pack. You weren’t. Don’t ask for this man’s blood. It’s disrespectful.”
“I’ll do it,” Atticus blurted out.
I looked at him with astonishment.
He knelt beside the woman and pulled up the sleeve of his black coat. “Take my blood.”
She turned her head away before he could bite down on his wrist.
“It’s the only way you’ll heal,” he told her. “You’re in shock.”
“I don’t want it,” she bit out.
Ian leaned over her. “Take it, my little poppet. You’ll feel like new again.”
Atticus touched her shoulder. “My blood won’t affect you in any unnatural way other than healing. I’m at your disposal.”
“No.”
“Dammit, Serena!” Ian gave her an admonishing look. “Don’t be foolish. Drink it, you cow.”
“I don’t want it!”
Atticus rose to his feet. “If the lady doesn’t want my blood, I can’t force it on her.”
“Then charm her,” he bit out.
Atticus ran his hand through his pale hair and narrowed his eyes. “I’ll not wield my power in such a disrespectful manner.”
Ian wagged his finger at him. “You’ll do as I say!”
Atticus gripped Ian’s finger in a flash. “Why aren’t you searching for another way to help your sister, pray tell?”
While the two men argued, Catcher drew closer to the woman. After sniffing the air around her face, he nuzzled her neck.
The moment Ian noticed, he kicked the wolf so hard that Catcher yelped before flipping onto his side. Catcher sprang to his feet and unleashed a punishing growl that raised the hair on my neck. His eyes were wild with rage, but before he could attack the belligerent man, Tak jumped into the fray.
“Submit!” the alpha shouted.
Catcher reluctantly backed off, the growls still rumbling in his throat as he stared daggers at the short man.
Ian pointed at him. “Do you want to die?”
Tak whirled around and incinerated Ian with a glance. “If you have a death wish, I will gladly let you two settle this upstairs.” He snapped his fingers at Catcher, who joined his side. “Take care of your kin.” Tak led Catcher up the stairs.
While I watched them ascend the steps, I had a flashback of the moments prior to the explosion.
“Red hair,” I muttered. Then it all made sense, and I clutched Salem’s arm. “I think I know who did it!”
All eyes turned to me.
Lakota gripped my arm. “You saw?”
I shook my head. “No. But the man in the carriage was the Vampire from that house. Remember?” I searched Salem’s eyes. “He had a large ring, the same one that’s on the hand over by that chair. If he was the target…”
Salem jerked his head back. “You saw Mr. Blackwater?”
“Just before. There were so many people, but I remember him rushing up the stairs. I only caught a glimpse, but I’m certain it was him.”
Salem locked eyes with Lakota. “A man flashed through the kitchen just before the bomb went off. He might still be up there.” After disappearing in his thoughts, Salem abruptly turned on his heel and stalked toward the stairs.
I rushed after him and seized his arm. “Where are you going?”
“To kill him.”
I stripped off a glove and touched his hand. When I felt his body tremble on the cusp of shifting, I clasped his neck and pulled him into my gaze. “Salem Lockwood, stay. That’s not who you are.”
He closed his eyes. “My wolf wants it.”
“Then tell him to jump in a lake.”
“I saved that man’s life, and for what? For him to blow up a busy restaurant? He could’ve killed you.”
“What kind of man would you be had you left him to suffer in that basement? You can’t predict the future. Don’t start doubting yourself.” I stroked his neck. “I can feel your regret. That’s not who you are. Maybe this happened for a reason—to remind you of your purpose.”
Still wrestling with his inner wolf, he lowered his gaze. “I don’t need you to almost die to know my purpose.”
“If you had refused him treatment, he might’ve survived and done this anyhow. We wouldn’t have had that moment and bonded. We wouldn’t be here right now.” I cradled his face and stroked his cheeks with my thumbs. “You’re here to help these people. Ever think of it that way?”
His anger dissipated, and a calm washed over him. That same calm I’d felt before in moments of emergency—the fortitude of a man who understood what needed to be done.
“Go, Salem. Help these people. They need you.”
“Only if you answer one question.”
“What?”
Tak hiked down the steps and stopped short.
Salem dropped to his knee. “Quinn, will you be my life mate?”
A strobe light flickered in the stairwell, and Tak stood frozen, hand still on the rail.
“Are you proposing to me? Here? Now?”
“Tomorrow and forever.” He took my ungloved hand and pressed a kiss to it, one that was filled with assuredness, devotion, and an unwavering love. “I promise to love you until our dying day.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I barely noticed a couple dashing past us as the smoke swirled, the alarm chirped, and lights continued flickering.
I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him. Nothing had ever felt more right. “Of course I’ll marry you, Salem Lockwood. You’re my hero. Now get out there and save lives.”