A Justified Kill (9 page)

With Hanna it had to be different. Her parents weren’t going to kill her. And since she was human, she needed help for the physical and
mental abuse she had suffered.

Unlike a werewolf, the
human body would not he
al properly if left untreated. Mentally, even as a werewolf, there would alway
s be scars. Amber knew about mental scars.
Pushing those thoughts away she stared out the windshield, watching the glowing white line flash by while she headed down the highway.

“You need to
at least get to the hospital.”
She didn’t want to bring it up, but
knew
she had
to. “
Hanna you were raped and
need to be checked.”
Wincing inwardly at having to say the words, she glanced a
t Hanna and hoped like hell
the
prick
had
n’t
gotten her pregnant
. At Amber’s words,
Hanna
’s
head hung low
er
, her mangled hair dropping
down to cover the tears
running
freely down the girls face.
Amber gripped the steering wheel.
The
one
sob that escaped was heartbreaking and Amber wanted to cry
right along
with her.

Wh
il
e she
drove
on in silence
, Hanna cried
quiet
ly beside her
. Overwhelming
sadness
brought ba
ck vivid memories of the story her mother had told her of how she had
been conceived. Her mother had shifted unexpectedly, a month before her sixteenth birthday. Without the proper precautions in place, her shift had thrown the males into a mating frenzy
and her mother’s siblings had bee
n killed in the process.
Her mother had ran when she found out she was pregnant. After giving birth,
her mother ha
d remained on the run
with her
until the pack had tracked them
down
fifteen years later
and
took her mother back
. S
he had escaped capture
because
her grandfather had intervened and his driver had dropped her off at Moonlight S
helter
. The word
s
a place for unwanted werewolves
echoed through her mind.
As far as she knew, her mother had never tried to find her
and in a way was glad she hadn’t
. With how
badly women we
re treated, Amber never
wanted to
be
a part of any pack.
But it did lead to a lonely life on the run.
She thought of her attraction to Ryan earl
ier that
afternoon
. The thoughts of what had happened to her mother made her wonder
. I
f she had been in a pack,
would she have already made the change like all the other females? When she made her change
would
her hormones have triggered the pack to attack as her mother’s had
if she had not taken her away
?  It all seemed so barbaric to her.
And so was what Gerald was doing.
Snapping out of her own
thoughts
, she knew what she had to do. She
had to stop him from doing this again.

Out of the corner of her eye
she could see Hanna. She was
trembling
in the passenger seat
, but she had stopped crying.
The night air felt good
to Amber though she
had a feeling the wind was probably too cool
against Hanna’s
tender
abused
skin and wished she had som
ething warm to cover her up with. It was a good thing
they were not far from the hospital
or she would have had to stop and get her something warmer to wear. The heater
was on full blast
, but did little against the cool night air
whipping through the open jeep.
She would be able to get warm when she got to the hospital.
However, b
efore they
reached the entrance, Amber
knew
she ha
d to get some ans
wers
from Hanna
.

“
Have
you ever met him before?
Was he a friend of yours
?” Amber pressed
for
information
. She was
already
formulating a plan in her mind.

“
Ewe
, n
o
.
I was outside the store
in
this shit town when
h
e grabbed me from behind. I couldn’t see him because h
e kept me blindfolded.
” At first her words were barely above a whisper. “
When I bit him for touching me, t
he
fucker
put a nasty sock in my mouth a
nd tied somethi
ng around the back of my head so I couldn’t spit
it out.
” Her
face scrunched up in disgust then anger darkened her features. “
The first time I saw his face was when you got me out and I could kick his ass.
But I have no idea where he took me
, or even where I am right now.
”
Hanna
spoke the brave words, but
shuddered in disgust,
s
wiping at the
wetness that once again
streaked the dirt on her
cheeks
, smearing it even more.

Am
ber
’s head bobbed in understanding
. Maybe it was a good thing
Hanna didn’t know
him
. She hated the thought
of Gerald running around free.
She could not allow
him to take another victim
. In fact, she would not allow him too
, because she was going to be watching his every move.
The nudging at her mind and the urges she was feeling told her that the wolf would
soon be emerging
. She now
understood what her mother had been talking about
. H
ow the
emotions would be uncontrollable in the beginning. The r
age, hatred, frustration, anger;
they all swam
through the jumbled thoughts
and images
in
her head. In the middle of
it
all, i
n her mind, she promised Ha
nna
she would be safe from
that
sick son of a bitch.
He would never hurt her or anyone else again.
When the full moon phase
came, her wolf would see to it
!

A
mber
knew she couldn’
t allow
her name
to be
in any type of
official
report.
So when she pulled into the parking
lot
of the hospital
,
she stopped short of driving
up to the emergency entrance
and turned sideways in her seat to look at
Hanna
. “I can’t go in there with you
,
” She
informed her quiet
ly.

“I don’t want to
go in then.
”
Hanna
crossed her arms over her chest and stared adaman
tly at her bare feet
pushing at the floorboard
.

Amber could see
she
was terrified
and didn’t want to be alone. She could tell by the way
her eyes darted frighteningly
towards the entrance of
the emergency room.
Leaning her head against the seats headrest, Amber closed her eyes with a sigh.
A
fter a
long
moment of listening to
Hanna
sniffling
,
feeling eyes staring at her
and
against her better judgment
,
she
relented. With her eyes still closed,
she
nodded her head
in agreement
.

Holding her altered appearance while sh
e was awake wouldn’t be
an issue. Amber was worried
she might fall asleep while waiting for the doctors to attend to Hanna. Hospitals were not known for get
ting
anything done in a timely manner. She was tired. It had been a long day
,
her body felt worn out, and she was hungry. After all, the one meal she had eaten
had been wasted when she
got sick earlier that evening. Hunger pains coupled with the wolf gnawing at her insides made her feel a wee bit on the cranky side. Hopefully no one in the hospital would be stupid and really piss her off.

Pulling
the jeep
into a
parking space, Amber
g
ot out and walked around
to the passenger side where she
opened the
half
door
.
Hanna
sat star
ing at the windshield
. Her mouth was set in a grim line while
fighting
the tears that threatened to spill again
. Her
hands were
still
clenched in her lap.
With the look on her face,
Amber knew better than to try to reach for her
. I
nstead, she called her name.