Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) (3 page)

The numbness was spreading up my arm to my
chest and throat. It started getting harder to breathe. I made my
way to the kitchen and fumbled through the drawers for anything I
could use. I found tongs, a sharp knife, and a bottle of rubbing
alcohol, then sat down at the table still laden with guns. I was
careful to face the girl in case she tried anything.

I gingerly took off my shirt and tossed it
to the floor. The girl's breath caught at the sight of the wound. I
met her eyes and was taken back again by how bright green they
were. She held my gaze, her expression unreadable. “You going to
take out the bullet by yourself?” she asked; my ears caught a
slight tremble to her voice.

I shrugged, then winced. “You see anyone
else here?” I dumped some rubbing alcohol on a rag, then used it to
the clean the knife and tongs. I glanced at my shoulder. Angry red
lines streaked away from the wound. I hesitated, then poured
rubbing alcohol on it as well. My shoulder throbbed at the burn. I
slammed the bottle back down and held the edge of the table. My
vision blurred and it took several minutes for it to clear.

“
You okay?” the girl asked,
a worried edge to her voice

I forced myself to stay upright. “Whatever
your dad coated around these bullets is strong. Tell him kudos for
that.” I touched the wound. The edges were hot and angry and hadn't
started to close. I picked up the tongs, fought down the urge to
throw up, and stuck it in the wound. I breathed through my nose to
keep from passing out at the pain. White streaks danced in front of
my vision.

The girl walked toward me. I stood up to
defend myself, then my legs gave out and I fell to the floor. The
jolt sent the tongs deeper into my shoulder and I bit back a
yell.

“
I'm trying to help you,”
the girl said, her voice anxious. Her hands were soft and tiny over
mine. She kept one hand on my chest and took the tongs in the
other. Fire raced through my body as she worked to pull out the
bullet. She breathed softly, her face inches from mine and her eyes
tight with concentration.

“
Almost got it,” she
whispered to herself.

A spasm shook my body. She grabbed the
bullet with the tongs and pulled it free, then held me down the
best she could and poured more rubbing alcohol into the wound. The
burn of the liquid slowly stole through my body and chased away the
paralyzing effects of the bullet’s coating. My labored breathing
eased and vision slowly came back into focus. I squinted and made
out the girl crouched over me, her eyes wide with concern and
fear.

“
Did I kill you?” she
whispered.

I nodded and a tight smile touched the
corners of her lips. “That's what you get for saving me,” she said
softly.

I rested my head back against the cold tile
floor and took several deep, calming breaths. The pain of the wound
was already fading and I could think again. I eased myself up so
that my back rested against the oven.

“
I don't think you should
move,” the girl protested.

“
I'm just glad I can,” I
replied. I flexed my hand, relieved to find that the numbness was
almost gone. I set my head back and concentrated on
breathing.

“
Are any other werewolves
as big as you?” she asked quietly.

I fought back a small smile. “Not that I’ve
met,” I replied with my eyes closed, “But that number is limited.”
I let out a breath and tipped my head to look at the girl. “Your
Hunters killed four of my friends today.”

The sadness that swept across her face was
genuine. She dropped her eyes and nodded. “I know. We were just
scouting. They weren't supposed to attack, but Jerome’s always
itching to kill.”

“
Do others know you're
here?” I studied her face, looking for any sign that she would lie
to me.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “We
weren't even supposed to be this far south. Rumor had it that a
werewolf was spotted at a town about twenty miles north. We didn't
find any sign and kept going. We practically ran into your
sentry.”

The tracks and Riff's unfired flare gun told
the same story. It took a lot to ambush an Alpha. I wondered if he
had fallen asleep from his late night with Marcie. I rubbed my eyes
with my right hand. I shouldn't have let him keep his scheduled
watch, but he insisted and sometimes it was easier to give in than
to argue. Arguing Alphas wasn’t a pretty sight, and Two had taken
more than its fair share of brawling. Now he was dead.

“
What about the other
Hunters?” the girl asked softly, dread in her voice.

I didn't know how to soften the blow. I let
out a slow breath. “They're all dead.”

She leaned against the table with her eyes
closed. A tear leaked from between her lashes and rolled down her
cheek.

“
Were they your
friends?”

She nodded. “Most of them. They were Hunters
in training. I wasn't supposed to go out with them, but Jerome
convinced me.” She turned her head and met my eyes, her own heavy
with sorrow. “I shouldn't have gone.”

I took a deep breath and winced when it
pulled at my shoulder. “I know I'd be in better shape.”

Her eyes took on a brief glimpse of humor
that was quickly chased away by sorrow. She pushed up from the
ground, then stumbled on her injured leg. I caught her before she
could fall, biting my teeth against the pain that jolted through my
shoulder. I noticed for the first time that blood had soaked
through the bandage on her thigh.

“
You should be resting,” I
rebuked gently.

“
I will if you will,” she
replied in a weary voice.

I glanced at the guns on the table. “Do I
need to hide these first?”

A pained smile touched her lips. “I promise
I won't shoot you again.”

“
And the other
werewolves?”

She nodded.

“
And no more slicing
people?”

She rolled her eyes and stood slowly. I rose
next to her, fighting back a smile when she tried to help. “Not so
big and bad, right?”

She didn't answer and limped toward the
couch. I shook my head. “You take the bed. I won’t be sleeping much
tonight anyway.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but
weariness reflected in her expression; she nodded wordlessly before
heading toward the bedroom. I followed her, grabbing some clean
bandages from the table on my way past. She glanced back at me with
a guarded expression. I lifted the bandages and she sat on the edge
of the bed.

Traer had cut her pants high enough to tend
to the thigh wound. The girl pulled the cloth back and let me wrap
another set of bandages around her leg. Her face was white, her
green eyes and black hair a sharp contrast to her pale skin. Dark
circles had begun around her eyes. She watched me quietly with
unreadable thoughts hiding behind her searching gaze.

“
You need to sleep,” I
said. I helped her back on the bed and put a light blanket over
her.

“
I feel bad taking your
bed,” she said softly.

“
I hear roughing it on the
couch is good for character,” I replied. I went to the door and
watched her for a minute in case she needed anything, but her soft,
steady breathing said that she was already asleep. She looked so
small in the bed my mother had specially ordered to fit my hulking
size.

I turned away at the thought that she was a
Hunter who had come to kill my friends. She might not have been the
instigator, but I had no way of knowing if any of the deaths I
mourned had been at her hand. I settled on the couch, weary and
with a throbbing shoulder. I glanced back once at the bedroom, then
rose and shut the door. The sound of it opening should awaken me if
I didn’t sleep too deeply.

I sat back on the couch and leaned my head
on the cushion. The scent of my parents had long since vanished
from its fabric, and only the smell of the girl tangled with my
scent that colored everything in my room. No one else came in here.
The thought comforted me and brought bitterness at the same time. I
rolled over and gave in to the dark shadow of sleep.

Chapter 3

I awoke to the sound of running water. It
took me a minute to remember where I was and why my shoulder
throbbed with each beat of my heart. I pushed up from the couch
gingerly and followed the sound to the bathroom. The door was open
a crack and the scent of water drifted out. I put a hand on the
doorknob to pull it shut and give the girl some privacy, but the
mirror showed her huddled on the floor of the shower, her arms
around her knees, her head bowed, and her clothes still on. My
heart slowed at the scent of blood and the memory of her
injuries.

“
Are you okay?” I asked
just loud enough to be heard over the shower.

When she didn't answer, I stepped inside. I
crossed the bathroom and pulled open the clear plastic shower door.
She didn't look up at me, her head on her knees despite the pain it
must cause to her thigh. I reached down slowly and touched the top
of her head. The water that soaked it was freezing.

“
What are you trying to do,
die of hypothermia?” I asked. I adjusted the water so that it was
warm, but she didn’t move. I took a steeling breath and, for lack
of other options, eased myself slowly down beside her. I felt like
a giant next to her tiny, graceful form. I didn’t know what to do
with my arms, so settled for crossing them in front of my chest. My
shoulder ached, but I ignored it.

Several minutes passed in an empty silence.
I didn't know what to do. She was a Hunter and her friends had
killed mine. My parents would demand that I execute her, yet she
looked so small and pitiful sitting on the floor of the shower. The
sorrow in her eyes reflected the ache in my heart. The silence
lengthened, broken only by the patter of water against the tile.
She then turned her head to look at me, her eyes red along with her
cheeks and nose. “All my friends are dead.” Water dripped down her
face, adding to the miserable sadness I read there.

I swallowed against the knot that formed in
my throat. “Mine, too.” I lifted my good arm and she ducked under
it. She shivered against my side and I held her close until the
warm water chased away her chills. Her muscles relaxed and I felt
her lean into me. I tipped my cheek against the top of her head and
felt the soft brush of her hair against my chin. We stared off
together in silence, no longer alone in our pain. The minutes
stretched until time didn’t matter; all that mattered was that my
enemy needed me, and I needed her, too.

***

Her breathing slowed and it eventually
turned to the steady rhythm of sleep. I reached up and turned off
the shower with one hand while keeping her in place with the other.
I fumbled for the towel hanging on the outside of the shower door,
then wrapped it around her the best that I could. I knelt and
gathered her in my arms, afraid that I would hurt her with any
quick movements. I pushed open the shower door with my foot and
made my way quietly down the hall.

I hesitated at the bed. The blankets were
rumpled and I didn’t know if she would prefer to be above or
beneath them wearing wet clothes. She shivered in my arms and I
opted for beneath. I pulled them back with a free finger, then slid
her underneath and tucked them around her body. Her face looked
pale with her long black hair splayed wetly around her. I put one
last blanket above her feet and turned to go, then she said
something so softly I couldn’t make it out.

My heart gave a strange sideways thump and I
knelt quietly next to the bed so I wouldn’t wake her if she was
talking in her sleep. Her eyelids fluttered, but her eyes didn’t
open. “Would you stay with me?” she repeated. Her voice was so
small and forlorn I had to swallow past a lump that rose in my
throat.

After all she had been through, I couldn’t
deny her anything. My heart pounding, I walked quietly around to
the other side of the bed feeling more like a lurching bear than I
ever had before. I climbed as gently as I could on top of the
blankets and lay down about a foot from her. I lifted my arm
awkwardly, wondering where I should put it, then she turned without
a word and burrowed against my side with her hands tucked under her
chin. I hesitated, then lowered my arm slowly so that it rested
along the outside of her body. She gave a small sigh that sounded
like a sob, then her breathing grew steady once more.

I lay in my bed with a girl sleeping against
my side. I had never touched a girl, let alone had one in my bed. I
told myself that it didn’t matter, she was a Hunter and would no
doubt hate me in the morning; but with the midnight stars winking
down through the glass ceiling above and the cinnamon scent of the
red rocks mixing with her feminine vanilla and sunflower aroma, it
did matter. For the first time in my life, someone truly needed
me.

My heart lurched at the thought. At Two I
told myself I was needed, that the werewolves would fall apart and
not know what to do with themselves if I wasn’t around, but we were
older now and most were ready to begin their own lives. My parents
had long ago made it clear I wasn’t a pivotal part of their
existence. No one had ever looked at me with need and loss so
bright in their eyes.

The Hunter’s heart beat against mine and I
closed my eyes, but sleep was the furthest thing from my mind. My
heart raced and I reminded myself that it was alright. I wouldn’t
hurt her. I would keep her safe. I had never been so close to a
woman. Her scent filled my nose, strange and female, an aroma of
flowers amid the musk and brawn of the male werewolves who
inhabited Two. My muscles were tight and my arms strained not to
hurt her. It would take a mere flick of my wrist to snap her neck.
The thought scared me and I wondered why she wasn’t more
afraid.