Crimson (The Silver Series Book 3) (4 page)

She gave a little sigh with a sad smile. “I
really miss it.”

“
Maybe doctors can help you
get your sight back,” I replied.

She gave me a heartrending look. “I don’t
think many doctors’ll be lining up to operate on a werewolf.”

“
You never know,” I said in
what I hoped was a reassuring tone. “This Jaze sounds like a good
guy. He might know someone.”

We continued on in silence to the barn. My
calf throbbed and a shiver ran down my spine as the fever from the
infection started to catch up to me again from all the walking. It
felt like my body kept trying to heal, but it couldn’t with the
bullet inside. I was shaking with exhaustion by the time we made it
back to the barn, but I tried not to show it. Grace didn’t say
anything, but I could see the concern in her expression when I sank
to the rotting wooden floor.

“
Now what?” she
asked.

“
We wait.” The prospect of
resting after the long walk with the bullet felt like heaven. I
touched my leg, wondering if I could get the bullet out myself, but
the skin was so hot and swollen that it was all I could do to keep
from crying out when I touched it. I hoped that Jaze really did
have contacts with a medical background.

***

“
You’re driving too fast,”
Colleen said from the passenger seat.

“
We’re fine,” I replied. My
voice slurred and Colleen’s friend Debra giggled from the back
seat.

I stepped on the gas to emphasize that I was
in control, when in fact headlights and reflectors blurred together
on the freeway until they looked like solid lines and I couldn’t
tell which was which.

“
You’re going to get pulled
over,” Colleen said, a touch of panic to her voice as I swerved
toward what I guessed to be the reflectors.

“
Calm down,” I told her. “I
promised Dad we’d be home before midnight and I’m gonna keep my
promise.” I squinted at the glaring lights and felt patterned thuds
under the tires. A warning voice went off in the back of my head. I
ignored it and stepped on the gas, intent on a set of bright lights
heading toward us.

“
Kaynan, look out!” Colleen
shouted. Debra screamed.

The lights towered above us a second before
the semi slammed into the front of the car. Our vehicle rolled and
glass shattered close to my head. The girls shrieked with fear and
I locked eyes for one brief second with Colleen, my best friend, my
confidant, and the only person who understood my rebellious nature
even if I didn’t. Her soft blue eyes filled with tears, then the
car started to flip.

We rolled at least a dozen times as the semi
braked, then the car spun upside down in circles with the roof as a
pivot until we were slammed into by another vehicle. The force
jarred us off the road and into a ditch. I was flung through the
windshield and landed on the grass ten feet away on my back.

I stared at the stars. They were so bright
and twinkled down on me like nothing had happened. Something warm
dripped into my eyes.

***

“
Kaynan, Kaynan, wake
up!”

I gasped and opened my eyes, shaking and
covered in sweat. “What’s wrong? What happened?” I asked, my voice
raspy.

“
You had a nightmare. You
screamed and it woke me up.” Grace’s voice trembled as badly as her
fingers that touched my shoulder like a skittish butterfly. “What
were you dreaming about?”

I shook my head, my mind still filled with
the smell of burning rubber and the shattering of glass. “Nothing.
It was a nightmare, like you said.”

She sat back on her heels, her expression
doubtful, but I was grateful she didn’t press further.

I glanced out the crooked door and saw that
the sun was rising. “Guess we should head out.”

I handed her the last candy bar and offered
her an arm. “Your skin’s hot,” she said, concerned.

“
I usually sleep warm.
Guess werewolfism added to that.” But by the time we reached the
library, my limp was so profound Grace was holding me up as much as
I was leading her.

We waited against a tree near the library
and I must have dozed off with the weakness of the fever because I
awoke to Grace tapping my arm. “Kaynan, someone's close by.”

I looked around groggily and spotted four
men climbing out of an SUV not far from us. A wave of suspicion
surged through me; I fought back the urge to bare my teeth.

“
I think they’re from the
lab,” I said, rising carefully to my feet.

“
What should we do?” Grace
asked, her voice tight with terror.

Instinct tickled at the back of my mind and
I turned; four other men crossed the lawn toward us with guns
raised. A family having a picnic on benches near the library’s
manmade stream stared at them in fear. “Run!” I shouted. I grabbed
Grace’s hand and ran south across the lawn. Shots rang out behind
us and Grace screamed in fear, but she gripped my hand tighter and
kept up.

“
Curb,” I said. She stepped
down smoothly and we darted across the street. A red truck barely
missed us and slowed the four men who followed on foot. The others
jumped back in the SUV and barreled across the lawn after us.
“Curb,” I shouted again. We stepped onto the sidewalk and ran down
the next road. A man walking a dog stared at us, then ducked behind
a parked car when the SUV bristling with armed men thundered our
way. I pulled Grace behind me through several unfenced yards, but
the pain in my leg and Grace’s blindness slowed us down. They were
catching up.

Adrenaline surged through my system. My soul
cringed at becoming the beast again, but I knew it was the only
way. “Phase,” I shouted to Grace.

Her eyes widened, but she phased beside me
into a sleek, light gray wolf. I tore off my sweatshirt and phased
next to her. The men on foot slowed and aimed their guns at us. I
bumped Grace’s shoulder with my own and she ran beside me, her
shoulder against mine.

She stumbled over a curb, then a small
shrub, and we were past the rows of houses and into scrub brush and
sand. She stumbled again and I growled in frustration when the SUV
drove over the last curb and pursued us across the flat stretch of
land. I couldn’t tell Grace where the obstacles were and she fell
again and again. The vehicles roared and I flattened my ears and
snarled at them with the rage that filled my chest.

Grace bumped my shoulder and I wanted so
badly to show her the expanse of open ground ahead of us dotted in
sage, crevasses, and rocks which would trip her up. I pushed the
image toward her in a desperate attempt to help her see. She
brushed my shoulder again and I felt the image pass from me to her
with the contact. She fell back in surprise, then surged forward
and ran so that her shoulder was constantly against mine. I passed
what I saw to her through our contact. I don’t know how it worked,
but I was grateful that it did.

With the images showing her the obstructions
in her path, Grace picked up speed until she practically flew over
the ground, missing the objects with ease and cat-like litheness. I
kept pace with her as we dipped into a large gully, darted up a
sandy bank a few turns down, then disappeared into another
crevasse. The sounds of pursuit faded, then died away altogether,
but we continued to run until we had left them far behind.

Grace slowed when I did and I passed her
images of the setting sun seen through the grays, blacks, and
whites of wolf vision. We walked across caked, hard dirt that our
wide paws crossed easily without leaving tracks. A thump sounded in
the distance and a desert hare darted between prickly bushes
leaving only the scent of dried desert plants, a dark, cool dirt
lair, rabbit musk, and fear when we passed.

We walked slowly toward the mountains as the
moon rose and cast the land in a ghostly gray. My animal eyes
picked out every detail of the darkening night, and my nose
categorized scents I had never smelled before while my brain filed
them away for later reference.

I had forgotten about the bullet in my leg,
but as the adrenaline began to fade, the constant ache returned and
I began to limp again. Grace pushed against me to help me keep my
weight off it, but we finally had to stop about a half mile from a
small town nestled against the mountain. I looked around and Grace
leaned against me to follow my sight. A truck with only three
wheels sat axle deep in the sand about twenty feet away. Rust ate
at the faded blue paint and it was obvious no one had been there in
a long while.

Grace left my side and walked slowly in the
direction of the vehicle, her nose outstretched until she touched
its side. She then followed the edge of the harsh metal around to
where I couldn’t see her. I settled on the sand still warm from the
absent sun and waited.

“
Okay, you’re turn,” Grace
called from inside the truck. She sat up and pulled the edges of a
ragged coat closer to cover her bare skin.

I stood up uncertainly and glanced at the
truck, not sure how to start. Grace listened for a minute and when
it was obvious I didn’t phase, an understanding smile touched her
lips. “Just remember what it feels like to be human. Remember your
hands, your lips, your fingers, the things that separate you from a
wolf. Concentrate and your body will remember them also and want to
go back to that form, then you just let it.”

It sounded easy, but my wolf form was
reluctant to let go. Images of the running hare flashed through my
mind with its scent, begging me to give in to the thrill of the
chase. A warm breeze tickled across my nose, telling of a small
herd of deer in a valley not far from us. The moonlight warmed my
fur like the sun did my human skin and I closed my eyes and basked
in the warmth for a brief moment.

“
Kaynan?”

I came back to myself at her voice and
pushed the images from my mind. I took a steeling breath and called
forward the things she had told me. I pictured my hands, the way
they held a pool stick and hit the ball with a proficiency I was
improving with each match against my friends. I remembered Renee’s
fingers on my arm, tracing a scar I had gotten playing in the lot
behind our house. I felt my feet in cleats, tearing into the turf
during football with my high school team before I dropped out to
hang out with my friends instead. I felt my sister Colleen’s hair
under my fingers when I hugged her and told her that she was better
off without a boyfriend who cheated on her.

A tear rolled down my cheek when the phase
was complete and I curled in a fetal position on the warm sand in
my human form. As much as my leg ached, my heart hurt worse. I
wiped the tear away and rose, realizing that yet again I needed to
find clothes. This was going to get old.

“
You decided not to stay in
that form?” Grace pushed open the creaky driver’s door of the
truck. The old brown coat she had found was ragged and torn, but
with the buttons done up it protected her for the most part. I
tried for once in my life to be a gentleman and pretended not to
notice anything that wasn’t covered.

“
The beast inside me now
matches the one without, so I guess I was getting comfortable.” I
grimaced and pulled a spiky burr from my arm.

“
You’re not a beast,
Kaynan.” She paused. “How did you do that, anyway?”

“
Do what?” I asked,
distracted by our location which looked to be as close to the
middle of nowhere as we were before.

“
Show me what you were
seeing. That was amazing.” She gave me a tentative smile. “Does it
work when you’re in human form, too?”

“
I’m not sure.” I took her
hand and tried to pass her the image of the scraggly tree directly
in front of us, but I couldn’t find the link we had before. I
finally gave up. “Guess it only works when I’m a wolf.”

She sighed. “Well, it was wonderful
anyway.”

I glanced at her. “Other werewolves can’t do
that?”

She shook her head. “None that I’ve ever
met. It must be something from the lab, a chromosomal alteration or
something.”

“
Great, I’m a freak even in
the werewolf world.”

“
You’re not a freak; you’re
a good person,” she said sincerely.

I rolled my eyes and studied our location.
The town was still a half mile off, which was a long distance to be
traveling naked at night. “Any more coats in that truck?” I asked
hopefully.

“
No, but there might be
something behind the seat. I was afraid a raccoon or something
would jump out if I searched there.”

I fought back a smile when her voice
tightened at the thought. I walked to the truck and she got out the
other side, her hand on the cool metal. I peered behind the seat,
but found only an old gallon jug of water and a flashlight with
dead batteries.

I climbed back out. “Two mostly naked people
are going to be quite suspicious.”

She gave me a half-smile. “Did you find some
clothes then?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. Not even a
hat.”

Her lips pursed. “Hmm. That would've been
useful.”

“
As it is, I’ll have to go
back and find the rabbit.”

She laughed. “I don’t think he’d appreciate
being used that way.”

“
Isn't that how the
Scottish do it?” I pressed.

A soft blush stole across her cheeks and she
rewarded me with another laugh. “I’m pretty sure the animals are
dead, and you’d have to wear a kilt.”

“
Well, I’m out then.
Hopefully the people here have an open mind.”