Only Witness, The (24 page)

              “We're going to get you home and everything is going to be fine.” Deacon brought Vera's knuckles to his mouth, kissed them. “I know that you probably don't want to talk about it, but we need to know about the... thing who attacked you.”

              “It was the same thing as before. I was on the porch, I couldn't breathe in the house. Oh God, Piper. I left her in the house.” Her voice rose, panic obvious on her face.

              “I'll go,” Houdini spoke up.

              “I shouldn't have gone outside. I just couldn't breathe, I couldn't. I needed the air, but I should have known better. I should have thought.

              “Hey,” Deacon's voice came out firmer than he intended as he released Vera's hands so that he could cup his face. “This is not your fault, not in any way, shape or form. You got me?”

              She blinked, stared up at him and almost managed to smile. Her lip twitched, Deacon was sure that she was going to cry, but instead she nodded, dropped her eyes down to the ground. He was going to press the point, press it hard, but then Houdini came rushing out of the cabin.

              “We've got a problem,” Houdini announced. “It's empty. There's no body.”

              “It took her,” Vera pulled her hands back from Deacon, covered her mouth. “It took her after it attacked me!”

              “I will handle this, Deacon, if you'll allow me to.” Josiah rested his hand on Adelaide's shoulder. “We will find her, and we will find who took her.”

              Deacon never thought that he'd accept help from Josiah or be grateful for it, yet now he was. He was glad that he didn't have to make a choice between finding Piper and leaving Vera. “Thank you.”

              “There's no need to thank me, it is what family does. Adelaide, do you want to stay with Deacon? I can meet you at the house when I'm done. I'll send someone to keep an eye on the place and you.”

              “Not Michael,” Adelaide said quickly, “I don't like him.”

              “Not Michael,” Josiah agreed.

              Deacon watched as he pressed a kiss to Adelaide's hair, she closed her eyes and smiled in a way he'd never seen before. She really was happy, even if he couldn't understand it. Or maybe he could understand it. It was like what he felt for Vera.

Chapter TWENTY

              The ointment smelled like herbs, not pleasantly so, and burned like a lidocaine injection, except the burning didn't fade after a few minutes, it persisted. Vera felt that normally she had a high tolerance for pain, but this was something else. “Are we almost done?” She demanded, not sure how much more she could take.

              “Nearly, for this application. Right now, it's critical that we get as much of the ointment into the wound and your system as possible. In fact, I've got a tea that I'm going to brew for you. It will also help.” Adelaide continued to slather the ointment on her skin, rubbing it in.

              “I'd rather have something for the pain,” Vera spoke from between gritted teeth as another wave of pain rolled over her. “Fuck, that hurts!

              “I'm sorry, but it's necessary.”

              “I know, I'm just... where's Deacon?”

              “Checking to make sure that all is quiet. It's nearly dawn. Josiah should be back soon to give us an update on the Piper situation. You should try to get some rest.”

              “No. I'm not tired.” Vera had no intention of sleeping anytime soon, not when even a blink took her right back to the attack.

              “Suit yourself. I'll go and brew the tea.”

              Vera hated that she felt a little bit relieved when Adelaide left the room—not that she was entirely comfortable being alone, in fact she got up and shut the shades and curtains tightly, just in case someone was watching. She looked around Deacon's room and felt herself smile.

              The room reflected Deacon, the huge dark wood bed with an ornately carved headboard, which had to be an antique. The Hawke's had lived in Center City for generations, so it was very possible the piece had been handed down. It suited him as did the dark green comforter on the bed. There were several sports awards; he'd played football and he'd been really good at it and there were quite a few nature photographs that were stunning, hung in simple frames on the walls.

              She wondered who'd taken them or if the locations were important to Deacon. There was so much that she didn't know about him and probably never would, not with the gaping wound on her back. It wasn't fair at all, for them to have such an amazing connection and now there was a clock on it.

              “You should be sleeping,” Deacon's voice from behind her startled Vera enough that she whirled around, hand pressed against her chest. “Sorry, didn't mean to scare you.”

              “You're fine,” Vera told him. “I'm not tired. I can't... I can't sleep. Shit, I can't even close my eyes without...” she cut herself off. He had enough on his plate, she didn't need to pile anything else on.

              “C'mere,” he said gruffly as he pulled her into his arms and against his chest. “Close your eyes now.”

              Vera did as he asked, fear heavy inside of her that the horrible images would once again begin to play, but they didn't. She let out a weak laugh, pressed her face against his chest. “I should have known that you'd make it right, make me right.”

              “I'm right here, not going anywhere.”

              “Has Josiah returned?” Vera couldn't help but wonder just how the man thought that he was going to track down a missing body when they had no clue who took it, except there was a slight clue in the fact the person was a Were. It had to narrow the field down.

              “Not yet. It's nearly dawn. I imagine that he'll be here shortly. Are you sure that you don't want to try to get a little rest? I'll stay with you.”

              “No, I'm okay. Have you eaten? Should I make you something to eat?”

              Before he could answer, there was the sound of a knock downstairs. Vera went still, reacting to the suddenly stiff way Deacon was standing. “Wait up here,” he said shortly.

              “No,” Vera shook her head. It was quite possible that they had very little time to spend together, she wasn't wasting any of it hiding. “I'm coming with you.”

              “I just want to keep you safe.”

              “I know and I appreciate that, but I don't want to be away from you, not even a little bit. Is that okay?”

              “You're going to be fine, Vera. The ointment is going to work. You'll need to adjust to changing, but you'll get the hang of it just fine. I think you'll really like it. We're going to be able to run together, to play.”

              “If play is code for fucking, I'm not sure I'm ready to think about getting it on while I'm furry.”

              “I wasn't talking about sex.” He told her with a smile. “It's actual playing, chasing each other or chasing an animal, running and racing, maybe a little fighting.”

              “DEKE!” Adelaide shouted from downstairs. There was no panic in her voice. “Josiah is back!”

              “Let's go see what he has to say.” Vera squeezed Deacon's hand. “I know he's not your favorite person, but the way Adelaide talks about him, she loves him. I think it's the same thing we have.”

              “I do too,” he admitted with a sigh, “which is why I'm going to swallow down my feelings about him for now.”

              “It's the right thing to do, that doesn't mean we have to fully trust him.” Vera squeezed his hand as he laughed. Together they left the room and headed downstairs. Josiah was in the living room along with Adelaide, who was on his lap, Susan and Houdini.

              He rose to his feet at the sight of them. “I wasn't able to find her or any trace of her, and it wasn't for lack of trying. I had all my guys and the pack searching. There was no scent trail from the cabin, which is impossible.”

              “No, it's not impossible. There was no scent trail when Finn was killed.”

              Vera heard the emotion in Deacon's voice, felt it roll over her. He was still so hurt from the loss, so sad that she doubted he'd truly come to terms with it yet. A warning bell rang in the back of her mind, this could be an issue that would affect them as a couple.

              “Do you think that there might be a connection?” Josiah questioned.

              Vera was anxious to hear the answer herself, she couldn't tell anything from the feelings that were rushing into her from Deacon because they were so jumbled. Before he could open his mouth to reply, there was a loud knock on the front door.

              “I've got it,” Houdini spoke up. He drew his gun and held it down at his side. Vera realized that this was life now, guns in the living room with no one raising an eyebrow. If she had to pick a polar opposite for the quiet life that she'd always aspired to, it would be this.

              Lina was on the other side of the door, dressed again in a suit and heels. She walked past Houdini as if she hadn't even seen him standing there.

              “You've got to be fucking kidding me.” Josiah stated.

              Vera watched the way that he was staring at Lina, obviously they knew one another and she wanted to know how. There was a story there, but now wasn't the time to ask for it.

              Lina ignored Josiah, focused instead on Deacon, completely ignoring Vera, although she was standing right next to him. “You have a big problem, Deke. I'm going to call you Deke because right now, I'm about to become your BFF. The body of Piper Douglas was just found inside of New to You, in the window like a display dummy. There's a witness who claims to have seen you fleeing from the scene. There's a warrant being issued as we speak, which gives us a very narrow window. Grab what you can't bear to leave behind, one bag and we're mobile in five.”

              “And we should just trust you?” Vera spoke up. “We don't even know who hired you?”

              “This is a waste of precious time,” Lina rolled her eyes. “Fine, I was hired by The Old Man. He'd found something, I'm not very clear on what, since he's dead and not just dying of cancer. All I know is he wanted Deke out of jail, immediately.”

              There were so many voices speaking at once after that, Vera wasn't sure who was saying what. Next to her Deacon was rigid, her hand had gone numb from the strength of his grasp, but she didn't make a sound or pull back.

              “Enough! Quiet!” Lina shouted above the din. The room fell silent. “Now, it's time to make a choice, Deke. You can come with me and not spend the rest of your life in jail or you can stay here, be dead in six years. I know five is the record, but I think that you can make six.”

              “Deke,” Vera didn't realize she'd actually spoken until every eye turned to her. “You can't go to jail and die.”

              Josiah inhaled deeply. “Deacon, you know the consequence of going with a Stray. You know what it means for you with the pack and with your family.”

              “What does it mean?” Vera asked. She definitely did not like the concerned expression on every face in the room. Adelaide was chewing on her nail, something she only did in the face of extreme stress.

              “It means that we leave Center City, the pack and everyone behind,” he squeezed her hand.

              “If you do it, you won't be doing it alone.” Houdini stepped through the door. “I'm with you.”

              “This is all really lovely but we need to leave, now.” Lina looked Houdini up and down. “Sorry, but we don't have room for another human. One is more than enough. I am assuming that you'll want to bring Vera with you, Deacon.”

              “Damn right,” he replied.

              “You'll take him if you want me to come,” Susan cleared her throat. “You guys are always looking for medical professionals, right?”

              Vera was concerned that Lina would just tell them all to fuck off, leave them for the law. Instead of storming out, the blonde sighed heavily. “Fine, everyone who is coming needs to be ready to go in three minutes. That gives you three minutes to snipe at me, Josiah. Make them count.”

              “I should snap your neck for coming here, for crossing pack lines, MY pack lines.”

              “Please, you've been Leader for roughly thirty seconds,” she replied. “And no one ever complains about “crossing pack lines” when they're the ones who want a favor from The Strays.”

              “Me and mine have never asked The Council for anything,” Josiah was nearly vibrating with anger. Whatever the story between them was, Vera really wanted to know, but time was ticking and not just the three minutes Lina had allotted them. They needed to get their bags, prepare to leave everything behind.

              All at once it overwhelmed her, she'd be leaving behind the only thing she had, leaving New to You. All of those years of hard work, of scrimping and saving. What would become of it? It was all she could think about as she followed Deacon up the stairs into his room.

              Her bag was ready to go and it took Deacon no time at all to toss things into a duffel bag. “Deke?” Vera spoke softly.

              “Yeah,” he walked over to the dresser, took out a wooden box and placed it in the bag.

              “You okay? I mean, you're leaving everything behind....”

              “So are you,” he replied.

              “I'm a little fucking freaked, I'm not going to lie, but I don't see a choice.”

              “There isn't one,” he moved over to her, cupped her face and kissed her. “I don't know what happens next, Vera, but we'll figure it out.”

              “Damn right, we will. Is that all you want to take?” The bag seemed seriously small, guys were easier to pack for, but still, it felt like it wasn't enough.

              “There's one thing,” he admitted as he released her to walk over to the closet. He reached to the top shelf, took down a black bag. “I think that our time is almost up. We should get downstairs. I'm going to ask Adelaide to come with us. Don't look at me like that, Vera. I have to ask.”