Wolf's Lady (After the Crash Book 6.5) (11 page)

But she was wrong.

She made it almost two blocks before she broke down in tears. Sand came to a stop and enfolded her in his arms. The hard body that sparked her passion to amazing heights was now a warm comfort holding her in a tender embrace.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffled, gripping handfuls of his silk shirt at his shoulders. The Henderson brothers in the house across the street probably had their noses to the front window, watching at them. They had been known as the neighborhood gossips for years. At least she had stopped in front of the empty lot so no one there could gape at them, and it was too dark for anyone to see much. “I’ll stop in a minute, I promise.”

Her husband stroked her hair with a gentle hand. “No, don’t be sorry, and take all the time you need. I’m taking you away from everything you know and love. That deserves to be mourned.”

He rocked her for a long minute, murmuring loving words into her ear over her sobbing breaths. Maybe that was why he didn’t hear the men coming through the empty lot. He must have caught their scent at the last moment, though, because he lifted his head and began to turn while pushing her so she would be behind him. She felt him jerk against her at the same moment she heard an odd whining sound followed by a muffled bang. Breath hissed between his teeth. Then he stumbled and went down.

She simply stared for a moment, confused by the sight of her strong, feral husband sprawled on his side at her feet. “Sand?”

Dark shapes rushed toward her. She fumbled for her whistle and tried to blow. It came out in a thin, trembling whisper. She gulped in air to try again, but hands clamped onto her arm, dragging the whistle from her lips.

“Stop!” she croaked, and then managed a real scream. “Let me go!”

A lucky blow from her flailing fist landed in a crunch that was both horrifying and satisfying.

“Ow!” a man grunted. “Fucking bitch broke my nose!”

She struggled with renewed hope, but before long she was subdued by two men who stuffed a smelly cloth in her mouth and tied her wrists in front of her.

“Check the man,” one of them ordered. “Be sure he’s dead.”

Her attempt to scream was stifled by the gag. One of the men holding her squeezed his arms over her rib cage with painful force. The pain drove the breath out of her. There was a buzzing sound in her ears that almost drowned out the man holding her. His voice was calm and business-like, even soothing.

“Don’t be scared, lady. We were paid to bring you somewhere, not to hurt you. We’re just trying to earn a living, see? We ain’t Sunday school teachers, but none of us likes hurting women. So as long as you behave, we got no reason to hurt you. So just—”

His voice broke off abruptly and soared into a scream. A heavy weight thudded into him, knocking Amanda off her feet. Her eyes blinked wide at the sight of the wolf. She rolled over the sidewalk to get out of the way as he tore into a man with bloody rage. That hadn’t been buzzing in her ears, it was Sand, growling in his wolf form. Dear God, he was frightening. She pulled and tugged until the gag fell out of her mouth.

“Sand!” she shouted. Or tried to shout. It was more of a wheeze. “Sand!”

She wasn’t sure how long it was before the animal left his prey and trotted over to her, whining and pushing his warm wet nose into her cold face. The beast lay down beside her with a heavy sigh, put his head on his paws, and shimmered into Sand.

“Sand!” She crept forward and reached her bound hands to touch his shoulder. His shirt was ripped and wet with a warm thick substance. In the dark she couldn’t see well, but it had to be blood. “Where are you hurt? What happened?” She looked wildly around for help, but there were only three lumps on the sidewalk. Their attackers looked like spilled laundry piled on the concrete. “Sand? Please, talk to me!”

“I’m okay.” His voice was a groan, but hearing it was better than listening to her favorite music. He was alive. “Shot. In the side. I’ll be better soon. You. Okay?”

“Fine.” The worst she had was bruises. “Oh, God.”

She had to get him help. This time when she raised the whistle to her lips she blew a clear, shrill blast. She did it over and over until Sand’s hand caught her wrist.

“Stop. I hear horses coming. Wipe the blood. Off my mouth.” He seemed to struggle for every word, stopping to gasp for breath. “Don’t wanna. Advertize. How I killed. Those men.”

By the time two guardsmen on horseback arrived she had cleaned his face with the tail of his tattered shirt and settled his pants, torn and twisted from his shift to wolf and back to man, into place. She held her bound hands up as the first of the Guardsmen hurried to her. Thank goodness it was Dean Erikson. She had known him when they were both kids living in this neighborhood. In fact, she’d had a bit of a crush on him... Oh, God, why was she thinking about that when Sand was hurt?

“Lieutenant Erikson!” she cried. “Thank God you’re here! My husband and I were attacked. He’s shot. We need to get him to the hospital.”

Dean cut the rope binding her and then the two guardsmen worked quickly to examine Sand and wrap cotton around his chest. They took two agonizingly long minutes to record the scene in their notebooks, then snapped open a sling that they suspended between their horses. Amanda hovered while they lifted Sand and laid him into the sling. She clenched her hands under her chin when she saw his head, face slack, loll limply to his shoulder. He couldn’t be hurt badly. He had just spoken to her. Was he faking? Oh, please God, let him be faking!

The younger guardsman lifted her to sit behind Dean, who patted her knee where it rested behind his on the horse. “Don’t worry, ma’am,” he said bracingly. “We’ll get him to a doctor right away.”

Amanda was worried more than ever. If Sand were awake, he would have growled at the guardsman for touching her.

“Hurry,” she ordered them. “Please, hurry!”

Sand was taken immediately into a room at the hospital, but the doctors told Amanda she had to wait outside while they examined him. The two guardsmen stayed with her in the second floor waiting room. She considered Dean Erikson a friend. They had gone to grade school together and he’d been an eighteen year old junior guardsman they’d had a shy flirtation both knew would never go anywhere. His pay grade wouldn’t support a pet dog back then, much less a wife, and she was on her way to a bordello. Now, seven years later, he’d moved up in the food chain to the rank of Lieutenant. But he’d never been one of her appointments.

“Please sit down, Mrs. Wolfe,” he said now. “I’m so sorry to have to disturb you at a time like this, but we have to ask you some questions.”

Amanda nodded. Their interrogation was keen and specific. She answered honestly about the three men, what they had said and done, but when it came to how her husband had defeated three armed opponents, she was vague. They wrote her answers down with no sign of suspicion.

Dr. Walsh came to find her. “Your husband has a bullet in his side that cracked two ribs on entry and nicked the lung. We are going into surgery immediately.”

She stood up so fast she almost lost her balance. “Oh, God,” she breathed. “That sounds bad. How bad?”

The doctor’s face was grave. “It can be a very dangerous wound, but Mr. Wolfe is young and strong. He has a chance of making a full recovery.”

That meant there was a chance he wouldn’t recover. “Oh, God!” she cried.

“I’ll come back when there is more news,” the doctor said, and went away.

“Coward.”

Amanda didn’t realize she had spoken out loud until Dean took her arm. “I’ve noticed that not all doctors have a comforting bedside manner. Sit down, ma’am. Your husband is in good hands. I need to go and brief the crime scene investigators, but Corporal Jones will stay with you. Be strong.”

Only two minutes after he left, Sky came up the stairs at a dead run, with no coat or tie, his shirt mostly unbuttoned. His cousin, Snow, was right behind him. “Amanda! What happened? Where is he?”

She flung her arms around Sky’s neck. “Sky! Sand was shot! He’s in surgery now. He … he might die.”

He squeezed her tight. Snow came and draped his arms around both of them. “No, cousin, he won’t die. Our family is hard to kill. I bet he’ll be up and about before you know it.”

Right. Sky told her years ago that wolf warriors recovered from injury very quickly. Her heart began to slow its wild beating. She gave Snow a wobbly smile. But not everyone knew what Sky and his cousins were. She put one arm around Snow and pulled both he and Sky closer to whisper. “Sand turned into a wolf and killed the three men who attacked us. He doesn’t want anyone to know how he killed them, but anyone looking at the bodies would know he didn’t use a knife or a gun, and Dean Erikson is going to find out.”

Comprehension immediately came into Sky’s face. “Where are they?”

“By that empty lot only a couple of blocks from my house.”

Sky nodded. “Snow, go there. Be sure some wild dogs find them.”

“What? Dogs?” Amanda tried to keep her voice down. “Why? He should bury them!”

“No, the Guards will find fresh graves pretty quickly, but if we can get the bodies mauled by wild dogs, no one will know how they died.” He nodded at her blink of realization and turned back to Snow. “Then come back here.”

“And bring Sara back with you. She’s a nurse. She can help Sand. And it gives you a reason to leave and go in that direction.”

Snow smiled at her. “You’re pretty sneaky for a city girl,” he said approvingly. “I’ll bring Sara, but on the way there I’ll let my wolf out. He can run faster.”

They broke apart. Sky slapped Snow on the shoulder and spoke loudly for the corporal’s benefit. “Hurry then and fetch Miss Nelson. Sand will be glad to have family nearby when he comes out of surgery.”

Snow nodded and left. Amanda drew a long unsteady breath and settled down to wait for news of her husband’s condition.

She leapt up every time someone walked past the waiting room. Sky sat in a chair nearby, his head in his hands, but when the tears she’d held back for so long spilled, he was up immediately and at her side.

“Amanda,” he said soothingly. He pulled her to his chest and held her there. “It will be alright.”

She wiped the tears away angrily. “It better be. If anything happens to Sand, I’ll kill him!”

Sky smiled a little. “You’ll kill your husband?”

“No.” Mindful of the City Guardsman sitting in the corner, she dropped her voice to a hiss. “Askup.”

Tension tightened the muscles in Sky’s chest. She felt him grow very still against her. “Do you know it was him?”

She shrugged, a quick jerk of her shoulders. “Those goons were paid to kill Sand and take me. Who else would have done that?”

“Do you have any proof?”

“No. Do you think I’m wrong?”

Sky tightened his arm around her shoulders with a small shake of his head. “I think you’re exactly right. What did you tell the City Guards?”

She wiped away the last evidence of tears. “Nothing. Even with proof I couldn’t accuse one of Tim McGrath’s best friends.”

“No,” Sky’s voice was as cold and flat as she felt. “But he will pay. Not now, but someday, he will pay for what he’s done to you and Sand.”

Another hour crawled by, while Amanda went from staring a hole in the waiting room door to wearing a path in the floor. She was sitting when the door opened to allow Snow and Sara to enter. She sprang up and rushed to Sara.

“Amanda!” Sara gave her a fierce hug. “This is terrible! How is Sand?”

“I don’t know!” she burst out. “No one has told us a thing.”

Sara squared her shoulders in the prim gray cotton uniform. “I’ll find out. They’ll talk to me.”

Only a few inches over five feet tall, and just sixteen years old, some might try to brush off the girl in the novice’s uniform, but Sara’s expression said they wouldn’t have any luck with it. Amanda felt a swell of relief crash over her. Sara would find out.

Snow stood close to Sky, speaking quietly into his ear. Sky nodded from time to time, face expressionless. Amanda barely noticed them because the waiting room door opened, and Sara came back, her hand firmly clamped around the arm of a man wearing a blood smeared white apron over his clothes. With them walked elderly Sister Roberta, wrinkled face set in its usual stern expression.

“Cousin,” Sara said in voice like a general giving orders on the battlefield. “This is Dr. Rogers. Sam, this is my cousin, Amanda Wolfe.”

The doctor looked tired. He shook Amanda’s hand, and nodded at Sky and Snow who came forward. “Your husband is out of surgery. We’ve removed the bullet fragments and done as much repair as we could.”

Amanda clenched her hands together to control the tremble. “They said before that his lung was hit?”

“His lung hasn’t collapsed. It is a concern, however. We don’t know if our repairs will be enough for him to fully recover.”

Sky put a hand on her shoulder. “Mandy,” he said, and for once she didn’t hate the nickname. “He’ll recover. I told you, we’re strong.”

“You must trust in God,” the nun told her. “Pray to Our Lady for your husband’s recovery.”

Amanda was saved from making a very impious retort by the door opening yet again. Her mouth fell open when Judge John Case walked in, followed by Lieutenant Dean Erikson.