If we’d got Chris’s call before I hared off after Dillon, a few things might have been different. Like I would still have all my fleshy bits. Remember what I said about Fate being a bitch.
“Chris went ballistic when he discovered you’d gone after them. All four of us took off; the trail was easy to follow.”
“Dillon stank.” I grimaced. I could still smell his stench, even though I’d washed.
“Yeah. Chris says the madness does it.” Josh rubbed his face. “We found Chloe, unconscious. What he did to her—”
“It was awful.”
He nodded. “Chris told me to stay with her and I was just as happy to.” His gaze locked on mine. “I mean—I worried about you going after Dillon. But I didn’t think there was much I could do.”
I nodded. “They’re enforcers.”
He looked relieved that I understood. “I changed back to human and sat with Chloe, waiting for her to wake up, concerned about what would happen when she did. I expected her to shift, because we tend to when we’ve been unconscious, even if it’s just our extremities that alter. The sooner our conscious mind engages, the faster we regain control.”
Is that why Sam had been watching over me, in case the wulf ran amok?
“It didn’t alarm me when she changed. And to tell the truth, when she first attacked, I assumed she’d mistaken me for Dillon.”
Well, Dillon had black hair in wulfleng form, but Josh had been human. His dark skin and hair, I suppose, could have misled her. But his scent should have told her right off it wasn’t Dillon.
“She’d been brutalized,” Josh explained, as much to himself as me. “She couldn’t be thinking clearly. So I held her off and tried talking to her. But she got worse instead of better.” He leaned forward, patting Keen. “She changed, growling Dillon’s name through those wulf teeth. It made the hair stand up on my neck. So I told her you’d gone after him.” He looked at me. “I thought it would reassure her, that Dillon wouldn’t be back to do—more—to her.”
Oh, man.
“She lost it. Completely. Came at me with her teeth. I couldn’t keep her away. I’m bigger, but I couldn’t control her. She bit my throat and my wulf took over. It tore her loose and flung her.”
Josh hung his head. “She hit the tree hard. At first, I thought I’d knocked her out again, but her body twitched like she was seizing, and I realized a branch had penetrated the base of her skull. She died instantly.”
We sat in silence for a few moments while I contemplated what Josh needed to hear and what was likely the truth. Maybe they’re the same thing.
“Do you think there was anything human left in her?” I asked.
Josh raised reddened eyes to me and shook his head.
“Because it doesn’t sound like it. Sounds as though she’d become as damaged as Dillon.”
He stared at me and huffed a hoarse laugh. “Are you sure you don’t have a long-lost twin named Chris? You guys are like two peas in a pod.”
“Hey, great minds, and all that,” I said.
“He’ll wait until you’ve healed, and then he’ll tear you a new one,” Josh predicted. “He’s still mad as hell you took off after Dillon.”
“Guess I’ll take my time healing,” I said, stifling a yawn.
“That’s my cue.” Josh stood. “Hey, Liam, don’t worry about me, I’ll deal. I’ll just add her to my list of nightmares.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. “Take Keen with you. I’m not good company at the moment.”
He brightened at that, and Keen followed willingly enough, once I told her to go. I’ve gotta get him a dog, I thought, hunching beneath the covers. I drifted off to thoughts of a certain red-haired she-wulf.
15
The next time I woke, my nose told me the body in the chair lacked the attractiveness of the last person who’d kept vigil. This one might threaten my recovery. At least, according to the rumors.
“I know you’re awake,” Chris said. “You’re breathing has changed.”
I sighed and opened my eyes.
“Hello, dead person.”
My eyebrows climbed. “Right. You went to all that trouble to get me through this, only to kill me now.”
He leaned forward. Although he’d schooled his expression into a glower of disapproval, the corners of his mouth twitched. “You seemed determined to complete that job on your own.”
“Touché,” I acknowledged. “Okay, I admit it wasn’t the brightest decision I’ve ever made.”
“If you’ve figured that out, I might let you live.”
I debated pointing out that he would have done the same thing, but I liked living. “I’m sorry I was so dumb. Forgive me, oh exalted one.”
“Now you’re cruising for a bruising.” He grinned—his teeth white against his coppery skin. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been hit by a freight train,” I confessed, sitting up. To my surprise, though, things felt a lot better, especially my ribs.
He noticed my expression. “Wulves heal fast.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.” I looked at him. “Peter?”
He lost his smile. “Still in a coma.” He shook his head. “If I’d dealt with Dillon when I should have, this would never have happened.”
I considered. “That was Peter’s call. And I think Chloe’s ties to Dillon were stronger than we knew.”
“Josh told me about the mate theory. It’s possible, and it would explain Dillon’s obsession with her. They’d known each other a while. A strong mate bond takes time to form, it doesn’t happen overnight.”
“If one mate loses themselves to the wulf, would it affect the other?”
“It could. Although I’m no longer convinced that Dillon just turned wulf.” He studied me for a moment. “How did he seem to you when you found him?”
I remembered when I’d seen him in the bushes. “Huge. Scary. Rank. I’ve never smelled anything like that before. His eyes—he looked completely mad. Insane mad, not just angry. Although the rage came off him in waves.”
“See, that’s what threw everyone about Dillon. Wulfleng that succumb to the wulf don’t go
