Zane hadn’t cried out so he must be okay, that was the first
thought to enter Graham’s mind when he saw his mate lunge towards him only to
be yanked around by the hold the bear had on him. But when he looked down at
Zane, sprawled where he’d been dropped, he saw the shoulder and was by his side
in an instant.
“Owe,” Zane muttered, trying to sit up.
“No, don’t move, I need to pop that back into place,” Graham
said, snarling when Zane’s band members all reached for him. Of course it
wouldn’t have hurt, he suddenly realized, Zane was high as a kite and Graham
still needed to find out what he’d been given, but first, the shoulder. “Back
the fuck off.”
“You back the fuck off, none of this would have happened if
you’d stayed the fuck away from him like we told you to,” Emrys barked, getting
right in Graham’s face, even as he was positioning to realign Zane’s shoulder.
Tobias reached for Emrys, which meant the Dalton reached for
Tobias, while the owl shifter stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled
shrilly.
“Everyone knock it the fuck off before someone else gets
hurt!” the owl bellowed. “Dalton, Emrys, sit the fuck down and let the doc fix
Zane’s shoulder.”
“Thank you,” Graham, said as everyone backed away, giving
him the room he needed to pop the shoulder back into place. When that sound
echoed through the room, everyone flinched but Zane, who didn’t react at all,
the only blessing of the drug in his system.
Graham helped Zane sit up and kept his arms around him in
the hopes of preventing anything else from befalling him today. The stress
their wolves were under was reaching a breaking point, Graham could feel it,
and was certain it was the other reason Zane was shutting down and becoming
less and less responsive. Unless he missed his guess, it had been compounding
from the moment Graham had left him in the RV. They needed calm if they were to
have any hope of settling their nerves, and that wasn’t going to happen while
everyone was itching to kick off the shifter version of the O.K. Corral.
The owl knelt in front of Zane, not touching, but trying to
make eye contact. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Wonderful, now will you please tell us what the fuck is
going on?”
“I messed up,” Zane said softly. “Emrys said his pack had
never believed in all that bondmark bullshit, because there was more to
compatibility than some stupid colorful lines that randomly appeared. He said
we were the ones in control of our lives and that the fates were just
superstition. They didn’t care what happened to us or any shifter. It made
sense, you know, after everything he’s seen, everything I’ve been through. The
fates have never looked out for us. He was wrong about the bondmarks though.
What I did was a mistake. A horrible, miserable mistake. Emrys tied me up for
this wolf he knew, and it sucked.”
The owl shot Emrys a look that made the wolf take a
half-step back. “You didn’t tell us that part.”
“Here’s another part I’m betting he didn’t tell you,” Graham
interjected. “He gave Zane some pills, which is the reason his pupils are
pinpricks like that, and he tied his corset strings so tight some of them
tore.”
“Yeah, he failed to mention that too.”
“Because it didn’t matter,” Emrys growled. “What matters is
those two busting into the place and dragging Zane away!”
“Because my wolf begged him to,” Zane muttered, sounding
exhausted and sad. “And I gave them permission to bring me here.”
“What?” Emrys barked.
“Why?” the owl asked, only he didn’t sound angry, at least,
not at Zane. He seemed curious, and Graham was beginning to get the impression
that he might have one ally among Zane’s band.
“’cause even feeling stupid and disgusting and wishing I
could disappear, I didn’t want to be away from him again,” Zane replied,
leaving Graham completely stunned.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Emrys growled. “Told you all this was
going to blow up in our faces. There goes the band. I hope you’re happy now you
selfish bastard!”
Graham felt Zane flinch, and if that didn’t piss him off
enough, the way Zane hung his head in shame was more than enough.
“I’m so sorry,” Zane whispered.
“Sorry is for when you spill someone’s soda or smoke the
last joint! It’s not for when you wreck years of hard work and turn your back
on the people who love you!” Emrys bellowed. “You won’t get that from him. A
respected physician. An upstanding member of the pack. Do you think they’ll
actually let him keep a throwaway whore like you for his mate? The only reason
we’re allowed to spend winters here is because Brooks adopted you after he
rescued you from your last pack!”
“Out,” the owl ordered, voice like steal.
“You can’t tell me what…” Emrys began.
This time, when Tobias went to snatch him up, no one stopped
him. He dragged Emrys through the ruin of Graham’s door and out into the snowy
evening.
“Dalton, if you’re going be a pain in the ass about this,
you might as well join them, or better still, take the RV to the hardware store
and get the doc another door,” the owl said, shooting a look at the big bear,
who hung his head and nodded.
“Zane, I’m sorry about the shoulder,” the bear said on his
way out the door.
“It’s okay, it’s fine now.”
Graham wanted to holler that it was not okay and to never
grab his mate like that again, but there was so much uncertainty swirling
around them that he kept his mouth shut, if only to keep hostilities from
escalating again.
“Erik?” the owl said, glancing over at the remaining
bandmate.
“I’m stayin’” Erik replied, sitting next to him.
“Hi, sorry about the chaos, I’m Wilder,” the owl said, getting
comfortable. “Sorry you had to meet us this way. This wasn’t how I saw the
afternoon going.”
“Wasn’t on my agenda either.”
“We’ve got some differing opinions on mates among the band,
in case that wasn’t obvious,” Wilder said. “And in my opinion, Zane has been
listening to the wrong ones.”
To read the first chapter of Death Growl free on my website, click here
Book 1: Waiting for Raine is currently available through Amazon and all major booksellers.
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