She blew the smoke at him. “Don’t smart off to a Relic in her own medical lab if you know what’s good for you. There might come a day when you need my help, and I’ll say, ‘Oh! This is the boy who doesn’t like smoking. Maybe he needs to keep driving and find a smoke-free facility.’ My clients can’t die from secondhand smoke.”
Archer looked toward the room. “Is she awake?”
Milly sat in one of the chairs and crossed her legs. “Cecilia’s a tough cookie. She’ll heal up in no time since she’s Breed. The reason she’s passed out has to do with her animal being under. It has a snowball effect on the entire system—psychological and physical. Man and beast must learn to coexist. If one suppresses the other, it creates a hostile environment. But if theanimalis hiding, they’ll pull the human under to protect them in life-or-death situations. It’s a defense mechanism, and this one’s a horse.”
Branching away, Archer walked into the room and found Cecilia sitting on the table, her bare feet hanging down, different parts of her body bandaged, her left wrist wrapped, her ponytail askew, her eye and cheek swollen.
The light in her eyes had dimmed.
“Hey” was all he could manage.
Cecilia stared at her swollen fingers on thehand with the bandaged wrist. “I should have run into the woods. Someone could have been hurt.”
Archer dragged a chair up to the table and sat down so he could look up at her. “You did the right thing.”
“Where is he?”
“Not here. He’s not coming near you. I promise.” After a long stretch of silence, he asked, “Cici, are you okay?”
She met his eyes, and it splintered his heart. “No, Archer. I’m not okay. Will you help me?”
Chapter 15
After leaving Milly’s, the Arrowhead pack drove me to their home. I sat in the middle row, still disoriented and nonplussed as to how the violence had escalated so quickly to the point where he wanted to kill me.
At the bar, I had fought to stay conscious, but my animal kept pulling me under. When I came to the second time, Noah’s heavy tiger was lying on top of me. I couldn’t breathe, and I begged him to get off. His breath heated my face and put me in a state of absolute terror. All those times Noah had warned me that his tiger could rip me apart, and his fangs were just inches away.
Roars, shouts, and chaos had erupted from beyond my line of vision. My lungs constricted from the sheer weight of him, and I slipped into darkness again. In my dreams, I walked alongside my mare. This was her special hideaway, and I realized why she no longer wanted to come out. It was everything I had dreamed for her, and she felt safe here.
But I couldn’t stay.
Now I was lying in a strange bed in a strange room. I’d slept some, but without windows, I had no concept of time. Afterstaring at the night-light for much too long, I flung back the covers.
Stepping into the hallway, I faced a purple door across from my room. There were two more bedrooms to the right in the short hall, so I went left and then stood in the middle of a long corridor. It reminded me of an apartment building I’d once seen in a movie. At the far end, I located the staircase near a window. A blue sky greeted me, and it appeared to be early judging by the yellow light on the treetops.
As I tiptoed down the stairs, voices slowed my descent.
“Is that all that happened?” Tak said, his voice distinctly recognizable.
“We owe the Relic three hundred dollars,” Archer replied.
Once at the bottom, I sat on a step and listened to the conversation in the living room to the right.
Someone sighed.
“If all that was going on, why didn’t she get help?” That sounded like Melody talking.
“She’s an introvert,” Krys grumbled.
“In my day, we called girls like her demure,” Joy chimed in, sounding as if someone had ruffled her feathers. “And it was a compliment. Personality doesn’t affect how a person responds to fear, andanyonecan find themselves trapped in a situation not of their making. Sometimes… thereisno one to help. Humans have shelters and hotlines, but what do we have to protect us? Our Councils? They can’t even stop illegal trades on the black market. I’ve seen my fair share of mistreated women and men. Only the right pack or animal group can offer protection, but not everyone lives in a group. I didn’t for most of my life.”
The next one who spoke sounded like Lakota. “I know a place in Colorado that offers protection.”
“Sure,” Joy countered. “But who knows about them? Nobody. How does that help people if they’re kept a secret? Noteveryone has the means to drive across town, let alone the country. A Packmaster will protect his packmates, but what about everyone else?”
“That’s what happens to rogues,” Lucian said matter-of-factly.
“She had no one to defend her,” Hope countered. “She learned to be quiet and not fight back.”
