Now, I registered Boone’s loss like I’d just lost a limb. I wanted him in here, holding me. Talking through what happened. Reassuring me that everything was going to be okay.
Instead, he’d left. Literally ran out.
And before he’d gone, he’d made it sound final.
I’ll stay out of your life.
My entire body shook, and tears flooded down my cheeks. How could he say that?
Except I knew what he was thinking. Boone had a deep belief that he was a danger to the people he loved. He’d fought with and badly hurt his father when he was just sixteen. Teens were dramatic as fuck anyway, so traumas that happened during those years shape beliefs about everything. Left scars that didn’t heal.
Boone’s definitely hadn’t healed. Then he’d said he’d hurt that stalker in New York years later. That was why he’d put himself into self-imposed isolation up on the mountain.
We’d talked about it. I thought he’d been able to move past it, but I guessed I was wrong.
Damn him! How dare he walk out on me, especially at a time like this?
The tears that hadn’t come during the entire ordeal suddenly came on like a flood. My face crumpled. A sob surged up.
“He left. He fucking left.”
The sheriff looked over from where they stood over Marty. I hadn’t met either of them before, but I presumed he was one of the wolves since he’d commanded Boone to shift. Maybe the other guy, too, since he’d said it in his presence.
“I’m sorry. Summer?” He stepped over Marty’s body and held out his hand. “I’m Levi. I’m Boone’s pack brother. This is Kyle–he’s Cody’s father-in-law.”
That meant… Riley’s dad. Surely he knew about shifters then.
“Looks like he hit you good,” he said. “You need me to call an ambulance or want us to take you to the hospital?”
I reached up, winced when I touched my cheek, then kept right on crying. “It hurts, but nothing’s broken,” I got out between sniffs.
“I can call Audrey to meet us when we get back to town. You met the doc already?”
I nodded, making my head throb.
Knowing they were on my side helped. I definitely had PTSD from Marty and his cop friends who I knew wouldn’t have helped me if I ever called 9-1-1 when he got violent.
“Boone shouldn’t have run off,” Levi said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He, uh, has issues from when he was young.”
That just made me cry harder. I was crying for Boone. Crying for the loss of Boone.
“I know,” I sniffed. “His dad. That’s no excuse to walk out on me when I need him most.”
Both Levi and Kyle winced. “Yeah, that was bad. But he’ll be back once he has his head on straight. If not, I’ll kick some sense into him.”
The tears kept streaming down my face. I was sure it was part release from getting kidnapped and beaten, but all of my focus went into grief over Boone.
He left me.
Left me.
How could he? After all those times he said mine?
I shivered from the cold pouring in through the broken window and the grotesque scene on the floor.
“Shit. Glad you called, Levi. Also got a call from Cody. How’d you find them?”
All three of us turned at the voice.
