“So why did he wait this long to kill you?”
“Reluctance to kill his own sister? I don’t know.”
The morphine hit. I started to drift, swirling down into the depths of slumber. I started awake when Avery kissed me.
“Get some rest,” he murmured, his breath warm on my cheek. “We’ll be back to see you tomorrow.”
“Kay.”
I both heard and felt him leave the bed, and my room, the soft squeak of his shoes on the tiles. My pain slid away as if oiled as I drifted once again on the tide of sleep. If a nurse came in to check on me or draw blood I didn’t know it.
***
“Mom!” Declan held up a kitten. “Wendy wants to give you a kiss.”
I obliged him by giving the squirming cat a swift kiss between her ears. “Can I have a kiss from you, too?”
He immediately dropped the cat and puckered his lips. Smiling, I kissed him, then fended off a happy, tail-wagging Max, who wanted a kiss as well. Though I didn’t want any lip action from him, I caressed his head and ears instead. Leaning heavily on Avery’s arm, I made my slow way into the TV room where Declan’s teenaged babysitter had been doing her homework.
“Hi, Ms. Maxwell,” she said, gathering her books. “I hope you’re better after your accident.”
I gave her a quick smile. “I am, thanks.”
Still weak and in some pain, I sank to the sofa while Avery walked her out. Max tried shoving his nose under my arm butpetting him proved to be a bit much. I laid on my back and shivered as he pressed his cold nose against my neck.
“Max,” Avery thundered. “Quit that.”
“He’s just happy to see me,” I murmured. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay if his antics split your sutures.”
“I’m almost healed.”
Avery bent over and kissed me. “You’re a tough thing, I’ll give you that.”
As he commandeered Declan, took charge of making dinner, and ordered Max into the backyard, I rested with my eyes closed. Off the morphine, the pain killers my doctor prescribed hardly did its job. I ached, and heaped curses upon Carter’s head and soul for making me suffer.Paybacks are a bitch, brother mine.
Detective Jenkins assured Avery and me that all county, state, and federal cops were looking for him. With my eyewitness testimony that Carter had committed murder, he’d likely face the death penalty once caught and tried. Yeah, I planned to testify at his trial.If I don’t kill you first, that is.
I might be death on wings, but was my sibling also a dragon? He had to be, right? Unless we were only half siblings – my father wasn’t my father, or my mother not my mother – Carter was also a dragon. Did he know of his heritage? Until his goon forced me into shifting, I didn’t know I was a dragon.
“I made mac and cheese,” Avery said, standing by the sofa. “Hungry?”
“Not for that.”
I witnessed his dejection cross his face and carefully sat up with a small grin. “But I bet it’s delicious.”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”
“You’re right. But it’s also the truth.”
Nor did I lie. His cooking tasted wonderful, despite my lack of enthusiasm for mac and cheese yet again. I downed twoplates and three wieners accompanied by bread with butter and tea. Avery watched me eat with a faintly smug expression, then helped me back to the sofa.
“One thing about mac and cheese,” he said with a grin. “Cleanup is easy.”
I listened to Avery’s and Declan’s horseplay as they tidied the kitchen while I pondered a means to my vengeance.His ego will bring him to me. He can’t risk keeping me alive. By now he knows I’ve spilled my guts to the cops. If he’s arrested, he’ll never make bail.
If he’s a dragon? No jail can keep a dragon contained. I doubted the council’s decree against permitting humans to see us will stop Carter from shifting and bringing the jail’s roof down on everyone inside it. I frowned, wondering how to save Carter from being arrested.
