“Hello, Brit. My shirtwastorn by a wild animal. Long story.” She looks back at me. “Am I going to be staying here or going home alive?”
Seamus lets out a chuckle, while I shake my head. “Neither. Nobody’s going to hurt you, but we would like to keep you around for abit. You heard incriminating things, and it’s important to be sure that you won’t tell anyone about tonight.”
“I won’t,” she promises. “I’m exceptionally good at keeping things to myself.”
There’s a weight behind her words that makes my brows furrow. Almost as if she already has experience keeping her mouth shut.Interesting.
“Then you won’t be our guest for long,” I say. “Just for a week or so.”
“I have absolutely no reason to trust what you’re saying,” she observes. “How do I know you won’t hurt or kill me if I upset you?”
Excellent question, spoken in a surprisingly calm tone. “You’ll be under my protection. Nobody will hurt you. You’ll see that for yourself.” I crouch down in front of her, my eyes drawn to a small tear in her shirt that kind of looks like teeth marks. There’s a bit of blood right near her collar bone. “What happened there?” I tip my chin at the spot.
She glances down. “One of the wolf pups got nippy. The alpha put him in his place. They’re still learning at that age.”
At first, I thought her wolf story was bullshit; then I read her texts, and now I see the evidence before me. “You really come out here to spend time with wolves?”
She nods. “Yeah. The pack kind of adopted me. I helped the mom of the little ones through a tough delivery, and they decided to keep me after that. I visit them a lot.”
“You want to become a vet?”
“That’s the goal.”
I share a quizzical look with Seamus. There’s something befuddling about her; she obviously thinks she’s facing down death, yet she’s not choosing her words carefully or stumbling. It sounds like we’reacquaintances getting to know each other, not like I’m someone who ran her down like an animal.
“Okay,” I say. “Let’s get going.”
“Do I have to go with you?”
“Yes.” I give her a hard look that warns her not to fight or try to run. I don’tthinkshe will, but then, I don’t really know her.
“Can I stand up, or will you kill me for that?”
Seamus releases a chuckle. A half smile steals across my lips. This one is really something. “You can get up.”
I watch her push to her feet, rising to her impressively short height. She can’t be very far above five feet; practically a dwarf compared to my 6’4.
“One of your arms is hanging considerably lower than the other,” Seamus comments. “You alright, love?”
She glances down at her right arm. “I think it’s dislocated. I was gonna have one of my roommates help force it back in place if I made it home tonight.”
I realize that her arm reallyisdangling low and limp, but Connor was right when he said that dislocations are an excellent interrogation tactic. They’re painful as fuck; I had one over the summer, and it robbed me of my breath. Mira’s just staring at her arm with mild irritation. I start to wonder if she’s in shock; the girl is taking all of thisfartoo well. No tears, no begging. A little bit of panic earlier, but now just calm questions and answers, like she doesn’t give a shit what’ll happen to her.
She doesn’tseemto be in shock, though. She’s alert and keenly focused. A little distant, but not in the hazy, detached state I’ve seen others retreat to when genuinely overcome by shock. Maybe it’s something else?
“Did you hit your head when I took you down?” I ask her.
She raises her eyebrows, giving me a long look. “Oh, no, I’m not in shock. I told you, I’ve been in life-or-death situations before. Like everything, I guess it’s just something a person gets used to.”
I tilt my head to the side. How did she know where my line of questioning was heading?Who the fuckisthis girl?Who would just say that so… freely?
“Can you walk, love?” Seamus asks her, tipping her a wide smile.
She narrows her eyes for a second as she gazes at him. “Jesus, you’re thereallydangerous one here, aren’t you?”
Seamus pauses, his suave smile dropping for an instant, showcasing a flicker of the killer beneath. “What?”
“Yeah, I can walk. It’s my shoulder that’s fucked, not my feet. My arm really does hurt, though. Can I maybe stop by my dorms tomorrow morning before class?” her eyebrows furrow. “Actually… can I evengoto class? I’ve never been a captive before, so this is kind of new to me. If I reiterate that there is absolutelynoway I’ll tell anyoneanythingthat went down tonight, can I go home?”
