There was a long silence. Fen wasn’t sure what everyone else was doing, but personally, she had a lot to take in. And while she filed away most of it to think about later, when she wasn’t in a swamp, one thing stood out to her.
She marched up to the weird beast he had become and said, “Carter Howe, you lied to me. AGAIN! Turn back into a man this instant. I want to give you a piece of my mind, and I’m not even sure which end I’m talking to.”
She thought she heard a snicker from someone, possibly Merlin. She ignored it. Carter’s lies weren’t funny toher.
“Carter!” Fen snapped.
The beast gave a faint moan. It struggled, legs and wings and tentacles thrashing. The moan became a cry of pain, which cut off sharply when the beast vanished. In its place, Carter sprawled naked on the sand, face-down with his head buried in his arms.
Her anger changed to concern. She put her hand on his shoulder. “Carter! Carter, are you all right?”
He twitched slightly but didn’t lift his head. His words were muffled as he spoke into the crook of his elbow. “You’re still here?”
Stung, she snapped, “What did you think, I’d run off with Norris and jumped in the swamp?”
“No—I just meant…”
Oh. He thought she was rude to sit there staring at him while he was completely nude. “I’ve already seen you naked, remember?”
She glanced around. His own clothes were scattered, muddy shreds. The Defenders were all standing around uselessly gaping at him instead of helping out.
“Hey! Don’t just stand there!” She mentally measured them. “You, Pete. Give him your shirt. It’s big enough that it should cover his, er, well, you’re the biggest.”
“Pete’sstill here?” Carter asked.
“Yes, of course, where did you think—” Fen broke off, realizing what was going on. Either he’d hit his head at some point in all the commotion, or that awful, painful shifting had left him dazed. Gently, she said, “We’re all here. Just lie still.”
“You’reallhere?” He sounded incredulous.
Roland came limping up, supported by Merlin. Roland was so big and dark, while Merlin was comparatively short and extremely blond, that they looked a remarkably odd couple. But Merlin supported his boss’s weight with ease.
“Carter,” said Roland. “Open your eyes and look at us.”
His deep voice had a note of command that made it impossible to disobey. Carter sat up, dropping his arms from his face.
Chapter 15
When Carter had thrownhimself between Fen and the hunters’ guns, he’d known he might be sacrificing his life to save her. He’d been fine with that. Everyone had to die some time, and Fen was more than worth dying for. He’d felt no regret or fear, only calm determination.
When he’d shifted in front of everyone, he’d known that he was embracing a fate worse than death. With his luck, he’d live on, alone, knowing that people he cared about had seen the monster that he was. Even the bone-snapping, muscle-ripping agony of the transformation itself paled in comparison to his shame and misery at the knowledge that he’d been seen.
He’d been seen, but he refused to see in return. It was bad enough knowing what everyone thought about him. He didn’t have to actually watch them recoil in horror and revulsion.
But then he’d heard Fen’s voice, and it wasn’t a scream of horror or an exclamation of disgust. First she’d sounded worried, and then she’d sounded pissed off, and then she’d returned to worried. Who would worry about a monster? Who’d be angry at a monster?
He’d been unable to process it, just as he was unable to believe that any of the Defenders had stayed with him until Roland spoke. But when Roland gave you an order, it was hard to disobey. Bracing himself for what he’d see, Carter opened his eyes.
Fen knelt beside him. Her beautiful face was tense, and she had a hand outstretched as if she wanted to touch him but something held her back. The fear that a tentacle would grab her, probably. It was incredibly brave of her to not have run away already, and that touched him deeply.
Roland was standing over him, leaning most of his weight on Merlin’s shoulder. It was so rare to see the Defenders boss need help that it drove all else from Carter’s mind.
“What’s the matter, Roland?” Carter asked. He was already calculating the time it would take to get to a hospital in a motor boat in case Roland had internal injuries or—
“I twisted my knee when I hit the ground,” Roland replied. “It’s nothing serious.”
Only then did Carter register his expression. He looked deeply exasperated, but not horrified or repulsed. It was a very similar expression to the one he’d worn when he’d discovered that Merlin had procrastinated on filing his reports until he had a stack of half-done ones in his office, and then his bugbear Blue had eaten them.
But Roland was a twenty-year Army veteran. He was a mature, experienced man with a wealth of life experience, including a tragic loss. It would take more than a hideous monster to faze him.
