Stunned, his sword tumbled slowly from his grasp, clattering loudly to the floor. As he looked down at the blade in his chest in disbelief, Karissa found it impossible to read all the emotions she saw on his face, but panic was definitely one of them.
Karissa felt Hale move over to stand beside her as Bagley collapsed to the floor in a heap. Before she could even wonder if there was any chance he might get back up, the man’s body began disintegrating right in front of them, his skin aging and wrinkling until he looked every day of his two-hundred-and-seventy-years, hair going gray and then pure white. In less than a minute, Thomas Bagley—the human personification of a Greek god—was a desiccated shell of a man who looked like he’d been dead for a very long time.
Karissa let her sword fade away and then turned to pull Hale into her arms, terrified at how much he was bleeding but needing to hold him anyway.
“I thought you were…when he stabbed you and you didn’t get up…I thought…” Karissa knew she was babbling incomprehensibly but couldn’t stop.
“I’m okay. The wounds are already healing,” he whispered, pulling her closer and pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “I’m sorry for taking so long to get to you but changing back into my human form while I’m injured is more difficult than I thought it would be.”
She pulled back to look at him, only then remembering the whole big furry wolf thing. “You turned into a wolf. I thought you said you’ve never been able to do that.”
“I was worried I wouldn’t reach you in time, so I took a risk and tried a full shift,” he said softly, one of his hands coming up to cup her face, thumb caressing her lower lip. “It worked.”
“That sounds incredibly foolish,” she murmured, going up on her toes to kiss him, her hands resting on his warm chest. “But it did work and you’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
She leaned in to kiss Hale again when she heard the soft tread of approaching footsteps. She looked over to see Lorenzo coming toward them. He was walking with a slight limp, holding one hand to his back in obvious discomfort.
“Yeah, I’m okay, too,” Lorenzo said as he stopped a few feet away, clearly hesitant to get too close to Hale. “In case anyone was wondering.”
“I’m really glad you aren’t hurt,” Karissa said, realizing that she genuinely meant it. “So don’t take this the wrong way, but what are you even stilldoing in Dallas? I figured you’d be on a plane back to Chicago with Mom and Dad by now.”
Her brother had the decency to look embarrassed as he shook his head. “I’ll admit, when I left Hale’s apartment after that argument, I had every intention of going straight home. But halfway to the airport, I realized there was no way I could leave my little brother and sister to handle someone like Bagley on their own, so I came to help. I didn’t end up doing much, but I knew I had to try.”
Karissa took a breath to point out that maybe he should have thought about helping a long time ago, but before she could get the words out, the sound of approaching sirens interrupted her.
She turned back to Hale, still amazed he’d shifted into a wolf to save her life. “It sounds like this place is going to get crowded in a minute, so maybe you should go find your clothes.”
Hale kissed her, a smile tugging up the corners of his lips. “That’s probably a good idea. I’m not sure how I’d be able to explain why I’m naked and covered in blood.”
Taking her hand, he started in the direction he’d come. She and Hale had barely gone more than a few feet when the sound of Lorenzo clearing his throat had them turning around.
“Um, speaking of explaining things,” her oldest brother said. “What are we going to say about the two-hundred-year-old corpse on the floor?”
Karissa looked questioningly at Hale.
He shrugged, then glanced at Lorenzo. “Well, you said you came to help, so we’ll leave it up to you to figure out.”
Her brother seemed less than thrilled with that idea but didn’t say anything.
Still holding Hale’s hand, Karissa turned and walked away with her soul mate.
Chapter 25
There was a touch of coolness to the late-October air as Karissa and Hale walked into the back of the SWAT compound to drop off the extra bags of burger and hot dog buns that Mike had asked them to pick up on the way to the cookout. They’d just started walking across the compound, waving at all the people already gathered there—including Deven, who was playing volleyball with some of Hale’s pack mates—when Tuffie came running across the grass to greet them with a big grin on her cute little doggy face.
Tuffie was the SWAT team’s official mascot. Hale had told her the tear-inducing story of how several of his pack mates had found the pit bull mix barely alive at a crime scene almost two years ago. They’d rescued the lovable pooch from death’s door and had been taking care of her ever since. The whole pack took turns taking Tuffie home with them, making sure she knew exactly how much she was loved. Tonight was Karissa and Hale’s turn to host the little cutie, and Karissa couldn’t wait.
Tuffie ran around them a few times, stopping to give the bags of buns a good sniff, then waited for pats from each of them before turning and runningat full speed across the compound to join all the other pets gathered around the grills begging for food.
Karissa was surprised that Carter was manning the row of grills by himself. Hale had said that the Pack took turns cooking at these little parties, but she couldn’t help thinking that he seemed so…alone. Except for all the cats and dogs sitting at his feet begging for scraps, of course.
She and Hale dropped the bags of buns off at one of the buffet tables, then grabbed two bottles of iced tea before heading over to one of the picnic tables near the volleyball game.
“Is Carter doing okay?” she asked, whispering as softly as she could. She knew that werewolves had exceptionally good hearing and hoped that the cheers and laughter around them would help keep Carter from overhearing. “I know it’s only been a little while since what happened at Patterson’s auto plant, but he seems so withdrawn.”
Truthfully, that was an understatement. And after what happened when Carter had gone up against that Balaur, she supposed she couldn’t blame him. But Carter seemed to be so detached. In the several times Karissa had stopped by the compound, she hadn’t seen him say a single word to anyone. She knew that Hale and his pack mates were all worried about him. She was, too.
“Mike didn’t want to talk about it, but when Ipressed, he admitted that Carter is having a hard time holding it together,” Hale said quietly, taking a sip of iced tea. “Mike and Gage are afraid that he might actually leave the Pack.”
