“Nikki!” Liam roared. “Get out of there. NOW!”
Chapter 38
Ijumped to my feet, heart walloping each one of my ribs. “Why? What happened?”
In the cell across from us, the coroner had his back bent at an unnatural angle while his wife was hunched in child’s pose at his feet.
“Nikki!” Liam ran into Bea’s cage and yanked on my bicep so hard I heard a shallow pop.
As he dragged me out, I peered over my shoulder at Bea, whose face was no longer human. She emitted a sound between a whine and a growl, her elongating fangs refracting the white, fluorescent light on the ceiling. “Wait, Liam. Wait.”
He didn’t.
Even though her elbows were bent the wrong way—the human way—Bea lowered her bony haunches, and this time, her growl was unmistakable. She launched herself at us just as Liam swung the door closed. Even though Bea made no move to jump again, he fisted the door while Apple jiggled the key in the lock.
The crackle and hiss of burnt flesh had me sucking in air. “Liam, your hand!”
Once the latch clicked, he pulled his bubbling palm away from the silver, leaving blood and pieces of skin that Bea sniffed before lapping up, reddened drool coursing down her rubbery lips.
He finally removed his vise-like grip from my arm. “I shouldn’t have let you go in there.”
Chill after chill swept up my spine. “How long was she in skin?”
Darren walked over with a tube of ointment and gauze. “Twelve minutes.”
“Twelve minutes? I thought Lori’s blood gave them hours.” I clutched my elbows. Or tried to. One of them wouldn’t quite bend.
“It does.” Darren’s chest vibrated with a sigh. “Your hand, Liam.”
“Nikki’s arm. I think I dislocated it.”
I swallowed as the pack doctor probed it, then winced when he touched a particular tender spot. Yep, Liam had definitely popped the joint out of the socket. Bea let out a series of soft wails. I met her eyes, the only part of her that was still hers, and read remorse in them, as though she were trying to communicate an apol— “Ow.”
“Good as new, but you might want to ice it. Now, show me your hand, Liam.”
He raised the bloody, singed mess that was his palm, and Darren spread glistening ointment before dressing it in gauze. My Alpha didn’t flinch once, even though he must’ve been in a world of pain.
Bea whimpered again. Whatever violence had taken ahold of her was gone, and in its place sagged a pitiful halfwolf.
I crouched so that our faces were leveled. “Bea, if you can understand me, nod.”
Her oblong head topped with a curtain of human hair bobbed up and down.
“Were you trying to hurt us? Shake your—”
Home. We’re going home. Now.
“No.”
“Nikki . . .” Liam growled.
“Shake your head for no. Nod for yes. Were you trying to hurt us?”
She stayed perfectly still. Only her eyes moved. Straight to Liam. And then a new growl started low in her throat.
“Were you trying to protect me from him?” I asked softly.
She whined and tried to poke her muzzle through the bars but the space was too narrow.
