“As in, what the fuck made everything go boom?”
The long-haired clone snarls as he paces. “She wasn’t ready for what she got. That crumbly little gnome found every single nit with a bone to pick to pull a Brutus. It ripped the entire community in half. The bulldog is building a new ‘suburb’ for people who don’t like the management. More people will join by the minute—all because the cat won’t give them what they want.”
Ah, that’s what the picture meant—they’re doing to our kitty what she and Lily did to the Cabal.
Rafe’s voice lowers as he pants. “She has monster shields up. If you could feel what she’s like inside, you’d be on the floor. Shredded is the best word that comes to mind, and I only got a peek.”
“Fuck this. I’m talking to her,” Talia says, looking stubborn. “I want her to talk to me now. We’re her family, and we will get through this together.”
“She’s messy. It took me forever to hunt her down.”
“What do you mean, messy? I’m sick of the euphemisms, husband.” Talia crosses her arms over her chest, her temper flaring as she stares our exhausted mate down. “Give it to us straight.”
I’m glad she said it because I’m in no place to respond yet.
“The cat went on a bit of a tear and fried herself out. Note the rain dripping everywhere? She made an enormous fucking thunderstorm.”
“Okay. Messy like that, I can handle.” My primary turns and storms out of the room, leaving me looking at Rafe ruefully.
His lips quirk a bit and he rubs his temples. “Come on, love. Let’s unwrap the kitty and see if we can put Humpty back together again.” Noticing how quiet I am, he stops. “Most of it is superficial. She’s emotionally wrecked.”
I nod at him, following along as he heads back into the main bedroom. The goddess is standing by the bed, waiting for us and tapping her foot. Rafe walks up to the bed and scratches the growly, wet tiger behind the ears, getting her to uncurl from around the lump.
That doesn’t sit well with Talia because she snorts at him. “Oh, hell, Rafe, if you’re going to pussyfoot around, do it somewhere else. I’m not in the mood to coddle people. Nasty shit happened and we’ll deal. We’ll win because we’re better and stronger than they are. Anyone not in on that plan can suck on a lemon.”
She leans over and looks at Aradia, trying to convince her to get off the bed and let us see my wife. The tiger eyes her, not knowing Talia as well as she does me. When it doesn’t move, my primary looks at us in frustration.
“Seriously?!”
I don’t think I’ve ever been so speechless in my entire life, so I don’t respond. My wife gave herself over and over to these people. She made them a home when they were ostracized. Just because she’s not sleeping with them anymore, they allowed the gnome to make her the enemy.
Talk about someone trying to whore out the ones they love.
Sampson leans over and shoos the tiger, watching her lope away to her bed by the fireplace, then sighs. When he pulls the covers back, I can see my wife’s hair is a mess of tangles and static-filled snarls. There’s dried blood in small spots all over her where she got nicked by splinters and various things. There’s a gash above one eye that seems to have stopped bleeding, but it doesn’t matter because she has them squeezed tightly shut. Her arms are wrapped around her knees, but I see the tips of her fingers are blackened as if burned.
“I’m not sure that I’d classify this as superficial, mate.” I give him a dirty look and then turn to my primary. She follows me across the room as we talk internally for a few moments about how to handle this.
I think it’s going to require a softer touch than she was planning on using.
Once we’ve come to a detente, Talia huffs in irritation. “Fine. I’ll back off.” Turning on her heel, she stalks out of the room.
Great. Just what we need—her ass in a snit, too.
Crossing over to the bed, I look at my new mate. “Is she conscious?”
My expression reflects my sadness; my wife is a caring soul. I wish she wouldn’t let people who don’t deserve the honor get to her.
“She’s not been responsive. I think that’s on purpose as I damn near sizzled myself getting to her and pulling her down. She gave up fighting once I did.”
I climb onto the bed, wrapping myself around her and open my heart, inviting her to come out of hiding. Rafe backs off, givingme a small smile and a wave, before he pads out of the room to find his wife.
That’s okay. I think this one’s a job for me and me alone.
My wife lies still and silent, shaking from the overload of emotions. I reach up and stroke over the tangled mass of hair, humming under my breath. As much as I can, I try to draw her into my warmth, as she’s shivering with cold from being in the storm. I sense a whisper of a touch inside, just the tiniest bit, and I sigh, knowing she’s in there somewhere.
My heart aches for her. I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about those ungrateful stooges, but I realize she does, and she’s hurting.
Diving into our bond, I use it to move through the devastation inside her, searching for its source. I hope her body will suck up the warmth of mine to get her body temperature up, and I continue making the soothing sounds. When her skin finally heats a little, I undo the cold, wet clothes. Getting her out of them will help immensely. She has to be stiff and sore from being in this position for so long, but she’s not warm enough to move yet.
