“A stake went through my shoe.”
Fury ripped through him, seizing his muscles, and causing his arm to convulse around Kyle. Isabelle’s eyes widened in surprise as her lower lip began to tremble. “You could have been killed!” he spat.
“I had too,” she whispered.
“Is he going to be all right?” Cassidy asked anxiously, breaking through the sudden tension that radiated between the two of them.
Stefan clenched his jaw as he turned to look at the small girl hovering at Isabelle’s side. Isabelle’s arm was wrapped around her tiny, trembling shoulders as sheheldher tight. Her big blue eyes were wide and bright with tears as she looked anxiously at her twin brother. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly.
He broke free of the woods, striding across the yard towardLiam’s house. Vicky and Abby were walking up from thelake;they broke instantly into a run as they spotted them. “What happened?” Vicky cried. “Ohno, Kyle!”
Tears streamed down their faces as they peered anxiously overStefan’sshoulder at him. Stefan carried him swiftly up stairs as Isabelle hurried forward to slide the glass doors open. Willow rushed to the right, flinging open the closed wooden doors of the living room. Stefan walked briskly in and laid Kyle down on the couch, pulling his shirt over his head so that he could get a better look at the jagged wounds.
“Mom! Mom!” Vicky yelled as she took off up the stairs.
Isabelle hurried to the bathroom, ripping towels out of the cabinet and wetting them in the sink. She rushed back to the living room, ignoring the burning pain in her foot. Her motherraceddown the stairs, her eyes widening in horror as she took in Isabelle. Then sheturned,her mouth droppedas she looked at Stefan.
“Kyle!” She rushed into the living room, falling beside Stefan as she reached out to try and stop the blood flow with her hands. Isabelle hurried forward to hand her mother the towels that she had collected. Her mother took them quickly, her hands shaking as tears slid down her cheeks. “Come on baby,” shewhisperedas she used the wet towels to wipe the blood away. More blood welled up from the wounds, butit was slower than before.
Isabelle bit on her bottom lip, tears streaking down her face as her mother washed the rest of the blood away. The wounds appeared to be healing now, slowly. Isabelle’s hands trembled as she handed her mother another towel. Isabelle’s gaze went to Stefan, instinctively searching him out for reassurance,orsome sort of help. He met her gaze, his eyes dark and turbulent, his face, chest, and abdomen streaked with her brother’s blood as he reached for her. She clasped his hand tightly, immediately comforted by his touch as the heat of his hand burned into her. She choked back a sob as she slumped against the back of the couch.
He squeezed her hand tightly, and released her. The sob tore free of her at the loss of contact. An overwhelming feeling of despair washed through her as her gaze returned to Kyle. Stefan’s wrist was pressed tightly against his mouth, his other hand cradled beneath his head as he held him firmly against his arm. Another emotion began to come forth,an emotion that was just as strong, and just as overwhelming as her fear and despair as she watched how gentle and kind he was being with her brother.
It took her a moment to pinpoint it, a moment to understand what it was, and when she did, it slammed into her gut with the force of a fist. She gasped loudly, her hand flying to her mouth as she fought back the extreme wave of panic that tore through her. Stefan’s eyeswere dark and stormy as they shot back to her. Isabelle stared back at him, her gaze rapidly searching his blood streaked face.
She loved him, she truly did love him. Isabelle forced herself to take a deep breath before she fainted, or threw up. She didn’t knowhowor when it had happened, but it had. It scared the hell out of her. She started to tremble with fear, and the overwhelming emotion of love that was tearing through her. She hadn’t wanted this, had never wanted to be this vulnerable to anyone, but she did love him. She knew in that moment that she would die for him,andthat she would surely die without him. She needed him as much as she needed blood, as much as she needed her family. The need was stunning in its ferocity.
“Isabelle,” he said gently.
She forced herself to push the emotion aside as she focused on her brother again. The wounds seemed to be getting better by the second as her mother took away a towel that was only splotched with blood, not saturated. She could see sinew starting to rebuild, closing the wound that had gone straight through before. Relief flowed through her, leaving her weak and trembling as she placed a hand against the back of the couch, leaning against it for support.
“What happened?”
Isabelle turned as Kathleen, Delia, and Jess appeared in the doorway. Jess’s eyes locked on Isabelle, hatred blazedthrough them as they quickly took in the fact that she was wearing Stefan’s shirt. A small tremor rocked Isabelle as the force of that hatred slammed into her. A low growl sounded from behind her and Jess’s eyes instantly darted to Stefanandwidenedin surprise. Isabelle turned tohim;his jaw was locked with fury, his eyes blazing with anger as he glowered at Jess. For a moment, the room was filled with a tense fury that shook her, and Isabelle found herself frightened that he would snap.
“We need to call an ambulance!” Kathleen cried, breaking the tension as she spun toward the kitchen.
“No!” Stefan snapped, halting Kathleen in mid stride. She turned back to him, her eyes wide in disbelief. “There will be no ambulance. There is absolutely nothing wrong here. You have seen nothing, you know nothing. All of you need to go back upstairs and stay there for the rest of the day. Now!”
Isabelle jumped as he lashed out the last word. Fury radiated from every inch of him as he glared at Jess, a muscle twitchedinhis cheek, and a vein throbbedin his forehead. Isabelle reached instinctively to squeeze his hand in an attempt to soothe some of the anger from him. He turned slowly toward her, his eyes blazing. For a moment he remained rigid, but then his jaw relaxed, and his eyes slowly returned to black. Her hand tightened on his before she released him and turned her attention back to the doorway. Jess, Kathleen, and Delia were already gone.
She turned back around as her mother lifted the towel from Kyle’s chest to inspect the wounds. They were healing even faster now. Relief started to claim her, but she was scared that it was too soon to hope that he would be okay. A loud pounding on the back steps jerked her head around as everyone came rushing through the glass doors. Her father’s face went white ashis eyes landed on Kyle. “No!”
Isabelle stood silently as he rushed toward her mother’s side. “What happened?” Ethan demanded.
“The bear trap,” Isabelle whispered.
Ethan’s eyes widened. “Damn it! We should have taken care of that thing!Why would they go near it?” hedemandedfiercely.
Everyone turned to look at Cassidy as she stood huddled behind Stefan; tears streakedher face as she trembled fiercely. “We just wanted to take a look,” she sobbed.
Vicky walked overand wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders, pulling her tight against her side. “Is he going to be okay?” David demanded.
“I think so,” Stefan said slowly.
Isabelle couldn’t stop herself from reaching down to him again. She needed to touch him, needed to feel him, and be reassured by his presence. His shoulders stiffened as he seized hold of her hand, clasping it tightly, and refusing to release her. “Do you want me to do that?” her mother asked anxiously, waving toward Stefan’s wrist.
Stefan looked at her and shook his head. “My blood is stronger, it will help more.”
