Roy limped out from behind the group of firefighters. He was as pale as death. Patches of his hair had been burned off. His right shoulder was a bloody mess, and his arms were covered in blisters.
Laurel gave a low cry of relief, and Savannah shouted, “Roy! Damn you! You scared us to death!”
Roy grimaced as he made his way painfully over to them, one limping step at a time, and settled down on the grass with a groan. “Keep going,” he said, his voice raspy. “You were all saying such nice things about me.”
“Well, now we take them all back,” Austin said. “We were only saying that stuff because we thought you were dead. Didn’t mean a word of it. How did you get out of the restaurant? I thought you were wolfburger for sure.”
“I don’t even remember.” Roy stretched his arms out in front of him with a wince of pain. “Woke up on the lawn outside a few minutes ago.”
“What about Jason?” Savannah asked, looking alarmed. “If you got out…”
“That motherfucker’s not going anywhere. He’s still in the storage room. His head is at one end, his body is at the other.” Then he saw Laurel arch an eyebrow. “Really?” he growled. “I don’t get a swear pass for the day?”
“No, but we did start using your swear jar idea,” Laurel said brightly. “Why don’t you shift into wolf form while we wait for the healer? In fact, why don’t we all do that?”
Within a minute, they were all shifted into animal form, curled up on the grass, burned and bloody, patches of fur missing, but alive.
Austin rested his head on Savannah’s flank, breathing in her sweet scent.
And Roy, tentatively, slid his paw across Laurel’s. She let it rest there, and a smile curled her lips.
