Of Flame and Promise (13 page)

Gem’s dad deepened his scowl. “Tomo needs food.”

Momma rose slowly and shook off more damaged fur. Girlfriend wasn’t looking so hot, but her son was much worse. I gathered him to me, trying to keep his body warm with mine.

Momma sat on her hind legs and closed her eyes, her large nose flaring until something caught her attention and she took off into the brush. I waited for her to disappear before speaking, careful to take in our surroundings. “Why don’t you sleep?” I told Pop. “I’ll stand guard.”

He seemed to hesitate. My hand passed along Gemini’s spine. “I’ve slept. You haven’t,” I pointed out.

“The magic you drew was powerful.”

I shrugged. “I s’pose.”

His face tightened. “You’re not weak?”

He wasn’t
were,
but something in the way he carried himself told me he could sense a lie as easily as his wife could. This man had experienced a lot in his life. “I am a little weak still. What helps me most is sleep, which your son made sure I had.” I pressed a kiss on Gem’s bare shoulder. “I can fight if I need to. And I will. I swear it.”

That much I meant. My protective instincts and will to survive were officially in overdrive. If anything was stupid enough to approach us then, I’d likely set this whole forest aflame.

My response seemed to satisfy him. Pop staggered to his feet, hugging his body, and shuffled closer to the fire. Gem squirmed beneath my touch, struggling to inch closer. My lips found his, and my thumb brushed over the skin beside his ear. He couldn’t see how bad he looked, but I’m sure he felt it. “Do you want me to adjust your position?” I asked.

“No. The heat feels good on my back.”

He sounded so weak, and it scared me. “What’s happening to you?”

It seemed to hurt him to speak, but it also seemed like he needed to tell me. “The bullets have gold in them.”

My lips parted. “But the shells were silver.”

He kept his eyes closed, but continued to speak. “They were encased in silver, but I can feel the gold within them.” He swallowed hard. “The silver alloy protects the fragments of gold, fooling my body into healing around them.”

My eyes widened. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. “Gem, I need you to be honest with me….How many times were you shot?”

His head lolled to the side. “At least six. Maybe more.”

Tears blurred my vision as it became clear what was happening. His healing abilities had betrayed him and cocooned the gold within his body. Had all the bullets been all gold, they’d burn the tissue around them, preventing it from fully healing, all the while poisoning his bloodstream. But those would be easy to locate. Aric had once been shot full of gold, and had pushed the bullets out through his skin with a screwdriver.

I tried not to think what awaited Gemini if help didn’t arrive soon. These bullets within him might have been cheaper than actual cursed gold, but they were effective. I couldn’t push or burn them out. I couldn’t do anything with his body trapping and hiding them from us.

I took a few breaths to steady my mounting fury and keep my power in check. “They’ll have to be dug out, won’t they?”

I thought he’d fallen asleep until he answered. “Yes.”

“And your heart?”

“The bullet detonated part of my heart, but that’s a good thing,” he slurred.

“You have to be kidding me.”

“The fragments spread along my chest when it exploded,” he said, his words slow and hard to understand, “away from what remained of my heart, allowing my other wolf to heal the part that was spared….Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made it.”

It was great news in a way. Yet as I pictured fragments of metal scattered along his chest cavity, let’s just say the nurse in me was grateful to be horizontal at that moment. “You need Emme,” I said quietly.

“No. Emme’s power will further encase the bullets within me.” He lifted his heavy eyelids. “I need Shayna. She’ll be able to sense where the metal is. Either she or Celia could dig them out. My brothers won’t be able to without feeling the effects.”

“Celia will do it. Her hands are steady and she can disconnect and focus better than the others.”

I didn’t need to add that Shayna and Emme were more emotional. Or that I was, too, when it came to my wolf. I sniffled a little. There was a reason Celia was our rock. Although she felt very deeply, when we needed her strength, it never faltered. “She’ll make it right,” I promised.

I spent the remainder of the day feeding Gem chunks of ice, in addition to pieces of rabbit, squirrel, and something that resembled a possum. Momma had hooked us up big-time. I ate, mostly to keep my strength up, and not because I felt like eating.

Around noon Gem told us his twin was close to finding our friends. I didn’t remind him that he’d said the same thing at the crack of dawn. He knew as much, and my complaining wouldn’t help him. I hoped the nourishment he received would help him rise so we could trek our way through the forest and closer to civilization, but without his other wolf, he could barely harness enough energy to eat.

Close to dusk, something riled Momma’s wolf. She leapt to her feet, her spine and tail so stiff Pop and I scrambled to stand, expecting the worst. Lightning zapped from my fingertips, sending the fine hairs on my arms to stand on end. My nerves were so on edge, sparks scattered along the frozen earth.

I waited. And I was glad I did. Through the stretch of dense vegetation and darkness, I caught my first view of big Jersey hair. “Here!” Celia called behind her. “I found them.”

Celia shot forward, her tigress eyes flashing briefly in the fire’s glow. I almost broke down when she snatched me in her arms, but her embrace wasn’t what I needed. She realized as much before I could break free and fell to Gemini’s side, dropping the pack she carried beside him.

She nudged his shoulder carefully. “Gem, can you hear me?” She glanced up when he failed to answer. “How long has he been unconscious?”

My voice shook. “I don’t know—a few hours. He was in and out, but then he just seemed to fade.”

She unzipped her pack and fumbled through the contents. “I have clothes.”

“I’ll do it,” I snapped. I didn’t mean to react the way I did, and I’m not sure where the response came from. Thankfully, Celia didn’t appear to take offense. Without so much as blinking, she passed me a thick pair of sweatpants. “Sorry. I’m tired…and angry…and-and…” I tripped over my last few words.

When she squeezed my shoulder, I thought I would lose it. “It’s okay. It’s a mate thing,” she said quietly.

It was as if she’d slapped me across the face with a chunk of bear liver. “What?” I dragged the pants along his legs, struggling against their dead weight.

Celia met me with kindness. “Your need to protect your mate is overtaking your reason,” she said. “Remember how crazy Koda acted if anyone approached Shayna after she was hurt?”

“Crazy” was putting it lightly. I’d considered slapping a muzzle on him.

“I don’t mean to be a prick,” I admitted.

Celia turned from passing Pop a garbage bag stuffed to the brim with what appeared to be more clothes. Despite the fire, we were freezing our asses off. Yet Pop’s hands stopped in the process of tearing open the bag to scowl at me.

“I meant no offense to your manhood,” I added apologetically.

Celia grimaced, making it clear it was time to stop talking. She motioned to Gem. “Are you okay if I put socks on his feet?”

I had built up a sweat just hauling the waistband up to his thighs. It was nuts—and I didn’t want to admit it—but it was like Celia said: I couldn’t handle another female touching him.

Don’t be an asshole,
I told myself.

At my nod, she hurried to slip his socks on. She’d only managed one when Koda, Liam, Emme, and Shayna arrived. They swept in like smoke. Relief should have flooded my system. Instead, all I could do was gasp.

Koda carried Gemini’s twin draped across his shoulders. The large wolf was limp, his tongue lolling over his opened mouth. Celia seized me around the waist, clamping my wrists with her hands. “Taran, don’t. It’s okay, Taran. It’s okay.”

No. It wasn’t.

I fought her hold, my body trembling, needing to erupt in flame.

Liam quickly lowered Emme to the ground, racing toward us. “Celia, get away from her!”

Shayna and Emme approached slowly with their hands out. “Don’t do it, Taran,” Emme urged. “Please calm down, honey.”

“T, pull back your power,” Shayna pleaded. “
Please.
You’ll hurt Celia.”

I grunted, the need to lash out pumping liquid fire through my veins. Celia held tight, her voice surprisingly steady. “She’s okay, aren’t you, Taran?”

I bowed my head, biting through the pain stabbing down to my gut. “Is he dead?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“No,” Celia answered. “But he needs to merge with his other half. Let him, okay?”

She released me, following my half-assed nod.

Koda carefully lay the twin wolf beside his human half, but kept a watchful eye on me, pulling Shayna far from my reach. He perceived me as volatile, unstable, and maybe more.

His perception was dead-on.

“Go to him,” Celia whispered.

I more or less moved to his side out of instinct, dread locking me in a haze. I collapsed near his head, where I could touch both wolf and man. Where Gem’s breaths were barely visible, his wolf’s seemed completely absent.

My fingers clutched the wolf’s fur. I didn’t believe he was alive, not then, until I caught the barest twitch of his nose. He blinked up at me with dead eyes yet managed to thump his tail when his gaze met mine.

“He likes me,” I stammered. It was such an asinine thing to say, but it slipped out anyway, and caused my eyes to tear.

Celia’s hand stroked my back. “No. He loves you, Taran.”

My vision clouded with tears as my hand gently skimmed along his soft fur. “Time to go home,” I told him. “He needs you, and I need you with him.”

At my words, the wolf lifted his head, shimmying closer to Gemini. Ordinarily the union was a scene of beauty and awe. It wasn’t beautiful then. Gem curled inward as his beast tried to push his way back inside him. Instead of accepting the unity, both seemed to fight it, Gem tensing and snarling in pain and his wolf whimpering and writhing.

I understood what was happening. But that didn’t mean I liked it.

I snatched Emme’s wrist when she extended her hands toward his shoulder. “Don’t touch him.”

“He needs help healing, Taran,” Koda growled.

I understood his need to protect his friend. But Koda needed to stifle those growls. “There are bullets buried inside of him with gold at their centers,” I snapped. “If she tries to heal him, they’ll embed deeper into his tissue, muscles, and organs.”

Koda tightened his stance. “How many bullets are we talking about?”

I watched the wolf collapse once more, certain I’d lose what remained of my sanity. “At least six, plus shards of metal in his chest cavity.”

“Oh, hell,” Liam said. He lifted Emme up and away from Gemini. “No wonder he’s so sick.”

Celia withdrew slightly, and passed a thermos to Gem’s dad. “It also explains why it’s hurting his wolf to merge them.”

“He needs to, though,” Koda said. This time he kept his voice soft. “Gem will be stronger with him than without.”

I continued to stroke Gem’s twin as my eyes swam in a pool of my tears. “His heart was blown out. His twin healed him, but the shards are close to the regenerated muscle. We need to get these bullets out fast.” I faced Celia, whose soul seemed to shatter in front of me.
Yeah. Join the club, sister.
“Will you do it?” I asked her.

She nodded. “Of course. We’re about ten miles from the house. It will take us about half an hour to reach safety.”

I passed my hand along the wolf’s face. “Did you hear that? Thirty minutes. No more waiting. You need to get this done.”

Once more he lifted his head. He shuffled his body along the frozen ground until his nose was an inch from Gem’s back. With a deafening crunch and a heart-wrenching howl, Gem and his twin were whole once more.

I wiped my tears and turned to Shayna, who clasped her hands tight around her mouth, an expression of horror lining her pixie face. “I’m counting on you to find those bullets,” I told her. “Don’t let me down.”

Okay. Fast-forward to the longest thirty minutes of my life. Towels were spread along our kitchen table. I’d wanted Celia to perform her surgery on our bed, but when Shayna started marking off the location of the bullets with a Sharpie, it became clear Celia would need more room to work.

God help me.

Emme dumped several of our utensils along the granite countertop. Celia pointed to a couple of spoons and several knives. “I need about four clamps, three scalpels, and three tweezers,” she told Shayna. “You and Emme will need to pull the skin back. Make the handles long enough so you’ll have a steady grip. His wolves may be sick, but they’ll still try to heal him. Make the blades on the scalpels as thin and sharp as you can manage. Got me?”

My hands covered one of Gem’s as he lay there. Just lay there. The merging of his twin had transformed his color from dark to light gray. At that point, I’d have given anything to have him return to the alabaster tone he’d had around dawn.

That color would have been a remarkable improvement on what I was seeing now.

Shayna went to work as Emme bolted around the kitchen filling bowls with water and collecting more towels. Celia approached me slowly and placed her hand tenderly on my shoulder. “How are you holding up?”

“I want to gut something evil and strangle it with its lower bowel,” I answered truthfully. “If you screw this up, I might seriously burn the house down.”

She blinked and patted my shoulder in a way that clearly demonstrated she doubted my stability just then.

In all fairness, I was feeling pretty psycho.

“She doesn’t mean that,” Emme assured the wolves. My glare told her I did. “Ah, but just in case, why don’t you boys gather the fire extinguishers from each floor.”

Koda took off right away. Liam started to follow, but stopped to speak to Celia. Yet I wish to God and back he hadn’t.

“Aric just texted,” he told her. “His search party was out toward Nevada, so it’s taking them a while to get back. But don’t worry—he won’t bring Barbara here, or have sex with her in front of you or anything.”

Celia swallowed hard, clutching the scalpel she was inspecting tight in her hand. “Good to know,” she managed.

Shayna threw her hands in the air. “Dude. Just get the extinguishers.”

With my free hand, I smacked his arm as he passed. “What is
wrong
with you?”

Emme frowned, although I hadn’t hurt him. “I know you’re upset, but don’t treat him that way.”

As much as I wanted to lash out and tell her he deserved as much, I held back, knowing she was right. Liam was, at times, not the sharpest tool in the shed. But he wasn’t mean. “Sorry,” I muttered.

Liam considered me. “It’s okay. I know you can’t help being a bitch.”

I should have added fire to that smack.

“Taran,” Celia warned, when lightning sparked above my head.

“I’m not going to singe him,” I promised, even though it was hard to hold back. I shook away my anger when it occurred to me there was more to worry about, and met Celia with sympathy. “Are you going to be all right if Aric comes? I’m serious. ’Cause if you’re not, I need to tell him he can’t come.”

“As Gemini’s Alpha and his friend, Aric needs to be here,” she answered.

“Ceel, you know that’s not what I’m asking.”

Her expression, while neutral, flickered with the barest trace of sadness. Her tone, though, remained even. “I swear to you, I’ll do everything I can to help Gemini and get him through this. No matter who shows.”

As everyone gathered around us, I hoped she was right. “Okay, Ceel. Get it done.”

With a stiff nod she addressed the wolves. “Are you feeling the effects of the poison?”

Momma and Pop kept their die-hard poker faces, but it was Koda who spoke. “We can feel it, but we’re okay.” His eyes traveled to where Gem’s parents watched. “Honorable parents, as third-in-command to Leader and pureblood Aric Connor of the Squaw Valley Den Pack, I respectfully request you keep a safe distance, and allow us to take over Tomo’s care.”

In other words, kindly move your asses.

It was Gemini’s father who answered with a bow. Momma followed with a bow of her own, then went to sit beside her husband when he perched on a stool behind the raised counter. If Celia was fearful, she didn’t show it. Instead, she leaned in to whisper in Gem’s ear. “Okay, buddy. It’s time. I’m not going to be gentle. But if you let me, I can help you.”

His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear him. Whatever he said widened Celia’s eyes. She collected herself and edged closer to her tools. “What did he say?” I asked her.

“Nothing,” she muttered, passing her hand along the makeshift surgical instruments.

A feeling of dread washed over me. “Celia, if this has something to do with Gemini, you need to tell me.”

It was Koda who answered. He crossed his arms over his massive chest, his attention on Celia. “He swore that, because she was his Leader’s mate, he could never hurt her.”

Celia shook off the comment like she hadn’t been kicked in heart. Ordinarily, I would’ve been upset at Gemini for saying what he did. But just then, I only wanted him well.

“Koda, Liam,” she called. “I need you to carefully roll Gemini onto his back.”

Liam pointed. “But he’s favoring his right side. Shouldn’t we leave him on his left?”

“I need access to his chest,” she answered.

Liam looked from me back to Celia. “Why?” he asked.

She gave me a dark look, her hand on something that resembled a hedge clipper. “I need to break open his chest cavity….”

Each
ding
into the ceramic bowl signified a fragment of metal or gold Celia had dislodged from Gem’s chest. Each threatened to stop my heart. Emme was sick more than once, and Shayna was looking pretty green as she ran out to dump the pieces. The wolves were sweating, grimacing each time Celia plucked another shard.

“The bullets don’t just contain slivers of gold,” Koda snarled. “The inner casing is lined with that shit.”

I saw enough of one to know he was right.

Celia ignored everyone around her, working fast, almost robotically. And thank God she could! Otherwise, no way could she have stomached the crunch that followed when she snapped Gem’s chest open at the sternum. Liam, for all his often inappropriate comments, held strong, keeping Gem’s ribs apart so Celia could remove the biggest shard inches from Gemini’s heart. Problem was, the cursed gold was starting to take its toll on all the wolves.

“Okay,” Celia said, gasping. “Get him on his belly.”

Everyone jumped when Liam released the ribs and they snapped back with a sickening crack. The wolves returned to Gemini slowly, waiting for the muscles and skin to knit closed before rolling him onto his stomach.

I wiped Gem’s brow with a damp towel. Celia resumed her work, and another piece of metal hit the bowl. “Almost done, baby,” I told him. “Three left.”

My wolf, so ill and weak before, wasn’t so ill and weak then. The next bullet Celia yanked forced his twin to punch his head through Gem’s back, his snarling fangs snapping at Koda and Liam. Liam narrowly missed having his face chewed off.

At first the wolves had been patient, making animal sounds and using words to try to soothe Gemini’s furious inner beasts. Problem was, Liam and Koda were dominant wolves in their own right. It wasn’t long before their patience ran thin.

“Hold him!” Celia urged.

“We’re
trying,
” Koda grunted, breathing hard. “Shayna, stay behind me—
Shayna.
”

In any other situation, no way would Gem ever think about hurting Shayna. But in his current state, he only felt agony, compelling his animal side to protect him from the pain. Shayna lurched back, poking her head from behind Koda when Gem’s twin surfaced once more. “Ceel?” she asked as Celia discarded another extracted bullet from the tip of her instrument.

Celia waited for Gemini to lull his twin back to sleep. She pointed near the center of his back as the wolf disappeared beneath his skin. “One more,” she said.

A knock on the door froze everyone where they were, except for Gem, whose breathing was so harsh, his breaths lifted his upper body from the table.

Shayna rushed to the door when another knock, this one harder, quickly followed. She stole a glance at Celia before disappearing around the corner.

“Let’s keep going,” Celia said, lifting the scalpel and repositioning those hideous tweezers in her hands.

“You can do this, baby,” I told Gem. “Almost done. I swear to God you’re almost there.”

The front door was flung open as I spoke. “It’s okay—he’s hanging in, dude,” Shayna assured our latest visitor.

“Wait here unless you’re
called,
” Aric’s voice ordered. Clearly, he hadn’t come alone.

Heavy footsteps followed Shayna’s light ones as they raced into the kitchen. The tension that followed Aric’s arrival cloaked the room like the flash of a loaded gun. My grip on Gemini’s shoulder tightened when he bit back a snarl. Celia, in her haste to help him, showed no mercy. In a way, I was grateful. In another not-so-great way, it made me want to ignite this kitchen in a wash of blue and white.

Gemini’s growls rammed against my chest like a stake. Sweet God in heaven, how much more could my wolf take after having a portion of his heart blown to bits?

My chin jerked up when he bucked. Koda and Liam were practically lying across him, holding him down with their brawny frames, and yet Gemini tossed them around like they were nothing but rags. From where Celia knelt, I could see her twisting the makeshift tweezers, her face flushing from heat and apparent stress.

Gem’s snarls increased and so did his volatile motions. Tears streamed down my face. “Celia, get it out!”

She sighed and removed the tweezers, watching in frustration as his skin sealed shut, and taking care to avoid Aric’s gaze. “I’m sorry, but I’m trying to reach into a small space between his ribs.”

“Should you break them again?” Liam suggested, at which point I almost wigged out on him.

She brushed the perspiration from her crown with the back of her forearm, taking a moment to consider her options. “No. It would mean sawing a hole into his back.”

I thought Emme would puke again. In truth, I wanted to. “Oh, goodness.
Why?
” Emme asked.

Celia pointed with her tweezers, careful not to touch him. “You see that mark?” I craned my neck to look and nodded along with the others. “Given the spot, and how far I’m having to dig, I think the bullet’s lodged in his kidney.”

“His
kidney
?” I rose slowly, but the moment my hands slipped from Gemini’s shoulders, he hurtled Koda into the wall and Liam against our granite counter. The sheer force Gemini used to break free sent Celia soaring. She flipped off the table, landing in a deep crouch, her tigress eyes replacing her own.

Growls erupted from all the wolves present, rattling the windows. Gemini ignored them, along with the frantic shouts of his parents. He rose with his feet firmly planted on the floor, his glare trained directly on Aric.

My hands gripped my lover’s waist. Although his human body remained, he was all wolf then. If it weren’t for the control he managed, two humongous wolves would be hunting prey in our kitchen.

I splayed my hand across his chest, trying to keep him in place. “Baby,
stop.
” I whipped my head around to look behind me. “What’s happening—why is he acting like this?” And why was he going after his Leader?

Aric met Gem with equal anger, biting out his words. “Rage stirred from his torment has replaced his humanity. His wolves demand blood and vengeance for his suffering.”

Shock shrilled my voice. “But you’re his fucking Alpha!”

“Which makes me the biggest threat here,” Aric ground out, his eyes flashing with ire.

My insides shriveled as I realized what was happening. In the wild, wolves fought, often to death, to lead the pack as Alpha. In his pain, Gemini wasn’t thinking straight. If he were, he wouldn’t be challenging Aric for a shot at top dog—or demanding someone pay for his suffering. That was bad, but considering Aric
was
Alpha, he couldn’t dismiss the challenge or appear subservient before his pack.

My hands pressed against Gemini’s chest. “Gem, listen to me—”

I gasped when he pulled me into a protective clutch, his glare staying locked on Aric.

Aric prowled forward, readying to fight if that’s what it took to control Gemini. “Don’t make me do this,” he warned.

Celia lurched forward, intercepting him. “Aric,
don’t.
”

Aric froze, his vicious wolf snarling at Gem, who growled back with identical force. Celia glanced back at us, fear reaching her features, knowing our wolves were seconds from ripping each other apart. She lifted her hands and placed them over Aric’s chest. “Aric, look at me,” she whispered. “I need you to look at me, okay?”

Despite his anger, his attention left Gemini and focused on her as she whispered something I couldn’t hear. The thing was, I couldn’t keep looking at them. Not with Gem so out of his mind.

Again, he lurched forward, growling a warning at Liam and Koda when they advanced. “Get back,” I hissed, surprising them and myself, as I held Gem in place with just a squeeze of my arms.

I placed my cheek against his chest. I didn’t know what Celia was doing, or saying. I only knew it was enough to keep Aric from attacking. He wrenched her behind him, shielding her with his body but failing to move as she continued to murmur almost silently, pleading with him to hear her words.

She was soothing her mate with her voice and touch. Maybe I needed to do the same. My lips passed along Gemini’s skin. I spoke softly as I stroked his sweat-soaked back. “I get that you’re pissed and that you’re hurting. But, baby, I need you to stay calm.” I looked up, witnessing enough fury lurking behind his dark irises to startle me. “Tomo, please look at me,” I begged.

I wasn’t sure if he would, given his state. But he did, meeting my face with an expression so warm, my body melted against him. “You’re my strength. You know you are. You have been since the day you walked into my life.” I released a breath, not caring anymore who was listening. “I can’t tell you how close I am to busting everything up. So stay strong for me, so I can be strong for you.” By then I was crying, and I couldn’t seem to stop. “I love you, Tomo.
Please
…be the hero you’ve always been in my heart.”