The Rift (25 page)

“She doesn’t have to be afraid of anything
when I’m sitting next to her,” Jed said. I knew I should have
gotten all feminist on him and declared my ability to take care of
myself, but my heart melted. I smiled at Jed, but he was glaring at
Lionel.

Lionel tsked and shook his head. “You should
teach her to protect herself before you get killed watching out for
her.”

“It really isn’t any of your business.”

“And I’m perfectly capable of—” I
started.

“You’re my friend, so I make it my business,”
Lionel said, ignoring me. “Teach her to protect herself, then trust
her to do it. I know what I’m talking about. I have the scars to
prove it.”

Jed nodded and seemed to relax.

“Okay, now that’s settled, let’s start this
conversation over,” Lionel said. “Hello, Kelsey, my name is Lionel.
Tessa is my little sister, and your friend Thad is clearly
interested in her. Is he a good man? Will he be good to my
sister?”

“Thad is one of the best people I know,” I
said, wanting to escape the conversation. “He fights for what he
believes is right, he listens to anyone who wants to talk to him,
no matter who they are, and he tries to help them any way he can.
As far as his intentions toward your sister, I think you ought to
take your own advice and let her fight her own battles.”

Lionel didn’t laugh or get angry, he leaned
toward me, his face more serious than I’d seen it, yet. “My sister
is one of the strongest warriors we have, but when it comes to the
heart…she has a habit of getting it broken.”

“I’ll talk to Thad,” I said. “But I won’t
talk about him behind his back any longer.”

Lionel nodded and stood, patting me on the
shoulder. “You’re a good friend. Jed has chosen well. But if my
sister gets hurt, I will kill you.”

“Lionel,” Jed said, his tone lethal.

Lionel raised his hands and backed away.
“Relax, Jed. I don’t think it will come to that.”

I nearly choked on a bite of my sandwich.
Lionel chuckled and left the room as Jed patted me on the back.
“It’s okay,” Jed said, but he didn’t smile. “He wouldn’t really
hurt you.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “He seems a little,
um, how do I put this gently…reaper-blind crazy.” I learned that
phrase from Henry. A person who gets borrowed too often by reapers
tends to go crazy and, according to Henry, the reaper-blind take
crazy to a whole new level.

“That’s what he wants you to think,” Jed
said. “He’s spent a long time perfecting that image.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, my eyes still teary from
nearly choking to death. “So you think he’s sane?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jed said, finally
smiling. “I’ve never met a wolf, yet, who’s completely sane.”

“What’s his story anyway? Tessa said she was
turned when she was a teenager. Is he really her brother?”

“Half-brother,” Jed said. “His dad was pack
alpha and Lionel was born a wolf. Most wolves stay loyal to a mate,
but his dad had Lionel before he met his true mate. When he did
meet her…she was human. Lionel’s dad raised Tessa as part of the
pack, even though she had no wolf traits. All wolves have their
first shift at age ten and Tessa didn’t shift. I don’t know the
whole story, but she had a hard time after she was turned. I think
there was a guy involved and that’s why Lionel’s so
protective.”

“Ouch,” I said. “Poor Tessa.”

He smiled. “She’d punch you in the face if
she heard you say that.”

“She could try. I’m surprised Lionel didn’t
kill the dude.”

Jed’s smile widened. “Oh, I think he tried,
but he claimed he couldn’t find the guy. He just vanished.”

I nodded, finding Lionel even scarier than I
had before. “I should go talk to Thad.”

Jed nodded. “Before you go, you should know
that Lionel swears he had nothing to do with that wolf
disappearing.”

“Oh,” I said. Then, “oh,” again as what Jed
was really saying sunk in. “I should still talk to Thad.” I’d just
be warning him about Tessa as well as Lionel.

Thad sat in a chair next to Tessa’s bed,
watching her chest rise and fall. She had shifted back to human at
some point, and blankets were covering her to her neck. Her face
was covered in long scratches that were already halfway to healed.
Her right ear was still gone, I guessed even werewolves couldn’t
re-grow new body parts, and my chest ached for how she was going to
feel about losing an ear. She didn’t strike me as a particularly
vain person, but a loss like that would be hard for anyone to
take.

“What do you want,” Thad whispered as I
stepped into the room and pulled the door closed behind me.

“How’s she doing?”

He sighed. “She hasn’t woken up long enough
to speak or even recognize anyone. The other wolves say she’s in
some sort of healing hibernation. She’ll need to shift a few more
times once she comes out of it and then she shouldn’t have any
scars or signs of what they did to her except for the…” His voice
cracked and he swallowed hard. “Except for the ear.”

I stepped over to him and put a hand on his
shoulder. “What’s going on with you and her?”

“Nothing,” he said, without taking his eyes
off her.

“Right, well I’ve just been lectured by a
pretty scary werewolf who says he’ll kill me if you break her
heart. This isn’t a girl you can just have a one-night stand with,
Thad, not if you want to keep both of your testicles.”

“I know.” He looked up at me and the pain in
his bloodshot eyes made me gasp.

“Oh, god, Thad. I had no idea.”

“I don’t know what’s happened to me,” he
said. “I thought I could get her out of my system with that girl at
the mall, but that just made me want her more.”

Warning bells were going off in my head.
“Want her more as in sleep with her, or…”

He was silent.

“Thad you need to be sure, and you need to be
up front with her.”

He nodded. “I don’t know, Kelsey. This isn’t
my thing. I just want to be around her all the time. When I heard
she was hurt…watching her just lying there, I…the last thing I want
is to hurt her more, but you know me, Kelsey. I don’t do
relationships. I’m bound to screw this up, whatever it is, then
I’ll have to fight the wolves and probably get killed. Even knowing
all that, I can’t walk away.”

“Just be honest with her, Thad. Tell her what
you told me and it’ll be fine.”

“Assuming I’m even slightly interested in
you,” Tessa said in a voice that wasn’t much more than a murmur.
Thad leapt to her side and knelt next to the bed.

“Tessa, honey, are you okay?” Thad asked.

“I’m not you’re honey, asshole. What? Did you
think I’d change my mind just because you sat by my bed all
morning. Smelling you is making me nauseous.” I widened my eyes at
Thad, wondering why he hadn’t told me she’d already turned him
down. Probably so I wouldn’t make him leave her room.

“Do you want me to leave?” His voice cracked
over the last word.

Tessa forced herself into a sitting position,
her back against the headboard. “Yes, get the fuck out, and let me
talk to Kelsey alone.”

He stood and walked out, his shoulders
hunched and his face bleak. I almost felt bad for him, or I would
have if I didn’t feel worse for Tessa. Her face fell as soon as his
back was turned.

I sat down on the bed next to her.

“How bad is it?” she asked. “They said they
were going to peel my face off, and it felt like they did.”

I swallowed and grabbed her hand. “Your face
will be fine,” I said. “There are long scratches all over it, but
the other wolves said it will heal completely after you’ve shifted
a few times.”

“Other wolves?” Her whole body started to
shake.

“Your pack. Your brother Lionel is here if
you want to see him.”

“Lionel is here?” She grimaced, but her body
relaxed and she stopped shaking. “Shit. Thad will run screaming for
the hills, now.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted.”

She smiled and shook her head. “I’ve been
burned before. When he made it clear he was interested, I called
around and found out he has quite the reputation. I’m fully
prepared for him to walk out after he gets what he wants, but he’s
cute and I think he’d be fun in bed, so I’m willing to take the
risk. I just thought I’d make him work for it, make him appreciate
it more when I finally give in.”

“I’m not so sure he’s going to walk away,
Tessa. You might want to prepare yourself for the possibility of
him sticking around.”

She shrugged. “I’m not invested deeply enough
to care either way, right now. I figure that’s a good place to be
with him.”

“Makes sense.” I had a feeling Thad might be
the one to get his heart broken.

Tessa shifted, obviously uncomfortable.

“Do you want me to get you something?” I
asked.

“No, I want you to tell me what else they did
to me.”

I swallowed hard, certain I was the wrong
person to tell her about her injuries. But she had asked me, and I
respected her enough not to argue with her. “They took your right
ear.”

She reached up, touched what was left of her
ear, and jerked her hand back quickly like she’d been burned. Her
face crumpled, but she took a deep breath and got herself under
control. “Is that all?”

“Yes,” I said. I almost told her how lucky
she was to be alive, but I knew that wasn’t what she needed to
hear.

“There’s a compact in my bathroom,” she said,
her voice cracking. I stood, but froze when someone knocked at the
door.

“Go away, Lionel!” she shouted.

“Tessa, I need to see you.”

“Just give me ten minutes, brother. Please.”
Her voice softened on the please and I heard Lionel walk away from
the door. I went into her bathroom and somehow managed to find her
compact among all of the face creams, brushes, and styling products
on the counter. She didn’t wear much make-up, but she obviously had
a beauty routine. I was a bit surprised to realize she was more of
a girl than me.

Tessa took the compact with shaking hands.
She opened it and slowly moved it to the side of her face. Her
breath hissed in a painful gasp and she quickly shut the mirror.
Tears streamed down her face. “I remember now. They took my ear
because they didn’t want me to be able to forget how much stronger
they are than me. They said they want me to always be grateful when
I look at my missing ear, because they could have killed me so
easily and they didn’t.” She balled her hands into fists. “God, I
was so helpless. I couldn’t fight them. I couldn’t do anything. I
just lay there and tried to endure the pain, imagined all the ways
I would make them pay if I got out of there.”

I swallowed hard, trying not to cry with her.
“But they didn’t kill you,” I said. “And if you cry about your ear,
if you feel afraid, they win.”

“Really, Kelsey? Are you actually telling me
not to be afraid? I’ve heard you screaming at night. How easy has
it been for you to get over your fear? To not let them win?” She
was practically snarling, but she’d stopped crying and I figured
that was an improvement.

“It’s not easy,” I said. “It’s the hardest
thing I’ve ever tried to do, and I’m probably going to fail, but
I’m not going to stop fighting. I can tell you that being afraid
all the time, waking up every night with a nightmare, is a
miserable way to live. Let Doctor Veronica help you. Don’t let the
fear take you down.”

She just stared at me for a long moment, then
she nodded. “I will. Sorry about what I said. I’m not myself right
now.”

“Please. You haven’t been nice to me since
the day you met me. Don’t start now, or I’ll worry they damaged
your brain, too.”

She smiled, looking a bit more like the girl
who’d leapt into Jed’s arms when she’d arrived. “Speaking of that,
I can smell Jed on you. I thought I told you to stay away from
him.”

“He was more convincing than you.” I felt
only a twinge of guilt because I was pretty sure she was right, I
should have walked away from him. “We don’t want anyone to know
about us, though, so please don’t—”

“You think I’m a gossip? Every wolf in this
house already knows. If you don’t want Wraith to know, you’d better
take a shower before you see him.”

My face flamed. “Oh, shit, right. I better go
do that, before he shows up.”

Tessa shifted again and winced. “You can come
in, Thad. Stop sniffing around my door like a stalker.”

Thad stepped in, a forced smile twisting his
face. He he sat down on the bed next to Tessa and put a laptop in
front of her. “I found some information for you. There are ways to
reconstruct your ear and, with your healing abilities, it will look
like you never lost it.”

Tessa didn’t even look at the screen, she
kept her eyes on Thad’s face. “What if I said I don’t want to fix
my ear?”

“Why not?” he asked, but his voice was
gentle, his question only curious.

Tessa looked at me and smiled. “Because I
don’t want to forget that I’m not invincible. And because scars
make me look tough.”

Thad nodded and shut the laptop, placing it
on the floor by his feet. When he sat up again, he took Tessa’s
face in his hands and stared at her for a long moment. I saw a tear
slip out of her eye and down one cheek, but she didn’t try to wipe
it away. “I think you’re so gorgeous it hurts my heart to look at
you,” he said.

Tessa pulled his hands away from her face,
but she couldn’t hide her smile. “Really? You’re trying to seduce
an injured woman?”

He shrugged. “I thought you might be more
willing to concede in your weakened state.”

She gave him a playful push, and he returned
to his seat in the chair next to her bed, looking downright
joyful.

“I should probably go take a shower,” I
said.

“Use mine,” Tessa said. “Wraith is already
here.”

“And how do I explain why I was showering in
your room?” I asked. If I had to shower every time I kissed Jed, we
weren’t going to be doing much kissing.