Hawke
Shifters,” she breathed. “Vampires. Fae. Demons. Witches. All of them are real?”
“Yeah, Maddie. They’re real. You know what else is real? Hypothermia. You could’ve… you could’ve fuckingdiedout there tonight. Don’t you get that?”
I shoved my hands through my hair and paced the living room, absolutely fuckingbesidemyself as Maddie sat shivering on the couch.
The moment we’d returned to the cabin, I’d put all her questions on pause and ordered her into a steaming hot shower while I fetched her luggage from the car—again. When she finally returned to the living room dressed in another Christmas getup—PJs this time, her tops and bottoms covered in little snowmen—I wrapped her in a blanket, dragged the couch right up close to the fireplace, and spoon-fed her half a can of chicken noodle soup I’d warmed up with the camping stove.
Bella was in on the recovery efforts, too, refusing to leave Maddie’s side, keeping watch outside the bathroom door while she’d showered and dressed, sticking to her like a shadow every time she moved. Now, the dog was practically sitting in Maddie’s lap on the couch.
I tried to relax. Tried to fucking breathe. Maddie was safe now. Back under my roof. Under my care.
But my girl was still pale. Still trembling.
I wanted to throttle her.
And then I wanted to kiss her.
The thought of losing her—the thought of anything bad happening to her…Fuck. It’d done something irreparable, cracked open a part of me I’d long thought buried. It was more ferocious than my wolf, more intense, more… everything. And now that it’d been unleashed, I couldn’t lock it down again.
I didn’t want to.
“Look, I get it,” I said. “I shouldn’t even exist. It’s insane—the stuff of nightmares and B-movies. I know it’s a shock to you, and I meant what I said out there—Iwillanswer your questions. Every last one. But fuck, Maddie. I’ve got questions too. And I think I’ve earned some answers—starting with why the hell you took off into the wilderness in the middle of a treacherous storm without your meds.”
I couldn’t bring myself to ask why she evenneededthose pills in the first place, but that question was tearing me up inside, too. Was she sick?
Was she… was she fuckingdying?
“That part was an accident,” she said softly, lowering her eyes. “I didn’t mean to leave them behind.”
“But youdamnsure meant to leave the safety of this cabin, right? Packed up all your shit, dragged your ass out to the middle of the park in white-out conditions, no gear, no working phone, not even a headlamp. No way to signal for help if you got in over your head, which—newsflash, Cupcake—you did. You fucking did.”
“I’mfine, Hawke,” she insisted, despite the fact that her teeth were still chattering. “The fire’s helping.You’rehelping. You and Bella both. Wait—scratch that. It’s actually three of you now. The wolf… We’re counting him, too, right? I mean… it is ahim, isn’t it? Or can you have a female wolf if your human body is male?”
“The wolf is definitely a he,” I said, unable to keep the smile from my lips. She was too fucking adorable, even when she was driving me crazy. “The wolf is still me, Maddie. Just… just a different version of me. That’s probably the easiest way to think of it.”
“Easy for you, maybe. Personally? My head’s about to explode.” She smiled, then nuzzled Bella’s face. “You’re just a dog, though, right Bells? A very good, very pretty dog who deserves all the belly rubs and doggy treats in the world, yes you do. Yes, you surely do.”
Bella wagged her tail, yelping and hopping around on the couch like she’d just found her fucking soulmate.
While Maddie and Bella continued with their lovefest, one step away from braiding each other’s hair and exchanging Best Friends Forever charms, I tossed another log onto the fire and stoked the flames, trying to warm things up for Maddie. The power was still out, and this was our only heat source.
“Hawke, does Bella know you’re… you know.You?”
“A wolf, you mean? Yeah, she knows.” I reached over and rubbed one of Bella’s ears. “She saw me shift on our very first date, didn’t you, girl?”
I told Maddie the story of how I’d found the dog abandoned in the woods, wounded and emaciated. How my wolf had chased off the mountain lion that had nearly eaten the poor girl.
“Ever since then,” I said, “we’ve been inseparable.”
“She doesn’t get freaked out about it? Like when you shift back and forth or do… whatever wolf things you do out there?”
“Nah. Animals are different. They can sense things humans can’t. She knows I’ve got her back, and that’s all that counts.” I sat down on the couch, shooing Bella away. Dog didn’t go far—just curled up on the floor in front of Maddie’s feet, still keeping a close watch over her new pal.
“So much for having her back,” Maddie teased. When I didn’t return her laugh, she gazed off into the flames and sighed. “You’re pissed—I can feel it. Well, that’s okay. I’m still pissed at you, too, for the record. It’s just that the whole saving-my-life-thing is kind of outweighing the you-being-a-jerk thing at the moment.”
“I’m not pissed, Maddie. I’m just…” I groaned, then grabbed her hand, holding it tight. “What if I hadn’t come after you tonight?”
