Page 56 of Ignited

In desperation, he went back to blowing things up. He even bundled Karisma up and took her out to the testing range one day. He blew up a couple of junk cars they used for target practice, and even let Karisma play with the grenade launcher.

She was still weak so the recoil knocked her on her ass, but she just laughed and wanted to do it again. So he stood behind her, arms around her to brace her, and let her shoot grenades to her heart’s content.

But there was still a heaviness in his heart that wouldn’t go away. As soon as she was better, she’d want to go after Maximilian. Get back whatever part of herself he’d taken, even though to him she was perfect.

And he’d help her, because he’d have her back, wherever she wanted to go and whatever she wanted to do.

Even if it meant she was going to leave him.

Karisma didn’t know what the hell to do about Boomer.

Everything had been fine at first—when she was helpless, when he was taking care of her, when he was entertaining her with mechanical butlers and teenage werewolf soap operas and making her burned food.

But the stronger she got, the more time he seemed to need away from her.

Or maybe this was the way he always was, his wolf on the edge, needing to roam the woods at night, to hunt and kill and let his wild nature have its way.

Maybe he was more like her than she realized. Or rather, more like she had been. Because she hadn’t been able to feel her tiger ever since DB did the spell.

It will affect her connection with her tiger, he’d said. He hadn’t said it might make her animal go away for good. Please, please not that.

As hard as it had been, as much as they’d fought for control, without a tiger she wasn’t a shifter. She was half a person, without her strength and speed and animal instincts.

But maybe that’s what Boomer wanted? Someone weak. Someone ordinary. And now that she was getting better, he didn’t want her anymore.

Except that didn’t make sense either, because even though he made sex jokes all the time, he hadn’t tried to actually have sex with her when she was dependent on him, either.

So maybe he didn’t want her at all. Maybe he’d only had sex with her that one time because she begged him to. Because he felt sorry for her.

Men were so confusing. And Boomer was the most confusing of all.

She went to the window and looked outside. Boomer was away being a wolf, and his brother was on the porch, also in wolf form, standing and looking out towards the woods.

She knew he wanted to be out running, too. He and Boomer hadn’t been wolves together since she got here; one of them was always in the cabin with her.

Because Boomer had promised to protect her, had sworn to her that nothing would happen to her until she could take care of herself again. Even though he knew that no one on the Ridge would hurt her, that no enemies could get past its borders without being detected.

She could sense his brother’s agitation from here. She’d begun to realize that there was something really wrong with him—something more than the fact that he didn’t approve of Boomer taking responsibility for her.

There was a darkness in him—bigger than the one in Boomer, the kind that ate you up from the inside out. She saw Boomer watching him sometimes, heard him out on the porch at night howling into the wilderness, waiting for his brother to answer.

Felt the slight tension in him when his brother was out alone, a part of Boomer always listening for him. Felt Boomer’s tiny sigh of relief every time he came back.

Like maybe next time he wouldn’t.

She watched the wolf for a minute, watched him pace back and forth restlessly. Finally she went outside.

The wolf turned on her with a growl, so quickly she almost thought he was going to attack. His eyes shone gold under the dim porch light, and he was quivering slightly, like something was about to burst out of him.

“You can go,” she said softly. “Boomer will be back soon, and I’ll be fine. There’s nothing here to hurt me.”

He cocked his head, looking at her. “I know you promised,” she said. “And I know you keep your promises. But you and I and Boomer all know the Ridge is the safest place I could be. If you want, I’ll call Mikey to come up and stay with me. She’s protection enough for anyone.”

He looked out at the forest, then back at her, irresolute. “Go ahead,” she told him. “I’ll explain to Boomer.”

The wolf gave her one more long look, and then turned and bounded off into the darkness.

Karisma watched him go, and then went back into the house, listening to the silence. She really didn’t want to call Mikey; she didn’t want to call anybody.