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Refusing to swallow his fear for me, I let my focus stay on my bathroom, ignoring the itching all over my body. The pack came first. Bob was pack.
As Malcolm readied to break Bob's neck, my instinct exploded from me in a shower of strawberry cream fur. Launching from where I was, through the hole in the wall, my jaws latched on Malcolm's neck.
The animal snarled, gave a sharp turn of its head, reefing Malcolm's head to the side. Then blood, glorious blood was filling my mouth and nose, coating, and washing away the dough of fear. My claws raked at flesh as we tumbled through the bathroom door into the bedroom. With a good grip his throat, I yanked my head to one side and felt everything in my mouth tear away from its restraint. Spitting the flesh and sinew out, I dove back in. Angry claws raked down my back. The stench of fear cloyed my senses as I wrapped my jaws around muscle, cartilage, veins, and nerves. I wrenched again.
The satisfying rip thrilled me, the spray of blood like a geyser showered me with praise. Still, those claws burned, ripping chunks of fur and flesh from my back. I didn't care. I needed to protect my pack, my cub, my life.
Biting down a third time, I jerked away with a sloppy rip, pop, gurgle, and the claws of the beast beneath me fell away. The geysers of victory lost their power and turned into puddles on the floor.
Backing away, checking, making sure. The beast trembled violently. The murky brown fur stained in blood withdrew, leaving the man who abused me looking into the next world.
Awareness flooded my brain, and I backed away faster. In the bathroom, I moved to a rapidly blinking Bob. Sniffing my packmate, I was careful where my paws fell. Crouching low, I shuffled closer, investigating the fading focus of his eyes.
Lifting a hand, Bob patted my neck. He was so weak, I barely felt it. "It's okay, Vera. You are safe now. He can never hurt you again."
Whimpering, I scooched forward nuzzling him.
"It's okay." His hand fell to the floor.
Sitting up, I cried, screaming my pain, baying to the moon to save my packmate.
The front door kicked open, followed by a stampede of feet. Turning towards the new threat, I growled. Jeremy appeared. Taking in the scene, he rushed forward. Backing up into the corner of the bathroom, I tried to get out of his way.
Dale was right behind him, eyes searching for me. When the indigo-gold irises found me, relief flooded my entire being. Trembling, I reached for him. As I did, my muscles tensed and released. My paw elongated and formed into a hand, my arm followed. I stepped out of the wolf as I moved towards Dale. As if a forcefield stood between us, and as I passed through the invisible barrier, I emerged human.
Jeremy was on the phone as he tended Bob's wounds. Taking my hand, Dale moved me out of the way. Guiding me from the room, Dale led me away from the lump of flesh and blood that had once been my tormenter.
From the lounge room, I watched Jeremy assess all of Bob's injuries. After a tense few moments, Jeremy exhaled. "None of them are fatal. Blood transfusion and stitches, and he will heal." Glancing to the corner I'd huddled in, Jeremy frowned. That's when I noticed the blood. "Is she hurt badly?"
"Torn up and will need stitches."
Flinching, I realized that while I worried about Bob, Dale was examining the damage to my back.
"You healed a fair bit when you shifted, Vera. Bob did too."
Shaking off the fog in my head, I took Dale's hand and stared at him with my mouth hanging open.
Reading my expression, a small smile of pride lit up his eyes. "I know, I felt it too," he murmured and rubbed my nose with his.
"I felt you, your need to protect Bob. It gave me the courage to find my wolf. I feel you, Dale."
Looking beyond relieved, Dale pulled me into his arms, and I sensed the emotional turmoil inside him. Relief that I didn't deny the bond any longer. Pride for being able to shift to animal form and back without his help. Concern for Bob - we shared that one, but my fear was trumping his because guilt buoyed it up. Anger.
"You're upset with me?"
"I told you to run. I meant out the door, not at him."
Peering over his shoulder, I could see Malcolm's leg, but nothing more. "I needed to protect my pack more than you needed me to be safe. Protecting my chance at being safe, and my chance to be happy meant more to me than anything else in the world."
Dale kissed my forehead. "If I couldn't feel it, Vera, I would be so angry with you right now. But I understand." Taking my face in his hands, Dale forced me to meet his eyes. "I understand.”
Chapter 25
Forty-one stitches in my back and I wasn't allowed to complain about a single one because bob had it worse. I could have complained, but I wouldn't. Those shiny white bits I'd seen on Bob in the bathroom, they were bone. After Jonathan patched us up, Dale forced Bob to shift to full-wolf. After an hour of recovery, he then made Bob come back to human, to help speed the healing process.
Me, no. No more shifting for me for a while. Jonathan declared it too dangerous. Patched up, they took us back to the main house. My cottage swarmed by the pack, all coming to their Alpha's call. There were twice as many as I thought, which was three times the size of Malcolm's. Dale must have called them in case Malcolm hadn't come alone, but he had.
It took Dale wrapping my robe around my shoulders before I even realized I was still naked. Images like a puzzle flashing in my mind telling me that I hadn't been the only one. There weren't many men who could have stayed calm in this situation. Finding their wife naked with three naked guys. Albeit, two of them dead, and the third badly mangled. It was like a macabre orgy.
