Wolves' Bane (The Order of the Wolf, #3)(88)

The hand he held fluttered as the other floated to her mouth and began to yank at the tubing, her eyes watering as she sputtered and choked.

With the initial shock ebbing, Cal jumped into action, screaming for help as he brushed Kelly’s fingers away and pulled the tape that secured the tubing to her lips. With her gagging, her chest heaving, he slowly began to pull. Inch after inch of the tubing slid from her throat until finally it was completely out.

And for one heart-wrenching moment, Kelly seemed to stop breathing altogether, her heart monitor screeching as her chest began to spasm.

He braced his hands on her shoulders, shaking her. “Kelly, oh f*ck, Kelly, what have I done?”

And then she pulled in a deep breath of air on her own, released it and sucked up another. Her heart monitor calmed.

Lance came running into the room. “What the hell is going on in here… Holy shit!”

Cal turned to face Lance, the adrenaline of the past few moments pounding through him as he pointed a shaking finger in Kelly’s direction. “She f*cking woke up.”

Lance stood wide-eyed, his mouth agape.

“Water,” Kelly croaked, her throat so unused to speaking that it sounded all wrong, like grating metal. Raw.

Cal jumped to snag his water bottle, opening the lid as Lance helped Kelly sit up. She smiled weakly after she took a small sip, moaning as her throat worked the liquid down.

She motioned for more and Cal helped her hold the bottle. She slowly gulped, sputtering a bit out when it became too much for her to handle.

Lance helped her to lie back, his gaze rising to meet Cal’s. “How can this be?”

Cal shook his head. He didn’t know. “You should go and get the healer.”

Lance nodded and moved to the door, pausing when Kelly, her voice cracked and strained, said, “Andrew?” She shifted her eyes from Cal to Lance.

Cal rubbed his hand across his jaw, not sure how much to tell Kelly, not knowing how fragile she might be.

“And-drew?” she stuttered, her voice sounding frantic.

Cal sighed. “Andrew might be dead.” He gulped down the lump in his throat, watching Kelly’s eyes for signs of shock. “He was taken by Lazarus’s pack during the battle at the lunar eclipse.”

To Cal’s amazement, Kelly sighed and relaxed back into her pillow. With a small smile for him, she reached out her hand, searching for Cal’s. Confused, he clasped onto her fingers and squeezed. “Thank you,” she breathed as she closed her eyes. “He kept me like this,” she whispered, then seemed to fall asleep.

Her last murmured words were so muffled that Cal almost didn’t hear them. He snapped his eyes up to Lance’s, who nodded in return. “Yes, I f*cking heard that too,” he snarled.

“What do you think it means?”

Lance folded his arms, his eyes growing dark with anger. “It f*cking means that Andrew kept her in the coma somehow. He f*cking kept her trapped in her head. And it doesn’t f*cking surprise me.”

Cal frowned as he turned his eyes back to Kelly. “She’s sleeping. We’re going to have to wait to find out more.”

“Well, I think I’ve heard enough. That bastard had a lot of f*cked-up ideas about the Huntress. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that he would do this to her.”

“All the same, I’d like to know why.”

Kelly’s chest rose and fell in a steady deep rhythm, her eyelids flickering, her lips curled in a smile.

“You should go get the healer. He’ll be able to tell us what the hell is going on,” Cal said.

“Will do. But, Cal?”

Cal looked up. “Yeah?”

“You may never know why. Andrew might just be that f*cked-up guy who wanted control.” With one final look at the bed, he left the room.

Cal nodded as he lowered his gaze back to Kelly, shock still resonating through him. How could she wake up now, weeks after Andrew had been gone, if there wasn’t some connection? If it was true, maybe it could explain the reason for Andrew’s bizarre behavior.

He knelt beside the bed, his hand still clasped in hers as he laid his forehead to rest on the mattress. Cal’s mind spun with his emotions, battling for purchase. Longing for Morgan, anger mingled with pity for Andrew, relief for Kelly, and duty to the Order.





Chapter Forty-Three





Mine


I sat on the porch, on the swinging bench I’d just installed, enjoying the dying summer. It would soon be fall. It would soon be time for classes to begin.

The houses around mine were filling with students again. All had been rented to eager young adults, all bouncing with excitement. All embarking on this new journey in their lives, away from home, making new friends.

I smiled as I took another sip of my coffee. I’d be starting classes soon, as well. I’d reenrolled, signed up for my courses, revisited my thesis advisor. I felt like a new person. A phoenix reborn. Renewed, invigorated, ready to conquer my studies. After all that I had been through, completing my thesis seemed like a cakewalk.

The fog of depression that had threatened to eat me alive was gone. Cal and his bond had taken care of the worst of it. I could thank him for that at least. He’d saved my life in a way. Freed me from the debilitating depression that had stopped me from living for far too long.