Highland Wolf (Highland Brides, #10)(96)

“Yeah,” Decker said unhappily. “But she can’t seem to move or speak.”

“The effects of the dart must be wearing off then,” Tiny said, sounding relieved as he peered down at Mirabeau, limp in his arms. “That means Beau should wake up soon too.”

Decker grunted what sounded like agreement, but the way he was looking at her made Stephanie think he didn’t really believe that. But then she could hardly blame him. She doubted more than five or six minutes had passed since she’d been shot and it certainly hadn’t been twenty minutes since the explosion and her racing back here. With his life mate unconscious in his arms, Tiny was too upset to have taken note of that. However, she wasn’t Decker’s life mate, so his upset wasn’t as extreme as Tiny’s. Oh, she could hear his thoughts and knew he was worried about her. Even if she hadn’t been able to hear his thoughts, she would have known he was worried about her. While Decker was legally her brother-in-law, in truth he’d become much more than that over the last nearly thirteen years since he’d rescued her and Dani from Leonius Livius, the no-fanger rogue who had turned them. Decker had become like a real brother to her, as well as a friend, and even a father figure at times. But that wasn’t the same as a life mate, and Decker was still able to think much more clearly than Tiny at the moment.

“Take Beau back to the vehicles and send as many hunters as are able to help search the house,” Decker said suddenly.

Tiny hesitated, his worried gaze sliding to the house. “I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone here when there’s someone running around with a dart gun. Besides, wouldn’t it be smarter to check out the house right away? What if whoever shot Stephanie and Beau gets away before we can search the house?”

“What if whoever shot the girls gives us the slip and comes out and beheads the women while we’re searching the house? Or what if they shoot us and behead all of us before anyone thinks to follow?” Decker countered, standing up now and turning to face the house, his gun at the ready. “Go. Quickly. I’ll guard Stephanie and watch the house until help arrives.”

Tiny didn’t bother to respond to that. Decker’s pointing out that they could all be shot and beheaded was enough to have the man moving at once. Stephanie watched him go until he was out of her line of vision, and then shifted her gaze to Decker. The tingling in her extremities had been moving inward as the minutes passed. From her fingers to her hands and wrists and beyond, and from her toes to her feet, ankles and calves. Her jaw was also now tingling, as was the tip of her tongue. Stephanie tried to move her fingers, and this time was able to do it. The same was true of her toes. She couldn’t talk yet, though, but should soon be able to.

“Can you blink?”

Stephanie shifted her gaze back to Decker and then closed and opened her eyes.

The sight made him nod grimly, but he cast another wary glance toward the house before looking at her again and asking, “Did you see who shot you? Blink once for yes, twice for no.”

Stephanie blinked once.

“Was it a hunter?” he asked next.

She wasn’t surprised by the question. She and Mirabeau had been shot with hunter darts, and the man had used a hunter’s gun. It wasn’t surprising Decker would worry they had a rogue who was also a hunter. Stephanie also wasn’t surprised by his relief when she blinked twice to tell him that wasn’t the case. But his relief was short lived as he then began to worry about how the rogue had got their hands on a hunter’s weapon. While she read that in his thoughts, he didn’t bring it up, but instead asked, “Did you recognize the person who shot you?”

Stephanie hesitated. She hadn’t recognized the man, but his thoughts had told her who he was. She couldn’t convey that with a yes or no, though.

“Is there more than one?” Decker asked when she was slow to answer. He barely waited for her to blink twice before shifting his gaze back to the house for another wary look. It made her wish she could tell him there was no need for him to keep checking the house. The man was gone. His thoughts were getting fainter in her head as he moved away from the vicinity. He was on foot, taking a trail through the woods on the other side of this house to somewhere where a vehicle waited, stashed there for just such an event.

“So, one person,” Decker murmured and then glanced down at her again to ask, “Male or female?”

That made her raise her eyebrows, which caught her by surprise. The drug was wearing off quickly if she could raise her eyebrows. She was pretty sure she hadn’t been able to do that when he’d first got here.

Realizing the mistake he’d made, and that she couldn’t answer his question with a yes or no, Decker asked instead, “Male?”

Stephanie blinked once for yes, but a lot of her concentration was on her mouth now. Her tongue was tingling like crazy, like she’d had novocaine and it was wearing off. Most of her jaw and face were tingling madly now too. She tried moving her tongue in her mouth and was surprised to find she could. Stephanie tried her jaw next and was relieved to find she was able to move that too.

Decker had turned to look at the house again, but now peered back at her to ask, “Did this guy—”

“Dressler,” Stephanie managed to spit out, although the word was somewhat garbled and with little air behind it.

Apparently able to understand her despite that, Decker was staring at her with horror when the sounds of people crashing through the woods sounded. The other hunters were coming. Too bad they were too late.