The last shooter, a rough man named Keller, jerked her to him, her back to his chest, and the hot steel of a blade bit into her throat. “Drop the guns and back away.”
Being used as a shield, as a means for escape, only made her angrier. He thought she was weak, that he could use her to leave Oliver and Jack helpless.
Ginny smashed the heel of her boot back into Keller’s shin and twisted the arm around her chest, unmindful of the knife scoring her flesh. She spun, grasped his face between her hands, and whispered, “I’m not a weapon.” A quick wrench of her hands snapped his neck.
“Ginny.” It was Jack’s voice, hoarse and tired. “Are you all right?”
She stepped over Keller’s legs and hurried to Jack’s side. Blood slicked his bare skin, and his eyes were red-rimmed and exhausted. “I’m okay.” She propped him up with his arm draped over her shoulders. “Ollie.”
He nodded. “I’ll make sure that’s everyone.”
Jack’s body stiffened as he glanced around. “Where’s Hazel?”
“Hiding inside.” Ginny urged him toward the house. “We’ll send --” Shit. She couldn’t send Hazel back to town with Oliver, not after the way she’d almost lost control and ravished him earlier. “We’ll send Ollie to fetch Thomas and Lottie. Thomas can deal with Dawson’s crew, and Lottie will take care of Hazel.”
“That would be a good solution.” He stopped and turned to look at Oliver. “Did you catch that?”
“Got it.” Oliver holstered his revolvers. “Need anything else?”
Jack’s gaze flickered to Oliver’s arm. “How badly you hurt?”
“Already almost healed up.”
“Good. Thank you.”
Ginny fought the urge to gnash her teeth impatiently as they made their way up the steps and to the door. She knew Oliver would take care of the gunmen and be on his way as quickly as possible, so she focused her attention on Jack. “Can you manage the stairs?”
He shot her a tired but indulgent look. “It’s my arm, Ginny. I bled a lot, but I’m not going to die. If I hadn’t run on it, it’d already be knitting shut.”
“You shouldn’t have.” Fear sharpened her tone. “We were doing fine, and you could have been killed.”
“I had no way of knowing if Oliver had gotten over here yet,” Jack countered. “You’re good, Ginny, but you’re only one person.”
“I could --” She bit her tongue. Her arguments were naïve and silly, and all they really boiled down to was that she didn’t want Jack in danger, no matter what that meant for her. “Just… sit down and let me look at it, all right?”
The soft sound of Hazel’s footsteps drifted down the hallway, and Jack turned his head to follow the noise. “Check on Hazel first.”
Ginny headed her off at the end of the hallway. “Everything’s fine. Jack’s a little scratched up, that’s all.”
Hazel still looked flushed and nervous. “I don’t feel so good, Ginny. I feel -- not right.”
“Hazel.” Jack’s low voice filled the room, vibrating with the power of an alpha. Hazel’s body went tense as he continued. “Can you get me a couple of towels from the bathroom while Ginny checks my arm?”
The rush of magic wasn’t meant for Ginny, but she felt it brush past her as it found its target. Hazel’s face relaxed as the energy wrapped around her, an aura of pack and safety tinged with the protective strength that Jack lived and breathed. The girl’s eyes fluttered shut and she sighed as the tight tension bled away. “Okay, Jack.”
Ginny watched her go and then closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Jack. I’m -- I’m bad at dealing with things like this.”
“Come here, Ginny.”
She couldn’t let him comfort her while he was bleeding. “Jack.”
“Ginny, please. Don’t make me come over there and drip blood on your floor.”
She avoided his gaze, keeping hers on his feet as she made her way back to the table. “I don’t care about the floor.”
His uninjured arm curled around her shoulders and tugged her against his chest. “I just need to know you’re okay,” he whispered, his breath warm on her neck.
The rest of the world faded as she touched him. Her hands moved gingerly at first, and then clutched at his back. She breathed in his scent, nestled her face against his shoulder, and tried not to cry. “I’m okay, Jack. I’m not even hurt.”
The faintest sound of shoes on the wood floor heralded Hazel’s arrival. “The towels are on the table,” she whispered. “Is it okay if I go get some air?”
Jack answered before Ginny could. “Don’t go farther than the front porch before Lottie and Thomas get here, and if anyone else shows up, come back inside.”
“Okay.”
When she was gone Jack’s fingers tightened on Ginny’s lower back. “You’re not bad at dealing with things like this.” He laughed, the sound tired enough to make her chest ache. “I can barely manage Hazel on the best of days, and I doubt that’ll last much longer in any case.”
“Special circumstances.” She pulled away and picked up a towel. “Will you sit down, already? Let me look at you.”
He wrapped the second towel around his h*ps and sat without protest. “I promise I’m going to be okay.”
Ginny bent to look, and only the fact that he’d already stopped bleeding kept her from dissolving into tears. “Think I need to stitch it up?” she whispered, prodding gently at the wound. “It looks deep.”
Jack glanced at the wound and shook his head. “No, I heal fast. I just need a bath and some sleep, really. And some food.” He smiled at her. “And for Thomas to go get me some clothes, since I don’t think I’m squeezing my shoulders into anything you own.”
She kissed him, hard and fast, because she had to, and rested her forehead against his. “Bath. Do you need help, or can I go talk to Hazel?”
“I’ll be fine. Just… figure out how bad it is, would you? I know she’s on edge, but I can’t tell how close.”
“I will.” She didn’t tell him about the scene during the standoff, just straightened and nodded down the hall. “You know where it is.” The need to help him nearly overwhelmed her, but she forced herself to walk toward the front door. “Yell if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Ginny.”
Ginny found Hazel shivering on the front porch even in the warm early-morning sun, her arms wrapped tight around her legs as she stared at nothing.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Ginny whispered as she slid down to sit next to her. “I didn’t know Ollie would grab you like that. I don’t think he really planned on it.”
“I was being stupid.” Hazel’s voice sounded flat. “He didn’t mean anything by it. And I know it. I know it. But she wants him so much it scrambles my brains.”
“I know.” And she did. Even now, with Hazel’s physical well-being confirmed, the animal inside Ginny demanded that she go in search of Jack. “That’s the hell of it, sweetie. He probably feels the same, but we’re not just the wolves. And Ollie --” She broke off and scooted closer to Hazel. “Ollie’s been hurt inside. And I don’t know if he’ll ever get over it.”
Even scared and confused, Hazel had no problem seeing to the heart of the matter. “You talking about Oliver, or you?”
“Maybe both of us,” she admitted. “I know what it’s like to not be sure if you want to risk it.” She had to swallow past the lump in her throat, and her voice still sounded ragged. “It’s no secret my parents weren’t happy. My mother never got over the War and everything she lost, but my father… He loved her, Hazel. More than anything, he loved her. He always said she’d get better, but she never did. And when she died, he gave up.”
Memories assailed her, and Ginny closed her eyes and leaned back against the house, folding her hands in her lap to hide their shaking. “I don’t know what I’m more afraid of, really. Loving someone as much as he loved her, or -- or disappointing someone as much as Mom did him.”
Hazel leaned into her side. “It was the War, Gin. It f**ked everyone up. Things may be harder now than they were before, but Thomas says they’re a lot simpler, too. And you know what else he says?”
She drew in a calming breath and glanced at Hazel. “No, what?”
“That werewolves aren’t meant to be alone, and trying to live that way is like trying to make water run uphill.”
“Thomas is a smart man.” Ginny wrapped her arm around Hazel’s shoulders. “I don’t think we were meant to be alone, either. But I think some of us have to be.”
“And I think you’re full of shit.” She could almost hear the smile in Hazel’s voice. “I still like you, though. I just can’t ever get within twenty feet of Oliver ever again, so you might need to help me with that.”
“I’ll think of something.”
Ginny heard Jack moving around inside, his soft footfalls climbing the stairs, and she knew he’d head straight for the bed. The kind of healing he’d done -- and still had to do -- required enormous reserves of energy, and he probably wouldn’t wake up until hunger drove him from the bed.
She and Hazel sat in silence until they heard hoof beats, and several riders appeared in the distance. Ginny recognized Oliver and Lottie, as well as Thomas, the tall beta who served as Jack’s second-in-command.
Hazel’s nervous energy returned, magnified a hundredfold as the girl’s gaze fixed on Oliver. A soft whimper escaped her throat and her fingers tightened painfully on Ginny’s arm. “Is it supposed to feel like this?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I’ll send him out to Dawson’s place, sweetie. He won’t be around for long, all right?”