He still lingered on the sidewalk when Todd, Evershaw, and Edgar Chase appeared and crossed over to stand near him. Chase shook his hand. “Dodge. Your girl is safe and sound inside with Deirdre and Mercy. They’re feeding her and giving her pain meds before Deirdre leaves.”
Some of the tension eased in his chest, and Dodge nodded to the lion. “Thank you.”
Edgar checked his watch. “There’s twenty-four hour security in the lobby as well as the garage entrance and the elevators. The concierge team has been informed that Miss Lawson has an aggressive ex-boyfriend who has threatened her, and thus we’ve upgraded the security system and require screening of every guest who enters the building. They’ve also been informed that she’s family and has access to any of the apartments and vehicles the Chases own. We’ll go back in a day or so to update her on all of this; she was pretty overwhelmed so we figured it was time to leave.”
Dodge’s heart tripped at the other man’s observation that Persephone had been tired and at the end of her rope. He didn’t want to hear that, not when he couldn’t go and help her.
Evershaw folded his arms over his chest and leveled a dark look at Dodge, as if he sensed his discomfort. “And the O’Sheas have mobile patrols throughout this neighborhood. If anyone is looking for her, they won’t be able to get to her. They won’t even get to the building.”
It wasn’t good enough. Dodge’s throat went dry at the thought. She wouldn’t be safe untilhecould make sure of it. “The detective was confident they wouldn’t come after her. That the threat had passed. I don’t believe it.”
Edgar nodded, his eyes dark with irritation. “Once she got to the bottom of the dirty cop who shot you and kidnapped Miss Lawson for Bridger, yes. O’Brien is confident that Bridger is gone and will not return.”
“We should have just killed the bitch,” Evershaw muttered. “Instead of giving her the chance to leave.”
“It was a very limited time offer,” Todd said. He’d been the one to work with the detective on getting rid of the loan-shark. Evershaw had been tied up keeping Dodge from going completely out of control and destroying half the city. Todd shook his head. “O’Brien found the one dirty cop and dealt with him, but it is definitely possible – likely, even – that Bridger had more on her payroll. Killing her would have raised too much of a fuss and kicked off an investigation. We gave Bridger twenty-four hours to leave the city and O’Brien locked down all of her bank accounts. Bridger is gone. Smith set some of his friends to keep an eye on her and make sure she’s not trying something shitty to get back at you, so for now, it’s as resolved as we can make it.”
Dodge scowled and debated tracking Bridger down himself to deal with things. “A grave would have been better. It’s the only thing she deserves.”
The others grumbled in agreement. Edgar and Evershaw went on discussing security arrangements and screening procedures, but Dodge’s attention remained on the apartment building across the street. As much as he wanted to barge into the building and check on Persephone himself, he remembered the terror on her face when she’d seen him as a wolf in the hospital. He couldn’t repeat that. Seeing her afraid of him again would destroy him. He couldn’t put her through that. It was better that she was safe in the new apartment he’d bought and furnished, tucked away from him and the pack and anything else that might hurt her.
Every breath felt like his last, though, without Persephone in his life. He felt her getting further and further away from him. It was only a matter of time until she was gone from his life permanently. He closed his eyes and counted the seconds until Evershaw dragged him back to the house, so he could crawl back into the cellar and get drunk while Silas looked on. Dodge tilted his head back and inhaled, trying to catch one last hint of her scent.
There was no telling how long it would be until he smelled her again.
Chapter 47
Percy
Amonth passed in fits and starts. Some days crept by in slow motion, like when the physical therapist made me do exercises to rebuild balance and strength, while others disappeared like water down the drain. Mercy stayed with me for quite a while; I was grateful for her company and her help, even though it was weird to share an apartment with someone again. Of course, the enormous apartment in the fancy building was easily three times the size of my last one, so it wasn’t exactly like we had to share a bathroom.
Eventually she went back to the Evershaw house. Mercy still checked on me every other day to bring me groceries and help with cleaning and laundry, but she was needed at home. I had no doubt the house would have fallen apart without her there to help. God only knew how I would have survived without her.
But her departure meant I was alone in that giant apartment with very little to do, other than binge-watch shows I hadn’t started yet or browse the internet and try not to buy everything in sight. If I didn’t keep myself distracted, my thoughts inevitably turned to Dodge. Where was he? Why hadn’t he visited? He hadn’t evencalledor emailed or texted or anything. It was like he’d dropped off the face of the planet.
I didn’t know why I expected anything else. After all, he hadn’t bothered to visit me in the hospital after that one day. Maybe he had the same problem as Silas and was stuck in his wolf mind. Maybe Evershaw and Deirdre kept him away from me for my own safety. Dodge had looked so out-of-control in the hospital room as he attacked his friends...
Except in my heart I knew that if Dodge really wanted to see me, nothing would stop him. He’d already shown that in different ways, and in the way he’d guarded me in the hospital... He tried to keep everyone at bay. He could have bolted for freedom and just run away. He’d wanted to protect me, to defend me. Surely that meant he had feelings for me? I debated it in my head every day the first few weeks after I left the hospital. More than once I started to ask Mercy where he was, what he was doing, why he wasn’t there with me.
Inevitably I lost my nerve. It felt too desperate, too middle school, to gossip about the boy I liked with one of his friends. So I wallowed in uncertainty and suffered over it.
I eventually distracted myself by working on my website and searching online for new jobs and places I could apply or submit part of my portfolio. It would have been better if I had recent commissions to list, but I didn’t think Ms. Bridger and the animal sanctuary were going to give me a good reference. Just the thought made me snort and shake my head. I didn’t know whether she was still around. Mercy and Deirdre just said I was safe and she wouldn’t bother me anymore.
Maybe they’d killed her and didn’t want me to have to testify if anyone ever tried to pin it on them.
A few of the architecture firms – some local but some much farther away – called me for interviews, but I pushed off the calls until I was certain the bruises and cuts weren’t visible on my face and hands and arms. They’d healed up faster than I thought they would, though shadows of bruises still haunted my throat and cheeks even after I experimented with the makeup Mercy brought for me.
Even with the interest from the firms I contacted and the excitement of a new start somewhere far from the awful memories of the sanctuary and being abandoned by Dodge, I couldn’t find the energy to follow through. I chalked it up to my body and mind still healing from the torment from the sanctuary. I’d felt run-down and exhausted for weeks since leaving the hospital, and the medications continued to upset my stomach. I’d thrown up a few times and lived on toast and ginger ale for at least a week, even under Mercy’s watchful eyes. I meant to call the doctors for follow-up but never got around to it, and instead dragged myself through every day while trying to find the motivation to do more.
The nightmares certainly didn’t help me get any rest. I slept better during the day, that was for sure, because at least I woke up to light. It chased the first awful panic away before I even realized it was a nightmare and not reality. I hated the dark and kept lights on all the time. I hated to think what it meant for the utilities, but I couldn’t survive the terror every night. It just made me miss Dodge more. He would have made me feel safe. He definitely would have woken me up from those bad dreams before they got to real nightmares.
I circled back through every conversation we’d had, searching for any hint of what he might do. He’d said we would hook up for as long as I was interested, but... maybe ghosting on me was his way of making my interest diminish. He’d gotten what he wanted, after all: a hell of a wild night. Maybe it had just been a conquest, a challenge.
The possibility hurt more than the breaking bones I vaguely remembered.
A week after Mercy left, the gold-haired burly lion, Edgar, and his wife brought me dinner. Isobel, dark-haired and quiet, was kind and brought a soothing energy with her. They also had two kids – a high-energy toddler and a sleepy baby who just wanted to snuggle her papa. The soft looks they traded and their ease around each other made me intensely, insanely jealous. You could practically pick their love for each other out the air every time their eyes met. If I hadn’t already been nauseated, that would have sent me running for the bathroom. The toddler took an immediate liking to me and invited me to their house to play with trains. Isobel followed up with an open invitation to just hang out and watch movies or drink tea. I made some excuses and thanked them for the casserole, but didn’t commit to anything.
They had everything I wanted from life and made it very, very difficult to be around them, even though I knew it was unfair to judge them. From the look in her eyes and the lines around his, I knew neither of them had had an easy road in life. But they’d found each other and started a family, and had what I never really knew I’d always wanted.
