As the Jeep’s engine shut down, Storm’s second snort rang across the sudden silence. The mare shifted her focus from the drive to the Jeep.
Cara hesitated as she stepped from the vehicle, her attention on the mare. She made a mysterious gesture with her hands. The tension in the horse seemed to vanish, and Storm stepped away from Zach.
The moment was rife with a symbolism that Zach wasn’t in any position to decipher. Cara’s presence was another matter. He craved her quiet energy with a fierceness that nearly overwhelmed him. It was all he could do not to run to the woman.
Instead, she came to him. Was she humming? Music swirled around her, soothing and beautiful. The crystals in her hair sang to him as she crouched before him and placed her hands on his arms. She was an endless, deep well ofcalm, and he dove into it with desperation. Searching for the balance he craved.
Her energy reached for him. But it wasn’t what he expected. The imagined music changed, becoming a deep drum roll, a clash of horns. And then it came at him like a spear, lancing into his soul.
He recoiled as if physically struck. Negativity gushed like a flood from the psychic wound. In its place flowed Cara’s bright, soft energy. A harmony that healed the jagged wounds of his mind.
Finally, he blinked at her. His thoughts spun with all he’d just seen and sensed. All he could ask was, “How?”
Cara smiled at him. “Not important at this moment. Let’s make some tea, and you can tell me about your day.”
Spike licked his hands, and Willow demanded that Cara stroke her ears. Something gusted against Zach’s hair, and he turned to see Storm’s nose was inches from him. The mare stood pressed up against the panels, and she gazed straight at him with her eerie blue eye. The other, the brown one, was lost in the darkness.
The pale eye almost glowed. Then she snorted softly and moved away. Tucker watched her go. Now that Zach had found balance, he deemed it safe to approach.
Cara huffed a laugh. “He’s a sweetie. And loyal. But that mare...” The woman tilted her head. “She’s a warrior.”
Zach stroked Tucker’s nose. “Yes,” he agreed. “Yes, she is.”
* * *
The ambulances brought the three women to the Health Sciences Center to be checked over.
Jessie was relieved not to be at her workplace. Having familiar faces poking at her would have made everything much more difficult.
The police followed and waited impatiently for the hospital staff to finish their examination. When the doctor got a look at the bite on her shoulder, he went very still. She didn’t blame him. Not only did it not conform to a human mouth, but it was far more healed than it should be after three weeks.
“You said a human bit you?” He couldn’t keep the confusion from his voice.
“I think so,” Jessie hedged. “But he was behind me at the time.”
His fingers gently probed the wound. It didn’t even hurt anymore.
“Did they have a dog with them?”
“Not that I saw.” Not a dog, no.It was a werewolf.So not going there. She almost didn’t believe it herself. And she’d seen it.
Him. She’d seen him. Right after he’d put his probing fingers where he had no right to put them.
Dammit.
Whatever conclusions the doctor reached, he kept to himself. “Well, this is healing well. I don’t see any reason to keep you overnight. As soon as the police are finished, you are free to go home.”
Home? The word seemed like something from another lifetime.
When the doctor finished, a policewoman came in and swabbed every bit of Jessie that might have been exposed to either Troy’s or Braden’s DNA. The woman had a gentle way about her. No doubt that was why she had been chosen for the task.
She regarded Jessie with sympathy in her gaze. “The doctor said there was no sexual assault?”
Jessie’s gut twisted. “No. I mean yes, he was right. One of them slapped me. They both grabbed me by the throat. The effing leader groped and... licked me.”
The woman’s eyes widened, ever so slightly.
Jessie continued. “But you guys got there just in time. He was thinking about it.” Thinking? She had few doubts that if the police hadn’t arrived—her skin crawled.
