He looked to the sky. “Something startled them. Look, see those red-tailed hawks?”
High above, the raptor pair rose and dove effortlessly, gliding across the rosy golden sky.
Boom.A shotgun blast shattered the peaceful setting.
Stone flattened me to the ground. He gave an authoritative shout, but I could barely process his words over the intense, screaming agony of falling on my injured arms.
Pain blocked all my other senses, making me dizzy and sick as Stone reverted to his training in order to protect me.
I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, Taggart was there with Morrigan, and they were pulling Stone off me. He fought them until they found a way to ground him in the present moment. After that, his remorse kicked in, and he sat so still and quiet it was as if he’d entered a fugue state.
“Was that a gun?” I gasped in uneven panting breaths. Were they trying to kill those beautiful hawks? “What happened?”
“Someone was flying a drone over the kennels,” Taggart said grimly.
“A camera drone?” I asked because I was all too familiar with those.
He gave a stern nod. “Animal activists sometimes use them to try to get dirt on the sanctuary, but this time I think it was about you. There have been paparazzi camped outside the gates since last night.”
“Already?” I could believe it. The suicide angle was enticing, like chum in the water for media ghouls but this was sooner than I thought they'd find me.
“I lost my temper and blasted the damn drone. I didn’t think about how Stone would react.”
My phone rang, but I couldn’t get it from Stone’s pocket.
“That’s probably Molly,” I said. “Could you get it?”
He got the phone from Stone’s pocket and put it on speaker.
“We’re here,” he said. “It’s me, Taggart. I have Stone and Sebastian with me.”
“Was that a gun?” Molly asked anxiously. “Is Bast okay?”
“I’m fine, Molz.”
“He’s not fine,” said Taggart. “He needs to have his arms checked out. Stone’s not doing so good. I can drive him in.”
“Did you get the hybrids taken care of?” Stone asked suddenly.
“I was doing that when—”
“I’ll finish up there.” Stone seemed shattered. “You and Molly take Sebastian to the ER.”
“Stone, no.” I didn’t want to go without him. “I can wait if you want to—”
“I’m not okay to drive right now.” Stone turned away with painful finality. “Go with Tag and Molly, Sebastian.”
I knew what he was thinking, that he’d hurt me, that he shouldn’t be around me because he hadn’t kept me safe. The self-loathing rolled like a chyron at the bottom of a news story:I am a monster. Monsters don’t belong around people.
It hurt my heart to have to leave him that way. I wanted to put my arms around him and tell him he was a good man, not a monster but an ordinary human who expected too much from himself, but I absolutely had to go to the ER to make certain my fall hadn’t compromised the delicate surgery they’d done to put my arm bones back together.
If I didn’t, and I got an infection or worse, Stone would never forgive himself.
“I’ll be back soon,” I called as he and Morrigan walked away. “You didn't do anything wrong.”
No answer.
Taggart hustled me back the way we'd come. My arms were agony.
