11
Harmony looked down at the man who lay so motionless on the white sheets. He was so thin and pale. How could this be the man who had left her only a few months earlier?
She ran her fingers over his tortured skin.
“Oh Line. come back to me.” She whispered. She had whispered it over and over for what seemed like weeks, but there had been no change.
“You need rest.” Creed said from the doorway.
“I can’t leave him. I can’t.”
“You need to eat.” He persisted.
“I’m not hungry.” She shot him a look telling him she was tired of his interference.
He ignored her.
“You can’t help him if you’re weak. You need to eat.” He tried.
She rolled her eyes.
She was exhausted, but she couldn’t leave him. She was afraid to take her eyes off of him. She was afraid it was a dream and if she looked away he would disappear like a ghost.
“He isn’t going anywhere.” River said from behind her.
“He looks so frail.” She whispered, unwilling to admit it to anyone else.
“He has a long road. Lots of shit in his head to deal with. Shit I didn’t even know could happen.” River admitted.
“Will he be alright River? Will everything be alright?” Her voice broke.
“That’s up to him, but he’s fought a hard fight to get back. I don’t see him giving up now that he’s here.”
Her heart beat painfully.
“I can’t lose him.” She whispered.
She looked down at her hand where it rested on Line’s. His fingers tightened.
“I’m not going anywhere sweetheart.” He croaked.
Harmony covered her mouth and sobbed.
“You kept me strong.” He said with pride.
“You have to get better.” She whispered.
“Whatever that means.” He was trying to make light of it, but she saw the pain in his face.
“Harmony, I need to talk to him alone.” River said, and she saw the pain in his face and it mirrored Clothesline’s. He was taking some of the pain on himself, so he could talk to the man she loved, so she could.
She didn’t know how she left the room or made the walk down the hall, but she found herself sitting in a chair on the front porch of Line’s house.
“They will never stop.”
Harmony’s eyes jerked to the mousy woman she’d seen the night the lions attacked. She was too tired to move, but there was no fear in her, nothing this woman could really do to her. She felt nothing but rage at what these people had done to the man she loved.
She looked down at her knuckles as they turned white on the chair arms. She wanted to rip this woman apart.
“Get away from me.” She gritted out.
“I won’t hurt you. My name is…”
“I don’t give a damn what your name is. If you come near me, I’ll rip your throat out.” Harmony vowed, and she looked the woman in the eyes to make sure she knew it.
“That would be difficult for you.” The woman said simply, but she was watching Harmony with caution.
“Not as difficult as you think.” Harmony gritted out.
“They will wait until a child is born. Then they will kill you to sever the bond it has with you. Then they will take it and study it.”
Harmony felt her stomach pitch.
“How can you say such things about a child. Have you no soul at all?” Harmony panted as she tried not to throw up at the thought of such a horrible fate.
The woman looked confused. “I was only telling you what they will do. I thought you would like to know. I can’t always tell the things I know. I don’t always feel strong enough. I’m sorry… I thought…”
Tears leaked down her face and she looked like a lost child.
Harmony tried to calm her nerves.
“I don’t understand why you are telling me.” She said.
“So, you can try to stop them. Don’t have any children.” The woman said in a broken voice. “It is a horrible thing. They kill the poor animal inside them and it is always the dominant one. What is left is a submissive and weak thing. They hate them, treat them like slaves…” She met Harmony’s eyes. “It is no life.”
“I am not a shifter. I have no animal.” Harmony said calmly.
“It will not matter. They will still take it. The child of a hybrid and a mixed shifter. I’m not sure it has ever happened or even is possible, but if it is...you can’t do that to a child. It is a horrible life.”
“It happened to you.”
The realization slammed into Harmony. This woman wasn’t gloating, she was giving Harmony a warning, but she’d been so abused that she didn’t really know how to talk to anyone.
The woman’s hands shook so she gripped them in her lap.
“Your man is a lost cause, I’m sure they know that by now. They will kill him if they can, but they will want to wait and watch, see if you will breed.” She gripped her head and screamed in pain as tears streamed down her face. She fell to the porch floor and writhed.
“Run.” she panted. “Run...she is forcing me…”
Harmony didn’t know what to do. She bolted for the door and slammed it as she heard the woman’s clothes rip from her body. Something strong slammed against the door and Harmony screamed.
There were curses behind her and Pie ran out the back door. His wolf hit the ground running and skidded around the house.
There were sounds of battle, but in only seconds, there was nothing and then weeping.
Pie’s wolf paced the yard. He wouldn’t let the woman leave and wouldn’t let anyone approach her. She sat on the floor of the porch, naked and weeping.
It broke Harmony’s heart.
She silently walked into the room she shared with Line and pulled clothes from the drawer and slipped them through the front door.
Pie’s lip lifted in a snarl, but he didn’t come closer.
“Take these.” She said and looked at the woman’s tear streaked face.
“Thank you.”
“What is your name?”
“Nora. I am Nora.” She whispered. “Why are you doing this for me?”
“Probably because she’s tired of looking at your tits. She’s crazy.” Creed sat on the roof of his truck. It was scarred and battered, but he still loved it like a child.
“For heaven’s sake Creed, shut up.” Harmony rolled her eyes. “My name is Harmony. I am Line’s mate. I don’t understand what is going on, but I don’t think you want to hurt anyone.”
“I don’t. She gets in my head… I can’t fight her.” Nora whimpered.
“Looks like you have a bond of your own to break.” Harmony said and closed the door.
She watched out the window as Pie paced.
“You come at me and I’ll make a keychain out of your tiny dick.” Creed shouted as he hopped off his truck and jogged around the house to let himself in.
Harmony sighed. Line was home, but the trouble seemed to be worse than ever. Would she ever be safe and free?
“It will get better.” She heard him say from behind her and his warm hands ran up her arms.
“I just want you better.” She turned and pressed close. He was so thin, but he was on his feet and that was costing him.
“I will be. I swear it.”