CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“They’re gone,” Tarik said before Lance could get a word in edgewise.

As always when in the presence of the formidable creature, Lance stood frozen momentarily, words twisted up in his head, instincts mangled.

People like him weren’t supposed to ever encounter people like Tarik. They just weren’t equipped to process the energy that angels of his order put off, even fallen ones. Tarik’s power was foreboding and intensely electric, and that was on top of the fear Tarik inspired simply from being large enough to knock over a house if he so chose.

Tarik stretched out his long legs, crossed them at the ankles, and worked his wings over the back of the park bench.

Lance couldn’t see them, but he’d seen the angels perform that particular action enough to know they were doing a little more than just shrugging with abject disgust from having to rub elbows with the ilk of him.

Tarik flicked the lid off his takeaway hot cup and took a cautious sip of what looked like tea.

Odd. Lance had never seen the man eat or drink. He wondered what the special occasion was.

“Gone,” Lance repeated with caution.

“Yes.”

“Your choice or theirs?”

“Maybe a bit of both,” Tarik made a disgusted face at the tea but took another sip anyway.

“All of them?”

“No. Estela left with Josefina and Guadalupe.”

“Guadalupe left, too? She looked like she wanted to stay.”

“Mmm. She said something about talking sense into them. I doubt she’ll succeed. She’ll return, I’m certain.”

“So, Blanca is still here.”

“For the moment. She’ll have to move on eventually with her visa situation being what it is. Overall, the Jaguars are a fairly lawful bunch.”

“Lawful and chaotic.”

The angel performed an infinitesimal shrug.

“Did you tell her what she wanted to know?”

Tarik cut his golden eyes toward Lance. There was a threat in them, but Lance wasn’t going away until he got what he needed.

“What is it that you think she should know, Coyote?”

“Don’t fuck with me, Tarik. Lily and me—we’ve been through a lot a shit in the past little bit, okay? We probably know a lot more than you’d like for us to right now, and in my estimation, it isn’t nearly enough to scratch the surface.”

“Quite interesting. Several hours ago, I would have said that you knew more about the circumstances than I did.”

“How is that possible?”

“Because Lola didn’t tell me. She should have.”

“But you knew what you created.”

“I knew what I took part in, yes, however, I assumed they’d died off.”

“You didn’t go looking to see for sure.”

“What would I have done if they hadn’t?”

Fair point. Lance grunted and rubbed his eyes. He wanted a big steak and to curl up next to his wife in whatever bed she was in and sleep for a day or two, but he wouldn’t be able to close his eyes until he knew what was going to happen to her—and until he knew if they would be having the same fight again whenever Estela and Josefina got their shit together.

“Did you do anything to prevent Estela and Josefina from coming back unannounced?” Lance asked him. “With the way they can travel, we might not be able to detect them until they’re standing right in front of us.

“I suggested to them that they shouldn’t waste their energy.”

“That’s all? You just suggested?”

Tarik took another sip of the tea.

“You can’t make them go away, can you?”

“Well, I could kill them, but that would seem to defeat the purpose of me having ensured their survival in some small way in the first place.”

“So, you’re just going to let them roam free?”

“For the time being.”

“To what ends?”

“I have my reasons.”

“And if those reasons get the people here hurt—”

Tarik flicked a hand at him in a “be gone, pissant” manner, and Lance seethed. That was all he could do. He wasn’t going to attack a fallen angel who could probably incinerate him on the spot. Not unless he went equipped with Ellery’s fire extinguisher.

“Just tell me something,” Lance said on the tail of a frustrated growl. “Is what they are communicable? Is Jaguarism something that can be passed on?”

Tarik didn’t say anything for a long while. He crossed his legs in the other direction. Got his wings more comfortable over the bench back. Took another sip.

Lance was about to take his shot and just try to shake some sense into the guy when Tarik said, “Yes, but I do not believe it’s a complete transmission. They can make other shifters, but they can’t transmit all of their…” He grimaced. “Quirks.”

“Are you guessing or do you know?”

“I know.”

“How?”

“Because I touched them. I understand their coding.”

“And by quirks, you mean—”

“Nothing your wife needs to worry about. Part of what they are is because of my magic. That energy cannot be transferred through a bite or scratch. And she needn’t worry about her lifespan coming to a precipitous halt. That clock is set at birth. I’m certain that Lily still has whatever she started with. And she won’t be disappearing into thin air. She doesn’t have the constitution.”

Lance hadn’t realized how fast his heart was beating before that moment. His pulse was so rapid that he was dizzier than he’d ever been in a moving car.

If she ended up with Jaguarism, and he truly hoped she wouldn’t, at the very least, he wouldn’t have to flail about trying to guide her through things he didn’t understand himself.

“What else can you tell me?”

“I could tell you a great number of things. The better question is whether or not I wish to.”

“And you don’t wish to.”

“No.” Tarik’s flat tone held an unspoken command of “You’re dismissed.”

Lance was only a Coyote. He couldn’t ignore it. He turned on his heel and reached for the truck keys in his pocket. He needed to get back to the hospital and make sure Lily got that blood, whether she was awake or not. He’d decided. That was that. She could kick his ass later.

“Lance.”

The word brought him up short. There was no edge in it, for a change. Just query.

Lance slowly turned.

“I would appreciate if you didn’t say anything to Lola.”

Lance furrowed his brow, unsure of what Tarik was getting at.

“About what happened with the Jaguars.”

“Why?”

“I have my reasons for not communicating my every action. Just as she has hers.”

Lance didn’t like the way that sounded.

“I doubt she will broach the topic with you or your wife, but if she does…” Tarik pressed the lid back onto the cup and sent the beverage sailing cleanly into the trash. “I suggest you change the subject.”

“Are you suggesting or commanding that?”

Tarik didn’t respond.

Lance wasn’t going to waste time making him.

He needed to go. He didn’t want Lily to wake and think he didn’t care.

*

Lily had been drifting in and out of sleep for gods-knew how long, unable to catch a REM pattern with all the hospital personnel circuiting in and out of her room. What roused her this time wasn’t someone in orthopedic shoes padding over to check her IV line or her vitals, but the distinct sensation of being scooted out of the way.

She raised a gritty eyelid and caught a flash of lumberjack beard in her periphery just before the beard’s owner squeezed into the narrow bed beside her.

Lance straightened the covers and picked up the bed control and television remote. “Kinda cold in here,” he said.

“I thought it was just me,” she murmured, letting the eye close. Whatever pain meds her nurse had squirted into her line had her numb and tingling all over. Considering the alternative, she wasn’t going to complain.

“Probably the both of us.” He cleared his throat and twined his legs more comfortably with hers.

“You usually burn hot.”

“I usually have a little more blood.”

“Oh.”

That was right. She had some of that blood on order. They were processing it or something. Apparently, Ellery had run up to the lab to bewitch whoever was running it into not taking too close a look into what sort of weird qualities that blood possessed.

“They’re gonna kick you out of here, you know,” she said.

“Who?”

“The nurses. Ellery doesn’t work on this floor. My father tried to come in but they scared him off.”

“No offense to your father, but I’m made of sterner stuff.”

She chuckled. “He said he was going to call my mother and get her caught up.”

“I bet that was an interesting conversation.”

“Yeah. She’ll probably want to fly to New Mexico, but it’s no use. She won’t be able to get a visa sorted. She hasn’t been able to get permission to enter the country since she got deported.”

“Sorry.”

Lily shrugged. Or thought she did, anyway. She wasn’t entirely sure what her body was doing except being cuddled. That was actually nice. She hoped they couldn’t kick him out. She didn’t want to spend a night amidst all the poking and prodding and machine beeping noises alone.

And she didn’t want him to go home to his nightmares.

“He and Glenda okay?” Lance asked.

“Well, they were talking at a normal volume when they left, so that’s good.”

“They say anything about me?”

She grinned. “Maybe.”

“Anything good?”

“Define good.”

“So, no.”

She tried to shrug again. “He’s scared. I get it. I think, though, that Aunt Glenda has mostly convinced him that I’m capable of making good decisions and that I’ll be fine without him intruding. He’ll come around. Even made some noises about doing Thanksgiving on the ranch this year. He said he should take a closer look at what Aunt Glenda’s done with the place, but I know better. I think he just needs to convince himself of the normalness of the shifter branch of the family.”

She shuddered at the tickling glide of a gentle fingertip along her hairline and let her head fall toward him. When she opened her eyes, he was looking down at her.

“You’re taking the blood?”

She nodded.

“Come what may, huh?”

“It’ll be all right.”

“You don’t know that.”

“There are worse things to be than a Coyote, but anyway, I’m confident that my body will do what it needs to. Usually, it doesn’t let me down.”

“That’s what I worry about.” He loosened the elastic band from her hair that was barely hanging on and flicked it to the bedside stand. “I don’t know what I’d do with myself if anything else bad happened to you because of me.”

“You’ll cope just fine. Sweet of you to worry.”

“Why wouldn’t I worry? No Coyote relishes the thought of losing his mate. That would…break me, Lily. Do you understand?”

She swallowed. Nodded again. “I do understand. But I also know some risks are worth it, and the opportunity for good far outweighs the chance of bad.”

“I want the good.”

“Me, too. I deserve it.”

His laugh was slow, but it counted.

A nurse wheeled in a cart with some supplies on it and gave Lance a chilling look.

“Hi, Reese,” Lily said. “Have you met my husband?”

“I haven’t had the pleasure, but if he doesn’t vamoose, I’m calling security.”

Lance snorted and changed the channel.

Lily pressed her lips together and stifled the laugh bubbling up in her chest.

Reese narrowed her crystalline eyes at her.

They’d gone to high school together. They’d never been close, but she was the decent sort who treated everyone pretty much the same.

“Sorry to make this hard for you,” Lily said. “I’m sure he’ll scoot away in…” She gave Lance’s side a weak nudge. “An hour or so?”

He rolled his eyes.

“I can give you an hour,” Reese said, rolling her cart closer. It had what appeared to be Lily’s blood bags on it. “Can’t make any promises after that. Doc’s due to check in.”

“Sure about this?” Lance murmured.

“Yep.” Lily watched Reese plug in the first bag. “I’m thinking that we can go ahead and get all the family planning stuff done in the next three or four years. You’re not getting any younger.”

“Pardon me?”

Reese got the blood flowing and settled the IV stand closer so Lily didn’t feel a tug on her injection site. She left the room with the warning of, “One hour,” and closed the door.

Lance slid an arm under Lily’s neck and propped her a bit more against him. “What are you telling me?”

“That when I get out of here and all my stitches have healed and my head has stopped swimming, we can get you settled on the ranch.”

“The ranch?”

“Because you promised to sub for Hank while he’s subbing for Willa, remember?”

“Oh. Yeah. I did, huh?”

“Mm-hmm. And we can figure out how to expand my house a little. Just so you know, it’s old. I like it, though. It’s got charm and a brand new septic tank.”

“Sounds…wonderful,” he groused.

“And it’s positioned far enough away from my cousins’ houses that you won’t feel obligated to participate in any off-the-clock pissing contests.”

“Well, that’s not so bad, then. I’ll save all my pompous braggadocio for the woodshop.”

“I’ll be sure to reward you for your good efforts.”

“Oh? How’s that?”

“Staying married to you should be a good enough start.”

He laughed and settled his head onto the pillow, curling his legs behind hers. “Yeah. That’s a pretty good start. Tell me you love me and maybe I won’t heckle your father the next time I see him.”

“I need more than a maybe.” She tried to sound scolding, but she was too tired to fake indignation.

“Okay. I won’t heckle him. Might ask him to do my quarterly taxes, though. Maybe that’ll squash any worries he has about me providing for you.”

“I don’t need you to provide for me.”

“Just pretend that you’ll let me and I’ll pretend not to know the difference.”

“Deal,” she whispered.

He gave her a nudge with his knee and skated his fingertips down her jaw.

Numb, but still nice.

“I’ll try to be a better person for you. I’m not always going to succeed, but I’m going to do everything I can to ensure that you get everything you want. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go and make sure you’re warm and sated, and if this shit backfires and you end up—”

Lily let out a frantic titter. The man of few words was rambling.

She grabbed his hand and gave it a feeble squeeze. “Stop.” She didn’t need him to ramble. She didn’t need grand gestures or platitudes or rambling from him. Wasn’t her style. That was part of the reason they suited so well.

“I love you,” she said, letting her eyelids drift down once more.

“Tell me again,” he murmured into her hair.

“I love you. Are you going to tell me now, or is this going to be a one-sided love affair?”

“Pfft. As if. Pretty sure the half of Maria that hasn’t heard my panicked screaming of your name will hear about it by tomorrow. Fine with me. Dudes should know you’re off the market.” He nuzzled his face against her hair and inhaled deeply. “I’m lucky. Of course I love you, Lily.”

She laughed and twined her fingers between his. “You didn’t even need a slug of mescal to make you say it.”

“Oh, no. I plan to remember every little thing we do together from here on out.”