Stella

 

Stella felt pain rip through her body. Her eyes flew open.

“Rick!” she cried out.

As much as she wanted to stay hidden and finish her attack, the pain she felt coming through their mate bond couldn’t be ignored. She opened herself up to their bond.

“Where are you?”

“So now you want to know where I am?” he sneered.

She knew she deserved his anger. Stella ignored the venom in his comment.

“You’re hurt?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Rick.”

“Stella.”

“Fine. If you need me, I’m here,” she said, leaving their mate bond open.

As hard as she tried, she couldn’t focus back on her meditation. Her concern for Rick and what he had been doing to become injured worried her too much. Stella picked up the phone in the apartment and dialed Kate’s number.

“Hello?” Kate asked quietly.

“Kate, sorry to disturb you. I hope I didn’t wake the baby.”

“No, I’m at the bar. Are you okay?”

“Yes, but I think Rick may be injured. Could you give me a ride?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t. Greg just left work sick as a dog so I’m filling in. Without Austin here we’re really shorthanded.”

“Okay. Do you want me to come down and help?”

“Can you do that? I thought you were in hiding?”

“The cat will be out of the bag soon enough. If you need help, I can help.”

“That would be great. Thank you so much.”

Stella changed her clothes and headed down to the bar. Kate hadn’t been exaggerating. The bar was packed and Annie was hustling around the floor taking orders and passing out drinks. The cook was frying and flipping faster than SpongeBob SquarePants, and Kate was mixing drinks and pouring beer from the tap at the same time.

The Kamp stayed busy well into the wee hours of the morning, keeping Stella preoccupied. As the last patron left, she and Kate slumped into two bar stools and drank a glass of wine.

“I can’t thank you enough for coming down to help. Greg got so sick, it was just like one second he was fine, the next he looked like death.”

“That fast, huh? Those twenty-four-hour bugs can do that to you. I’m glad I was able to help.”

“Sorry it kept you from Rick. Do you think he’s really hurt?”

“No, I can feel him through our mate bond. He’s injured, but not badly.”             

“You guys can communicate through your bond?” Kate asked, bewildered.

“Yeah, because I’m a healer, our bond is different. It’s stronger because of my magic.”

“That must be amazing. I would love to be able to do that with Austin.”

“Until you’re having a disagreement, then you can’t get away from them,” Stella joked.

The door flew open and Austin walked in, followed by the rest of the crew. Justin came in last, tugging Rachel along behind him. Stella stood and went straight to Rick.

“What happened?” she asked, touching the wounds on his chest and face.

As she touched them, they healed. He looked down in amazement and then brought her against him for a rough but quick kiss.

“Don’t ever leave me again,” he said sternly, sending goosebumps down Stella’s arm.

“Why do you have her here?”

“She’s not the only chameleon. There were, are, others.”

“How do you know this? Did you offer this information up?” Stella asked, leaning around Rick to eye Rachel.

“No, we suspected it before, but then we followed her after she left work. She met with Dave tonight.”

“Dave!” Stella yelled.

“He’s dead now,” Rick said, void of all emotion.

Rick went over to the bar and grabbed himself a beer. He held it up to the other guys, and they all nodded. Once everyone had a drink in hand they sat around their usual table. Everyone except Rachel. She stood by the doorway looking every bit the deer in the headlights. Stella looked at Rick while he glared at the woman.

“Now you’re going to tell me who the other chameleons are,” Rick said, slamming his beer down.

“There aren’t any more. I can’t be here,” Rachel said nervously.

“Either you tell us, or you’ll join Dave in the hole in your backyard,” Jasper said threateningly.

“That’s fine. It would honestly be easier that way. I truly do need to go.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“You don’t understand. I can’t be here.”

“He can’t hear you here. This place is secure,” Stella said.

Rachel’s head snapped around to look at Stella. Stella gave her a nod, but didn’t say anything else. Rick’s hand landed on her leg and gave her a tight squeeze. She knew he wanted the name, but she still felt like it was too soon.

Rachel opened her mouth to say something, and then vanished right before their eyes.