Chapter Thirteen
“Here.” Grace put a glass of wine in Renee’s hand when she walked through the doors into the family room. She heard Jack and Galen arguing quietly in the background, but decided to ignore it for the moment. She did appreciate that they cared about her and wanted her to feel better, but it was way beyond time they listened and let it go for a few hours so she could get through the rest of the evening.
“Thanks.” It was gone in four gulps.
“I am really sorry. You don’t know me so you can’t be expected to understand just how out of character my behavior was out there. Honestly, I’m so ashamed of myself.”
Henri saw Renee and pushed at his dad until Cade turned, noted her presence and put him down so Henri could toddle over.
“Hey there. You feeling better?” She knelt and he climbed up her legs and into her arms. “I guess so.” She stood, feeling just how heavy he was as he wrapped his legs around her waist like a monkey.
“He’s been saying, Neh? Neh?” I think he means you.” Grace put her hand on Renee’s arm. “I don’t quite know how to make this all better. Are they arguing?”
“You can’t. Not really. Let’s just move forward.” Her stomach growled and Henri put his hands on her cheeks and laughed.
“Food!” he shouted gaily.
“No more for you, little dude. But plenty for us. Come on through. They’ll come in when they’re ready and you look pale. How long has it been since you’ve eaten?” Grace led her through and Renee nearly balked when she noted what seemed like eight dozen pack members milling around.
She was introduced to so many people she couldn’t remember their names. But she knew exactly who the older man using the cane was. Jack’s foster father, Templeton Mancini, the male who had run this pack before a poisoning several years prior had left him severely disabled and he handed leadership over to Cade. Jack respected and loved this person and because of that, Renee really hoped he liked her too.
“I’d have known you anywhere.” Templeton approached with a smile. “He talks about you all the time. The hair, Templeton, gorgeous curls, so soft. She glows with magic.” He mimicked Jack’s voice so well she laughed. “It’s an honor to meet you. I’m Templeton Mancini.”
He took her hand and, in a courtly bow, kissed her knuckles before straightening again. Henri clapped but didn’t seem to want down.
“I’m the one who’s honored. Jack has told me about you and your wife. He talks about you with such respect and affection. You did a fine job raising him. He’s a good man.”
The man in question entered the room behind her. She felt the pull of their connection immediately. Galen was with him and both locked their attention on her and moved as if nothing and no one else mattered. A girl had to be insane not to be flattered by that.
“I think we’ve been dumped for a younger man,” Galen said, grinning at her and then back to Henri.
Pride on his face, Jack clapped his hands to get attention. “Everyone, this is Galen de La Vega. And the gorgeous witch holding Henri is Renee. My mates.”
Templeton nodded and then hugged Jack. Renee heard the quiet inquiry about Templeton’s health and the snort of amused annoyance he got in response.
“A cat and a witch? Jack, I’m pretty sure you’re not even that nice. And, I happen to be way more handsome. Why is it you get two mates?”
“That huge lout is Dave. Another Warden. They breed like roaches so you’ll find them everywhere.” Jack indicated the giant male holding Becca. “He’s Grace’s personal guard. And nowhere near as handsome as me.”
She sat, Galen on one side and Jack on the other. But Henri was having none of it. He sent a glare that she had to admit was pure Cade Warden to Jack as he pushed at his shoulder. “I sit!”
Grace held her hands out and Henri hugged Renee’s neck tight. “Honey, why don’t you let Renee eat? Come over here and sit with Mommy.”
“It’s fine unless I’m breaking a table rule. Really, he’s not bothering me.”
“She’s this way when she’s with my nieces and nephews too. They all flock to her and hog her time and attention. Can’t blame them really.” Galen was so charming and handsome, even as he pissed her off, she wanted to jump on him. She also found herself startled to learn he was so much more observant than she’d given him credit for. Those kids were her favorite part of being with his family.
“Yeah, yeah. But he wants my place.” Jack took one of Henri’s hands and kissed the fist. “Sorry, roly, you’re going to have to find your own lady. This one’s taken.”
“Roly?” She dodged questing little fingers, moving her silverware and glass out of his reach.
“Roly-poly. When he was a baby he never bothered with crawling. He just rolled like a little bowling ball.” Cade winked at his son. “He’d barrel through the room. Becca started calling him that, saying he was like one of those little bugs that rolls itself into a ball. It stuck.”
As it turned out, Jack didn’t have to move over enough for Henri’s high chair because Henri decided to sit on Renee’s lap. He seemed quite content to play with her hair and rub his face on the softness of the scarf she wore. Jack couldn’t hide how happy it made him, which in turn made Renee happy. It also helped keep things in perspective when she thought about Galen’s family. Two of eight wasn’t too much different than other people’s families. She did like many of them. What she needed to do was make more of an effort.
It was late when they finally got out the door. Grace apologized again, thanked her for being so good to Henri and invited her to lunch the following week. When she stepped outside, she felt a million times better than she had several hours before.
They walked the quiet streets back home, her hand in Jack’s and, on the other side, in Galen’s. No one spoke. No one argued. It was a good kind of quiet, comfortable, easy, and Renee rejoiced in its utter normalcy.
“God what a gorgeous night it is.” She breathed in deep, feeling the cold edge into her lungs. “I wish it was clearer. We have a rooftop deck. Galen got me a telescope for my last birthday. It’s fabulous for looking at the stars and spying on other people through their windows.”
Galen squeezed her hand, smiling.
Jack snorted a laugh. “You surprise me all the time. Just when I think I know you, or what you’re like, you break out something I never could have imagined you saying but once I know, I can believe you doing it.” He kissed her quickly. “I like that. It pleases me.”
She shrugged, flattered and a bit flustered. “Thank you. I’m just weird. It’s not special to be weird. But I like who I am. I realized that earlier tonight. I remembered that I do like Galen’s family for the most part. I need to be better about remembering what my blessings are, I think. I certainly want to get along with other people, but I don’t need to quest for approval. I can’t be anyone but who I am. I don’t have the sophistication to fake it.”
“Thank God for that,” Galen muttered. “Look, it’s not about sophistication. But you are special. Not just to me or Jack, but in general. You’re something rare and powerful and things are drawing toward it. I can feel it. The closer we get to home, the more I feel wrong. The air is...my cat is uneasy.”
“It’s not balanced.” Renee realized balance was the perfect word. “It’s uneven and uncomfortable. It’s like the reverse nap of fabric or something. Rosemary said some of these mages prey on witches, hunt them down and take their magic.”
“Like a magic jacking? This guy is so going to die.” The menace seeping from Jack made her feel safer.
“More than theft. The spell to steal the prime magical force within a person is intertwined with their life essence. The witch will die a horrible, painful death as their magic is drained along with their life. Um, or so I’m told.”
“So glad you decided to share that right away.” Jack’s jaw was clenched again.
“Pffft. I only learned it all today. Then we got dressed, had a fight, came over to Cade and Grace’s, had another fight and now I’m telling you.”
Jack’s mouth tightened and she felt better. “Seems to fall under the really good things for Jack and Galen to know category. It’s those things I like to know immediately. Helps me protect your pretty little ass.”
“Hey, thanks for that clue! I’d have never known that ’cause I’m all girly and stuff.” She rolled her eyes at him and he raised a brow back at her.
Renee knew what a freak she was, that even this silly back and forth delighted her because it was normal.
Galen, ever the pragmatist, brought the conversation back to the original topic. “How do we fight this? Should we stay elsewhere until this is cleared up? My mom told me to offer the guest house, by the way.”
“That’s very nice of her. I don’t know, to be honest with you. I don’t. Rosemary seems to believe that the warding around the house will be enough and that teaching me to use my power more effectively will be the best weapon. We can’t hide forever. If this is my normal level of power, this one guy won’t be the last we see.”
“Which is so very comforting,” Jack mumbled.
“All the more reason to find this dipshit and tear him apart.” Galen kept his gaze darting around the area as they approached their front doors. “No one here but the neighbors as far as I can scent.”
“If I tell you it makes me hot that you and Jack are all alpha male right now will that change the subject too obviously?”
“Hmpf.” Jack tried to look gruff but failed.
“Look, my aunt and sister are helping me. Really. Teaching me stuff. Right now it’s worse because it’s all new and I don’t quite know how to protect myself or even what the fuck I am. But eventually it’ll be better. Eventually we will have a normal life. Or as normal as the three of us can have given the circumstances.”
Jack went ahead of them and put her in the middle with Galen at her back. It felt very commando and silly, but she appreciated it nonetheless. He made them wait outside while he made sure everything inside was all right. Galen pulled her back against his chest and she listened to his heart, breathed in his scent, let him comfort her.
“What did you think of Jack’s people?” she murmured.
“I don’t like how you were treated. But they were friendly to me. Then again, my family hasn’t been that good to you either.”
“Galen, you know I love you more than breathing, but we have to let this go. I really think it’s been holding me back, keeping me from really enjoying my time with your family who do like me. It sets me up for failure. I’m not the only wife in the world whose in-laws don’t like her and it’s not everyone. Most of them are very nice to me. Beth is Beth, I just have to avoid her as much as I can in the future.”
Jack called them inside and they found themselves ensconced in their big bed, naked, just enjoying each other. She knew the thing with the Pack would come up, it had to. But she also knew they could work past it.
* * *
Jack let out a long breath after settling in, his nose in the crook of her neck as he caressed her skin and reached over to touch Galen from time to time as well. Trying to process the insanity of the last week certainly seemed nicer to do in bed with Renee against him and Galen’s scent rising from his skin.
The night before they’d loved for hours. His muscles ached pleasantly as he stretched. He didn’t bother opening his eyes, he knew they were there where they all belonged.
Renee made a seriously sexy snuffle of annoyance when he slid a thumb across her nipple. As if he could resist, it was her nipple in his palm after all. He was weak, what could he say?
Galen interrupted his thoughts. “How about I go and grab breakfast? I need to drop something by the office, so I’ll rush back.”
“Take my car. It’s around the corner.” Jack looked over her shoulder to Galen. At lips he’d kissed, the hollow of his throat where Jack knew Galen’s taste was strong and warm. Their gazes locked as the heat rose enough to bring a soft sigh from Renee and a raised brow from Galen.
Enough to bring Galen across Renee, those lips brushing against his own and then against his throat, teeth there just enough to remind Jack of what they were. Galen’s growl made Jack’s system speed up with want, even as it luxuriated in their connection.
A look passed between them again. Jack knew Galen also had procured a lease on the space in his building for her cart and they planned to bring it up that day. They’d briefly spoken about it the night before when she’d been in the bathtub. Jack and Galen would present a united front. This was about safety, plain and simple. In that building she’d be guarded and away from her fucked-up father and stepmother. He and Galen could afford it and they weren’t going to argue.
Ha. Well, it would help if she were nice and relaxed from being waited on a bit, maybe sex drunk too. Not that either of those things would be a hardship for them. Both men not only wanted to take care of her, it was something they both found comfort in. They needed to know she was safe and happy. Not that he didn’t expect a fight from her because she was independent and while he found that incredibly attractive, it wasn’t going to fly this time.
“Don’t think I can’t feel you two scheming through the bond. And all that hot gay stuff too. That part I like.”
Jack laughed and Galen grinned, rolling his eyes as he pushed from bed. “I like that part too. I’m going to rush off and be back as soon as possible.”
She poked her head from where she’d buried herself in the blankets. Corkscrew curls in disarray, she rubbed her eyes and looked toward Galen. “Make it fast. I don’t like you not being right here.”
Galen turned from his path to the bathroom and came back to her side. “I don’t know what it is, but you live inside me. Don’t ever not do that,” he murmured, bending to kiss her temple. She blinked up at him and Jack watched, looking at the two parts of himself that rendered him whole, let that warmth wash through him.
“Okay. I promise.” She allowed herself one caress of Galen’s thigh and settled back against Jack’s chest, both taking in that graceful, powerful gait before Galen disappeared into the bathroom to clean up and get ready to go to work.
He held her until she’d relaxed, breathing deeply as she’d fallen asleep again. They’d kept her awake after a rather intense discussion about what had happened during the dinner at Cade and Grace’s and Jack hadn’t ever seen her as angry as she’d been when she found Galen’s sister had been punished when she had unsheathed her claws. But they’d worked it through, had yelled, sulked, laughed and fucked.
He got up, careful not to jostle her, and headed into the office space he shared with Galen. He wanted to check his mail to be sure there wasn’t anything pressing and then grab a shower himself.
Renee woke, this time to an empty bed. She sat up and grabbed her robe before padding out into the living room. Jack wasn’t around. She figured he’d gone to get the mail or perhaps had taken a run. She knew wherever he was, it wouldn’t be far. Galen had gone to work and she was sure he’d get caught up in something. The man loved his job and it was a busy one. She understood that sort of dedication and passion, respected it, so it rarely irked.
Smiling, she moved toward the entry when she heard the door downstairs open up. Most likely Galen was home and he’d have breakfast and coffee. He’d have a hug that would make everything inside her stop and surge forward to soak him in.
When she opened the door though, it wasn’t Galen at all. It wasn’t Jack. Yeah, make a mental note to actually use the link every once in a while.
A man she didn’t recognize strode into the room, his arm shot out and with it, energy hit her body, knocking her back into the coffee table so hard she saw stars and lost her breath.
Fear rushed into her body, tensing muscles, sweat beading on the back of her neck as she scrabbled backward, her eyes never leaving the man moving toward her. He spoke under his breath and the fire of her flesh tearing open wrenched a scream from her lips. Pain twisted inside her as it began to feel as if her entire body were being pulled from her eye sockets.
She tried to get hold of herself enough to remember any of the stuff her aunt and sister had taught her. Renee even managed to send some energy back at him before agony brought a curve to her spine as she arched to try anything to make it stop. She couldn’t stop screaming, sobbing, writhing as the fire of pain engulfed her nerve endings.
Stretching out as much as she could, she grabbed for the phone on the nearby chair. Bolt after bolt hit her as he never stopped speaking. The words hit her like fists, slicing into her soul and taking something important along with it.
Her feet slid in the blood and she realized he’d broken something inside as well as having rent her flesh apart in several places. She bled so much the room filled with the stench of her fear and the copper of her blood.
She was dying. She’d leave this world without ever seeing Galen or Jack again. She’d never have children, never get to meet the rest of her family. This man was stealing everything from her!
Her fingertips met the cool metal of the phone, knocked it to the floor as she crawled to reach the keypad. All the while she screamed because there was nothing else she could do. She punched buttons at random, hoped they made a call.
Her magic ebbed, passed from her, and she grabbed it back, pulling with all the strength she had left and whipped it back at him enough to stop the chanting for half a moment. His bellow of pain stoked her energy, giving her a bit more, enough to keep fighting and throwing out the only magic she knew and whatever else she could muster.
“Hello? Hello? Jack? Is that you?” Cade’s voice. She’d dialed Cade Warden.
She screamed again. “Help me, please. He’s killing me.” At least she thought that’s what she’d said. This time the man picked her up and slammed her against the bar. The arm she’d put out to protect herself cracked, splintered, and she had nothing left, no feeling other than the gaping maw of unconsciousness encroaching as he blocked the bottle of wine she’d grabbed to hit him with. Each of her fingers was snapped, broken as he continued to kill her.
A roar, splintered wood. She slid to the floor, the warm pool of her blood cooling, thickening as she lay in it. The last thing she saw was a flash of fur, the scythe-like claws, pale blue eyes lit with fury.
Jack had come for her and she wouldn’t die alone.
Jack was torn between running after the man who’d attacked his woman and getting an ambulance. The ambulance won out.
With shaking hands, he called 911 and looked up, ready to fight again, when Cade burst through the door, followed by Galen and several other wolves and cats.
The sound Galen made echoed what he felt. Loss, rage, tenderness and a lot of fear. Her life force, normally so strong and beautiful, had receded to little more than a trickle.
After Jack had showered that morning, he’d decided to run to the nearby newspaper stand, his attention snagged on a necklace he’d spotted in a shop window, the necklace he’d dropped as a wave of her fear had hit him so hard he’d gone to his knees, his vision swimming. Two blocks away. He’d been so close and yet it hadn’t been enough to help her.
“Renee, honey, wake up.” He cradled her body, rocking back and forth. Sirens sounded as the ambulance arrived. Galen skidded to them, barking out questions as enraged shifter males tried to rein it in to deal with the paramedics and the police.
“What happened? Jack! I need you to tell me what happened.” Galen kept touching her and wincing, pulling a hand back because he worried he’d harm her. He shook nearly as much as Jack had been before the cold numbness had settled in.
“I don’t know. He, there was a man here. He looked fucked up. Our girl hurt him. He got away. I let him get away. I let this happen, Galen. She was asleep, I just ran to get a paper and then stopped to buy a necklace I thought she’d...it doesn’t matter. It’s my fault. He got away and it’s my fault he hurt her.”
The paramedics rushed in, sparing a glance at the pacing, angry males, but not stopping until they’d reached Renee. It felt as if time had slowed to a trickle, as if each second took a year. Each labored breath she took both cheered him and brought him dread because he heard the pain there, felt the strength inside her wane a bit more.
The police also arrived, but Jack didn’t care, he only wanted her to be all right.
“Sir, move back please.”
Galen bared his teeth, but held his growl back. Jack felt the desolation, the helplessness within his mate as they hesitated to let her go.
Grace crouched just to Jack’s left. With one hand, she brushed the hair from Renee’s forehead and murmured something Jack thought sounded like, don’t let go. She turned to the men. “Jack, Galen, please let them help her. They’re going to take care of her. She’s bleeding a lot, they have to stop it.”
“She’s right.”
Jack looked toward the male who’d spoken. It must have been Max, Galen’s older brother. The resemblance was clear, though Max had more Caribbean in his features than Galen did. The other man took Galen by the shoulders and physically pulled him back, despite the snarl he received in response. Cade took advantage of that and, with Dave, pulled Jack away and the paramedics got to work. The police questioned people and looked around the house. Kindly, they interviewed Jack within sight of the paramedics, Galen getting the same treatment several feet away.
He answered, giving a timeline and a description of the man who’d broken in, all the while snared in a nightmare as medics worked feverishly to save her life.
There was a bit of drama because both men were shifters, but the Boston PD was pretty open-minded and Jack had worked with them on other shifter issues in the past. They’d verify his and Galen’s story, which was simply good police work, but they wouldn’t let that stop them from trying to find her attacker.
If her attacker was lucky, the cops would find him before the beasts did.
At some point Renee’s aunt and sister showed up, rushing to the curb as Renee was loaded into the ambulance.
“We will begin to hunt now.” A man pushed his way forward, touching Galen.
Galen nodded, his eyes never leaving Renee’s very still body. “He has to be dealt with.”
“Let’s get to the hospital. I can start working on getting a hunt together once I know she’s okay.” Jack moved to get in the ambulance but they stopped him.
“Family only.”
“She’s my family.” Jack dared them to try to stop him.
“I’m her husband,” Galen said, taking Jack’s hand as he got into the back of the ambulance. “He’s our husband too.”
The paramedic looked dubious but no one stopped him this time when he got in the back and settled in.
“We’ll meet you at the hospital,” Cade called out.
“She’s going to be all right.” Jack locked gazes with Galen as they rushed to the hospital. “There’s no other way.”
At the hospital, once she’d settled in and they’d rushed her into an operating room, Galen turned to Jack and put his arms around him. Jack let out the breath he felt like he’d been holding for hours and let himself fall into their link because he wasn’t sure if he could survive without it just then. The fear of losing her, the pain of not protecting her battered him.
“It’s not your fault, Jack.” Galen kissed his cheeks, kissed away the tears.
“Whose is it then? She was mine to protect and I got distracted by a fucking shiny thing in a window. She could be dead because I didn’t do my fucking job.”
Galen’s smile was rueful. “You might have noticed, but our woman is not one to be watched over every moment. Baby, she’s ours, but she’s an independent person, she would wither away if we had to sit on her every moment. We can’t be there every minute. We can’t. She has to be able to come and go, and if we can’t have her safe in that house, we’ll buy one where she can be. If I have to hire fourteen bodyguards and pay for a million-dollar security system, I will. The blame here is not yours, it belongs to the fuck who hurt her. We will end him.”
“I love you.” He looked to Galen as they leaned foreheads together.
“I love you too. She’s going to make it. I’d know it if she was too far gone. It was close—” Galen’s voice choked with emotion, “—earlier when I first got to the house. There wasn’t much left of her. But now she’s getting stronger.”
Jack felt it too. He nodded and they went back to the end of the hall.
Hospital personnel looked askance at the amount of people who’d gathered to wait, but no one said anything.
The man who’d spoken to Galen outside the ambulance turned out to be Galen’s father. “Jack, this is my father, Cesar de La Vega. Papi, this is Jack Meyer.”
The other man was an alpha, even if his eyes held sympathy and understanding as well as the rage of a male who’s had one of his own hurt.
“Welcome to our family, Jack. You have our resources at your disposal. My girl is in there, broken, and I don’t like it one bit.” He motioned to another man who came forward. Jack recognized one of his own instantly. The male was an enforcer of some type.
“This is my brother Gibson. He’s our version of an enforcer.” Galen motioned at the wary-eyed man covered in tats and wearing dreadlocks. His brother nodded once at Jack and looked back to Galen.
Gibson nodded in greeting before rubbing his face along Galen’s jaw. “You know I’m here to help. I’ve got some of my people out on it already. Your woman may be little but she worked this dude over pretty well along with what Jack did. The blood spilled at your place is plenty to get a scent.”
Jack pushed himself out of mate mode and into Enforcer mode. This was his job and she was his responsibility on so many levels it was written into his DNA. He grabbed Dave and Akio and began to organize a search along with Galen’s jamboree. He was quite content to let Gibson take point on this one. Jaguars of all shifters were merciless hunters, far more connected to their beast than most. They would find this mage and erase him from existence.
“Thank you,” Galen told his brother.
“Renee means a lot to me, too.” Gibson looked to Jack. “You should be sure to keep track of your arm. You don’t want the bone to heal wrong and need to be re-set.”
He’d been trying to keep it hidden until after they’d gotten Renee taken care of. Should have known it would be impossible to ignore in a room full of shifters.
Grace—who had noticed but had given him a pass until he’d gotten to the hospital—said, “Go on. There’s an empty exam room over here. We can deal with it there.” She gently but firmly hustled him inside. “If there’s news we’re only right here. I work here three days a week, Jack, they know me.”
Galen walled it all off. Pushed his fear back as far as he could, letting the rage fuel him as he dealt with the insurance papers and the other stuff he needed to. He was out enough that he was able to produce the papers showing that he and Renee were married according to jamboree law. It reminded him just how much they needed to deal with the very human reality of insurance and contracts and legal status.
His mother showed up and stood at his side as he did it. Rosemary and Kendra did coffee runs and tried to contact Renee’s father.
Max ordered people around, set up a watch in the hospital and then flowers started showing up by the dozen.
“Your eyes are bloodshot. Lean your head on me and take a nap. You’re no good to her if you’re strung out.” His mother squeezed his hand. “I know you’re worried, but she’s going to come through this. She’s strong.”
“I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see her, so small and pale, blood pooling around her. I feel that helplessness over and over.”
Galen scrubbed hands over his face.
“I think she’s also drawing from you and Jack, through the bond that unites the three of you.” Rosemary handed him a cup. “Hot chocolate. Drink it.” She handed a bag to his mother. “Sandwich and some soup. You look tired too.”
Rosemary sat and gave him the stink eye until he finally relented and drank the chocolate. He had to admit he did feel a bit better afterward and agreed to eat the half of the sandwich his mother held out.
Jack and Grace joined them and the calls continued from friends and family. Renee’s father was noticeably absent from that and Galen ached for her nearly as much as he wanted to punch the man in the nose.
“Fine way to meet your new mate,” his mother grumbled and Jack laughed though the sound was threaded with fatigue and worry.
Everyone stood and tried to hold their questions when the doctor came out to speak to Galen.
“She’s got a few broken bones, some major lacerations, a concussion and a lot of bruising, but there’s no internal bleeding. We’re going to keep her overnight and see how she’s faring tomorrow. You can go in and see her if you like. She asked for you and Jack.”
Galen flexed and fisted his hands. He had to relax or she’d see how agitated he was. She needed the peace right then and he’d kill everyone in that fucking place to give it to her.
“She’s not very pretty right now. I just wanted to prepare you.” The doctor led the way back and paused at the door before opening it up.
The scent hit him first. Pain. Blood. Fear. She’d been drugged up so her half-lidded eyes widened only a bit when they entered. The hand she’d tried to raise toward them had been splinted, tubes running up her arm only added to the overall picture.
“Shh, don’t try to smile, babe. I know. I know.” He wanted to hug her, to press himself against her body to know she was there, living and breathing. An ache so beautiful it nearly felled him slammed into his soul. What on earth would he do if he lost her?
She shook her head, blinking back tears.
“I’m sorry,” he assured her, moving closer, close enough to press his lips against an un-bruised part of her forehead. “You look like shit and it makes me want to hurt someone. I love you, God, I love you so much.”
She sniffled and he dabbed gently with a tissue. “I love you too,” she said, her voice slurred and rusty.
Jack groaned from somewhere behind them and Galen turned to see the guilt all over his face.
Renee must have seen it too, felt it through the bond. “No.” She swallowed hard and Galen was battered by the shards of pain she felt.
“I failed you.” Jack’s normally golden skin had paled, the lines around his eyes and mouth had deepened.
“Did not.” Even covered in bruises, hooked up to tubes and facing some heavy recovery time, she wasn’t taking any guff. “Here, please.”
Jack took the two steps to her and fell to his knees, burying his face in the blankets. “I left you alone and he hurt you. He nearly killed you.”
“Jack—” she paused as she swallowed, “—it was a fluke. You saved me. I knew you would. Don’t you understand? I knew I would not die alone, I knew you would come. You said you would and I believed you and you did.”
“I just found you. What would I do without you?”
Her exhaled breath was shaky and she wasn’t good enough to hide her state of exhaustion and pain. “I love you both too much to go anywhere.”
“Don’t talk anymore. It’s okay. It isn’t Jack’s fault, I told him that already and now you have too. Your job is to get better so stop talking and go to sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up.”
“Did you get him?”
Jack growled and her bottom lip trembled a bit. Galen hated to see her scared. Hated to know this sick fuck was still alive.
“He got away. I’m sorry. I should have...”
Galen interrupted. “He chose to save you instead. I endorse that plan. Not to mention his own broken arm and wounds.”
She tried to sit, her eyes widening. Both men urged her back to the pillows as gently as they could.
“I’m all right. We heal fast. The bone is knitting back together right now. Once I shift fully and then back, I’ll be good as new.” Jack kissed her shoulder. “He broke your fingers. He stole into your soul, hurt you. He’s on borrowed time.”
“Don’t. Let the police handle it. I gave them a good description when they interviewed me before you came in. I don’t want this sort of thing on your hands. On your conscience. Don’t harm someone on my behalf. Love me, that’s all I ask.”
She was so earnest, Galen might have listened to her more if she hadn’t been covered in bruises and had her fucking fingers broken one by one by a sadistic bastard who wanted to steal her power and leave her for dead.
“He’s a dead man. It’s not just about me, Renee. He’s disrespected my jamboree by attacking one of us. He’s come into my home, touched my things, nearly killed my fucking wife. This cannot stand.”
“Can you live with this on your conscience?”
“We can.” Jack shrugged.
“I don’t want to be the reason you murder someone. Don’t you see? I should be bringing you up, not dragging you down.”
Her breath strained with each word and aside from the rainbow sherbet bruise on her face, she’d grown whiter than the hospital sheet from the strain.
“First things first.” Jack leaned over and pointed at a button. “This is pain medication. You need it. Push the button or I will.”
Galen wanted to cheer and simultaneously cry at the way she did it without argument. That she had simply obeyed meant she had to be in pretty awful pain.
Jack’s gaze met his for long moments before moving back to her face. “Better. Now, you do bring me up. I didn’t realize how empty I’d been until I met you. You fill me up. You make me a better person and I do love you. So damned much that seeing you like this makes me crazy. So damned much that when I came into that room and saw you covered in blood, a madman trying to kill you, my entire world went inside out. I’ve been that way for hours. You are the reason, Renee.”
“The reason you’re inside out?”
Jack snorted. “The reason for everything. You are everything.”
She sighed and her eyelids slid down a bit. “Let the cops deal with it.”
“He’s not human, you’re not human and we’re not human. This is not for them. It’s for us.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest.
“I’m not?” She tried to glare at him but gave up when all she could manage was a blink of sorts.
“You’re more than that. You’re magic. This asshole who attacked you is more than that only in a twisted way. The point is, he didn’t steal your car at gunpoint, he tried to kill you by stealing your magic, your life force. This isn’t a crime the cops are prepared to deal with. He’s dangerous, Renee, he has to be removed.”