Chapter 220

“She killed her fucking self,” Julian snapped. “She didn’t give you a chance to save her life. Instead she stabbed you. Repeatedly.”

Nicholas dragged his fingers through my hair, soothingly scratching at my scalp with his stubby fingernails.

I leaned into him, burying my face in his chest. I was a sobbing, bloody mess. I couldn’t think straight.

My sister was dead. My wolf was back. Everything was too hot, too much. I felt like I was falling apart.

Nicholas was my anchor. He didn’t once let me go.

In my ear, his voice was a quiet rumble, “We have to check your wounds…”

I shook my head, vehemently against moving even an inch away from him. He was warmth and safety. His presence smoothed some of the rankled fears within me.

“Please, Piper…” Nicholas whispered. “For me.”

For… Nicholas? Yes. I could do that. I could do anything for him.

He helped turn me in his arms so that my back was to his chest. His arms wrapped around my waist and kept me snug in his lap, cradled in his chest.

“Good girl,” he said, and I preened at the praise. Or maybe my wolf did? It was difficult to tell where one of us ended and the other began. Had it always been that way? Had I been alone in this body so long that I’d forgotten?

Julian began to lift my dress. To do so, he had to peel it away from the skin of my legs. Both were damp with blood.

“Holy fuck,” Julian cursed under his breath. He’d said it quietly, but I’d heard it like he had said it clearly in my ear. Was this werewolf hearing?

I squeezed my eyes shut, afraid to see how bad the wound was.

“It’s already healing,” Nicholas said. I felt his voice rumble through his chest.

“I’m going to clean and wrap it anyway,” Julian said. “Brian!” I opened my eyes in time to see Julian’s Beta hurry forward carrying a first aid kit. Julian accepted it, then said, “Keep everyone away from this area. And send some guards downstairs…”

Abruptly, Veronica shifted directly into my view. “Look at me,” she said, voice flat and serious.

I obeyed, meeting her eyes at once. She stared into mine for such a long moment, Julian had already started to treat my leg by the time she was done.

“Good,” she said.

“What…?” I had trouble with my words.

Fortunately, Veronica seemed to understand anyway. “I needed to inspect how well you have received the wolf. The first few minutes are always critical.”

I waited a beat, then two. When she didn’t continue, I prompted, “And?”

“Oh,” she said. “Yes. So far, I am very pleased with the results.”

I let out a heavy exhale.

Julian finished wrapping my leg in a clean white bandage. He then handed the first aid kit to Nicholas. Nicholas accepted it.

I didn’t understand.

“For your hands,” Nicholas whispered.

I lifted my hands to look at them, and only now saw the true damage Jane had done. She’d sliced several crisscrossing lines across the back of my palms.

Tears welled in my eyes again. If only I’d been able to hold on.

Nicholas gently reached out and collected one of my hands in his much bigger one. He opened an antiseptic wipe and began to clean the cuts. I felt a bit of a sting, but it was nothing compared to everything else I’d faced tonight.

If the wound on my leg was already healing, then these would too. Soon, there would be no evidence on my body that tonight had happened at all.

Well, at least not on the outside.

The sight of Jane falling… Her callous smile…

That would remain seared onto my heart for the rest of my life.

When Nicholas finished cleaning one hand, he moved onto the other. Julian took the first hand in his and started picking the lock of the half of the handcuff that remained on my wrist. He had it loosened in six seconds flat. I knew because he counted.

“New record?” Veronica asked.

Julian flashed a smug smile, even as he shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “It’s easier when you can see it. Much harder when your hands are behind your back.”

I tried to smile with them. They were my friends. But it didn’t last on my lips. I was too strung out, too numb. I didn’t feel real. I didn’t feel… alive.

I felt like I died the moment Jane stabbed me, and everything since then had just been a dream.

I began to tremble.

“Piper?”

I shifted against him, to look up into his face. There was softness in his eyes. He’d cleaned whatever blood had been on his face.

He was so handsome in the moonlight. Even more so than usual, somehow, though he looked the same as always. No, that wasn’t true. He looked… more defined. Like, I could see him better. Werewolf sight?

Had my senses truly been so dull all this time?

“Are you alright?” Nicholas asked me, a hint of concern lilting his words.

I reached up a hand and placed it on the side of his face. He was so warm.

The cuts on the back of my hand were already healing.

“Am I alive?” I asked him.

He blinked, startled for a moment. Then, he said, “Yes,” and leaned down to press his lips to mine.

It was a chaste little kiss, but it send an explosion of joy within me. My wolf was pleased with this connection. So was I.

Something seemed to thrum between Nicholas and I. For a moment, I could have sworn that I felt his heartbeat, not only under my hand, but racing alongside my own in my chest.

It was strange but comforting, and I sunk into the feeling for as long as I could.

Julian’s phone rang, and it ruined the moment. Nicholas and I ended our kiss, though he didn’t let me go far. Instead, he placed soft kisses first to my nose, then to my forehead.

“What the hell do you mean, there’s nothing there?” Julian said in disbelief. “Are you in the right place? One second.”

Julian stood and walked toward the edge of the balcony. Fear shot through me, and I reached out and snatched his wrist. He paused a moment, looking at me in question. When he saw my face, he softened.

“I’m just looking, Piper, I swear. I’m not going anywhere.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to let him go. He could fall. Any of them could fall.

Julian shifted my grip so that we were holding hands instead.

“See? Now you’ve got me. No problem.”

Veronica went to his other side and wrapped her arms around one of his. “I’ll hold onto him from this side, Piper.”

She was giving serious consideration to my fear, unwarranted or not, and I was deeply appreciative.

Nicholas kissed my temple. “You are safe. We are all safe.”

I watched warily as Julian inched closer to the edge of the balcony and peered over the edge. He still had the phone to one of his ears.

“No, I see you,” he said. “But… that doesn’t make sense. Do you see anything? Blood? A dent? Anything?”

Julian listened a moment more.

“What is it?” Nicholas asked. “What’s wrong?”

When Julian returned his attention to me and Nicholas, he wore an expression of total bewilderment.

“Julian?” I asked.

“Jane is gone,” he said.

“What do you mean, gone?” Nicholas asked.

“Exactly as I said.” Julian frowned at his phone. “No body. No blood. No trace of anything. It’s like she vanished…”