Page 146 of Beware of Dog

Somewhere between one beep of the heart monitor and the next, Shep fell asleep.

~*~

It wasn’t until she urged Shep to buy a shirt in the hospital gift shop that Raven realized she herself looked like a walking horror show. She peeped through the window in the door of Cass’s room, saw Shep lay his head down on top of Cass’s wrist, then took a deep breath and went back to the gift shop.

She bought a black sweatshirt and pants, changed in the ladies’ room, and bundled her ruined dress up in the bag from the shop.

She was heading off in search of coffee when her phone dinged. A text from Toly:we’re here.

“Oh.” She pressed a hand over her mouth, so acute and knee-weakening was her relief.

She fired off a text, headed for the doors, and didn’t think she took a proper breath until she caught sight of Toly. He was carrying Nat up high on his shoulder, hand cupped around the back of her head, his gaze darting back and forth across the hallway until he spotted her.

“Hi,” he started, and then, “oh. Hi, darling.”

She crashed into him, arms going around his ribs, and he folded his free arm around her right away and pulled her closer.

Raven dragged in a breath that smelled of him, his cologne, his shampoo, his sweat, and of Nat, milk and diaper cream. She pressed her face into Toly’s shoulder and took aseries of deep, unsteady breaths, her hands clenched tight in his hoodie.

He murmured something soft and soothing in Russian. Shifted Nat to a better position and tightened his arm around her, hand coming up to her nape. “Hi, baby,” he said, softly. “Is she okay?”

“Yes. Yeah.” She heard other familiar voices, and knew she ought to pull back, wipe her eyes, and take charge. But she spoke just for her husband: “She’s going to be okay. Shep’s with her. She…fuck. Yeah, she’s okay.”

He kissed her temple, and lingered there a moment, lips against her skin.

“Where’s Cass?” she heard Walsh say, close, and she pulled back, finally, and wiped her eyes, and became the Woman in Charge that all her brothers had so desperately needed their whole lives.

~*~

“I left the Foxes behind,” Devin said, when he got Raven alone in front of a vending machine. Emily had needed a lot of hugs and hand-holding, weepy and dehydrated from it, and had finally agreed to sit down in a visitor chair beside Emmie and Violet.

Raven had reached unheard-of levels of exhaustion, but when she peeked through the window, Shep was sleeping soundly in the chair beside Cass’s bed, and so she refused to let anyone disturb them.

She twisted the top off her Coke and took a healthy swig. “All three?”

“Yeah.” His grin was wry. “I like that: my three Foxes.” Then he grew serious. “They found evidence of intruders. There’s a back fence. Low, chain link. Someone cut through it to get on the property through the woods.”

She shook her head. “Damn it.”

“No cameras back there,” Devin continued. “I imagine Charlie will have a word with Maverick about that. But they found shell casings.”

She tipped her head sideways against the machine. “What’s their educated guess? About who is it?”

He cocked a brow. “Is Cassandra not supposed to testify at someone’s rape trial?”

“Yes, but…” She trailed off, and the lights got a little brighter and more painful when her eyes widened. “Shit. Yes, there was this group of thugs, this street gang the rich wankers hired to intimidate Cass’s poor friend. But the boys had a meeting with them. They—ah,shit.”

“What are they called?”

“I don’t…” She wracked her brain, and couldn’t decide if she’d ever been told, or if Toly had said something and she’d forgotten. She was too tired to think straight. “Toly knows. He went. Let me—” She gestured with her Coke bottle, and Devin caught her gently by the wrist and steered her down into a chair.

“I’ll ask him, love. You sit before you fall.”

She started to protest, and yawned instead. “Okay. Thank you.”

Before he went, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

It really was a marvel, she thought, eyelids fluttering, that they’d somehow all ended up here, together, against every odd.

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