Page 65 of Wolf Bane
“Might’ve sprained my wrist.”He sighed.“Bumped my head, but not enough to worry about at this point.Bruises.”I didn’t need to see him to know that he’d shrugged.“You look like shit though.Thought you were dead for a few minutes there.”
“Nope.Still here for now.”I gingerly brought my fingers up to my face, feeling the itchy scabs that had already formed.“Just when my arm was almost healed, too.”
“The nearest I can figure, we’re in the Dallas area.Or maybe Shreveport.It was hard to tell for a bit there.”He huffed, shuffling closer.“Can you smell them?The others?”
“Mmhmm.I think this was a hospital.Something about the other smells…” I trailed off, riding a wave of dizziness.This time, the trough was a bit more shallow, less of a terrifying swoop downward.I had no idea how long the werewolf part of me would take to heal from having my head bashed like that, but it was definitely longer than I’d like.
“Disinfectant,” he said.“Laundry soap.”
“Bodily effluvia,” I drawled, the words funny to feel on my tongue.“You know, if they want me to do something doctor-y, having me sustain a head injury was a fucking bad idea.I don’t think I could even put on a bandage right now.”
Tyler’s voice was closer when he spoke next.“I don’t think they want you for your medical smarts, Lan.”
Well.That left me something to mull over in the absolute bowl of oatmeal that had replaced my brain.
I drifted, or maybe dissociated, for a while, listening to Tyler scuffle around and swear at his side of the cage.Above us, more people came and went loudly, more voices rose and fell.
Once, there was a loud shout and scuffle.Ethan,I hoped.But no one came.
No one came, until finally someone did.
“Here we go,” Tyler muttered close to where our two enclosures met.“You able to sit up, Lan?”
I tried it.“It’s not fun, but yeah.”
“Stand up,” he said quietly.“If we get the chance, we’re going.I’ll carry your scrawny ass if I have to.”
“I remember when you were thirteen,” I muttered, pushing unsteadily to my feet.“I remember when you fireman-carried me across Pine Mill Park after your dad almost caught me and Ethan.”
He chuckled once, mirthlessly.“It was either that or let Dad kill you.Look alive.Well.Look less dead.”
“Think it’ll help?”
He snorted, and I finally got a look at him as he moved into the weak light cast by one of the overheads.He was pale, battered, but looked otherwise alright.Like he’d just spent a day playing football with the guys and tubing down the river, not getting abducted after a car accident.He glanced my way and couldn’t hide his wince.“That good, huh?”I asked.
“Could be worse,” he allowed.“Could be on fire.”
One of the doors at the far end of the room opened and an unfortunately familiar man stepped through.
“Oh, hey, Daniel,” I drawled.“I was worried I wouldn’t get to thank you for the lovely time earlier.You should know, though, I’m happily involved with someone else.”
Daniel, tall and blond and built like a brick shit house, entirely unscathed by earlier, ushered in two other weres.Both equally intimidating and unsmiling.
“Doctor Babin.Spare Stone.”One of the weres, a woman easily as tall as Tyler and twice as muscled (which, sorry Tyler, wasn’t saying too much) went to a gray box set on the wall and opened it up to turn some knobs and press a button.The faint hum of electricity, likely inaudible to human ears, stopped abruptly.“We’re ready for you upstairs.”
And we weren’t given much of an option.Tyler shook his head minutely when I glanced at him—wait, not yet—and we let ourselves be manhandled up the narrow stairs and into a broad corridor.“What is this place?”Tyler asked, patently false cordiality in his tone.“We were guessing a hospital but now I’m thinking it’s just one big kennel.”He sniffed dramatically.“Stinks like wet dog.”
Daniel’s blow was swift and brutal, sending Tyler stumbling sideways.The other male were shoved him back towards Daniel before Tyler got his balance and bared his teeth, blood-streaked now.“So, itisa kennel?”
“Tyler,” I rasped.“Don’t.”
Daniel chuckled.“You’re going to be a fun one.”With a sharp nod at his two companions, we were on our way again.
Another set of stairs, then a short corridor told me we were definitely in a hospital or something medical adjacent.The smells, the linoleum flooring, the glimpse of equipment through half-closed doors…
“Did Garrow build this?”I asked as we drew to a stop outside a set of double doors with a shiny silver crash bar.“Or did he just creep in like a hermit crab?”
Daniel shot me a hard look before smirking.“He’ll be glad to see you.”
