Page 123 of My UnTrue Love
Eerie brown eyes flicked her way. Glowing with a supernatural intensity.
“We have too much work to do, getting you into the Westlands Academy. We can’t waste our time with judges and coroners.” She took a careful step towards him. “Just let him up and we’ll call the police. My brother’s the sheriff. He can handle it.”
Luke didn’t look appeased. He did ease his hold on Johnny’s neck, though. Slightly.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I peeked at your music.” She gestured towards the walls. “It’s beautiful, sweetie-pie. A masterpiece.”
His head tilted. Releasing Johnny, Luke moved towards her. Listening closer, now.
“That’s right.” She urged, hoarsely. The black dots were back. An angry swarm flew over her vision, signaling that her stress was just too high. She was going to pass out. It was inevitable. But she needed to save Luke first. “I want to hear your symphony. Come back so you can play your fiddle. I knew you were a star.”
“He’s not a star!” The word seemed to infuse Johnny with a second wind. Before she could react he was on his feet and at the front door. “I’m the only genuine star in this town. Only me! And I’ll prove it.”
Luke’s attention cut back to the man, his head moving in a predatory sweep. He was more in control of himself, but still eager to hunt. That somehow made it even scarier.
“Luke…” Clementine began, but that was as far as she got. Her knees gave out and she collapsed to the floor, her condition reaching the limits of what it could tolerate. She sprawled on Luke’s hideous, bloody rug, as her vision dimmed. Everything looked like it was moving underwater.
Luke started for Johnny, only to stop when he realized she’d fallen.
Johnny raced from the apartment, leaving the door swinging behind him.
Rather than follow him, Luke ran to Clem’s side, his misty paws reaching for her.
And then her world went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Death had claimed the tragic lass,
Who the cy’ote treated poor,
In that flood, she breathed her last,
And now her mate implored.
Lyrics from the folk song “Crossroads Coyote”
Bill burst into the police station, panic strangling him. “Where is she?” He barked at Hank, barely even glancing the man’s way. His senses were already tracking Clem’s perfect, blueberry flapjack scent. “Why isn’t she at the hospital?”
The police station was a log cabin situated near the center of Red River Valley. A row of cells lined the back of the main room, one of them with the barred-door bent inward. Hank’s desk sat near the front, with smaller desks for his deputies scattered around the space. A bulletin board covered in wanted posters was situated on the wall. Bill distractedly noticed a huge reward for some black-masked bandit with a Z in his name.
When Hank called him, Bill had already cleaned up and left his brand-new job at Buffalo Roam. He’d been headed to the Kitchen to rehearse his performance, when his phone rang. Thank God he’d decided against blocking his brother-in-law’s number, because that’s who told him that Clem was hurt. Two sentences into the conversation and Bill was headed for his wife at a dead run.
Reaching Clementine as quick as he could was all he’d thought about. No secondhand assurances from Hank meant a damn thing to him. He had to see for himself that she was okay.
Hank straightened up from where he’d been leaning against the wall, watching Clem sleep in one of the cells. He was so tall that his head nearly hit the ceiling. “She’s fine. Just like I told you. Still unconscious, but that’s the stress affecting her. I wanted her here with me, so I could keep an eye on her. It’s some bruises and scrapes. The witch-practitioner administered medicine and said to give her time to wake up.”
“Howmuchtime?” Bill demanded at a roar, striding for his mate. He wasn’t going to be satisfied that she was safe until she was in his arms. “And where the hell is Johnny?” The man’s name was spat out like a curse.
“I don’t know.” Hank said as an answer to both questions. “She usually wakes up within a few hours of passing out. And he left his phone at your apartment, so I can’t track his yellow-bellied ass. Town’s only so big, though. I’ll find him.”
“Not if I find that motherfucker first.”
“I’ve got all my deputies out looking for him. You focus on Clem. Once we get the full story of what happened, we can…”
“We already know what happened!” Bill interrupted. “That lowdown son of a bitch touched my wife! I can smell him all over her.” He slammed into the cell, where she was recovering from Johnny’s violence. “He’s not gonna survive the goddamn night, if I have anything to…” His angry words stopped short, spotting the coyote crouched in the corner of the cell.
Blue.
