Heartsong (Green Creek 3)

Then her eyes rolled back into her head, and Elizabeth caught her before she could fall to the ground. She looked up at us, face pale. “Her eyes. They’re…. Gordo?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s not like the others. It’s….”

Ox nodded solemnly. “We need to get her back to the house. Make her comfortable.” He looked stricken as he bent over her, putting a hand against her forehead. He grimaced as he closed his eyes. “I don’t…. She doesn’t have much time.” He dropped his hand before leaning forward and kissing her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Shannon.”

And then he picked her up in one smooth motion. She didn’t make a sound as her head hung back off his arm, her hair like a wet flag slick with blood that splashed onto the ground as Ox moved slowly through the forest.

We stayed quiet as we followed him back the way we’d come.

Will threw the grate up over the door as we returned to the motel. He burst out, talking a mile a minute, demanding to know if he needed to gather the town to defend Green Creek. He stopped when he saw Ox and who he carried in his arms.

“Is that one of you?” he whispered. “A shape-shifter?”

“It is,” Jessie said, going to him as Ox walked to the truck. “Tell everyone who asks that there was no threat. There never was. It was only her. She’s one of the good ones. Gordo’s repairing the wards, so nothing else should be able to get in.”

Will nodded. “Can do.” Then, “She looks rough. Is she going to make it?”

No one answered him, which was answer enough.

Ox climbed carefully into the back of the truck, making sure not to jostle Shannon. She groaned but didn’t open her eyes as he sat with his back against the cab, Shannon bleeding into his lap. Jessie’s shirt was already soaked through. Tanner reached into the truck and pulled out an old towel, handed it over to Ox, who laid it on Shannon. Blood immediately bloomed like roses against it.

Joe stood on his hind legs, looking at them both, propped up against the side of the truck. Ox’s face was blank, waves of blue, blue, blue pouring off him. He said, “Get to the house. We need to make her comfortable for the time she has left.”

Joe nodded, stretching his head toward Ox, licking his cheek before he dropped back down on all fours. He growled, and Carter, Elizabeth, and the timber wolf ran after him as he took off toward home.

Chris and Tanner had already shifted back and were getting dressed. Gone was the bravado they’d felt just a short time before when we’d stood in the parking lot.

Kelly nodded toward his patrol car. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

I glanced back at Ox to see him brush a slick strand of hair off Shannon’s face. He whispered, “What have I done?”

The ride back to the house was almost completely silent. It was just me and Kelly, Rico opting to drive Ox’s truck.

We pulled back onto the dirt road when I said, “What did he mean? Gordo. He said it wasn’t like the others.”

Kelly was tense. His shoulders were stiff, and his brow was furrowed. “Carter. His wolf. Mark. It was because of the infection. Because of whatever Livingstone tried to do, spread to the wolves. It’s magical. They only have control because of Ox and what he is. Shannon… she’s not like them. But she’s still an Omega.”

I closed my eyes. “Which means her tether was ripped from her.”

“Yeah.”

“Her pack. Are they…?”

“I think so.”

“They had kids. Three of them. Brodie. John.” And even though I hated myself for it, it took me a moment to think of the last one. “James. Jimmy.”

“You remember them?”

I shook my head. “She told me over the phone. On the bridge. That I’d met them. That I’d been in their house. That I’d sat at their table. That I ate with them. Is this him? Is this Ezra?” And that was a lie, wasn’t it? All of it.

Every single piece.

Every single part.

The way he’d pretended to care for me.

The way he’d loved me.