Feral (39 page)

I sucked a sharp breath through my teeth, wincing.

“
Four times too many.  It’s keeping you from healing.”

“I didn’t really have a choice.”

“You’re going to scar.”

“Will you still love me?”  I pushed out a smile, just a small one, watching his eyebrows slacken
from their tight arch, and then dip again in scorn.  He wanted to take me over his knee, but he wouldn’t say it, not after the last time.

I winced again as he applied more pressure to my wounds.  “
You don’t think this is punishment enough?”

Grimacing
, Icarus turned to Bennie.  “There’s a Jeep parked just past the bend.  The twins usually have a few bottles of Gatorade rolling around in there.  Go see what you can find.  Even if there open.  Grab whatever you can.  You should find a blanket and a bottle of sedatives in it too.”

“Gotcha,” said Bennie, glad to have something to do. 
I watched his head of blonde hair bounced out of sight before I dropped my head to the ground and closed my eyes.

“I’
m not drinking their half-drunk Gatorades.  Some of them have been in there for weeks.  Do you know how much bacteria can grow over three weeks?  That’s disgusting!”

“It’s cold out.  There’s nothing wrong with them.
  Besides, you need the electrolytes.  They’ll help with the healing.”

“Don’t be such a priss,” Peyton scoffed.  “You just ripped that guy a new asshole, literally, and you’re worried about someone’s spit?”

Half dressed in her underwear and tee, she tiptoed gingerly of the rocks and dirt, dropping my clothes at my side.  “Fuck, Thale, you look like shit.”

“Well you could’ve jumped in a little sooner!  For all that ruckus you made, you don’t hardly have a scratch on you!”
  The marks on her face healed already, thank the lucky stars.  I’d never hear the end of her whining if he’d left her with visible scars.  She’d never overcome the indignity of adding a marred face to her short height and small boobs.

“You told me to stay out of the way!
  And I’ll have you know I was feigning!  I was going to pounce on him as soon as he turned his back!”

Bennie’s screams disrupted our
bickering.  My reaction was instantaneous.  I was on my feet and running.  Icarus passed me, then Lucius.  Peyton was less enthusiastic, oohing and owing over the pebbles digging into her soles.  (And she called me a priss.)

I rounded the bend to find Bennie on his hands and feet, scuttling backward until his back was against the Jeep.  In the brush before him, I could hear the snaps and snarls of wolves
; at least two of them. Though I couldn’t see them until I drew closer, I recognized one as Hailey from her scent.  The other I couldn’t identify.  It wasn’t Alec.  That much I was sure.

As Icarus reached Bennie, the
unknown, larger—male—wolf, relented his attack and escaped into the brush, moving none too slowly as he fled deeper into the park.

“Versipellis?” Lucius asked
Icarus, joining his side.

“
Yeah.”

“What’s he doing here?”

“You know as well as I do.”  Turning, he looked at Bennie, whom I was already searching feverishly for some sign of injury.  “Did he bite you?”

“Him?  No.” 
Wide eyed, he shook his head and pointed to Hailey, who had shifted and cowered in the grass like a feral child.  “Her.”

“She was going to find a cure!” Hailey cried.  “S
he’s been studying for weeks, and you went and ruined everything!”  Tears sprung from her eyes, her gaze setting balefully on her alpha.  “I could’ve been normal.  I could’ve grown up, and we could’ve been together!  But you ruined it!  I hate you!  I hate you!  I hate you!”

She was going to bite Bennie so that I would continue my
studies.

As I watched her tilt her head back and wail into the sky,
I had to cup my hand over my mouth to keep from spewing the mountain of vitriol that wanted to spill forth.  I wanted to kill the little freak.  She was seriously freakin’ demented.  I thought I might be physically sick.  Bile bubbled in my chest.  I broke into a cold sweat, my lips pressed to a thin white line.

I
looked on, appalled, while Icarus approached her, extending his hand as he crouched before her.  She flinched from him at first, but when he showed no aggression, she took his hand, placing her fingers in his, and then hesitantly slid into his arms, curling up between his legs.

I thought I would suffer an aneurism.  Was he
seriously going to embrace her?  She tried to kill my brother, well, maim him for life, which was putting it mildly, and he didn’t think it warranted even the slightest punishment?  I’d done far less, and he punished me far worse.

When I thought I couldn’t possibly
watch anymore, he cupped his hands on either side of her face, kissed her forehead gently, and jerked her head sharply to the right, snapping her neck.

Epilogue

Time heals all wounds. 
I say it’s a load of crap, but Bennie certainly made it a lot more bearable.  It had been one week since my parents died.  It was difficult, but we were getting by.  Slowly.

The funeral had been hard.  Icarus was handling all the necessary paperwork for the insurance claims and bank accounts.  That had been a blow as well.  My parents were responsible to the point of heartbreak, amending their wills and adding to their life insurance policies.  They had anticipated and prepared for the worst, adding Icarus as our legal guardian
in the event of their death.  Well, Bennie’s legal guardian.  I was eighteen.  Anyway, between the policies, the business, and the investments, Bennie and I would never want for anything.  Financially, we were set for life.  Still, I’d rather have my parents back over any amount of money.

“
Is that everything?” Icarus inquired gently.

I gazed over the empty, detached garage.  All I had was dad’s beamer, three snow sleds,
four bicycles, a few packets of seeds from our garden, and some assorted sports equipment to show for my eighteen years of life.  The rest, I was leaving for the people who bought the house once it was rebuilt, including the swing hanging from the large oak in the front yard.

Tears rimmed my eyes.  Icarus
curled his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, pressing his face into my hair.  I nodded, wiping a stray tear from the end of my nose.

I
wept for Bennie.  Not myself.  I had all my possessions.  My parents had packed everything when I moved out.  Bennie, however, lost everything.  Crispin lent him some clothes to tide him over until we could shop for new stuff, and the twins purchased a multitude of art supplies for him, but he’d lost his entire art collection.  That we couldn’t replace.

I supposed I should count my blessings.  My mother had all our family photos burned onto disk.  I found them in the safety security box at the bank, along with her good jewelry
, our birth certificates, their marriage license and all the other documents we might need later.

I think that’s w
hat hurt the most.  They’d known.  They’d prepared.

Peyton and Bennie refused to tell me the details of that night, but I often caught them talking
in whispers.  I didn’t hold it against them.  They were only trying to save me from unnecessary pain.  I had nightmares enough.  We all did.  And they needed someone to talk to.

Bennie roomed with Crispin.  The two had become nearly inseparable.  But Peyton was on her own. 
Icarus had taken her in, and given her Hailey’s room.  While the boys all sniffed around her curiously, I think they felt they owed some allegiance to me.  And Peyton had hurt me beyond measure.  While they treated her with courtesy, they didn’t hold her in high regards.

Icarus, as well, kept their relationship strictly professional.  He was her alpha.  He did his duty, working with her on her shifting, but outside of that, he remained aloof to her presence.

Myself, I had conflicting emotions.  Her betrayal hurt.  And I couldn’t help but think that some of what she’d said that day was true.  I really think she resented me.  It hurt, because I never treated her like anything less than a sister.  On the other hand, she’d also saved Bennie’s life.  With an infinite future ahead of us, I couldn’t say that our relationship wouldn’t ever mend, but until then, she was just Peyton, no longer playing the role of best friend and long time confidant.  She would have to earn that title back.  Trust wasn’t free.

“I’m ready,” I said, tucking the
shoebox of seeds under my arm.  It was getting late.  Dusk was approaching.  I could feel it in my bones, that unsettling ache that warned of an impending shift.  My thoughts returned inevitably toward my brother.

We were all on watch, keeping an eye on Bennie. 
He walked away from Hailey’s attack virtually unscathed.  Virtually.  I found one small scratch on his arm, but whether it came from her tooth or nail would remain a mystery for at least another week when the moon began waxing.  She’d gotten mainly a mouthful of blanket, which he had draped over his arm after fetching it from the jeep, but only time would tell if it was enough protection from her tainted saliva.

After the death of my parents, my kidnapping and
my injuries from my fight with Alec, Icarus decided I’d endured enough stress in my life and upturned his decision on my proficiency exam, but until I knew whether Bennie was infected or not, I decided to remain in school.  If I needed to find a cure, I wanted as much of a head start in my academics as Mr. Holloway could provide.  I refused to sentence Bennie to infinity as a thirteen-year-old prepubescent teen.

I stole a despondent glance at Icarus. 
But at what cost?

“You’re really going to let Lucius drive the
Beamer?” Max inquired, skeptical.  “You do know what happened in the garage, right?  Bam!  Smash!”  He threw his hands up in the air, sloshing cola slushy and Pork Rinds everywhere.  “He drove it right thru the back wall!”

Lifting one shoulder unconcernedly, I said, “It’s his until he gets his Mustang replaced.”  It was the least I could do.  Although,
Lucius held Peyton responsible, not me.  She was the one who demolished his car when she rammed it with the H2.

“Riding with you, Luke!” said Max,
loping off toward the car.  “Wait up!”  I could see the crumbs already, tarnishing the flawless leather seats of my dad’s coveted Beamer.  He was probably rolling in his grave.

“No food in my dad’s car!” I qualified.  “Or drinks
!”

“I won’t make a mess, swear
!”

“
Do you want me to stop him?” Icarus offered.  We watched as Max completely disregarded my objection and slid into the passenger’s side, slurping on his Big Gulp.  Icarus shook his head.  “He can ride in the H2.”

“
No, there’s not enough room,” I caved with a sigh.  The H2—as much as I loathed its constant reminder of Marcus—barely sustained any damage.  The Jeep was being passed down to Crispin and Bennie.  Crispin was only fourteen and Bennie thirteen, but it would make a perfect beater car for learning to drive.

Perking at my reminder, Peyton ran for the beamer. 
“Wait fo—” she trailed off with dejection, watching Max and Lucius zoom down the street.  Her shoulders slumped.  “Me.”

Like I said, they w
ere holding grudges in my defense.  The problem was the H2 was filled with the few boxes and sleds from the garage, leaving only space enough for Crispin and Bennie in the back seat.  With Bacchus driving and Caius in the passenger side, and Icarus and I in the Porsche, there were no open seats available for Peyton to ride home.

Beside me,
Icarus put his fingers to his lips and shrilled a whistle that left my ears ringing, and effectively stopped Bacchus in his tracks before he could drive off.  The passenger side door popped open.  Caius extended a hand.  Jumping, Peyton took it, scurrying up into his lap like a small child, dwarfed compared to his burly frame.  Although they both put on the best pretenses, neither looked truly put out with the seating arrangement.

Just the two of us
left, I rested my back against Icarus’s chest.  His arms came around me, his hands hooking together at my waist.  I turned my head, meeting his lips in an ardent kiss.

“Ready?” Icarus asked, contrary to the kisses he was pressing along the corner of my mouth.
  It was the first time we’d been alone in a week, without the prying ears of his cousins.

“One more thing,” I said, backing out of his arms.  He held my
hand, his grip sliding reluctantly down my fingers as I slipped away.  Placing the seeds atop the row of hedges, I skipped to the large oak and slipped onto the swing.  With one strong push of my legs, I closed my eyes and let myself fly, feeling the wind blow my hair back from my face.  A smile bloomed, despite my doubts of ever being happy again.  In time, maybe not as far as I thought, wounds
would
heal.

Icarus stopped the swing, slipping between my legs as he walked me slowly backward.  His eyes were bright, smiling, glittering with wonder.  I circled his hips with my legs
, lacing my arms behind his neck, leaving him take my weight as I pressed my lips to his in another kiss.

“Take me home.”

“Home?” he murmured against my lips.

“Home.”