Half Truths (A Helheim Wolf Pack Tale) (6 page)

Indi had found
Beth down an alleyway after Indi was pulled there by some invisible thread that
connected them together so tightly that she was sure only death could sever it.
Indi killed the guy who had raped her best friend; feasting on his blood until
his heart stopped beating … not that Beth knew anything about that.

Beth paused.
‘Okay, but how did I actually get there?’

‘I carried you
there.’

‘And where did
you find me? In the alleyway? I remember being dragged there by a man.’

Indi shifted
uncomfortably in her seat. ‘Yeah.’

‘Indi, what
happened to the guy who … attacked me?’

Indi stared into
Beth’s eyes, wondering how much information her best friend could handle. Would
she tell the cops if she admitted that she killed the bastard? Probably. Beth
wore honesty like some kind of merit badge.

‘He ran off when
I found you.’

Beth’s head
rolled away from her, but Indi could smell the saltiness of her tears. ‘But not
before he could … rape me,’ she finally said, exhaling painfully over the one
word that had changed her life so violently.

Anger welled
inside Indi, agitating the giant black cat she shared her body with. Taking in
a few deep breaths, she replied, ‘No. I was too late to stop him raping you.’
Indi tasted her rage. But once again guilt won out, swelling to a crescendo in
her skull—taunting her—forever reminding her that she hadn’t been there for her
best friend when she’d needed her the most.

Beth rolled her
head to look at her again, her eyes red-rimmed. ‘How did you know where I was?’

Indi slouched
back into the plastic chair and exhaled. ‘Gut instinct.’

Beth looked back
at her miserably. ‘I shouldn’t have been there. I shouldn’t have taken my
father’s car without permission. I certainly shouldn’t have agreed to see Jason
that night.’

Indi’s anger
bubbled—her guilt temporarily forgotten. ‘You saw Jason that night?’ she asked,
her teeth clenched so tight her jaw began to ache. ‘Your mother doesn’t know
this, does she?’

Beth shook her
head. ‘He called and asked me to meet him down by the river. I told my parents
I was going to church. I took the shortcut through Hell because I was running late,
and my mother would start getting suspicious if I came home late from youth
group.’ Her blue eyes met Indi’s. ‘She’s timed how long it takes to get from
church to home.’

‘Of course she
has,’ Indi replied dryly. Beth’s mother and Indi had never seen eye to eye. Mrs
White thought Indi was the spawn of the Devil, and Indi knew she wasn’t that
far off. Silence swallowed Indi’s thoughts; Beth’s too, until she finally spoke
again—softly this time like she was afraid that giving the thoughts volume
would make them true.

‘They did a
pregnancy test on me.’

‘I thought
they’d only be able to tell after three or four weeks.’

Beth shrugged
and winced at the movement. ‘I don’t know. They took some blood and told me
they were going to measure some hormone level in my body.’

Indi didn’t
respond to that. She already knew. Beth was pregnant with James’ baby.

‘I think my
mother said she’d drop by sometime this morning,’ Beth said, dragging Indi’s
attention back to the hospital room again.

‘She did?’ Indi
wasn’t too keen on hanging around for that. ‘I’d better go then.’

‘No!’ Beth
cried, snatching Indi’s hand before she could move it. ‘Don’t go just yet. My
mother …,’ she sucked in a small, painful breath. ‘My mother keeps trying to
convince me that I won’t be pregnant, but …’ her best friend’s eyes filled with
tears, ‘but I can feel it. I can feel that something is growing in my body.’
Beth blinked the fresh tears from her eyes. ‘I’m scared, Indi,’ she admitted
with a trembling voice.

Indi’s heart was
breaking as she took Beth’s hand gently again. ‘What are you going to do if you
are?’

Beth swallowed
thickly. ‘My mother says that I have to keep it—abortion is not an option. But
…’ Beth started shaking. ‘But I don’t think that I could keep it, Ind. It would
just be this horrible reminder of what happened to me.’ Tears started streaming
down her face, falling onto the pillow beneath. ‘Indi, what am I supposed to
do? How did you ever survive this, this not knowing what was going to happen?
How did you survive being raped all those times?’

Indi looked at
Beth blankly. Indi had never talked about this with Beth. Sure, she knew all
about Indi’s past, but she’d never asked questions before. Indi sighed. ‘I
didn’t survive it, Beth.’

Her best friend
studied her carefully through tear-filled eyes. ‘I don’t know what you’re
trying to say,’ Beth said, wiping her tear-streaked cheeks.

Indi slid her
hand back into her lap. She didn’t want to accidently crush Beth’s hand when
she talked about this because every time she thought about it, she got angry.
Letting out a lungful of air, she explained. ‘I became harder, angrier;
defensive. I made it so nobody would want to be around me, because if nobody
wanted to be around me, then nobody could hurt me again. But I don’t want you
to be like that Beth,’ she added. ‘You’re too good for that. You have a family
that loves and supports you. I didn’t have that. You can survive this if you
want to, you have to—’ Indi stopped abruptly; her heightened sense of hearing
picking up on the thud of court heels heading in their direction. It really
could have been only one person: Beth’s mother. Indi watched the door—waiting.
The hairs at the back of her neck stood on end as the door opened.

Indi cursed
under her breath. Mrs White stood in the doorway looking down at her daughter
imperiously. She was a plump woman, wearing a knee-length skirt with matching
jacket complete with a cross pinned to her lapel. Her status as a minster’s
wife was something she flashed about like it was some membership to a secret
society. Indi’s top lip automatically curled back from her teeth as Mrs White
closed the door behind her.

‘Mother,’ Beth
said softly with a small, scared smile.

‘Beth, how are
you feeling?’ Mrs White asked. From over Mrs White’s shoulder, Indi saw Rhett
peering through the small glass panel in the door, his eyes slipping colours as
his wolf assessed the threat. When Indi’s eyes ratcheted back to the room, Mrs
White was glaring at her.

‘Mrs White,’
Indi said icily.

Mrs White’s
cruel eyes narrowed. ‘Indigo.’ Yeah, Indi could feel the hate.

‘It’s Indi,’
both Indi and Beth said at the same time. Mrs White’s eyes bounced between the
two of them before she sniffed dismissively, straightened her jacket and walked
to the other side of Beth’s bed.

Her plump hand
fell onto Beth’s forehead. ‘How are you feeling, Beth?’

‘I’m fine.
Tired, but fine.’

As if that was
her cue, Mrs White’s dangerously piercing eyes settled on Indi. ‘Perhaps it’s
time for unwanted visitors to leave then.’

Indi’s middle
finger twitched.

Beth said, ‘No,
she just got here, Mother.’

‘I’m sure Indigo
knows what the right thing to do is,’ Mrs White didn’t so much as a glance in
Beth’s direction. ‘Or maybe she doesn’t,’ she added in a volume only Indi
heard.

Indi’s lips
peeled away from her teeth again. ‘I’ll leave when I’m damn well ready. Beth
still wants me here.’

‘Beth is
confused! She’s been on pain meds for the last two days because she has five
broken ribs and cuts all over her body because you lured her out that night.
She wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for you!’ Mrs White’s hands had
balled into tight fists, which she tried unsuccessfully to hide behind her
back.

Indi felt as if
she’d been stabbed in the chest. Of course she thought Beth had been visiting
her. Why else would she have been in Hell? Guilt wrapped its dirty cold hands
around her again, tugging Indi down until she felt like she was drowning. Even
though Mrs White and Indi were thinking about two different things, the result
was the same.

Indi hadn’t been
there for Beth when she should have been.

‘I’m going to
go,’ Indi said suddenly; the echoes of Mrs White’s words still ringing in her
ears.

‘I think that’s
a good idea,’ Mrs White said snidely, not even bothering to look at Indi while
she was addressing her.

‘Indi! No!’ Beth
pleaded, reaching for her hand to stop her.

‘Beth, if she
wants to go, then let her go. You don’t need her now that I’m here,’ Mrs White
told her daughter, taking the hand she’d had extended for Indi. ‘I’m the only
person you need now.’

‘I’ll see you
later, Beth,’ Indi said, slipping out of the hospital room without looking
back. Her mood instantly darkened thinking about what Mrs White had said. The
black cat she shared her body with stretched out its lean, lithe body and
growled. Bitter, raw anger flooded through her bloodstream. This was better
than the guilt she’d been drowning in before.

Blood was
roaring through her head, making her deaf to everything around her. She glanced
around the busy hallways of the hospital, suddenly feeling claustrophobic. She
had to get out of there. Indi began stalking off in the direction of the exit
when someone snagged her by the wrist, pulling her to an abrupt stop.

She whirled
around on them; a snarl on her lips, her fangs bared.

‘Indi, it’s me,’
Rhett told her softly, holding her face gently between his hot palms, making
their eyes meet. His own eyes were twisting restlessly from sky-blue and pale
green to emerald and ice. The heat from his palms exploded all over Indi’s
body, and—like always—just his presence seemed to begin to chip away at her
rage. Her anger began to ebb away slowly, the pounding of her pulse in her ears
quietening until it was nothing but a distant memory.

They stayed that
way until Indi felt like she was boneless and Rhett was the only thing holding
her up. She both hated and loved this about him. He could take her from
spitting Hellfire down to placid kitten within the space of a minute, but in
order to do that, he had to touch her. And every time he had to touch her, she
craved more. But for Rhett, it looked like he’d rather cut his own arms off
with a rusty saw than touch her.

Indi dropped her
eyes and took a step back, not wanting to make it any more difficult for him.
When she looked up, Rhett’s expression was stony.

He shoved his hands
roughly into his pockets. ‘Who was that woman?’ he asked, jerking his head in
the direction of Beth’s hospital room.

‘Beth’s mother,’
she spat, glaring dangerously at the door.

Rhett’s eyes had
settled back to sky-blue and pale pistachio green again when she looked back at
him. ‘What did she say to you?’ he asked; his jaw tight.

‘Nothing I
didn’t already know,’ she replied angrily. ‘Let’s just get out of here.’ She
turned away from him, but his warm fingers wrapped around her wrist, spinning
her around to face him again. His expression was a mix between longing and
frustration. ‘What did she say to you?’ he pressed.

Indi looked down
at where his fingers were around her wrist before glaring into his face. Heat
radiated from him, and she wanted nothing more than to wrap herself in it, but
her old survival instincts flared back to life instead. She could feel her top
lip peeling away from her teeth. ‘Let me go,’ she hissed.

Rhett’s eyes
widened infinitesimally, morphing colours, but he still didn’t let go. ‘No. Not
until you tell me, Ind,’ he replied; his jaw still tight. ‘You can’t run away
from me. I’ll always be here.’

Her heart leapt
in her chest at the reminder. She took a step closer to him, forcing him to
either stand his ground, or move back. He stood his ground. ‘Nothing,’ she said
venomously, looking directly into his wolf’s emerald and ice eyes. She took a
step back and turned; a fresh wave of anger prickling over her skin when he
didn’t reach for her again.

‘Indi, wait!’ he
called after her, catching her hand in his. Her skin heated at the contact.
Drawing her face up to meet his, he said, ‘I’m sorry I’m being a pain in the
ass. I’ve just …’ he looked down at the ground, frowning. ‘I’ve just got a lot
on my mind right now, and one of those things is keeping you safe. I know I can
be a bit overbearing, but it’s only because I care about you.’ He tried on an
unsure smile. ‘Forgive me?’

She hated this
affect he had on her, and she couldn’t think straight with his hand still in
hers. Pulling free from his grip, she raised her chin a fraction. ‘Fine.’

Rhett’s
expression darkened. That was obviously not the reaction he’d been counting on.
He frowned before opening his mouth and closing it again. When he looked in her
eyes again, they were hard. ‘You need to feed.’ He looked away and cleared his
throat. ‘I’ll take you now,’ he said, his voice severe.

Rhett walked
away from her—his hands clenching into tight fists—leaving her to follow.

The cold
November air hit them with full force once they were outside the automatic
doors of the hospital. Rhett’s Jetta was parked in the last slot of the last
row of the hospital car park. He unlocked her door first before walking stiffly
around the front end to open his. Sitting back into the cold seat, Indi watched
her breath fog in front of her mouth.

Rhett slid into
the driver’s seat and started the car. Frigid air pulsed out from the vents for
a second before it heated up, blowing uncomfortably in Indi’s face.

She looked out
her window, crossing her arms the best she could in her new winter coat; the
same winter coat Rhett had insisted on buying her even though she hardly felt
the cold anymore.

‘Where are we
going?’ she demanded.

Rhett looked at
her quickly; his eyes back on the road after a second. ‘Reynard,’ he answered
curtly.

‘Why?’

‘We have a wolf
who works at St.Mary’s. He’s raided the blood bank for you.’