Page 40 of Black Moon

Except, of course, for Brook.

I drove back to the clinic going precisely the speed limit. Stopping completely at every stop sign. Using my turn indicators well ahead of each turn. Hands firmly—maybe too firmly, if the creaking was any indication—planted at ten and two. It all gave me something to focus on while driving. Something other than Brook, curled around Claudia, silently sobbing.

The scent of relief was a palpable thing, like a fourth passenger in the car, but it wasn’t something great and joyous. It was sharp and astringent, and mixed with the stink of a week’s terror and misery, it made my eyes sting.

We had all failed Brook so completely, and who had saved him? A stranger to the pack.

I’d misjudged Colt, I saw that now.

I had assumed he’d gone into the woods after a story, wanting to get a scoop and make a bigger name for himself. But what had he done? He’d done what I’d failed to do: save Brook from Maxim Reid. And even afterward, when all had been said and done, he’d given me so much of the credit. Watching their backs, he said, like there had been anything to it.

All I’d had to do was not fall down, a feat I’d managed, thankfully.

Then, asked to give even more, to come help at the clinic, he hadn’t hesitated. Had practically jumped at the chance to help more.

I owed Colt Doherty an apology for making assumptions about his motives. A big one. And the entire pack owed him their thanks.

If I could make his story happen, I’d do whatever it took. He deserved whatever he would get out of a big story. He deserved more, but I didn’t have it to give, to a man like that.

Funny, that. One of the members of the richest family in Grovetown—hell, the town was named for my family, after all—and I couldn’t hope to offer Colt anything like what his father the senator could: power, connections, opportunity. Money was the one thing I was used to having plenty of, but it got me precisely nothing here.

Oh well. Nothing to dwell on.

Brook had to come first, second, and third for now. Speaking of which, I pulled out my phone when we were around halfway to the clinic, hardly even needing to search for the contact I needed. Three swipes down, and a quick stop just after, and the phone was ringing by the time I brought it to my ear.

“Mmmh?” was the mumbled answer after a moment.

“Are you okay?” I guess most people wouldn’t lead with that, but if Skye was sick, that was a whole new problem.

Whatever his situation, my voice seemed to bring him around. “Fine. I’s just ’sleep is all. What do you need, boss?” As he spoke, Skye’s voice got clearer, more awake.

“I need you at the clinic,” I told him, stopping at the town’s one traffic light, flipping my turn indicator. “As soon as possible.”

With that, he was fully awake. “Give me ten minutes. I’ll see you there.” He hung up before I had a chance to.

Sure, he was nineteen, and a little gossipy, and no one could blame him for being a bit of a daydreamer, but Skye Johnson was one of the most reliable, solid people I’d known in my life. He wasn’t my assistant out of any pity I had for him. He was damn good at his job. It was my hope that one day, if he wanted it, he could get better medical training. Maybe become a doctor or nurse himself.

He was hurrying up to the clinic just as I pulled into the lot, and he didn’t even turn to look at me, just continued on to unlock the door and headed in to flip the lights on.

I turned to look at the back seat. “We’re at the clinic. Is that okay, Brook?”

He looked up at me, confused for a moment, eyes darting back and forth as though trying to decide what I was talking about. Then his eyes went wide, and he nodded. “Yes,” he agreed, his voice ragged. He wrapped his arms around himself, one hand trying to cover the horrific gouges of the forced mating mark. “I don’t want to...I can’t go home like this.”

I suspected he’d change his mind soon enough and want to see his mother and sisters very much, but that was all up to him. I wouldn’t let anyone push him.

“Are you ready to go in? We can stay in the car for a while if you want.” I imagined the small space, with two people who were relatively safe, was pretty comfortable in the short term, and I didn’t want to rush him.

He clenched his jaw, but nodded. “Yeah. Yes. I can—” He stopped and looked at the door handle, and his breath quickened. He glanced at Claudia, at me, and then back at it, before slowly reaching out and pulling. His breath rushed out in a whoosh when the door opened easily and let in the cool night air.

Suddenly, the bloodless way things had ended with the Reid pack didn’t seem so ideal. I wanted Maxim Reid to suffer for this. It wasn’t on Brook, though, or about him. My spiking anger at the Reids could only cause him distress, and that wasn’t helpful right now, so I shook it off.

The Reids could be handled later.

Brook was our priority.

So I climbed out and went around to meet him. I stayed a few feet away, letting him make the decision on how close he wanted to get, but he’d barely managed to get all the way out of the car before he wrapped himself around me again, burying his face in my neck and breathing in the scent of pack.

I laid a light hand on his back, not hard or forceful, but guiding him toward the clinic door. Behind me, I heard Claudia shift, and a moment later the car door closed softly and bare feet slapped the ground behind us.

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