Page 79 of Wolf Bane
“Ma… Ma promised me they’d be safe.”
“Do you believe her?”
He met my eyes, his own watery and uncertain.“I want to.”
“Your kids are safe then.But what about mine, if I have any?What about the ones in Lugaru?In Cooper?In Dallas, Shoot Well, Copper Mine… The ones I used to play with when I’d go for my visits at the clinic?How many dead kids do I know, Vinnie?How many people are dead, whose lives are ruined, because Garrow and his friends decided to play God?”
Vinnie drew in a long, deep breath, then let it out on a sigh with his eyes closed.“They’re coming from the other end of the building.Garrow’s never far.You have to go.”
I startled at that.“You’re just… letting me go?”
“You’re running.You took down Daniel.We fought.”His smile was small, bitter, when he opened his eyes.“I just wanted to keep my kids safe, Doctor Babin.I don’t… I don’t want them to die like the others.”
I nodded slowly.“Fear is a powerful motivator, but what’s happening here isn’t fear, Vinnie.They’re not afraid.”
Vinnie pressed his lips into a tight line, holding back whatever he was going to say next.“I’m disappearing too, Doc.With the kids.I don’t know where, but… I can’t do this.I can’t let them be part of this.It’s bad enough, what I’ve let happen, but…”
Time was so short, a fuse burning at my heels that was already spreading heat up my muscles, into my nerves.I needed to gonow.To get the fuck out.The building was big but not huge.I had little time, but Vinnie had even less.
“How do you feel about Colorado?I know a guy there.He’s a shifter, but he’s got a good heart.I could put in a good word for you.Place is called Shoot Well.”
* * *
It tooklittle convincing to get Vinnie to let me help.The fear for Melly and Jay’s lives was greater than his pride, at least in that moment.We left Daniel and a screaming Garrow, splitting in the corridor.“The main entrance,” he said, pointing towards the left.“They’ll be coming from that direction.It’s the most direct route from the east wing.They’ll have guns, likely three shifted weres.”
I nodded.“Follow the river into town.Get the fuck out.Call Ethan,” I reminded him.
He held up the small paper where I’d written down Ethan’s number.“If you don’t hear about me in a day or two…”
I nodded.“We’ll get your kids safe.”
He hesitated just a moment more.I could hear, smell, feel the weres coming now.They weren’t far, rambling through the corridors and downstairs to reach us fast.“Eliza was working on something to reverse the compound.I don’t know what.She hadn’t gotten far.She wanted to help her dad…”
I could only hope Justin and Tyler had been able to keep the hard drive safe and that it had anything useful on it.“Go.”
He nodded, bolting to the right as I took the left.
The weres caught up to me at the end of the long drive.As fast as I was, they were faster.But as fast astheywere, they weren’t faster than a late model SUV driven by Waltrip, skidding to a halt in a handbrake turn that would’ve been really cool if it’d been on purpose.
“Landry!”Ethan leapt from the passenger side, harried and wild-eyed as he sprinted towards me, scooping me against his chest while Waltrip gave zero shits about his nice suit, shifting, leaping at the three closest non-shifted weres.
“Get in,” Ethan ordered, pushing me towards the SUV.“Shut the doors.Stay down.Tyler and Justin are in the back.”
And I was too tired to fight.I was okay, this time, with letting them save me.
ChapterTwenty
Islept in fits and starts after Ethan got me home.Everything ached, and the idea of eating or drinking anything made my mouth water with sour nausea.At some point, I snarled at Ethan to fuck off, and with a tired chuckle, he let me be.I thought maybe I should feel bad about it, but I was too tired, too pained, to dwell on it for long.
After a while, the bouts of sleep got shorter and bleary-eyed wakefulness longer.Ethan got me to eat a soft-boiled egg (not the best idea) and some ginger ale (a better idea) that stayed down.That seemed to be the catalyst for me to start dragging myself back to the land of the living.After a second round of ginger ale with toast on the side (much better idea than the egg), I was about as lively as I could get, all things considered.
“What day is it?”I asked around a painful yawn.Bruises might heal faster on me but that didn’t mean they didn’t hurt.“Wednesday?”
“Thursday,” Ethan said quietly.“Here.Just over the counter stuff.”
I took the pills reluctantly.“Where did you get them?”
“Walgreens.Half an hour ago.They haven’t left my pocket since the checkout counter.”
