Page 45 of Star-Crossed
No one ever asked her that. Nobody.
“Larry isn’t doing well. Something’s wrong, and the nearest emergency vet is an hour away. Can you clear these guys out while I take her?”
Cy took one look into her eyes and sprang into action. “Go upstairs and get Larry’s box. I’ll take care of things here.”
Old Lyra would have taken him to task for issuing an order…but enough of her mental and emotional health hinged on Larry and her babies surviving the night, so she found herself swiveling on her heel and following his instructions.
By the time she’d conducted a panting, distressed cat down the stairs, all signs of the moon ritual had been erased as if by magic, and Cy was ushering the last old lady out the door.
Marching over to her, he relieved her of the burden and held the door open with his boot. “Hop in my truck. Kiki’s is only seven minutes from here, and she’ll know exactly what to do.”
The drive to Kiki’s farm felt like seven lifetimes, and Lyra found herself looking to Cy often, amazed that she drew reassurance in every part of him. The confident, careful way he drove. The conversation he had on the phone with his sister.
The hand he put on her arm.
Finally, Cy pulled up in front of a well-maintained farmhouse, cutting the engine. She let him lead the way into the house, where Kiki greeted them at the door. “I’ve got everything set up to examine the wee ones. Cypress said it was a difficult birth?”
“Her breathing just keeps getting more labored,” Cy said grimly when Lyra found it impossible to speak around the lump in her throat.
“Bring her inside,” Kiki instructed the pair, leading them into the warm, welcoming farmhouse. The scent of fresh-baked bread mingled with the earthy aroma of the outdoor alfalfa and something garlic-infused cooking for dinner.
“Is Daniel here?” Cy asked.
“With his father,” Kiki said over her shoulder in a tone that displayed exactly how unhappy she was with that fact.
She led them to a back room and quickly set to work examining Larry, her skilled hands moving deftly over the cat’s trembling body. “Her labor’s been going on too long. She’ll need some help,” she explained, grabbing a small medical kit from a nearby cabinet.
“Whatever you need me to do, just tell me,” Lyra said, her voice shaking with barely suppressed emotion. She’d never felt this fiercely protective of another living being before, and it both terrified and exhilarated her.
“Here, hold her steady while I do this,” Kiki said, handing Lyra a pair of latex gloves. As the two women worked together under Cy’s watchful gaze, Lyra realized that she wasn’t just fighting for Larry’s survival—she was fighting for her own.
She held Larry’s quivering body as Kiki prepared her for the procedure, feeling both the fear and fragility of life and death in her hands. She closed her eyes, willing this little creature to pull through. For them all to be okay. She didn’t feel the hot tears on her cheeks, or the unsteadiness of her knees, until the fifth kitten finally emerged, mewling and slick with life.
The moment Larry relaxed, the room seemed to deflate as readily as their lungs.
Lyra couldn’t look up until she noticed Larry reach for the new addition and lustily clean the kitten.
“That’s a good sign,” Kiki said with a radiant smile, trading Lyra’s rubber gloves for a tissue.
Fuck,Lyra thought as she very carefully didn’t look up at Cy.
She couldn’t remember the last man who’d seen her cry.
NINE
Topping
PRUNING TECHNIQUE TO REDUCE HEIGHT BY HEADING OF LARGE BRANCHES. GENERALLY CONSIDERED POOR PRACTICE.
Cy stoodin the doorway of the spare room turned makeshift animal rehab, taking in the transformation his sister Kiki had wrought in their childhood home. Like the county where she now served as sheriff, the once cluttered, sprawling old Victorian home where they were raised seemed to have benefited tremendously from his older sister’s calm, orderly presence.
As had his life.
Just stepping over the threshold had lowered his blood pressure by several points.
It had been too long.
A fact that his sister had not-so-gently needled him about every time Lyra’s back was turned. As it was now.
