Page 35 of The Sacred Wolf

My heart sank. He’d lied to me. He hadn’t told her I was coming at all, and now… now she was moving swiftly toward me in her chunky combat boots, anger burning in her eyes. I shrank against the leather seat, clutching my clenched stomach so as not to throw up all over her when she rounded the edge of the open door.

“Elyse,” her voice cracked.

I cringed my head into my shoulders, the submissive posture I had always taken with my sister. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. So so sorry.”

Jayla’s boot thumped against the door as she dove into the backseat, throwing her arms around me with force that she pushed me onto my side. Her whole body shook on top of mine, and hot tears splattered my cheek, followed by a spray of wet kisses.

“I thought you were dead,” she moaned, pushing her forehead down on my ear. “I thought the cops must have hunted you down.”

“Jayla…” I wiggled my arms free to wrap them around her, clinging to her shoulders. “Jayla, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, you have to know…”

“Shut up,” she growled. “Just shut up with that stuff, alright? It wasn’t your fault. None of it was your fault.” She pushed up onto her hands and looked down at me fiercely. “You think I don’t know a monster when I see one? You think I don’t know when something isn’t someone’s fault?” Her jaw clenched. “You did what you had to do.”

I blinked up at her, the corners of my mouth crumpling inward. “Not fast enough. Not for Charlie.”

Jayla sat back on her knees, and I drew mine to my chest, resting my chin between them. She grabbed my head in her hands, forcing me to look into her deep brown eyes. “Charlie was a grown ass woman who knew what she was doing, and I miss her, I miss her every damn day, but don’t you dare take away from her hero moment by feeling guilty for a trigger you didn’t pull. If she had lost you?” Jayla shook her head, wiping her sweaty palms on her ripped jeans. “No way, no how. Unacceptable.”

“But if I’d done something sooner—” I sobbed.

“Then you’d have got shot at sooner!” Jayla snorted. “Maybe before Charlie had time to get in the way, and I know that’s what you want to have happened, but it’s not what she would have wanted. I’m going to get that through your head if I have to take you to the hospital, open up your skull, and suture it to your brain by hand.”

“Okay, okay.” I gulped down crying saliva and wiped my mouth on my sleeve. “No more brain imagery.” I rubbed the heels of my hands into my sopping wet eyes until I could see her again. “Evan said you were afraid of me.”

“Hell yeah, I’m afraid of you!” Jayla laughed. “You turned into a big ass dog and ripped a bitch’s arm off. I’ve done my cadaver classes. I know how tough bones are. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you anymore.”

“I would never hurt you,” I sniffled. “I’m not like the wolf you saw in the park.”

“I know, baby.” She smoothed one hand over my cheek. “I know one bad apple doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with the tree.”

“Oh, there is,” I laughed darkly. “There’s something very wrong with the tree. But I’m going to fix it. And make things safer for all of us.”

Jayla’s eyebrows shot up, and her mouth twitched mischievously. “We’ve got a Chosen One!”

“Actually,” Evan chimed in from right outside the door, “She’s a Promised One.”

Jayla pressed her lips together. “Just tell it to me straight. Can you see things with your nose?”

“No!” I rolled my head back. “That’s just a TV show!”

“Which you’d better not be watching,” Evan scolded. “Solidarity!”

“You auditioned for the worst possible part!” Jayla shot back. “There! I said it! Now hush.” She turned to me with a smirk. “Next question. Can you hook a girl up with a hot mountain lion because I’ve got complex trauma, and I hear they can help.”

My laughter splattered my jeans with snot. “I’m sorry. But there’s only wolves.”

“Just my damn luck.” Jayla blew out a stream of disgusted air and shimmied backward across the street. “Come on. Let’s see this theater.”

“Did you bring the movie?” Evan asked in an oddly somber tone as I slid across the street and touched my booties to the street.

Jayla paused in patting her hoodie pouch to take in my unusual shoes and the rest of my outfit. “What the hell? Does that man dress you? I mean, don’t get me wrong, you look fine, but—”

“Oh my Gods!” Evan clapped his hands. “I knew you had a vibe!”

We both glared at him as I climbed from the car, and then I tugged at my top uncomfortably, wishing now that I’d gone with a T-shirt to make Jayla less worried about me changing for Sebastian.

“She has a lady’s maid,” Evan chirped. “Just like Downton Abbey.”

“So, you’re a lady werewolf?” Jayla eyed me skeptically.

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