Silent Shadows

I shifted back into human form so I could open the door. Danny stayed in his wolf form, probably so he could stay connected with the rest of the pack. I dressed hurriedly and found the gun I’d used the last time, loading it and checking the safety.

“So now we wait?” I said, even though he couldn’t respond. I sat on the floor and he put his head in my lap. I ran my fingers through the thick fur at the base of his neck. “I always did want a dog.” He let out a low rumble that sounded kind of like a laugh. There was a loud boom and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“What the hell was that?” Danny whined and paced to the door. “Are they okay? What happened?” Jesus, I sounded like that dude from Lassie. “What happened Lassie? Did Timmy fall in the well?”

Danny just looked at me and almost rolled his eyes. “Oh shut up.” I muttered. “Is everyone okay?” He nodded and I breathed a sigh of relief. “I have a feeling Zin went Super Saiyan on this shit.” I stood on my tiptoes to see out the tiny window in the room. Zinnia was standing in the middle of a lot of naked guys, some ours, some not.

“Get out now. That was just me warming up.” Zinnia warned. Raymond’s boys picked themselves up and ran.

“I want to know why they want you so badly.” Danny said, wrapping his arms around me.

“I have no idea. God knows I’m nothing special.” This was obviously the wrong thing to say to him.

“Don’t ever say that to me again Ronnie. You are special. You’re what keeps me going.” He brushed his lips against mine gently.

“You might wanna get some clothes before they bust in here.” It had taken me this long to realize he was stark naked.

“Oh. Can you get me some pants?” He looked down sheepishly.

“If they weren’t about to come in, I wouldn’t let you get dressed. Think about that.” I winked at him and went to grab some jeans for him.

“I swear, your goal in life is to kill me.” He said when I came back in.

“I love you too much to kill you.” I handed him his clothes. “I’d have to off myself right after that, so there’d be no point.”

“I fucking love you Ronnie.” He kissed me again and I seriously would have started to take his clothes off again if Zinnia and Arin hadn’t walked in.

“It’s safe. I took care of them.” Zinnia kept her eyes averted from us while we untangled ourselves. The group of us walked back out to the living room, where the rest of the pack was.

“What the hell do they want with Ronnie?” Danny put his arm around me protectively.

“Zin got a look into John’s mind.” Matt said, holding the edge of a bandage in his teeth that he was wrapping around his massive bicep. I took the end and helped him wrap it. “Thanks. Anyway, they want her because she’s Danny’s mate. They figure it’ll provoke us to fighting them on their land if they take her. And they, um-” He trailed off.

“They want her for sex.” Zacky finished. Danny growled and pulled me close to him.

“I have a feeling we won’t be hearing from them for a long time. Zin did some kind of sonic boom shit on them.” Brian had a long scratch running down his face. Danny seemed to kick into healer mode and went to get his kit.

“Who else is hurt?” I asked, looking around.

“I think my rib’s busted.” Jimmy grunted out. “Right here.” He showed me it and I probed it gently.

“Danny, I think you need to take a look at this. I can take care of Brian.” I said, grabbing the antiseptic out of his hand.

“Mr. and Mrs. Doctor.” Jorel joked.

“You’re next with the peroxide, ass wipe.” I could see a couple of bite marks on him.

“Ronnie, your ear is bleeding.” Zinnia said. I reached up and my hand came away red.

I let out a curse, feeling a neat hole through the top of my ear. “That bastard bit all the way through.”

“I’ll look at it in a second.” Danny finished wrapping a long bandage around Jimmy’s ribs. “How’s that feel?”

“Better. Doesn’t feel like my fucking rib is floating around.” Jimmy pulled his shirt over his head. I couldn’t imagine what Zinnia is going through right now. It must be one of the worst pains in the world. I’d apologized to Jimmy as well, and all he did was pat my head and smile sadly.

“The hole looks pretty clean.” Danny said, wiping blood away. “It might need a couple stitches.”

“Go for it.” I had to clamp onto Arin’s hand while he did it, but I made it. “Fuck, let’s not ever do that again. I fucking hate needles.”

“You have tattoos. How can you hate needles?” Brian asked.

“The tattoos were supposed to be on my hips but I chickened out when I saw the size of the needle he was using. So I put them on my back so I could cry like a bitch into the table and not have to see the needles.” I shrugged. “I’m a smart girl.”

“My girl.” Danny kissed the side of my head gently.

“Eww, get a room.” Johnny threw a pillow at Danny. Within seconds, pillows were flying everywhere. I smacked Zacky in the face with one particularly fluffy pillow and he almost tackled me.

“Um, hi?” Everyone stopped dead and turned at the voice.

A girl stood just inside the kitchen door, bruised and covered in leaves. Her blonde hair was matted into a mess, her porcelain doll face smudged with dirt.

“Who the fuck are you?” Johnny broke the silence.

“I’m Ever. Ever Crow.” She looked like the stereotypical blonde damsel in distress.

“Shit, that’s Raymond’s daughter.” Danny whispered in my ear.

“What are you doing here?” Matt demanded.

“I…I need your help.” Ever said softly. “I can’t live there. It’s oppressing. They’re awful.”

“How old are you?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“20.” She said.

“She’s just a kid.” I murmured to Danny.

“You’re the one they’re always after!” Ever said, recognizing me I guess.

“What do you want?” Zack asked.

“To join your pack.” Ever said in a small voice.

“We don’t accept refugees.” Matt said. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what the fuck I had been if they didn’t accept refugees.

“I need your help. Please.” Ever begged. “They aren’t like you. They…they hurt me.” Zinnia and I jerked up straight when she said that.

“Your dad let them do that to you?” I couldn’t believe that. My dad would have whupped ass up and down the fucking country if someone had hurt me.

“He’s not a good person.” She shook her head.

“I say let her stay.” I said. Matt glared at me. “Matt, she doesn’t have anywhere safe.”

“I am with Ronnie.” Zinnia said. Danny looked at me for a long moment before stepping forward with me.

“Do you know what your father would do to us if he knew we were keeping you here?” Matt growled.

“I can fight. And I’m fast.” Ever reminded me so much of myself when I was trying to find my footing here.

“Matt.” Jimmy said quietly. “We need to let her stay.” Matt closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Zin, how long do you think we have before they start busting down our doors?” He said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“If that shock wave worked as well as I think it did, they will be staying away for a long time to come.” Zinnia said in her Zen voice. Matt looked like he was deep in thought.

“I need to think about this. Danny, Jimmy, and Zinnia, come into my office.” Matt walked away and I kissed Danny’s hand before letting go of him.

Leaving me and a bunch of awkward guys staring at Ever. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” I motioned for her to follow me. I sent her in to shower and gave her some of my clothes to wear.

Arin came into my room while I was waiting for Ever to come out. “She reminds me of you when you first showed up.” He said, sitting on the bed next to me.

“After I came round?” I laughed.

“I said I was sorry, Jesus.” He looked away, pouting.

“I’m sorry. Go on.”

“She has that same look in her eyes as you did. That desperate, I have nothing left to lose look. I have a feeling Matt’s gonna let her stay. Especially since Danny and Jimmy and Zin all want her to.”

“How the fuck did you think I managed to stay here? Jimmy and Danny were rooting for me.”

“Danny was fucking annoying in the beginning. Whenever we’d shift, I could hear him thinking about you. It was goddamn irritating.”

“You mean you knew?”

“I’m usually the one who goes with Danny on patrols, so yeah, I heard a lot of unnecessary things about you.” He shuddered.

“You fuckhead, you coulda saved me so much time!” I smacked his shoulder.

“You’re mean.” He stuck his tongue out at me.

“Oh hush up.” I lay back on the bed, one arm under my head. “Arin?”

“Yes, oh mean one?”

“Do you think that I’m a bad person?” I couldn’t ask Danny this, because he’d lie to me.

“No. Why?”

“Because of what I did to Zin and Jimmy. That was horrible.”

“You were upset and you lost your temper. You’re only human Ronnie. It was just a mistake.”

“I wish I could make it up to them.” I said softly. He patted my hand.

“It’s done. And speaking of done, I heard the water turn off. You should go make sure she’s not all cut up or….something.”

“Right.” I grabbed the first aid kit and tapped on the door to the bathroom. “Ever? It’s Ronnie.” There was no answer, so I opened the door.

Ever was sitting on the floor, staring at the cuts on her arms. They were even and deliberate, some healed and some just newly scabbed over.

Without a word, I took the hydrogen peroxide and started to clean and bandage them. “I don’t want to see these ever again, all right?” I said when I was done. “You’re safe now. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“You can’t promise that. He won’t let me stay.” Ever sniffled.

“You saw the guy with dark hair and hazel eyes, the one who was standing with me?” She nodded. “And the blue eyed guy?” Another nod. “And the Fae? They won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

“Ronnie?” I heard Danny call.

“Hang on a second.” I smoothed the last bandage over her arms. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No. Those wounds healed. Except for the ones in here.” She tapped her chest, over her heart.

“We’ll take care of you. I promise.” I went to find Danny. “If that kid can’t stay, I’m leaving.”

“She can stay. Matt was wavering by the time we got into the office and it took one word from Zin to get him on our side.” Danny kissed my forehead.

“And that word was?”

“Your name.” He smiled. “He knew he couldn’t let her go back to that. So she’s gonna be staying with Zin.”

“All us refugees get to stay with Zin.” I chuckled. “You and Jimmy were pretty damn convincing for me.”

“I knew I heard a little mouse at the door.” He laughed, hands sliding down to my hips.

“Did you hear the pissed off gasp when Jimmy brought up me being used for breeding?”

“Would you be pissed at me if I told you I wanted to be your baby daddy?”

“You are gonna be my baby daddy.” I laughed. I noticed his face had drained of color.

“Are you pregnant?” He blurted.

“No, jeez, relax. I meant down the line. Once we get our house, your ass is mine mister.”

“I think I might enjoy that.” He pulled me to him and I was getting lost in him again when someone knocked on the door.

“Yes?” Danny sighed.

“Quit making out and come out here. We have movies and popcorn.”

Five minutes later, Danny and I were snuggled up under a blanket on one corner of the couch, watching some poor jock dude get his head chopped off with a chainsaw. I used the gory movie as an excuse to hide my face in Danny’s neck.

Ever was sitting on the floor between Jimmy and Arin and she was slowly relaxing, which was good. I could almost convince myself that everything was all right, that I hadn’t just almost lost my friends in a fight, that we hadn’t just taken in someone who could potentially end up getting us all killed.