Fated Souls (12 page)

The wolf lay there watching her with sorrowful eyes as she crossed to the sink to wash the taste of vomit from her mouth. She got a look at her face in the mirror over the sink and gasped. Her eye was going to black and purple, her lip was split right at the edge, and the cheek itself was starting to swell. Maggie lifted the hem of her nightgown and saw the damage to her knees. Thankfully, it was nothing some Bactine and a couple of Band-aids wouldn’t cure.

“I think we came out on the better end of that tussle. What do you think?” She turned to Gealach, who puffed out his chest and huffed out his signature chuckle. Maggie’s responding chuckle became a sob that she swallowed quickly. She went into the small bedroom, stripped off the dirty nightgown, tossing it to the floor under the bed, and curled up into a ball on top of the covers, shaking with adrenaline and fear. She felt the mattress shift as Gealach climbed up onto the bed with her. She wrapped an arm around his soft warmth.

Gealach licked her face as he rubbed his furry body all over her. She felt comforted, which she was sure was his intent, and the shaking slowed. Eventually, the shaking stopped and Maggie drifted off to sleep, hugging Gealach tight.

Maggie woke slowly as the mid-morning sun filled the room and realized Aidan lay beside her, his arms around her. She wiggled against the warmth of his body, enjoying the feeling of being held. “Did you shift in the bed?”

“Quit it, rock star, unless you plan on making this a really good morning.” His breath on her neck made her smile, as did his words. She could feel him stirring against her backside. She wiggled one more time for effect before rolling over in his arms, her mouth searching for his.

“Son of a bitch.” Though spoken quietly, the anger behind it was evident, even without feeling his arms tighten around her. Maggie’s eyes popped open and the rage in his eyes made her hesitant.

“Aidan?”

“I’ll kill them. I swear to God, I’ll kill them.” She realized why he was so angry, and now that she thought about it the entire left side of her face ached. He leapt from the bed, naked, rifling through her drawer for the spare clothes he’d been keeping there.

“Aidan, baby, it can’t be that bad. I nearly broke that asshole’s nose and Gealach took a chunk out of the other one’s arm. Just let it go.” She sat up and the blanket he’d covered her with fell to her waist. He turned to say something, but the words died on his tongue when he saw the big, ugly bruises on her breast. The look of pure horror on his face made her glance down at herself and she gasped when she saw the marks the one named Mikey had left on her. Gingerly she pressed a finger to one; the bruises were more like welts and Maggie sucked in breath when it hurt. Aidan, barely able to contain his emotions, crossed to her and very gently pulled her into his arms, holding her.

“They hurt you.” His voice was so pained, her instinct was to soothe.

“It’s okay, baby. You saved me from the worst of it.”

“No. I didn’t. Gealach did.” He released her and continued getting dressed. “I should’ve let him rip out their throats like he wanted. Damn it, I don’t have shoes. Fuck it. I don’t need ‘em.” He stomped from the room. Throwing on her clothes from the night before as she went, Maggie followed him out of the room.

“Aidan, where are you going?” He was already part of the way to her car before she caught up, dangling her keys in front of him. His eyes flashed with impatience but he obviously realized those he did need.

“Red’s. That’s where you told them they’ll find their rifles. What they’re going to find is me.” Maggie thought quickly and came up with a plan.

“Okay, wait. I’ll get their rifles and go to town with you.”

“You get their rifles, but you’re not coming with me.”

“Then you’re not taking my car, buster.” She pushed her finger into his chest. “Bossing a woman around may fly in these parts, but I’m a big girl and I’m not going to sit at home mewling while a man, any man, takes care of my problems for me.” Maggie went back to the cabin retrieved the guns and stomped to the car. A fuming Aidan only several steps behind her.

“Are you coming to town with me or am I dropping you at your place?”

“I’m coming with you.” He sulked. “But I have to get shoes.” She took him home first but as soon as he’d buckled up a second time, she hit the accelerator and the loud, angry voice of Amy Lee filled the tiny car. When they were halfway to town, he muted the music and quietly asked her to pull over. She did as she was asked but refused to look at him.

He hit the release on her seat belt and pulled her into his lap, wrapped his arms around her and said, “I’m sorry.” Then he buried his face in her hair and whispered, “They hurt you.”

Maggie pulled her head back resting one palm against the side of his face and with a sweet smile, said, “You’re forgiven. But if you ever touch my radio again, you’ll pull away a bloody stump.”

Aidan laughed and gently kissed her mouth, careful of the side that was split and swollen. He put her back in her seat, belted her securely and they finished the ride into town, hands clasped. Maggie pulled into the first available spot she could find, about three shops down from Red’s Press.

“What time is it anyway? I’m starving.” Maggie was interrupted when she heard a familiar voice shout, “That’s her!” She turned toward the voice, and her blood chilled when she saw Mikey, Leeroy, and some other strange men she hadn’t seen before hurrying across the street toward them. Mikey had a small bandage on the bridge of his nose, and Maggie wondered proudly if she’d managed to break it after all. Leeroy‘s arm, on the other hand, was heavily bandaged and in a sling. To Maggie’s horror, Aidan strode out into the street and buried his fist in Mikey’s face.

The big man crumbled to the street and all but Leeroy backed away from Aidan. “Look, mister, we ain’t got a problem with you. Only problem we got is with that bitch and her guard dog.” Aidan reached out and grabbed Leeroy by his injured arm, making the man cry out.

“I have a problem with how you treat women.” Aidan pointed at Maggie’s bruised face before burying his fist into Leeroy’s stomach. “And how you talk to them.” Aidan hit him again. “Call her a bitch one more time; I dare you.”

Maggie cried out a warning, running toward the fight as Mikey lurched at Aidan’s back. Aidan swung around, catching the big man with a blow to the kidney. A small crowd had gathered and the sheriff was hustling over, hollering, “Break it up. Damn it, I said, break it up! Aidan Gael is that you?”

“I want to press charges,” Leeroy managed to gurgle.

“Now hold on, hold on. What the hell is this about?” the sheriff blustered.

Maggie stepped beside Aidan. He put his arm around her and pulled her close, and Maggie imagined the local cell towers were on overload. “I can explain, Sheriff Teague.”

“Jesus Christ, Miz O’Connell what happened to your face?” Teague asked, his eyes sliding over to Aidan.

“That one,” Maggie pointed to Leeroy, “did this to my face last night in the woods, after I punched that one,” she pointed to Mikey who was now vomiting along the curbside, “in the nose for sexually assaulting me. I have more bruises I can’t show you out here in the street, sheriff.” Maggie blushed. “They were out on Jake Black’s land, drunk, shooting at God only knows what, and I ran out to help because I thought someone could be hurt. And they attacked me.”

“She’s a lying bitch.” Aidan would have gone after the man again, but Maggie held tight to him and the sheriff stepped in the way. Leeroy backed away but still hollered, “Ask her about the wolf that damn near tore off my arm. It went to heal when she called to it like a trained pet.”

“Sheriff, I’m telling you the truth. Those two men attacked me. I got away from them after getting knocked to the ground; I crawled to the rifles they’d left sitting idle after they decided I’d be better sport than hunting; and I made sure they knew I’d use it. Then I told them I’d bring their rifles here for them to pick up and ordered them out of the forest.”

“Aidan?” Teague asked, “What’s this got do to with you?”

“If it had been your wife? Or your daughter? She’s about Maggie’s age.” Aidan asked. Teague looked at them standing arm and arm for a second before nodding his understanding. “I got to the cabin this morning and found her beaten and bruised. Mags told me what had happened — she doesn’t get good cell signal out there, sheriff; she couldn’t even call for help. What if she hadn’t gotten to the rifle first? What if they’d come back in the night? I lost my temper, but I’m not apologizing. They attacked her. They hurt her.”

“Miz O’Connell, do you want to press charges against these two men?” Maggie shook her head. “Well, then I’m thinking you fellas leave town, now, without pressing charges against Mr. Gael and we’ll all call it even. What do you say?”

Mikey was nodding his head eagerly, but Leeroy protested, “She’s lying, ask her about the wolf.” Mikey shoved Leeroy hard in his back and the other man relented, “Fine, sheriff, that’s just fine, we were leaving anyway.”

Aidan stepped forward, obviously unsatisfied with the outcome. “Either of you come anywhere near her again, I’ll kill you both. Understand?” Without waiting for an answer he walked over to Maggie’s car and retrieved their rifles, turning them over to the sheriff. “Do you need to see the other marks those bastards left on her?”

“No, Aidan, your word and the word of Miz O’Connell are good enough for me. I’m going to escort these gentlemen out of town, but stick around. I want to talk to you both before you head out of town.”

Maggie checked Aidan’s hands. They looked red and maybe a little swollen. She lifted his knuckles and kissed them gently. “My hero,” she teased.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you running out into street, and don’t think I don’t know you intended to jump in that fight.” He slung an arm over her shoulder as the whispering crowd quickly thinned. Maggie guessed everyone was looking for someone to tell.

“Oh, so you can hit dumbasses in defense of me, but I can’t hit them defending you? Talk about a double standard.” Maggie wrapped her arm around his waist as they turned toward the diner.

“You got to hit the one last night; I didn’t.” It was a slow trip to the diner; people kept stopping them, each exclaiming over Maggie’s face and praising Aidan’s gallantry. By the time they reached the diner door, Maggie was irritated.

“Seriously? How bad can it possibly be? I saw it last night; it wasn’t that big a deal.” Aidan took her gently by the shoulders and turned her so she could see her reflection in the big mirror stretched across the back wall of the diner. The left side of her face looked like it had been hit with a brick. It was an angry swollen patchwork of black, blue, and purple, and the corner of her mouth and eye, as well as the rise of her cheekbone, were slightly abraded. “Oh my, that bad.”

“Yeah, rock star, it’s that bad. Let’s get something to eat.” Ma fussed over her a bit and doted on Aidan, bringing them both ice packs. They were trying to ignore the stares and whispers while eating their breakfast — on the house according to Ma — when the sheriff showed up and made a beeline for their booth.

“They’re gone. I talked to the doctor that patched them and up and confirmed the smaller guy was definitely attacked by a wolf, a big one from the size of the bite. Are you sure you didn’t see anything like that around the cabin since you been out there?”

“Sheriff, I haven’t seen anything out there that isn’t perfectly normal for this area. I about peed my pants when I saw a bear one night after I first got to town. But he sure as hell is not my pet,” Maggie said.

“Well that article your paper printed is going to bring in some whack-a-dos and some game hunters alike. I wouldn’t be surprised if those two run blabbing to the first reporter they find and that’ll make it even worse. The Chamber of Commerce will be tickled, but it’s surely a pain in my ass. And I think you should consider moving back into town, Miz O’Connell, until it’s a little safer out there.”

“It’s a good suggestion, sheriff, but Maggie will be moving in with me. Today. She’s spent her last night alone in that cabin.” Teague blushed and nodded, tipping his hat as way of goodbye. Maggie swore she literally saw the news spread through the diner and imagined people walking on the street already knew via smoke signal.

“Screw you,” she whispered very quietly and rose, leaving the diner without another word. He dropped cash on the table and hustled out after her as they both ignored the stares and sniggers of the diner’s other customers.

“Maggie?” She ignored him, stalking past her car and continuing on toward the inn she knew she couldn’t afford.

“Maggie?” He put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

She swung around, punched her finger into his chest, backed him up a step and asked in a deceptively quiet voice, “Who do you think you are?”

Without waiting for his answer, she repeated her action, backing him up another step. “Don’t you think maybe you should ask me first? Or at least discuss it with me before you announce to God and country what I’m going to do?”

She punched her finger into his chest one final time, his back coming up against the barbershop window, much to the delight of the clients inside. “You want a cookie cutter paper woman that does what she’s told in exchange for an expense account, call my mother. I make my own decisions, asshole.” She turned away and changed directions. She was heading for her car, her ire making her determined to stay at the cabin. Alone. Indefinitely. Aidan grabbed her and pushed her, albeit gently, against the car.

“I saw that man hit you. I saw you fall from the force of the blow. Gealach nearly didn’t get there in time. Had he been much later they would’ve done to you what some scumbag did to my mother. The wolf would’ve killed them; he wanted to kill them for daring to strike his mate. I wanted to let him because they struck you. They left marks all over you, beautiful, and I wasn’t able to protect you. I wasn’t able to comfort you.” He laid his forehead against hers. “You had to settle for Gealach.

I guess I was marking my territory. I was an ass. I can only promise to try not to be in the future. I’ll go wherever you want. You want to stay at the cabin; I’ll stay at the cabin with you if you’ll let me.” She was quiet, intentionally making him sweat.