In Too Deep (4 page)

“
She’s had a shitty day and she’s hurting right now. Can you blame her for being irritated?” Slater stepped in front of him, looking Brody right in the eye. “But something tells me she doesn’t blame you. Hell, she could have left your ass out there to fend for yourself.”

Jess came back out with a steaming bowl of stew and a plate of hot bread. She s
et them on the end table closest to the fire.

“
Fallon hates when I meddle, and I am, but only a little.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug and dropped her head. “She knows me well, and probably thinks I’m planning her whole life and that pisses her off.” Jess looked up, meeting his gaze. “She’s not mad at you, Brody. She doesn’t trust easy, but she’ll come around. You have nothing to worry about.”

That brought him a little comfort. If Jess said he didn’t have anything to worry about, he didn’t.

“Why don’t you sit down and relax.” Jess tried softly, but he shook his head and started to pace again. He couldn’t sit when Fallon might need his help. He had this irrational need to do something, anything for her.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Brody knew Dakota was there to heal her. He hopped over the couch to open the door, thankful someone was finally there to help her out.

The wind blew Dakota’s long black hair across his face. “Hey,” the shaman said.

Hayden stood just under the porch light with his bulging arms crossed over his massive chest and one dark brow arched.

“Hi, come in.” Brody took a step back.

Dakota just stood there, staring at Brody with a
creased brow. Hayden stepped past Brody and moved to the corner of the room where he could see everything. Brody was a big guy, but Hayden was huge.

Dakota shook his head and finally stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He turned to Slater.
“I thought I came to heal someone.”

“
You did, she’s taking a shower.” Jess answered.

“
She?” Dakota titled his head, his brow pinching. “Who’s hurt?”

Jess gave Dakota a smile.
“Fallon. She’ll be out in a few minutes. And no matter what she says, please just heal her.”

He moved to stand next to the fire with long graceful strides.
“She doesn’t want help?”

Jess sighed.
“Hard to say. She seems to be accepting things so far, but she’s funny about letting anyone help her. I’m sort of surprised she’s playing along so far.”

Playing along? That was playing along?
Fallon’s glare nearly flayed him alive when he offered help. If she tried to turn down Dakota after everything she did for him, he’d sit on her until the shaman could heal her.

“
Okay. I’ll do what I can.” Dakota answered.

Hayden’s dark eyes narrowed on Brody as he pushed his hair out of his face. There was suspicious, and then there was Hayden. He was always paranoid around new people, and Fallon was probably going to give the guy an ulcer because she didn’t fit in any box.

The sheriff gave Brody an appraising look. “I’m interested to know why your blood is behind In 2 Deep when you don’t appear to be injured. What happened?”

Brody sighed, and leaned against the wall next to the bathroom door, just in time for it to open.

He forgot all about everyone else in the room. Fallon stepped out and her gaze locked on his. She was radiant, her skin glowing, and her wet hair hung down her back to expose her high cheekbones and regal nose. Her emerald green eyes sparkled with an inner light, and her pink mouth was full and pouty. The black tank and yoga pants hugged her tightly toned curves. His gaze caught on the beautiful wolf painted on her arm as she reached up to rub the back of her neck.

* * * *

Fallon stood in the shower, trying not to look at the blood and ash swirling through the water at her feet. She had to shampoo twice just to get her hair clean. Between her dizzy spells and an ankle that didn’t want to hold her weight, she was having trouble staying upright and had to lean against the wall.

The night she killed the one vampire she ever got involved
with played through her head. He’d been driving her wild, his mouth between her thighs when he took a detour to bite her, ignoring her no-snacking rule. There was no thought when she felt his fangs pierce skin, she took her blade and pierced his heart.

Her stomach
heaved and she was glad she had nothing in her belly. Fallon shut off the water, and dried herself. She dressed in comfortable clothes, hoping to sleep soon.

Brody was right there when she opened the door, leaning against the wall. His smoky blue eyes locked on hers and he seem
ed to relax. She wondered if he stood there the whole time, waiting for her to need help. Yeah, like she would ever admit she needed help.

His
fingers twitched, like maybe he wanted to reach for her, but he shoved his hands in his pockets before pushing himself off the wall. “You okay?” he asked, and just his voice soothed her.

She looked away.
“I feel a little better.”

When she looked up, she spotted a tall Native American with long, silky black hair, in jeans and a dark red t-shirt. He stood in front of the fire and openly stared at her with wide eyes and his head cocked to the side like he had no clue what he was looking at. She was used to that look.

Fallon looked around until she came to the largest man. He stood in the corner but seemed to take up half the room. His chocolate brown eyes were full of suspicion, and his brow was drawn down as he watched her. His feet were apart, shoulders squared, and his were hands loose at his sides but ready for a challenge. Unfortunately, she was used to that look too.

Brody nodded toward an empty chair by the fire.
“Why don’t you sit down?” There was a plate with a bowl of Jess’ stew and fresh bread on the side table. Mmm, her mouth watered. She missed Jess’ stew.

With a sigh she sat down, but only because she was exhausted, and most certainly not because he asked her to.

Slater spoke up. “Fallon, this is Dakota.” He motioned to the Native American. “He’s the shaman who wants to help with your injuries. And this is Sheriff Hunter. You can ignore his dark scowl. He’s naturally suspicious.”

Fallon gave a small wave and muttered,
“Hi.” She hated being the center of attention, and did her best to ignore everyone as she picked up the soup and dunked her bread.

Dakota spoke up.
“Hi, Fallon. Where are you hurt?”

“
My head, probably a concussion.” She pulled her hair over her good shoulder to display her throat, and glanced over at Brody. “An overenthusiastic wolf meant well, but tore the vampire’s fangs out of me.” Shrugging, she shoved a bite of bread in her mouth before looking back at Dakota.

“
And you’re limping.” Brody gestured at her ankle.

She swallowed hard and glared at him.
“Sorry, the drum line in my head drew all my attention.”

“
Fallon is resilient, high pain threshold. I’m sure there’s more.” Jess gave her a sharp look, challenging her to argue. “Don’t get snippy either, Fallon. You know I’m right, but if I was that worried, I would have dragged you out here naked to make sure you weren’t hurt worse.”

And Fallon knew she would. Last time she was hurt helping a wolf, Jess dragged her back to the Alpha’s, made her take a shower, and then wait naked until one of their mage friends could come heal her. She found
out real fast that arguing with werewolves while she had a concussion was a stupid move. They nearly crushed her when three of them sat on her to keep her from leaving.

She snorted and soaked up more stew with her bread.
“Yeah, I remember the last time I argued with a room full of werewolves and how well that went.”

Jess sighed.
“You needed the help then, too.”

Yeah, she did. No argument there.

Brody’s eyes danced in amusement.

Dakota walked over and knelt in front of her.
“Ready?” She nodded and set her food aside. Then he traced the wound at her throat and started chanting. His hands grew almost uncomfortably hot as she felt her skin weave together.

He cupped the back of her head
, and it felt like shards of glass cutting through her skull. Her vision swam and her eyes screwed shut until the pain faded into nothing a few seconds later.

Dakota wasted no time in taking her ankle and slowly rotating her foot.

“Ow, fuck. That hurts.” She tried to jerk away, but he held her tight. How the hell had she missed that?

“
He’ll fix it,” Brody murmured, the deep rumble of his voice soothing almost as much as the shaman’s magic. She swallowed hard and looked into Brody’s eyes.

She barely heard Dakota.
“Almost done.” His fingers drew symbols on her ankle as he started to chant again. Brody held her gaze as the pain melted into a dull ache.

Dakota set her foot down and she blinked, breaking the connection to Brody. She looked down at Dakota.

“Thank you.” She offered a weak smile.

“
No problem.” He smiled pleasantly and moved to the loveseat.

* * * *

Brody badly wanted to punch Dakota for touching Fallon as much as he had, but he knew his friend wasn’t making a play at her.
Christ, what the hell is wrong with me
. He wasn’t the jealous type. Besides, she wasn’t interested in any of them.

Hayden’s dark eyes bored into Brody.
“Clint found the mess by Adam’s truck and took care of it before your brother saw anything. Can you tell me what happened, starting when you left the bar?” Hayden was a good friend, but he could be a real dick when he was working a case. This wasn’t the first time he’d been questioned like this.

Brody hadn’t even considered what his brother might have thought if he found that mess. He was glad Adam didn’t see it.

“Yeah. I left so I could run. I was stripping down when a woman tackled me by Adam’s truck. I didn’t realize she was a vampire until I saw her fangs when she bit me. I nearly wrenched her head off. She went down and I assumed she was dead. Other than Victoria, who never causes a problem, I’ve never dealt with another vampire.”

He ran a hand through his hair.
“A male vampire came at me before I could figure out what I should do. He was a hell of a lot faster than I expected, and dislocated my shoulder. I tore his arms off his body, and slammed his head into the pavement until his skull cracked open. I figured if I saw brains he was dead. I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I ran for Slater’s.” He shrugged. “I know we had a problem with the Dales scouting a month ago, but I thought it was over.”

Brody would never forget the two scouting vampires stalking around town. At first everyone thought they were just checking Edenton
out but they never approached anyone. Then they were prowling around his shop late one night. Hayden had stopped by to visit and saw the way the vampires were lurking. He whipped a giant glowing battle-axe out of nowhere and cleaved the vampires in half. No one had heard from the Dales since.

“
We all thought they lost interest.” Slater scrubbed a hand through his beard. “We should have kept patrolling.”

Jess shook her head and looked down at the ground.
“I didn't have any visions to make me think they were coming back. I told him they had probably moved on.”

“
Don’t blame yourself, Jess.” Slater sat down beside her, wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

“
And then what, Brody?” Hayden prompted.

Brody narrowed his eyes at him.
“And I ran. I bolted into the street and slammed right into Fallon’s motorcycle. She healed me and took care of the vampires when they caught up.”

“
How the hell did you run into a motorcycle?” Hayden asked incredulously.

Jess snorted.
“I’m betting Fallon was driving with her headlight out and a sound-dampening spell running, trying to avoid a ticket.”

Well, at least Brody
wasn't the one to tell Jess.

Hayden’s eyes went wide as his gaze swung to Fallon.
“You can do that?”

“
I’m a druid. There are a lot of things I can do.” She raised a single eyebrow at the sheriff and drank the rest of her stew straight from her bowl. Brody loved the way she stared Hayden down when most people would cower.

Dakota’s brow inched up in surprise.
“You healed Brody, but you couldn’t heal yourself?”

“
I have a better question,” Fallon interjected. “Why didn’t his vampire bites heal before he got to me?”

Everyo
ne looked at Brody. He shrugged. “Their fangs were coated in silver.” Wereanimals healed silver damage as slow as humans heal. Normal injuries healed in minutes, and things like breaks and dislocations would heal badly without some help.

“
What?” Dakota asked in surprise.