Christmas Hellhound by Zoe Chant

Author:Zoe Chant [Chant, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

14

Meaghan

“Caine!”

Meaghan leapt to catch Caine as he toppled forward. His body was completely limp and too heavy for her to hold. She lowered him as gently as she could, terror pulsing through her veins.

Oh God. Forget her own anger and confusion. None of that mattered. Not compared to the fear she felt when Caine collapsed. There had been one flare of smoky fire in the depths of his eyes, and then all the life had faded from his face.

She knelt over him. Caine was so pale his face looked gray. The purple shadows around his eyes looked like bruises. And he wasn’t moving.

Meaghan glared up at Jasper. “What’s happening? Is this some sort of shifter thing?”

It was Opal who answered. She’d wrapped the blanket Abigail had thrown her around herself like a toga, and her eyes were grave as she knelt down beside Caine’s still body.

“Do you know how long it is since he last shifted?”

“I don’t even know what that means!” Meaghan wailed. Even Caine’s lips were losing their color. She touched his cheek, her fingers trembling. “Oh God. He’s cold. Really cold.”

Caine wasn’t standing-in-the-snow cold. His skin had a chill that made Meaghan’s breath catch. It was as though that furnace-heat inside him had gone out.

“Someone help me get him inside.” Her voice buzzed in her ears, tinny and distant. “Help me!”

Hank and Jasper helped her carry Caine back into the cottage. They laid him down on the sofa and stepped back awkwardly as Meaghan stuck to his side like a magnet.

He was still cold. Too cold.

“Blankets upstairs,” she barked. “Someone turn the thermostat up. And get the fire going. And then get out.”

Jasper cleared his throat. “Meaghan—”

Meaghan wasn’t listening. Throat tight, she pressed her fingertips under Caine’s jaw, trying not to think about how cold he was as she searched for his pulse.

Thud. Thud. Meaghan let out a breath that almost swelled into a sob.

“Go on, sweetheart,” Abigail murmured. “I’ll stay with her.”

Meaghan was vaguely aware of the men leaving the room. Abigail settled down beside Meaghan and rested one hand on her shoulder.

“He’ll be okay,” she whispered. “Shifters are tough. Stupidly tough. Ask me how I found out about Jasper being a dragon one day.”

“Dragons.”

Meaghan swallowed. Thud. Thud. The icy panic in her own veins began to lose its edge. She took a shaky breath.

“All this… This is why Jackson and the rest of you kept telling me not to look into the ghost gang, isn’t it? Because they’re shifters. Like all of you are, and… and Caine.”

His pulse flickered under her fingertips and she hissed in a breath, holding it until the beat steadied again.

Abigail sighed. “Yes. That was the plan. Pine Valley is a haven for the few shifter families who live here, and you’re new in town, so… we thought it was the safest option.”

“I thought I was going crazy.” Not that that mattered, now. Thud. Thud.

“I’m sorry.” Abigail squeezed her shoulder. “The safest option for us. Not so great for you.”

The room was beginning to warm up.

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