Shameful by May Dawson
38
Killian
I came to slowly.
My head was killing me. I must have slammed it into something on the way down. I rolled over and puked before I was even fully conscious. My shoulder screamed inpain.
Legacy. She was my next thought, even before my brain recovered rational thought, even when I was in agony. Legacy and I had been running together, we'd caught the scent of something, and then suddenly--I'd beenshot.
I didn't know where Legacywas.
My fingernails dug into the dirt as I tried to summon the strength for the shift. The next thing I knew, I was arduously, painfully shifting. The wound in my chest felt as if it would crack open, and I realized I might die before I completed shifting.
Through the woods, I saw the boat capsize. Saw Legacy's slender dark gray wolf tip into the water.
The power surged through me. I wasn't going to die. I was going to go get mymate.
I shifted, bones cracking, blood spraying. The wound shattered then healed.
I was whole--still damaged, but whole--when I began to limp toward the place where she had disappeared. The vamp had disappeared too. I wanted to make him pay. I needed to make him pay for hurting mymate.
I dove into the water.
I found her in human form, floating in the water. She was knocked unconscious, her face still and peaceful when I nosed at her. Her long dark hair floated in the water, her arms spread to either side like an angel’s wings. She looked so calm, but the sight of her filled me with the opposite flood of emotions.
I shifted back, breaking the water to breathe a desperate, agonized rush of air. The pain of the shift was intense when it happened sosoon.
In the distance, I heard a shout. Rhett. I never thought I'd be glad to hear his voice, but I shoutedback.
"Over here! Legacy and I needhelp!"
My wolf was wild inside me, howling and desperate. Mate. Must helpmate.
I didn't know where that word had come from. My wolf thought of Legacy as my mate. But I didn't have time to worry about itnow.
I dove down looking for Legacy. This time, I was able to catch her around her waist.
Her waterlogged state made her heavier, awkward, especially with my shoulder still wounded. I kicked hard to swimup.
When I broke the water, Rhett and West were there.
"Watch out for the vampire!" I shouted, handing Legacy over to Rhett. Between the two of us, we pulled her out of the water, laid her down on the grass.
"Vamp?" Westsaid.
"She was right, someone was watching her," Rhett said, swearing.
I could have killed him right there if I hadn't wanted to protect Legacy most of all. "Youknew?"
Rhett stared back at me. "You knew her storytoo."
"We could have set a watch," West said. "We could've patrolled. We could've done a lot of things. But right now, we can take care of Legacy."
Rhett had already fallen to his knees beside her and West joined him. The two of them worked to clear her airways and make sure she could breathe. She must have healed back partially when she shifted, turning human from the wolf in her panic.
Legacy came to with a start, spitting water. She stared around at all of us, then she saw me and her face changed.
She came into my arms, hugged me tightly. It stunned me--and from the way they stared at me, it stunned the other two guys as well. When she clung to me, something inside me shifted--forever. I hadn't expected for her to wantme.
"I thought you were dead," she whispered. "Killian. I thought you weredead."
She wiped my wet hair back from my face, her eyes teary.
Then, as if she suddenly remembered him, she said, "The vampire."
"You're safe," I promised.
"I don't care about that," she said. "I need him to prove to our pack that I was never lying afterall."
West was frowning, and he picked something up, carried it over to us. “Is this a piece of your vampire?”
The man held a bloodied thumb. Legacy pulledback.
“Jesus, you psychopath,” Rhett said, wincing. Then a smile brightened his face. “You useful psychopath. If we ever get off this island, I know someone who might be able to helpus.”
“Do they accept payment in fingers?” Legacy demanded.
“They can use a body part to track someone down,” Rhett said, his gaze meetingmine.
He looked at me as if he wanted to find that vampire as much as Idid.