Chapter 8

Jace

The hallways were empty as I hurried toward the infirmary, taking long, purposeful strides.

Willow was light in my arms.

Far too light.

It felt as though I were carrying a little bird with every bone in its body broken.

She had buried her face against my neck, her tiny, trembling fingers clutching my black T-shirt as though her life depended on it.

The salty, bitter scent of her tears seemed to seep directly into my skin, and every muffled sob that escaped her chest sliced through mine like a silver blade.

Lexi, Zane, and Caleb followed closely behind me.

No one said a word.

The pack silently closed ranks around us, forming a moving, impenetrable shield around the trembling girl in my arms.

When we reached the infirmary door, Lexi stepped forward and pushed down the handle without knocking.

The school doctor, Dr. Miller, was leaning over some paperwork at his desk.

The man, who was in his fifties with graying temples, was nothing more than a kind, boring doctor to most of the students.

But we knew exactly who he really was.

Dr. Miller was one of the oldest and most experienced members of our pack.

His responsibility was to watch over us, the young werewolves, and cover up injuries that were perfectly normal in our world but would have been impossible for humans to explain.

When the door opened, Miller snapped his head up.

His sense of smell alerted him to the trouble immediately.

For a fraction of a second, his eyes flashed yellow as he caught the scent of the raging Alpha fury pouring off me, along with the blood and fear of the girl in my arms.

"Lock the door!" he ordered immediately, jumping up from his chair. "And close the blinds!"

Caleb obeyed at once.

The lock clicked softly.

Carefully, as though she were made of the most delicate glass, I lowered Willow onto the white examination bed covered with disposable paper.

The moment I set her down, she curled into herself, drawing her knees toward her chest and trying to bury herself inside her hood.

She was trembling so violently that the metal frame of the bed rattled softly beneath her.

"What happened?" Miller asked quietly as he applied disinfectant to his hands and cautiously approached.

"She was pushed. She fell on her left leg," Lexi growled from behind me, her voice still trembling with suppressed rage. "But the way she reacted to the pain... that wasn't caused by a simple fall. Something's wrong with her thigh. And her hand has been cut open since last night."

Dr. Miller nodded.

He moved with extraordinary slowness and calm, trying not to frighten the tiny human prey in the room.

"It's all right, Willow, isn't it? I'm Dr. Miller. I need to examine your leg. I'm not going to hurt you."

When the man reached out his hand, Willow recoiled hysterically, slamming her back against the wall.

"No!" she cried hoarsely. "Please, don't touch me! Men... please, don't..."

Her words struck me as though someone had physically punched me.

Men.

That single word told me everything.

My stomach twisted with helpless fury.

"Back off, Doc!" I growled at Miller.

He nodded in understanding and took a step backward.

Lexi approached the bed and gently took Willow's trembling, bandaged hand.

"Willow, look at me! It's me, Lexi. I won't let anyone hurt you. But we need to see your injury so we can help you. Please."

Willow's breathing came in ragged gasps, her desperate gaze darting between Lexi and me.

Finally, very slowly, with tears soaking her face, she nodded.

With incredibly gentle movements, Lexi rolled up the leg of Willow's loose pants, pulling the fabric above her knee and then farther up her thigh.

When the material moved aside, the air in the entire room seemed to freeze.

Zane muttered a quiet, disbelieving curse.

Caleb turned his head away.

An enormous, grotesque bruise covered Willow's left thigh, a sickening mixture of black, purple, and greenish-blue.

The surrounding skin was swollen and throbbing.

This injury was far older and more severe than anything caused by a simple fall.

Miller's nostrils flared as he leaned closer.

"This..." the doctor whispered, barely managing to suppress the wolf rising within him. "This wasn't caused by the corner of a table. This is the mark of a kick. From a heavy boot with a hard sole. Whoever did this used enough force to nearly break the bone."

Rage exploded inside me like a volcano.

A strangled growl tore from my throat, and my claws pierced the skin of my palms.

Slowly, I backed toward the wall before I completely lost control.

I was panting, my mind filled with nothing but images of destruction and revenge.

Someone, a man, had kicked this fragile girl with that much force.

Lexi's eyes filled with angry tears.

"Willow..." she whispered, carefully stroking the girl's hair. "Who did this to you?"

Willow's entire body went rigid.

At the question, her eyes widened even further with terror.

"No one... I fell..." she repeated the lie, but her voice became increasingly hysterical. "I'm just clumsy. Please, leave me alone! I can't say anything!"

"Of course you can!" I stepped forward suddenly, unable to control my instincts any longer. "There isn't a single bastard in this world you need to be afraid of while I'm here. Do you understand? Whoever did this, I'll kill him!"

"Jace!" Miller snapped sharply.

But Willow had already clamped her hands over her ears.

"No! You don't understand!" she sobbed, her expression reflecting pure desperation. "If he finds out I talked... if you go after him... he'll hurt Ellie! He promised! Don't hurt him, please! You can't!"

Ellie.

Who the hell was Ellie?

The questions kept piling up in my mind, but I could see that Willow was on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown.

I couldn't ask her anything else.

The devastating pain in her voice brought my Alpha to his knees.

Miller sighed and lowered the leg of her pants.

"Listen to me, Willow. I'm going to give you a strong painkiller, and we'll put an ice gel compress on your leg. I'll write in your medical note that you strained a muscle after taking a wrong step, so no one at school will ask unnecessary questions. But you can't attend any more classes today with that leg. You need to go home and rest."

The moment the word home left his mouth, it was as though an electric current had shot through the girl.

Willow sprang up from the examination bed, but her leg immediately buckled beneath her.

If I hadn't caught her around the waist, she would have ended up on the floor again.

"No!" she screamed, desperately trying to push herself away from me.

Her eyes were wild with overwhelming panic.

"I can't go home! It's not evening yet... if he sees me at home during the day, he'll think I got expelled from school! Please, don't send me home! Anywhere but there!"

Her words echoed through the small room like the final plea of someone condemned to death.

The place that should have been her sanctuary was a torture chamber to her.

And there was no fucking way I was sending her back into that hell.

I was still holding her in my arms, pressing her against my chest as she trembled and struggled to breathe.

Lexi stepped closer and gently cupped Willow's face, encouraging her to look into her eyes.

"It's okay, Willow. Shh, you can calm down," Lexi whispered with a sisterly tenderness I'd rarely seen from my younger sister. "You're not going home."

Willow blinked at her, gasping for breath.

"But... where would I go? I have nowhere to go."

"You're coming with us," Lexi said in a voice that allowed no argument but was infinitely kind. "My brother and I live with the guys in a huge villa at the edge of the forest. It's an impenetrable fortress, trust me. There are plenty of empty rooms with private bathrooms. You can have a room as quiet and dark as you want. You can have a hot meal, and you can sleep without being afraid of anyone."

Willow shook her head in disbelief, tears still streaming down her face.

"I can't... I can't be a burden to you. You don't even know me. And... and I'm scared..."

That was when I very gently drew her head toward my neck.

I lowered my face until my lips almost brushed her ear, and in my deepest, most reassuring voice, with the pure sincerity of my wolf, I whispered:

"You wouldn't be a burden for even a second, Willow. And I promise you... I swear on my life... that as long as you're in our home, no one and nothing will hurt you. There won't be any shouting. There won't be any pain. Just you and safety. Will you let me take you there?"

Willow slowly looked up at me.

She stared into my emerald-green eyes, searching them for any trace of a lie for several long seconds.

But an Alpha had no lies for his mate.

There was only truth.

The promise of unconditional protection.

Slowly, with a tiny, barely noticeable nod, she surrendered.

Her head fell back against my shoulder, and her body went completely limp in my arms, as though every last ounce of energy had finally abandoned her.

"We're leaving," I told the others.

Dr. Miller quickly pressed a bottle of painkillers and an ice gel pack into my hand.

Zane was already opening the door, while Caleb made sure the hallway was clear.

As we left the infirmary and headed toward the parking lot through the school's secluded back exit, the air finally felt clear again.

I carefully laid Willow across the back seat of my enormous black SUV.

Lexi immediately climbed in beside her to support her head.

When I settled behind the wheel and started the engine, I headed toward the pack's home.

Toward the safety of the enormous villa hidden among the trees.

I was going to protect this girl from every monster in the world.

Even if it meant I had to become the biggest monster of them all.