Once Bitten (An Anya Maynard Novel)

Chapter Seventeen

I shook my head at Connor, “my lines? But I’m…I thought was only half wolf?”

“You are,” he reached tentatively for my face, pushing a curl that had escaped my ponytail from my face and watching the movement intently, “but that doesn’t make your wolf blood any less pure.”

I looked at him blankly, not understanding.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I heard Maddie say quietly from behind me, effectively cutting off the ruckus of her argument with her brother, “he’s telling her.”

I shot my gaze to her then back to Connor, my features squeezed together in confusion, “telling me what?”

Connor looked over my head, a question on his face.

 “Sorry man, I…I can’t help you this time. This is all you.” Steve answered him. It seemed I wasn’t the only one using him as a buffer…

“I’ll tell her,” Maddie said cheerfully as she skipped over to me.

“Maddie don’t,” Connor and Steve said together.

But she just stuck her tongue out at Connor and grabbed my hands in excitement before either could stop her, “You’re royalty!” she exclaimed.

“I’m what?”

“Um…guys,” another voice called from behind us, “what’s going on, why is everyone yelling at each other?”

“Hey Jessie,” Maddie chirped before anyone else could answer and she leaned around me, the grin on her face quickly twisting into a frown. “Wow, you look like shit.”

I turned around to see a harried looking Jess standing exactly where I had been a few minutes ago, a blanket wrapped around her as well. Unlike with my own forgotten modesty, Jess probably needed the extra warmth. Steve said there’d probably be some leftover side effects from her detox for a few days still, like the chills and whatnot. Minus the rat’s nest her hair had turned into she did look a lot better. She had more color on her cheeks, her eyes not so sunken in. It wasn’t a huge improvement but it was a step up from where she was all the same.

Her eyebrows dipped as her lips thinned, her head wobbling side to side as she grasped the situation. “Never mind,” she grumbled, “Maddie's here so I completely understand.”

Tired as her voice sounded, there was no mistaking the sarcasm dripping off her words. So then she knew Maddie too…in all her abrasive glory at that.

We all watched carefully as Jess ambled around the couch slowly, so we all saw her face wincing in pain as she sat. Steve and I exchanged a quick look and he nodded, answering my unasked question and he went back into the bedroom to retrieve the bag of medical supplies he had used to patch us up with last night.

Leaving Connor –and Maddie- behind I moved to go sit by Jess. “How do feel?” I asked as I softly sat down beside her, careful not to move the couch too much.

She looked up to Maddie, “well I feel like shit,” she said apathetically to her before she looked to me, “but I’ll live.” She took a deep breath and winced again, “I think.”

“You’ll be fine,” Steve said as he came to kneel beside her, bag in hand. “You might a little stiff for a few days, but other than that broken arm you’ll be good to go back to work in no time.”

That reminded me. With everything else going on I hadn't thought about what was happening down at the diner. Was it even open? And if it was then who was working since the entire day staff was sitting here? I asked as much, only for Connor to shake his head tightly.