Huntsman - Morgan Brice Page 0,65

have the chance.”

Russ shook his head. “Baby, you’ve got nothing to apologize for. There’s no timetable. When you’re ready, I’m ready. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Liam settled against him for the rest of the ride, as if the events of the day had finally caught up to him. He might have even dozed. Russ jostled him gently when they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

“We’re here,” he said into Liam’s ear. “Feels like I just left. Maybe they’ll name a room after me,” he joked.

Liam clung harder, and Russ ran a soothing hand down his arm. “I’m going to stay with you, come hell or high water, you hear me?” He took Liam’s hand and threaded their fingers together.

Russ guessed that one of the deputies had called ahead to let the hospital in Fox Hollow know they were coming. Nurses and orderlies met them at the emergency room door and whisked Liam and the two hikers off for examination. Russ folded himself into a chair to wait, and Drew sat beside him.

“I promised Carlos, the ocelot, that I’d be here when he’s done,” Ty said, walking up to them with his hands shoved into his pockets. “But I figured since we have to wait, I could go see how Justin is doing.”

Russ nodded. “Sounds good. We’ll tell Carlos that you’ll be back. Let Justin know we’re thinking of him.”

For the moment, the waiting area was quiet, probably a pause between waves of activity. Drew put a hand on Russ’s shoulder. “How are you? And how do you think Liam is?”

Now that the rescue was over, Russ felt himself crashing. He had been well on his way to healing before he checked himself out, and shifting helped take his recovery further, but the trauma of the fire and then Liam’s near-death experience left him exhausted. Worry for Liam gnawed at him, and inside his head, his wolf paced, angry he couldn’t stay by Liam’s side.

He gave a humorless chuckle. “I’m a mess,” Russ replied. “Liam and I both nearly got killed. It was too damn close, man. I can’t stop my brain from running all the alternate endings—and none of them are good.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and let his head hang.

“My wolf is totally freaked out. And maybe it’s part of this whole ‘fated mates’ thing, but I swear I can feel some of Liam’s emotions through our growing bond…and he’s putting on a brave front, but he’s not in a good place.”

“Can’t blame him for that,” Drew replied. “But he’s alive. So are you and the two hikers. We caught the Huntsman. And you know this will be a Tribunal case because there’s no way the sheriff can send it through the normal channels.”

Sheriff Armel still didn’t have a name for the Huntsman, or any details, although Russ knew he had his people and the city police working on it. Having the arsons tied together with the shifter-hunting piece was going to play merry hell with how they could file charges, and affect settling insurance claims.

When a crime in the supernatural community could not be prosecuted through human channels without revealing the existence of the paranormal, a tribunal convened in Albany to try the case. The judges were elders, chosen for their knowledge related to the situation, empowered to hand down a binding verdict—up to and including a death sentence.

“I know. And I can’t imagine they’ll let him off. But what I want to know is, how did Liam’s ex get connected to a Huntsman? I mean, you see stories all the time of people who thought they were hiring a regular hitman and end up with an undercover cop instead. There’s something fishy. His ex wasn’t even a shifter.”

Drew frowned. “Yeah, that doesn’t smell right. He had to know someone inside the shifter community to even find out about a Huntsman, let alone be able to get in touch with one.”

Russ rubbed his temples, wishing it would ease his headache. “Maybe the sheriff will find something that helps him track the Huntsman’s connections. I hate to think that Liam’s ex might try again.” He felt antsy, desperate for an update on Liam’s condition, and it took all of Russ’s willpower not to pace like his inner wolf.

“So did you get a chance to talk much with the lynx?” Russ needed to change the topic.

Drew nodded. “A little. He’s probably worse off than Liam since he got grabbed several days earlier. His name