Never Too Late (Fever's Edge #7) - Lynn Hagen Page 0,25

Liam knocked out cold on the floor.

At first Ben thought it was from the smoke, but he saw something dark on Liam’s head. He bent to one knee and touched the spot, his heart thundering when he noticed it was wet and smelled like blood.

This wasn’t from the fire. There was nothing around Liam that would have rendered him unconscious with a head wound.

Unless he’d fallen. Ben wasn’t going to blame this on anything nefarious until he had proof. Until then he would look at this as an accident.

Ben hoisted Liam into his arms and carried him to Rosa’s bed and then opened the windows to let the smoke out. The clouds raced toward the fresh air, and the room was clear in a matter of moments, though the smell of fire and smoke still clung to the air.

“Hey, Liam.” Ben sat on the side of the bed. “Hey, I need you to shift.”

Ben jumped from the bed when Liam woke and tried to attack him. His canines were elongated and his claws were out.

“Stop!” Ben commanded.

Liam, still half shifted, crouched down, glaring at Ben. He didn’t look as if he was fully focused, and Ben sensed Liam would fall over at any second as he swayed.

“You’re injured.” Ben lowered his voice. “Liam, it’s me, Bennett.”

“He got me.” Liam gripped his head. “Son of a bitch got me.”

“Who?” Ben surveyed the room to make sure they were alone. He still heard the firemen in the kitchen, but all was quiet in Rosa’s bedroom.

“Rosa isn’t here.” Liam swayed too far and landed on his ass. “Tried to get out of the window and was struck on the head.”

Ben moved closer and hunkered down in front of Liam. “Did you see who it was?”

“No.” Liam shook his head.

Damn it. Ben wanted to catch the one responsible for this, but if he didn’t know who it was, then—

“But I recognized his voice.” Liam looked up, his hand still pressed against his wound. “I-I really need to shift, Ben. My head is killing me and m-my lungs and eyes feel like they’re on fire.”

Ben moved Liam’s hand aside and grimaced. Head wounds tended to bleed a lot, even if the injury was small. But from what he saw beyond the blood, there was a large gash by Liam’s temple.

“Okay, buddy. We’re gonna get you fixed up. I just need to know who you heard.”

But Ben didn’t get his answer. Liam had shifted.

* * * *

Shane was still in shock. The images of Alejandro with his skin nearly melted off would haunt him for a very long time. Even though Elijah had explained that Alejandro would be fine after he shifted and healed.

But that didn’t register. Not when all hell had broken lose and Shane still had those horrific images in his head.

He paced his bedroom as Alejandro slept on the bed in his wolf form. He wasn't sure how long the wolf would be asleep, and Shane feared another attack.

Had it been Rico who set the fire? Someone else? Or had it been an accident? No one had told Shane anything, and he didn’t like being in the dark when it came to his life or Alejandro’s life.

Shane walked to the bedroom door when someone knocked on it. Elijah, Trey, Phillip, and Nando were on the other side.

“Ben told us to hang out here,” Trey said as they entered. “The men are searching the grounds.”

“I still want to know what happened to Rosa,” Nando said. “She wasn’t in her room.”

Shane wanted to be left alone, but now that the men were there, he found that he needed the company to take his mind and worries off Alejandro.

“She’s always in the kitchen,” Elijah said. “Maybe she went to the grocery store.”

“This late?” Nando asked. “Who goes to the grocery store this late at night?”

Shane knew a guilty look when he saw one, and Phillip looked guilty as hell. “Do you know anything?”

“Me?” Phillip gave a nervous laugh. “Why would I know anything?”

Elijah narrowed his eyes. Shane wasn’t sure what the guy would say. Everyone wanted to know where Rosa was.

“I can’t tell you!” Phillip tried to hurry to the door, but he was slow, wobbling along, which made getting ahead of him pretty easy. Trey did and closed the door, shaking his head.

“Tell us what you know, or we’ll change the theme of your baby shower to something pink.”

As far as threats went, that hadn’t been a very good one. Shane could have done a