you know how to make things wild.”
“I’m tickled.” My gaze darted around the room, fixing on the cameras in a silent plea for help. I’m so sorry.
“Another time, I might have kept you.”
I resisted the urge to say I’d rather die. He could help me out with that. Instead I settled for the sad truth. “Yeah, another time and we could have shown you how to live with it. We could have helped you. Pack is family.”
“I don’t want your family.” He pulled back the hammer on the gun, and I closed my eyes, saying a quiet prayer to the gaudy gold Jesus overhead.
“Good. Her family doesn’t want you.” The voice was so deep and boomed from everywhere, I briefly thought God himself had come down to save me.
I would settle for my uncle.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Deerling swung around, gun searching for Callum, but the space behind him was empty. The voice he’d heard had come from everywhere. I realized after a moment it wasn’t really my uncle; his voice was being piped through the speakers in the church. From where or by whom I had no idea.
When he realized he’d been fooled, Deerling spun back towards me, gun raised. A loud pop made me scream. I waited for the pain to come or the force to knock me back, anything that might indicate I was hit. Instead the whole scene froze in place. Someone was wailing, and it took me a long time to realize it was me.
The shot rang in my ears, and the smell of gunpowder filled the room.
Deerling staggered, the pistol falling from his hand.
He teetered like a drunk and braced himself against a pew, turning to face me. His cheek was missing, bloody sinew and teeth exposed in a macabre grin. When he tried to speak, blood spilled from his lips down the front of his shirt, and he collapsed onto his knees.
My scream died on my lips.
At the back of the church, near the entrance, Deputy Josie Dwyer stood, her gun still raised and her eyes wide with clear surprise over what she’d just done.
“Jesus,” she muttered. “Ma’am, are you okay?”
“A-ambulance.” I stumbled to the floor, my wobbly legs folding under me so I was suddenly on my butt in a pool of Wilder’s blood. The moment I understood the immediate danger was over, my hands were on him, taking over from his, pressing his wound. “You’re going to be okay.” I didn’t know if it was a lie or a wish. “Call an ambulance.”
“Are you hit?” she asked.
“It’s not me.”
She dutifully lifted her radio and made a request for an ambulance and more backup. I dimly heard the words officer down, but my attention was all for Wilder.
“You weren’t supposed to get hurt,” I whispered, using my free hand to take his. I lifted it to my lips, pressing a kiss on his knuckles.
“I had to impress you somehow.”
“Getting shot is a stupid way to impress me. Don’t do it again.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“Next time, buy me some flowers and call it a day.”
“Sure. I know how much you love magnolia.” He closed his eyes, his grip loosening.
I looked up, blinking back tears. The pain in my chest was so tight and raw I thought my heart might stop just so the feeling would go away. How had I screwed things up this royally? Deerling was dead, Wilder was… Wilder wasn’t doing great.
I couldn’t have done this worse if I’d tried.
Cash was standing next to me, though I didn’t remember seeing him come in. He crouched down next to me, a phone pressed to his ear. Giving me a quick once-over, he said into the receiver, “Yes, sir, I think she’s okay. I’ll get her to call you as soon as she can.” A pause. He glanced at Wilder. “I don’t know.” He hung up.
I stared at the phone. “C-Callum? Was it you…with his voice?” I pressed harder on Wilder’s ribs, hoping the pain might make him wake up. He didn’t respond.
“He called me when he saw the news. There’s a speaker jack at the door, for a walking mic, I guess? No idea. I plugged my phone into it. Your uncle’s idea, which makes sense. Insanity seems to run in your family. You’re out of your mind, you know? Broadcasting this for the whole damned world to see.”
“I keep telling her she’s crazy,” Wilder mumbled, and I started to cry. The relief of him still being alive was too much to keep inside.
“Yeah, well,