Crossing to her, Tao turned her to face him. Her eyes met his, but there was nothing there. He could almost see her retreating into herself, closing herself off from everything around her. He knew exactly what he was looking at. He remembered his orphaned cousin doing the same thing smack-dab in the middle of a street as an ambulance went by.
Seeing Ethan hurt had acted as a grief trigger.
Cursing himself for not having considered what the situation might do to her, Tao cupped her cheeks. “Riley? Riley, look at me.” She didn’t respond. Hell, she didn’t even seem to see him. His wolf raked at Tao, wanting him to do something. “Ethan’s fine, baby, he’s just sleeping.” Still she didn’t respond.
Panicking a little now, Tao lightly slapped her cheek. “Riley, come back to me.” It was a whisper, but it held a command. “He’s going to be fine, I swear that to you.” When she still gave no reaction, his wolf almost lost his fucking mind.
Wondering if prodding her temper might work, Tao collared her throat in a move that was both dominant and possessive—a move that would make any dominant female bristle. Her eyes sparked with anger and he almost fucking sighed with relief. “That’s it; good girl.”
She licked her lips, back with him now. But her breathing was shallow and barely audible. Tao put her hand on his chest. “I need you to breathe with me. Deep breaths, okay? In and out, come on.” She breathed with him over and over, never once breaking eye contact. “You good now?”
“Yeah.” Her voice cracked, so she coughed to clear it. “Yeah, I’m good.”
Thank fuck. Curling an arm around her, he crushed her to him and buried his face in her hair. “Don’t go away like that again. You scared the shit out of me.” Her arms slid around him and she tucked her face into the crook of his neck and shoulder. Tao just held her until the tension seeped out of her.
After a minute she pulled back and flipped her hair away from her face. “I just need a minute.”
Sensing that what she really wanted was time alone to regroup, Tao nodded and released her. “Don’t go far.” He expected her to go downstairs. Instead she headed to the room across the hall that he guessed was her old bedroom.
Max, who’d been observing from the top of the stairs, crossed to Tao. “She’ll be okay.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
“It used to when she was a kid. She watched her dad deteriorate right in front of her. Neither me nor Ethan thought she should have been allowed in the room as much as she was, but Sage believed that her presence might pierce through her dad’s pain and make him fight to live.”
“Did he fight?”
Max’s mouth turned down. “No. He didn’t even try. I was so pissed at him for that. Hey, I’d be broken if something happened to Ethan, and I’d feel like I had nothing to live for. But Daniel did have something to live for—he had someone who needed him right then, but he barely looked at her. He was too deep in grief, too swallowed up by his pain, to even bother to find the will to hold on for Riley. I’ll never forgive him for that. And I’m not sure if she will either.”
In her position, Tao doubted he’d be any more forgiving.
“I called Sage. Not gonna lie, he’s pissed that a drug lord’s assassin came calling. He wants you to call him.” Max dialed a number, passed Tao his BlackBerry, and moved to Ethan’s side.
Sage answered. “Put the wolf on the phone.”
Tao ground his teeth. “This is the wolf.”
“Mind telling me what the hell’s happening?”
It was on the tip of Tao’s tongue to tell him it was pack business, but he’d unknowingly brought that business to the flock’s territory—it had every right to know exactly what was happening. Tao filled him in on the situation, adding, “The last thing we ever would have expected is for the human to have us followed here, let alone shoot at Riley.”
Sage was silent for a moment. “Hugh and the enforcers are circling the perimeter in search of the gunman. They should find him.”
Tao was counting on it.
“But even if they do, the threat to you and Riley remains. The gunman is only an employee of your enemy and he may not have come here alone. The moment you and Riley step off our territory, you’ll be in easy reach for the humans. It might be best for you both to stay a little longer.”
Tao was sincerely surprised by the offer. He, personally, would have wanted the people who’d brought trouble to his pack to be gone yesterday. But then, Tao was an asshole. “We appreciate that offer and we’ll take you up on it.”
“Good. You might consider Riley pack, but I’ll always consider her one of ours.”
As the line went dead, Tao handed the phone back to Max. “He’s recommending that me and Riley stay a little longer . . . which is a good thing because I don’t think she’ll leave until Ethan’s okay.” Tao studied the raven lying so still on the bed. “I didn’t expect him to fall straight to sleep like that.”
“It’s a healing sleep,” said Max.
“It’s a what?”
“When our kind is injured, we fall into a deep sleep. It’s like our body shuts down a little so we can use all our energy to heal. It’s annoying, really, because it’s impossible to stay awake and fight the pull.”
Hearing a creaking sound behind him, Tao glanced over his shoulder to see the door to what he assumed was Riley’s old bedroom swing open. She came strolling out, the image of composure. The shock and anguish was gone from her expression. In its place was sheer unadulterated rage. Ah, his little raven had found her anger. Good. That was a lot better than despair. “Feel better?”
She gave a stiff nod. “I’m fine.”
The landline phone began to ring, and Max sighed. “I’m guessing the news has spread around the flock. The damn phone will be like a hotline.”
“I’ll answer it,” offered Riley, heading down the stairs.
Max spoke quietly to Tao. “You need to watch her. Riley is very protective of those she cares for. She’ll avenge them to her last breath. If she can get to the person who—however inadvertently—shot Ethan, she will . . . even if it means going off on her own little hunt.”
Later on, Riley shoved open the front door of the cabin, seething with a rage that didn’t seem to be going anywhere. She felt hot and edgy all over. Her jaw ached from how hard she’d clenched it. She wanted to punch something. Punch, claw, mangle, maul, tear apart with teeth and talons. If she didn’t release the rage soon, she’d explode.
She still couldn’t quite believe it had happened. Her raven was still in shock, though not in any way numb—no, she was pissed as all hell. Riley was going to get her hands on that bastard, Ramón. She was going to see him writhe in agony. He’d beg for death by the time she—
“Baby, you need to calm down,” said Tao.
Yes, she did, but it was hard to think past the pounding in her ears and the red clouding her vision. “In case you’ve forgotten, someone shot my uncle.”
“Yeah, they did. And I want to rip out their fucking lungs because you were the real target, Riley. You.”