Link wiped a cloth all the way down the barrel of a .270. “Yep.”
She zombie-stumbled to the shed and began the long process of filling up an oversize metal tub in back. Clean, hair fixed in a damp, messy bun, and make-up carefully applied, Vera’s shoulders sagged in relief as she stared at herself in the mirror. She looked tired and stressed, but she was human and, right now, she was counting that as a tiny victory. Three days Changed was way better than two weeks. Sure, she was still disappointed it had taken that long to convince Fox to share, but determined to be a bright-side kind of gal, Vera lifted her chin, smiled brightly, and said, “Good job, Fox.”
The wee beasty inside of her pushed a growl up her throat. Lovely.
Ignoring the grumbly little cuss, she grabbed her purse and made her way toward Link’s mud-spattered green Bronco where he was leaning, chewing on a long blade of grass and talking to himself. Or arguing, she realized as she got closer. Pity took her. Eustice had started doing that near the end, and for the millionth time, she wished she could do something for the McCalls.
“I don’t have to!” Link barked out.
Vera skidded to a stop, and he jerked his unclear gaze to her. He slapped the side of his head and growled. “I need to see Elyse.”
“Does she make it better?”
Link nodded once hard, then opened the passenger side door for her.
Her apology stayed lodged in her throat the entire drive to Galena. Link smelled unwell and unbalanced, which she wouldn’t have been able to pick up on before she’d been Turned.
“Thanks for not biting me,” he said at last in an exhausted voice.
She huffed a breath and leaned back onto the headrest. “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me. I see you watching me. Checking up on me when Tobias is gone. You’re good, Link.”
He cast her an uncertain look, as if he was checking to see if she was joking.
“I mean it.”
The steering wheel creaked in his tightening grasp. “Elyse calls me that, too.” His voice was a barely audible whisper.
Vera smiled sadly, then dragged her attention to the window and the passing blur of browns and greens before he could see her get choked up. She’d adored Eustice, and now she would lose Link. The world wasn’t fair.
“Three days. Better,” Link growled out, as if the conversation was distracting him from whatever internal struggle was going on.
“Still a lot of work to do.”
“You have time.”
“Do I? Tobias deserves that medicine.” And so do you. She wished she could tell him that last part out loud, but it would just be more pain and unfairness.
“You start tonight. Change when you have to. Juggle. Work on you and him. Save both of you.” Link was sweating now, and his lips were curled back over his teeth. Such a difference from an hour ago when she’d come out of the woods and he’d joked easily with her. “Elyse deserves— Fuck,” he said shakily.
Vera rested her hand on his knee to comfort him. “Shhh. We’ll go see Elyse, and you’ll be okay.”
At her touch, the growl died in his throat, but Link gave her the saddest look. “Will I?”
No. She couldn’t utter that word out loud, though, so she looked back out the window at the main drag in town. Shops and cars and dogs barking from the backs of trucks. People walked in pairs and trios, talking happily in the summer sunshine. All seemed well, but in the cab of this ride, she and Link—two broken beings—observed quietly.
“There’s Ian’s truck,” he murmured, pulling into a parking spot near the feed store.
Link didn’t even wait for her to get out before he rushed inside. What was she supposed to do? Tobias should be the one to introduce her to his family instead of her just walking up to them and doing it herself. She twisted the ring on her finger nervously.
She was so close to meeting Elyse, and she’d wanted to talk to the women of the Silver family so badly, ever since she’d first started researching them. Her hands went clammy and began to shake. She got out of the Bronco and shut the door gently, then got all the way up to the door before she chickened out and retreated back to Link’s ride. In turmoil, she leaned against the front end and watched the passersby. Tobias had seemed to want to keep her a secret. And she got it. He didn’t want everyone to get their hopes up, but suddenly, she was heart-hurt. She didn’t want to be the black sheep of the family. She didn’t want to be a secret.