Chapter Fourteen
Joey felt the passing time like a string of beads, little hard fragments of painful consciousness linked by long spans of oblivion. Her body wanted the oblivion, but something in her mind refused it, she had vague memories of a familiar voice pleading and raging, commanding her to stay. Obedience came in spite of the lure of the void.
Even so, there was a price. Each breath was a torment, with bands of fire forcing her lungs to contract away from the pain. If it hadn’t been for the voice, and the eyes, she might have given up breathing entirely.
And there were the strange visions. Visions that swirled in and out of dreams and awareness without regard to the dictates of reason. The one thing that linked all of them was Luke. Luke, and the wolf. There were times when she could separate the things that had really happened—the attack of the bear, her rescue by the wolf—and the things that made no sense. And there were other times when the two flowed together indistinguishably, so that they seemed equally real. If not for the more demanding reality of pain, Joey might have questioned her own sanity.
As it was, it took all of her concentration to lock the agony away when the men came for her, lifted her onto the stretcher between them, and bore her away from the safe place. When she was aware, she could see the perfect black serenity of the night sky overhead, and sometimes the face she knew to the core of her soul would block out the glitter of stars, the green-gold eyes would capture hers, and she would hear the voice soothing and demanding and saying her name. Over and over, so she could not forget it.
She heard things that made less sense: the howling of wolves, the musical lilt of a language familiar but incomprehensible, the soft words that spoke of a bond more powerful than death itself.
A time came when the jarring torment ended, and she felt herself cradled against hard warmth, felt a soothing whisper of touch along her cheek as her body came to rest on luxuriant softness. There were more voices then, buzzing like flies, out of all of them, only one mattered. His voice was a constant, and even when the protective contact of his hand dropped away, she knew he was still there. She hugged that one certainty to herself through all the hurt that followed.
Turning on his heel for the hundredth time, Luke swung about and charged back across the small room. The others had left long before—even his grandmother, whom he had chased off with a warning she had the good sense not to challenge. He had not needed to explain himself to any of them. They understood already and knew well enough not to test him now.
His lip curled in a snarl. He knew he was behaving like a wild beast, without the dignity his wolf-spirit demanded. It made no difference. He had threatened Collier—his old friend—with bodily harm, with violence if the doctor did not see to it that Joey came through alive and well. It said much for the man that he had stood up to Luke and had nearly managed to shame him with his calm assurances.
But Luke knew he was very close to the end of his rope. If Collier didn’t come out of that room very soon and tell him that Joey was going to be fine…
The door swung open before he could finish the thought. He leaped across the room and slid to a stop as Collier closed the door behind him.
“Tell me.”
The doctor did not flinch at the grating harshness of the words, or at the proximity of Luke’s rigid body and glaring eyes. But he had the very good sense not to take the risk of keeping Luke in suspense. “She’ll be fine, Luke. With a little vigilance and care she’ll be good as new.”
Only force of habit kept Luke on his feet. He drew a deep breath to steady himself. Collier made use of the slight withdrawal and continued, “It was very fortunate that I was here on my monthly visit, you did well in caring for her, but she needed more treatment than you or the village could provide.” He paused to frown at Luke, his expression deeply thoughtful. “She’s a strong girl. She hung on, and a lot of the credit goes to her. What I don’t understand is how this happened, how you let her…”