Chapter 246

I awoke to the sterile smell of cleaning chemicals. As my eyes fluttered open, fluorescent bulbs blinded me, causing me to squint and blink several times before I could finally keep my eyes open. Even so, my head pounded when I tried to take in my surroundings.

It was a setting that I was all too familiar with: a hospital room. This time, though, there were no visitors. Instead, lying in the bed beside mine, hooked up to as much equipment as I was, was Noah.

My heart sank. His neck was in a brace, and his right leg had been set in a cast. Bandages, now stained bloody, had been wrapped around the crown of his head and several other parts of his body.

I tried to sit up, instinctively wanting to comfort Noah, but a pain shot through my head, back, and arm. I groaned and collapsed back onto my bed. The heart monitor beside me pinged more rapidly.

“Be calm, Crystal,” Noah croaked, his raspy voice causing me to cringe. “Everything’s fine. We’re fine.”

“I know,” I croaked back. “I just…I tried to get up to get to you, and it didn’t turn out so well.”

I could hear the smile in Noah’s voice when he spoke again.

“That’s actually very sweet.”

“Yes, it is very sweet, but you still need to be careful,” a third voice intruded on our conversation.

I turned toward the door to see a doctor enter, charts in hand. She had a warm, broad smile on her face, and it managed to put me at ease.

“I am Dr. Zorro. It’s good to see you both awake,” she said. “The two of you gave us quite the scare.”

My eyes widened, and the heart rate monitor spiked again.

“We did?”

“Well, yes. The crash you were in killed the driver of the other car—”

“Oh, Goddess!”

My hands flung over my mouth. I glanced over at Noah to see that he had paled. The doctor’s smile turned sad and sympathetic.

“You two were touch-and-go for a while as well, but fortunately, your werewolf genes helped you pull through.”

Dr. Zorro looked down at the charts in her hands.

“Miraculously, you both avoided injuring any internal organs,” she continued, as though she had not just dropped a huge bomb on us. “However, you each have a mild concussion, and Mr. Bernard, you broke your right leg, and I’d like to keep you in that neck brace for a couple more days. You each have major bruising and lacerations all over your body as well.”

“So, what does that mean for our healing timeline?” Noah asked, his tone stiff.

“You will need at least a week, maybe two—” Dr. Zorro turned to me— “especially you, Ms. Blanchard. As you are only half-werewolf, your genes might not heal you as quickly as Mr. Bernard’s.”

“But we’re in the middle of a big move,” I objected. “We can’t just delay it because—”

“Don’t worry about that,” Noah said. “I will make a few calls, and I am sure that everyone in Crescent Moon Pack will be understanding.”

“Are you sure?”

Noah smiled, though it was laced with pain.

“I am sure.”

I returned my attention to Dr. Zorro.

“Is there anything else, Doctor?”

“Actually, yes,” Dr. Zorro replied. “The police are here to see you. They would like to talk to you about what happened.”

I felt the color drain from my face.

“Will that be all right?” Dr. Zorro asked.

My eyes shifted to Noah. I could see that Noah was doing his best to look in my direction as well. He gave me a shaking thumbs-up.

I sighed.

“Yes, I suppose.”

“I’ll send them right in.” Dr. Zorro approached the door. “Please, don’t hesitate to press that red button on the wall beside your bed if you need any help.”

A couple minutes after Dr. Zorro left the room, a pair of police officers entered. I recognized them as Officer Kibet and Officer Dunnigan, the policemen who had arrested me for the murder of the accountant John Brown.

“Good evening, Ms. Blanchard, Mr. Bernard,” Officer Dunnigan said politely. “Ms. Blanchard, it has been a while.”

“It has,” I replied. “I wish that I could it say it was a pleasure.”

“Same here.”

Officer Dunnigan pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, while Officer Kibet did the same.

“Here’s how this is going to go,” Officer Dunnigan continued. “I’m going to take your statement, and Officer Kibet is going to take Mr. Bernard’s. That all right?”

I nodded, and Noah gave a thumbs-up.

“All right, let’s begin.” Officer Dunnigan stood over my bed, and I admittedly felt a bit nervous. “Just tell me everything that you can remember.”

“Well, Noah and I were on our way to the Crescent Moon Pack territories—”

“Can you tell me why?”

“We’re starting a new life there.” I looked down at my hands, curled in my lap. “Too many memories here.”

Officer Dunnigan scribbled down some notes.

“All right, continue.”

“The roads were clear, until we suddenly ran into a traffic jam. Noah tried to slow down, but the brakes weren’t working. He tried to stop, but no matter how hard he stomped on the brakes, they just wouldn’t work.”

Tears trickled down my cheeks and into my cupped palms.

“I remember a collision, and I hit my head. Then…nothing.”

The tears came faster and harder.

“My Goddess…did we really kill someone else, Officer Dunnigan?” I cried.

Officer Dunnigan’s face grew solemn. His pen hovered over the pad of paper.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Blanchard. I’m afraid that someone did die in the collision.”

I raised my hands to my face and covered my eyes, knowing that it would do no good in stopping the torrent of tears.

“Please, ma’am, could you just answer a few questions for me? I promise that we’ll be done then,” Officer Dunnigan said in a sympathetic tone.

I wiped my tears away and forced myself to calm down.

“Of course, of course,” I said. “I’m fine now.”

“At the time of the crash, do you believe that Mr. Bernard was speeding?”

I shook my head.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Do you believe that he was distracted?”

I hesitated for a moment. He had been talking to me, but did that count as being distracted?

“We were talking, but I don’t think that was distracting him,” I answered honestly.

“Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt you or Mr. Bernard?”

This question took me by surprise.

“Why…why do you ask that?”

Officer Dunnigan glanced up from his notes.

“We have strong evidence that your brake line was likely cut.”

I swallowed against the knot in my throat.

Dear Goddess, I thought. Bob.

I couldn’t tell the police my suspicions, though. Bob was on the Werewolf Council now. He had too much influence; no one would believe me.

My eyes flicked over to Noah briefly before my attention returned to Officer Dunnigan. I wondered if he would think the same.

“I have had threats and attacks against me in the past,” I said. “They have been made by various sources, often anonymous, so I don’t have any names to give.”

Officer Dunnigan lifts a brow to me, but he makes note of my remarks regardless.

“Very well. We will make a report and see if we can’t catch who did this.”

Officer Dunnigan flipped closed his notepad, and Officer Kibet soon follows suit.

“We’ll let you know if we find anything.”

As they walked towards the door, a thought occurred to me.

“Officer Dunnigan, wait!”

Officer Dunnigan stopped and turned to me.

“Yes?”

“Please, don’t tell Andrew about this,” I said, my eyes imploring him to understand.

Officer Dunnigan stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

“As you wish.”

The policemen had scarcely left the room before I turned on my side, groaning in pain, to face Noah.

“Did you tell him?” I asked, my voice low. “About Bob?”

Noah cast his eyes downward.

“No.”

“Me either.”

“Do you think they’re going to catch him?”

“Never.”