I lean in and smell him. "You're real."
He laughs. "Of course I am. Hey Willy. Anna's here too. We came to help out in the fight!"
Will puts his arm around Jake. "Jakey. Where is she? Where is Anna?" I hate it when he calls him that. I end up in the middle of the two of them and being hugged by both.
"She's at the tent with the food. She is determined to maintain her plump breeder farm look. I heard shit went nuts with your rescue mission. You guys scared me. No one thought you'd make it back." Jake says. How did he know? How did the camp know that? A screaming Anna interrupts my thoughts.
"Will! Emma!" I looked up to see Anna running to us. She is holding a leg of meat.
I wiggle out of their arms and attack her with a fierce hug.
She hugs me so tightly her muscles tremble. Only she will ever truly understand what I have been through. We share the moment. Nothing is spoken. It doesn’t need to be. She knows what I went back to. She knows what I saw. She was there when the bags ripped.
She squeezes me and laughs, "You scared me, dick."
"I scared myself."
She pulls me back and kisses the tip of my nose. "Stop doing that to me."
"Yeah. One day maybe." I say. I'm dreading leaving again tomorrow. My feet ache at the prospect of it.
Jake frowns, "Huh?" He looks at Will. Will shakes his head.
Anna lets me go and hugs Will. They are less cold around each other since the retreat. The music made them see each other again. Leo squeezes his way in and Anna drops to her knees and hugs him hard.
"How's it the dog gets more love that I do?" Will crosses his arms.
Jake shrugs and punches his arm lightly, "We're chopped liver dude."
Will laughs, "I guess so hey. So we leave tomorrow for the next breeder farm. We are going to free the women."
Anna looks at me. I nod. "We destroyed the place. Burned it to the ground."
Her eyes twinkle with mischief, "I want to be there for the next one."
I glance at Will. He looks at Jake, who shakes his head.
I clear my throat and touch Leo's fur. "Well now that this place is packed with pregnant women and babies, I was sort of hoping you'd help them get back to the retreat?"
She stands and puts her hands on her hips, "What? Screw that I'm not a babysitter and besides I hate kids. That little monster of Mary's is enough to drive me around the bend."
I laugh. I can't even pretend I don’t know exactly what she is talking about. Kids make me nuts.
She looks around distastefully, "I will kill myself here. This is not the place for me. I'm coming." She grins at me, "Besides you always said I looked just like bait."
She stalks off. I know she is going to find Marshall and make him agree. She is good at that.
I look at Jake and Will and clear my throat again. "Well I better get to the medics." I walk around them and almost break into a run.
The medic's tents are full of pregnant women and babies. I take a seat on a stump and wait.
"Marshall wants her seen now." Will's booming voice beckons over a doctor.
The poor doctor looks at Will and the shitty look on his face and hurries to my side.
I sneer at Will, "I can wait."
Will crosses his arms and shakes his head, "No we leave tomorrow and she has infections."
The older man smiles at me and kneels in front of me. "What's the problem?"
"Besides him?" I ask quietly and hold out my infected quill pokes and open my shirt a bit to show the others. I slide my sleeve up gingerly and show the bandage, "Gunshot and a porcupine and an asshole."
He winces, "You are a mess and those are infected. Let's go. In the tent."
I'm sweaty and filmy from the muggy spring air. I pull off my over shirt and walk into the tent in my tank top. My bandage is soaked again.
He unties it and whistles, "This is bad. It doesn’t look very good."
Will's face flushes from the entrance, "That’s because an asshole kept sticking his fingers in her cuts and dragging her around the woods like a madman."
I chuckle. The doctor looks lost but I know I look softened. He looks at me under his lashes and I melt. I hate him. I want to anyway.
"That’s great. Maybe try not to let assholes touch your wounds. Try not to get shot too."
I don’t listen. I stare into the beautiful blue eyes that are watching me from a humble face. I shake my head. He nods. I look away. Jake's smile fills my mind.
I wince a couple times but mostly I ignore the doctor and the things he does. I have a new bandage and ointment everywhere. He bandages my chest and hands. I look at my hands and laugh. "I can't fight like this doc. You have to figure out a different way to make me better."
The doctor points a meaty finger in my face, "Twenty-four hours like this. Then you can go traipsing all over hells half acre."
I grin, "How did you know that’s where we're going?"
He laughs, "Water and take these pills."
I look at them. I've never taken a pill in my life.
"Antibiotics. You need it. The quill infection holes are actually starting to show signs of blood poisoning."
I remember Jake having it and I drop the pills in the back of my throat. Will hands me his water. I drink huge gulps.
"Thanks."
"Send the next lady with an infant in."
I feel badly for him. It's going to be a rough night for the doctors.
He looks at Will, "Be a good asshole and make her rest okay."
Will grins and looks at me, "Doctors orders."
My stomach flips, "You're still an asshole."
He takes my padded hand and holds my arm. He drags me gently through the tents and small structures until we reach a tent. He opens the door and climbs in. There are blankets and bedding everywhere. I step in and feel my stomach twist when I hear him closes the door. We are alone. I still hate him. Sort of.
"Leo."
He looks at the wolf through the screen, "You sleep outside."
I look at Leo and shake my head, "He sleeps with me."
Will closes the tent door. "No, he'll bite me in the night."
I laugh and lie down on the bedding and kick off my boots. Every inch of me hurts. "You can't sleep in here with me."
He lies beside me. "But I'm going to."
I can feel the heat coming off of him. It makes me shiver. I feel my body melting into the bedding when he speaks. "Is watching Star come running up and hug me as annoying as watching my brother do it to you?"
"Too tired Will. Ask me tomorrow."
"I'm serious."
My eyes are closed but I can imagine exactly how his face looks. "Yup."
"Wow that annoying huh?"
"Yup. Except your brother is a sweet and kind guy who wants nothing but to make me happy and make me smile. He never wants to hurt me or make me jealous."
He sighs and touches my arm. "You're killing me."
"No but I'd like to."
"Emma I'm being serious. I don't know how to be with a girl like you. I don’t know what you want."
I open one eye. "I want to have this conversation after, like, a week of sleep? I'm exhausted and Marshall has me invading the farms for the next year."
He rolls over and wraps an arm around my waist, "No. I need this conversation now."
I groan, "Sleepy. Doctor said sleep." I pull away.
He kisses my nose, "He said resting. This is relaxing."
I shake my head and close my eyes again, "No it's not. Please don’t touch me."
His lips brush mine, "I have made a grave mistake."
"You've made a few. You're making one right now."
He brushes his lips against my lips again. "You've made some too."
I know I have. I just don’t know how to say it. I am making one by not stopping him.
"My biggest mistake is falling in love with a girl who doesn’t need me. I know I should probably be with someone who fulfills that big man taking care of the little girl but I love you. I want you. Even if you don’t need me, I need you."
I open my eyes again. His blue eyes are all I see.
"You're wrong. I do need you. Just not to save me from the world. I need you to give me space and earn my respect. Being with you and Anna and Jake and Sarah and Meg is amazing for me. It's the first time I've ever felt like I'm part of something. I need you to see that. You all have become a family to me. I'm not good at this stuff. I need you to see that I love Jake. I love him for all the right reasons."
He winces. "How do you love me?"
I close my eyes, "With all my heart and probably my soul."
He kisses me again, "I want to give you everything you want and need."
I yawn and shiver, "I need sleep." And to never have this conversation again.
He kisses my nose, "Sleep." And I do. I sleep because he is there and I feel safe, even if I hate him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Anna walks down the road gripping the hand of the Muriel. Together they look like little lost sisters.
"So what's the deal with you and Will?"
I look at my sniper partner and frown. "Nothing. Nothing is up. We're friends. Why?" Mitch and I don’t talk much. He's the strong silent type.
"Jake said something. Said he figured he'd lost you to him."
"Seriously?" I turn and look at him. "You guys are like little old women."
Mitch, who is a year older than me and best friends with Jake, laughs. He watches through the scope on his gun.
"We got some action."
I pull an arrow and ready myself. "Who would you pick?"
"Jake. Will is an asshole."
The truck rounds the corner. It's a huge white cargo truck. Will calls them furniture trucks. It has a symbol on the side of it I've never seen before. My bow is ready. My arrow is taut.
