Dani struggled to open her mouth and stick out her tongue.
Ren inspected it and even smelled her breath. “Okay, good. You can close it again.”
With a lick to her lips, Dani did as told. “H-How?” She struggled to get even that one word out.
Lynn had already realized Dani had trouble controlling her muscles—and she suspected a lot of muscle control went into talking—but hearing the competent hunter reduced to slowly stuttering out her words and ending up breathless from the strain was devastating.
“A bear attack, sweetie. You almost didn’t make it.” Ren stroked her forehead.
Dani frowned, and her fist clenched. “H-H—”
“I think—” Lynn faltered.
Two people glared at her.
Lynn pushed on. “That she’s trying to ask how she’s doing.” Her heart pounded in her throat, but if she had been in Dani’s shoes, that was what she would want to hear first and foremost.
Exhaling, Dani gave a weak little nod.
Ren turned back to her. “Oh. Um. It’s… it’s good that you’re awake.” She continued to rattle off the things Lynn already knew—infected wounds, maggot therapy, unconscious for three days—and Lynn tuned her out so she could soak in the fact that Dani’s eyes were open and she was listening attentively to Ren’s explanations.
Her focus quickly returned when Ren said her name. “…Lynn told us?”
Dani nodded without hesitation. She let her head fall to the side and looked at Lynn, who’d gone hot and cold at the same time.
Oh shit, what did I miss?
Cody and Ren turned to stare at her too.
Lynn scanned their features. How much trouble am I in?
Then Cody smirked and shook his head in apparent disbelief. “Bullshit.”
Ren took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and crossed to her bed. “Give me your hand.”
Lynn stared up at her, muscles tense. “Why?”
Ren wiggled her fingers. “Dani confirmed your story. I trust her.” The implication that she didn’t trust Lynn was not lost on her. “I am not going to hold you captive any longer.”
After another moment of hesitation, Lynn lifted her arm.
A few seconds later, heavy iron fell to the ground with a rattle and clunk.
She lowered her arm and rubbed her wrist. “Thanks.”
“De nada.” Ren stepped back.
“Aw, so cute.” Cody pointed at her. “Don’t expect me to join in with the kumbayas just yet. You’re a Wilder, and I don’t trust Wilders.” He glanced at Ren. “Just don’t give her anything sharp.”
Ren opened her mouth to respond, then closed it and set her jaw. “I’ll come back to bed soon, babe.”
For a second, anger at the dismissal flashed across Cody’s face, then he stretched lazily and scratched his chest. “Yeah, sure. I’ll see you.” He sent Lynn one more glare before sauntering out.
Instantly, the atmosphere seemed to lighten.
Lynn exhaled audibly and sagged. She glanced at Dani, finding her fast asleep.
Ren checked on her too, but much more in-depth: the usual checkup of her pulse, her eyes, her fever. Then she pulled the blankets down to Dani’s hips, exposing small breasts and a blood-soaked bandage below.
After a moment of hesitation, Lynn stood and joined her. The stench that hit her once the covers fell away reminded her far too much of the body she’d left behind in the bakery.
Ren’s features scrunched up as well but only for a moment, then she had it under control and carefully undid the bandages.
Dani’s hand jerked, and Lynn took it. It was still not a pretty sight. The bear’s claws had torn five roughly parallel tears in Dani’s skin, three held shut by rows of horse-hair stitches. The skin had flared an angry red, but the cuts seemed to be healing. The other two were the obvious issue: They had once been stitched, judging by rows of small puncture wounds, but the stitches had been pulled out again because of the buildup of fluids and puss that seeped down Dani’s side now that the pressure of the bandages had been released. These cuts were caked with dried and fresh blood, and their edges had blackened. Most of the maggots had congregated there.
“It still looks bad.” She glanced up at Ren for reassurance but found none.
“They’re doing their work.” Ren guided some of the wayward maggots back to the cuts. They had at least doubled in size since Lynn had seen them go on. “That she woke up really is a good sign.”
Dani whimpered. Maybe she was just dreaming again, but it was more likely the maggots had something to do with it.
Instinctively, Lynn leaned in and kissed Dani’s forehead. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
A deep breath lifted Dani’s chest, then her frown lessened.
Lynn groaned as she pushed against the heavy iron door. It gave way just before her strength ran out, and she slipped through the crack and onto the roof.
The strong wind instantly whipped her hair up and pulled at her clothes. The gravel underneath her bare feet was wet and cold. Goose bumps traversed her skin as the unruly weather battered her. The darkness engulfed her only a few paces away from the door.
Lynn pushed her face into the wind, spread her arms as far as she could with her shoulder injury, and inhaled deeply. After all this time cooped up indoors, nothing could have instilled a sense of freedom better than this taste of the Wilds.
When Lynn walked back into the room, Skeever greeted her by standing up on the bed. He prepared to jump off, but then seemed to think better of it as he tried to put weight on his broken paw and jerked it back up.
She crossed the room and helped him down. “Hey, boy, did you miss me?”
He rolled onto his back, and Lynn laboriously lowered herself to the carpet to give him a proper belly rub.
Skeever lifted his damaged leg up so she could reach his chest too and tilted his head back in surrender. His hind leg kicked out in time with her scratching him.
“That’s good, right? Yeah, you’re good. Saves our lives two times and gets all the belly rubs he’ll ever need in return.” Lynn pressed her face against his ribcage.
He huffed contentedly.
“You’re a very good bo—”
“Mmmm.”
Lynn smiled and placed a kiss on Skeever’s head. “Sorry, boy. Dani’s awake again.” She got up and walked over to the bed. “Evening.”
Dani’s eyes opened, and a sleepy smile spread across her features.
Lynn swallowed down butterflies at the warm welcome. She brushed Dani’s hair out of her eyes. “How are you feeling?”
Dani groaned.
“Not good, huh?”
With a sigh, Dani opened her mouth, presumably to talk.
“Shhh.” Lynn pulled up the chair and took Dani’s hand. “We need to find a way to make answering simple questions easier for you.”
Dani tapped her index finger on Lynn’s skin. She held her gaze and did it again.
“You agree we need a better system?”
Another tap with the same finger.
“So that means ‘yes’?”
Tap. Yes.
“How about ‘no’?”
Dani thought for a bit, then wove their fingers together. She tapped her middle finger on Lynn’s skin.
Lynn laughed. “Okay, fair enough.” She resisted the urge to stroke Dani’s hot cheek. The laugh died on her lips as she met Dani’s gaze. “You really scared me.”
A sad little whimper escaped Dani. She tapped out a yes. “What… happened?” She huffed, seemingly frustrated by her own lack of energy and her difficulty speaking.
“Long story.” Lynn smiled. “Bare bones?”
Yes.
“You took a turn for the worse, so I got Richard off the cart, got you on, and brought you to the Homestead. Everyone was sure I’d lured you into a trap so they kept me locked up—” She showed Dani the chafed skin of her wrist. “Until you woke up and told Ren and Eduardo that I hadn’t tried to get you killed. Then they let me go. Kate took everyone else out to get Richard’s body. They’ll be back some time tomorrow, if nothing went wrong.”