Free Rivals (Shifter Island #2) by Carol Davis Page B

mainland.
    As far away as her former boyfriend, Lane Palmer, who was as unreal to her now as something her imagination had invented.
    “How can they believe something like that?” she mumbled. “I don’t know how they could ever think–”
    Her hands wobbled badly, and she had to set the teacup down on the floor to avoid spilling tea all over herself.
    Micah was little more than arm’s reach away, sitting on the floor with his knees brought up to his chest, arms wrapped around his legs. To Abby he looked like a very withdrawn child, someone who’d never had a very solid grasp on the world. That didn’t mesh at all with the size of him, how tall and muscular he was. If Micah was anything, he wasn’t helpless.
    Why don’t you DO something?? she wanted to shout at him.
    Of course, she could make the same demand of herself. Of Granny Sara. Of Aaron’s grieving parents—and of the unconscious Luca. If Luca would only wake up, she thought furiously, he could answer everyone’s questions. He could tell the elders that his brother wasn’t guilty of anything.
    At home, there were lawyers. Was there such a thing here?
    She remembered Aaron saying something about an arbitrator, which seemed to mean that some things were discussed logically. That evidence was gathered and presented in some way. That these people didn’t indulge in frontier justice.
    If that was true, who should she appeal to?
    Who should she beg to help her?
    When Sara moved into her line of sight to pick up the teacup off the floor, Abby said in a choked voice, “I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. I don’t understand how this is happening. How they can–”
    Head still bent, Micah made a grumbling sound.
    Granny Sara glanced at him, then shook her head. She took the cup into her little kitchen area and puttered around there, moving some things from place to place, none of it seeming very useful or necessary.
    After a couple of minutes Abby struggled to her feet and went to join the older woman; she felt that if she sat in the chair for even a few seconds longer, her brain would explode. But before she could say anything, her eyes filled with tears.
    Sara held out a small towel, indicating that Abby could wipe her eyes with it.
    “The bond is a complicated thing,” Sara said quietly. “It’s like–” She smiled, then lowered her voice a bit. “Like the surge of hormones when you’re pregnant. The men would laugh about it, except that it happens to them too. It can be overwhelming. Hard to understand. Harder to accept.”
    She meant that as a comfort, Abby understood, but the words had an entirely different effect.
    “Overwhelming?” she whispered.
    “Yes.”
    “Overwhelming in a way that would cause you to attack someone that you wouldn’t normally hurt?”
    Sara grimaced.
    “Well?” Abby pressed.
    “I suppose it’s possible. If the wolf felt that there was a serious threat to his—or her—mate. I don’t know that it’s ever happened.”
    “But it’s possible.”
    Sara didn’t answer—but that was answer enough.
     
    This time, when she finally managed to surrender to sleep, Abby wasn’t sure she wanted Aaron to show up. Her conversation with Sara had shaken her badly, and she wasn’t sure what she would say to him, how she could ask him if it was true—that the strong emotions of the bond had driven him to attack his brother.
    Luca was still alive, according to Sara, but that was really no better than if Aaron had killed him outright.
    Who else could he hurt? Sara? Abby herself?
    Their children?
    One of her co-workers at home was stuck in an abusive marriage, one that forced her to come to work from time to time with bruises on her arms, her face, her legs. On one occasion, Abby had seen the woman with a badly cut lip that she claimed was the result of tripping on the stairs. The thing was, Abby had met the woman’s husband at the company holiday party and had thought he was very charming and funny. For all that