Free Crimson (The Silver Series Book 3) by Cheree Alsop Page A

before you heal.”
    “ I’ll remember that next
time,” I said. I sank to my knees on the asphalt and stared at the
bodies around us, my mind numb. A rush of commotion swirled around
me, but I was oblivious to everything but the whisper of the night
wind in my ears and the bite of the rocks under my knees. Lifeless
eyes stared at me from the man I had stabbed in the
stomach.
    “ I've got you,” Jet said.
He grabbed my arm and slung it around his neck, then hoisted me to
my feet. My rubbery legs were little help as he and Jaze lifted me
into the front seat.
    Taye packed a bandage against my side and
instructed me to keep pressure on the wound. “Meg’ll get you fixed
up and soon you’ll be good as new,” she said.
    “ Mom's great at patching
people up,” Nikki agreed. Her voice trembled slightly and I glanced
over in time to see her wipe away a tear. She hesitated, then threw
her arms around my neck. “Thank you,” she whispered quickly before
she shut the door and climbed in the back.
    Jaze said something quietly to Mouse and the
scrawny werewolf slipped out of the SUV and disappeared. He came
back a few minutes later with a surveillance tape and tossed it on
the floor, then started the engine and steered us silently to the
freeway. He reached for the CD player and his hands shook slightly
before angry lyrics and singing guitars wailed from the
speakers.
    “ The singer’s a werewolf,”
he said, his voice soft.
    I glanced at him. “How do you know?” Pain
coursed through my side and I winced.
    “ He’s my cousin.” A smile
touched the werewolf’s lips, then vanished as quickly as it
appeared.
    I sat back in the seat and listened to
lyrics about a man who found himself but lost everything in the
same moment. Another jolt of pain stabbed my side and I closed my
eyes. I worried about Grace and hoped the same men hadn’t found
Jaze’s house. She was so vulnerable, and the protectiveness that
welled in my chest when I thought of her was unfamiliar, yet so
powerful that I hated leaving her. My thoughts tangled with
exhaustion, pain, and the memory of the soft, trusting touch of
Grace’s fingers in mine.
     
     

Chapter 8
    “ We’re home,” a voice said
by my ear.
    I felt a rush of fresh air pass my face
before I opened my eyes to see the door open and Jaze standing next
to it. “Do you need help to Meg’s?”
    “ Is Grace alright?” I asked
quietly.
    Jaze nodded, concern in his eyes at my
condition. “They didn’t come here. I’m sure she’s anxious to see
you, but we’d better get you patched up first.”
    I wanted to go straight to Grace and make
sure she was alright before I went to Meg’s, but Jaze was right.
Showing up the way I felt would probably just worry her more. I
tried to push myself up, but a wave of nausea and dizziness rushed
through me at the loss of blood and the memory of killing people. I
closed my eyes against the tilting world and nodded. “A little help
would be good,” I said quietly.
    Jaze and Jet helped me from the SUV and
practically carried me across the lawn and into Meg and Roger’s
house. Nikki had run ahead and both of her parents were waiting in
the sterile room when we walked in. “You must like it here,” Meg
said dryly.
    “ Nothing like having a
bullet removed to remind you that you’re alive,” I replied in a
tight voice as Taye removed the bandages and Jaze helped me lie
down on the table.
    Meg turned her attention to the wound and
didn’t reply, though the corners of her lips pulled into a
begrudging smile. I gritted my teeth at the prodding of cold
instruments against tender skin and turned my head away while she
worked.
    Jet sat on a metal chair close to the wall
while Taye scrubbed the knife wound in his shoulder and began to
stitch it up. His shirt was off and for the first time I saw a
patchwork of scars across his body, or to be more accurate, a
patchwork of body between the innumerable scars. I couldn’t help
but stare at a series of