Found, ... at last

Chapter 14

As soon as the door clicked closed Bronwyn held her hand out to him and he gratefully went to sit next to her on the bed.  Like the previous night, he sat up against the headboard and pulled her into his arms.  Holding her tightly against him so that he could feel her breathing and her heartbeat.  He held her for a long time until she suddenly pulled out of his arms.

“The poor wolves!  What happened to them?”

Kissing her on the top of her head he answered her.  “Gerald went back to get her out of there.  Her leg was not broken but the flesh was badly damaged and would most likely become infected.  He cleaned her up and brought her and the pups back here.  They are in the garage.  As soon as she is better, we will take her back out there and let them free.”

He pulled her back into his arms and held onto her, not willing to let her out of his arms at the moment.  Wesley felt her nod her head in acceptance against his chest and he pulled her closer.

“And that horrible man?  Where is he now?”

Wesley delayed answering her, he liked the way she was rubbing her face against him.  It amazed him that she was instinctively copying the kid’s behavior.

“Where is he?”  Bronwyn asked as she pushed herself away from him just far enough to look up at his face.

“In the state mortuary.”

At first she wasn’t sure she had heard correctly.  Then the seriousness of his tone sunk in and she knew then without a doubt that the man who had attached her was dead.  With wide eyes she looked at him, not wanting to believe that she thought she had heard.

“Did you … Did you, you know … Did you kill him?”

Wesley hated the tremor of fear in her voice.  But if she was going to accept him for who he really was, she would have to learn to accept the darker side of his nature as well.  He only hoped that she would be able to trust him enough for that not to be a problem.

“I didn’t kill him.  I wanted to.  He had hurt you and I thought that I might lose you.  The fucking idiot fell and broke his neck.  He was lucky; I would have made him suffer for what he did to you.”

Bronwyn stared at him.  Did she even know this man?  He was so different from the caring man she had become so attached to.  Where was the man she was falling in love with?

Sighing Wesley sat back against the headboard and lifted her so that she was sitting next to him.  “Kitten, what do you remember?”

“Remember?”

“Yes, what do you remember about earlier today, after you sent the kids to come and call me and Gerald?”

Her brow knitted together in concentration as she thought back.  “The kids went back across the lake to find you, while I tried to see if I could do anything with the wolf.  She was snarling at me.  Then I heard the man come and when I asked for help I saw that he had more traps over his shoulder.  He did that to her!  He was going to kill her!  If he did, the cubs would have died with no one to take care of them.  I tried to stop him, but he had a knife.”  Her arm twitched and she touched the bandage softly with the other hand.  “I got a good kick in though, but he grabbed me by the neck then.”

Bronwyn looked at him briefly before looking down at her hands that were all tangled in her lap. An embarrassed blush turned her face pink.

“What then?”  He urged her to continue.

“I saw you running across the lake.”  She lifted her eyes to look at him quickly before dropping her gaze again.  “You can run pretty fast.  I am glad you don’t run that fast in the mornings with me.”