When the nurses came and took Nathan away to imaging, I hesitantly peeked over my shoulder to see if Sorrel had left, too.  When I confirmed that he did, indeed, leave, I rolled over and looked at Riven.

“Can I go to a different room?”  I whispered, my eyes fixed on his.

Riven seemed startled.  “But I thought – ” then he stopped himself and glanced at Ren, some kind of unspoken communication occurring.  “Yes, I think so?”

“Would you rather walk or want me to carry you?”  Ren asked.  His voice was kind, not questioning, and I almost could have wept with relief that they weren’t quizzing me about this.

“I can walk.”  I slid to my feet and discovered I was actually more unstable than I expected – whether it was from the adrenaline or losing my stomach’s contents, I wasn’t sure, but I somehow managed to find some semblance of balance and followed Ren out as he briefly spoke to a nurse at a desk, then led us down the hall, Riven at my side looking like he was ready to try to catch me if I fell.

Once I was settled into a room with a single bed, I felt a small amount of relief and curled up on the bed again.  Maybe I wouldn’t have to see Nathan again before I left the hospital.  To be honest, I had no idea what was going to happen with my life next – did I have to testify against him?  And since the danger was maybe past, did that mean I wouldn’t get to stay with Riven and Ren anymore?  Probably, but I didn’t know where I could live, so my future looked confusing, at best.  They had promised they wouldn’t just kick me out, though, so hopefully they could let me stay until I found a place and maybe even a job with no prey shifters nearby.  Yes, my biggest fear was potentially taken care of, but now I realized that I was the monster they said I was and I had no idea what was going to happen next.  Suddenly, having him arrested wasn’t enough to bring me peace.

Riven softly stroked my hair as I laid there, his fingers gentle and reassuring.  “I’m sorry he found you.  We were trying to keep an eye out for him but he seemed to have slipped through – probably came into town in shifted form so we wouldn’t be as likely to notice him.  That wasn’t supposed to have happened.  Are you okay?  Not physically, emotionally – you just saw your abuser again, which can’t have been easy.  Do you want to talk about it?

I thought about it, but shook my head no.  It was too raw, too painful to go through all of that, even with Riven and Ren, who was sitting at the foot of my bed, his hand resting on my foot with the same comforting feeling as Riven’s.  They were trying to let me know I was safe now, and I appreciated that, but they couldn’t make others safe from me.

I felt tears spilling from my eyes without my consent.  I turned my head into the pillow and tried to stop them, but that didn’t work.

There was, however, one thing I really needed to say.  “Thank you,” I mumbled in the pillow.  “Thank you for – coming.”

Riven’s arrival had interrupted him, saved me from something worse than a broken arm, and then his naga friend had stopped him.  I didn’t really have the emotional capacity right not to spell out everything I was thanking him for, but I hoped he understood how grateful I was.

“Of course.”  Riven stroked my hair again.  “I’m just sorry we didn’t get there sooner.”

I did wonder how they knew to come at all and how they knew where we were, but…that was probably Nathan, wasn’t it?  He’d managed to start recording on his phone without him or me noticing, so maybe he’d sent a text or something, too, while he was at it.

“Miles,” Ren said softly, “don’t worry about anything for now, okay?  We’d eventually like to get your statement for the police, but you can take a few days to decompress first.  If you’re not up to it, it should be fine – we have the recording, the video, and Nathan’s testimony anyway, plus Riven’s and Beatrice’s after they arrived.  He’ll be prosecuted in this city for attacking you, attempted murder of Nathan, attempted kidnapping of you – several things, I’d imagine.  There’s enough evidence he won’t get off the hook.  There’s also a strong possibility with the recording that if you’re willing to testify against him, you may be able to have him prosecuted back in your home town for everything he did to you there.  Even if you choose not to, what he did here will be enough to keep him locked up for a long time – decades, at least.”

Testify against him?  I didn’t think I could do that.  Stand up in front of a room full of strangers, with him watching me, and repeat all the events of my sad little life since he’d walked into it?  That sounded like a horror movie.

Eventually the nurse came in and took me to imaging.  Riven and Ren waited outside, and I found myself very thankful that they were hovering, as weird as that sounded.  It just helped me feel like I wasn’t so alone.

Back in the room, Dr. Bale reviewed the images.  “You’re looking at a spiral fracture.  Thankfully it didn’t break all the way through, so we shouldn’t need to do surgery.  Mr. Woodson can provide some healing but he’ll need to do it here, so we can monitor it closely after each dose and make sure the fracture is healing correctly.  Alternatively, we can go ahead and do surgery, secure everything and then let him heal.”

They all looked at me, waiting for a decision.

Oh.  I had to decide.  I didn’t usually get to make decisions like this.  “Um, will it just heal on its own?”

The doctor nodded, but for some reason gave Riven an amused glance.  “For humans, it can take several months.  Since you’re a shifter, it would still likely take several weeks on its own.  If Mr. Woodson helps, it’ll be probably around six hours of treatment and your arm will be a little sore for a few days, but you’ll be back to normal in no time.”

I assumed “Mr. Woodson” was Ren, so I looked at him, hoping he’d give me some kind of clue what to do.

He smiled at me and squeezed my foot a little.  “I’m not, like, the best fairy healer ever – I don’t have as much magic as my dad or sister, for instance – but I can do it.  Not a problem at all.”

“It’d probably be simpler to have the use of your arm sooner rather than later,” Riven added.  “Trust me, doing things one-handed isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

Ren reached over to poke his left arm.  “You’re not exactly one-handed, you can’t speak authoritatively on that.”

Did Riven not use one of his hands?  I hadn’t even noticed.

“Um, I guess, if you’re okay with it, then.”  I said hesitantly.

“Great then,” Dr. Bale gave me a quick professional smile.  “Mr. Woodson, make sure you go carefully, understand?  I’ll send the nurses in routinely to take him back to imaging and check on the progress.”

When she left, Riven patted my shoulder reassuringly.  “Ren is good with healing magic, ignore what he says.  He healed me after the bear shifter attack,” he touched his neck, where I remembered those deep scars.  “Don’t worry.”

“Bear shifter?”  I asked, trying to take my mind off of Ren as he leaned over my arm and started doing some sort of magic.  I mean, I assumed he was.  I could feel something, almost like my bones were prickling.  It kind of hurt and kind of just felt really weird.

“Yeah, he attacked me back when I was 15, which is why I can’t fully use my left arm,” Riven explained.  “Then last year he saw me, decided he wanted to finish the job, and probably would have if Ren didn’t get there in time.  Ren ended up protecting me after that so stuff like that couldn’t happen anymore, but, yeah….  That was how I first met Dr. Bale,” he added.  “Nearly had a heart attack because I wasn’t so good with predator shifters at the time – I’d say they represent a fair amount of my scars, unfortunately.  Then I got to know her after spending some time at Nathan and Benji’s house this summer, since she lives next door.  Turns out she’s pretty nice, just strict in the hospital.”

Okay…what?  Dr. Bale was a predator shifter and lived next to a bunch of rabbit shifters?  And this was fine with everyone?  And Riven had a problem with predator shifters?

I looked at him, half panicked.  “I would never – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to – do you need me to leave?”  Riven was the one who made me feel most safe.  I didn’t want to lose him as a friend, but I didn’t want to hurt him even more.

Both of them stared at me for a minute, Ren looking confused and Riven completely lost, when suddenly his face cleared as he realized how I’d taken what he said.

“I don’t have the same problems with predator shifters now,” he clarified, “plus you’re kind of hard to even see as a predator shifter anyway, you’re too tiny for one.  Nathan wouldn’t have brought you to our house if he thought you’d scare me,” he added.

I felt an immense amount of relief.  “So…you’re okay with me being a predator?”

“Miles, you’re not a predator.  You’re just a tiny fox.  Maybe we shouldn’t have the whole prey/predator dichotomy,” Riven mused, “I mean, some animals don’t even fit into that.  Like rhinos.  They’re not exactly either one.  And gorillas, they’re mostly herbivores or sometimes insectivores, aren’t they?  But they’re pretty deadly.  But anyway, yes, I am fine with you being a fox.  Please don’t worry about that.”

I sighed heavily.  “Thank you,” I whispered yet again.

The rest of the evening was spent between the hospital room, with Ren healing me, then back to imaging, where they were checking on the progress of the bone and conferring with Ren.

I did notice that after the first session, Ren seemed to be in some sort of heated debate with Sorrel when I got back to the room, but Ren shooed him away before I got close enough to hear what they were saying.

I had a feeling they were talking about me, probably with Sorrel as Nathan’s messenger wondering where I’d went and why, but I didn’t ask.

Eventually, Dr. Bale deemed the bone healed enough to not require any more fairy aide and allowed Riven and Ren to discharge me and take me back to their home.

I took a shower before bed, fighting the urge to scrub my skin raw everywhere he touched me.  Just the thought of his fingers on my skin made me want to throw up again, but Ren had given me some more of the tea after we got back and insisted I drank it, so I couldn’t really follow up on that urge.  I may have still scrubbed enough to make my skin red but eventually I deemed myself as clean as I could get, got into the pajamas Riven lent me, and crawled into the guest room bed.

And then I cried myself to sleep, yet again.