I hesitated, then started to stumble in their direction when his voice made me flinch to a stop.

“You’re not going anywhere.  Remember your place, boy.”

I swallowed and turned my head to look at him, feeling the fear course through my veins.  But he was still being almost lifted off the ground by Beatrice, struggling to get free from her grasp.  Was he really outmanned here?  Or outwomanned, whatever the term was?  Could I ignore his command this time?

“Miles,” Nathan’s pleading voice met my ears, “come here, please.  She can handle him.”

He started making strangled noises of complaint at that, but Beatrice still looked completely unbothered by it – actually kind of amused, really – so…I took a cautious step towards Riven and Nathan.  Then another.

He started cursing at me, yelling at me to remember my place, to obey him, and to stay put.  I bit my lip, hard enough to make it bleed, but took another step towards Riven and Nathan.

Beatrice shifted her grip slightly, and he took advantage of that to try to escape, but she just kicked him hard in the thigh when he did.  He went down on his knees, screaming at her.

“You broke my leg, bitch!”

“Oh, did I?”  She shrugged coolly.  “Whoops.”  Then she reached down, letting her fingernails dig into his skin as she jerked him back upright, potentially broken leg just ignored.

While he was distracted with Beatrice, I kept taking steps towards Riven, grateful that for the moment, I could do so without his attention on me.

When I came even with him, Riven grabbed my uninjured hand, gently tugging me into a quick hug.  “You’re safe now,” he whispered in my ear.  “I promise.”  Then he released me.  “Put pressure on Nathan’s chest, okay?  We need to make sure he doesn’t bleed out.”  Handing me his jacket, he turned again to face Beatrice and my ex, taking a few more steps forward so he was standing a few feet in front of us.

I obeyed Riven’s order and knelt by Nathan, taking a fleeting look at Nathan’s face, afraid of what I’d see there.

Instead of the frustration, disgust, disappointment, or anger I expected to see, I only saw relief.  He reached out one of his hands and carefully rested it on my leg, where it wouldn’t be in my way while I pressed Riven’s jacket against his chest.

It didn’t seem like an intimate thing, more of just him wanting to make sure I was okay.  I decided to ignore his touch and just focus on holding the jacket.

His voice met my ears and I flinched, turning my head slightly to see that Beatrice had grabbed both of his hands and twisted them behind him, holding him in a vise he couldn’t seem to escape from.  And now he was yelling at Riven – sweet, kind Riven who made me feel safe.  It made me cringe that anyone would yell at Riven, least of all the insults he was saying.

Riven flinched at first, but then he took a deep breath and crossed his arms again.  “Okay, please just shut up,” he finally said as he interrupted his tirade.  “You can’t get out of this mess and you’re just doing what you do best – blame everyone but yourself.  It’s Nathan’s fault, it’s Miles’ fault, it’s mine, it’s Beatrice’s – actually you’re in this mess because of yourself, you’ve got no one else to blame.  I gave you the chance to get out of this and walk away, and you refused.  Frankly, I’m kind of glad, because I wouldn’t actually have wanted you to get the chance to go and abuse someone else, too.”

He stared at Riven, then laughed harshly.  “Is that what my pet told you?  That he was being abused?  How amusing.  He’s not the victim – he was the one hurting me.  Don’t you know he’s a predator?  I’m a stag – a prey.  He was – ”

“Beatrice, do you have any magic to shut him up and keep him tied up?”  Riven interrupted.  I was actually a little surprised he was being this assertive, he seemed so gentle normally, but maybe he got on Riven’s nerves?  “I’ve heard enough of his lies.”  He fixed him with angry eyes.  “You want to claim Miles was an abuser?  You’re the one who chased him hundreds of miles.  You injured someone else for trying to help him and threatened to kill me and him when we intervened.  You treat Miles like a thing and tried to physically force him to come with you.  From where I stand, you’re the predator, not him.  And I think the courts will agree with me.”

He was fuming, but still managed to get out a sneer.  “You really imagine so?  It’s his word against mine – a predator’s against a prey’s.  No one will believe him.”

“Actually,” Nathan spoke up, a smirk twitching at the corner of his lips, “it’s your word against you.”  He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

Which was recording.

I stared at it, almost as flabbergasted as he was.

“You see,” Nathan explained calmly, but his eyes were still filled with satisfaction, “I figured it might be helpful to record the entire conversation, so, yes, everything said here from the moment you approached us has been recorded.  Not to mention,” he jerked his head towards something barely visible on the top of the shed, “there is a security camera here, too.  You probably should have chosen a better place to attack us if you wanted to get away with it.”

For just a moment I saw it.  I saw fear in his eyes.  Only for a moment, though, before it was overwhelmed by rage and he bellowed, attempting to shift but finding himself unable to due to the interference of the naga magic that was binding him.

“Fuck it, dude, I’m sick of your crap and Riven doesn’t want me to kill you, so, yeah, just shut up.”  Beatrice suddenly kicked him in the same leg again, knocking him over on his face hard enough I wondered if she broke something, then went and pressed her knee into his back, pressing her hands against his shoulders and almost forcing his face into the ground, while he squirmed and shouted muffled curses at her.  “When’s the patrol getting here?”

Riven glanced at his phone.  “Soon.  They’re sending an ambulance, too, for Nathan and Miles.”

“Cool.  Sure I can’t poison him a little first?  He seems like he could use a little less energy in his life.”

Riven laughed, but didn’t answer and instead came over to check on Nathan.  “How bad is it?  Also no more of this, I have a limit of one time per friend seeing them bleeding out in a wooded area.”

Nathan laughed a bit.  “It hurts, but I’m pretty sure nothing major was punctured and you know I heal quickly.  And sorry, next time I’ll go for pavement, that sound okay?”

Riven’s brows furrowed.  “Not really what I was going for.”  His eyes turned to settle on me.  “How are you?”  He asked gently.

How was I?  I couldn’t answer that.  I was pretty sure my arm was fractured, I might be bleeding some from my scalp, my hands were covered in Nathan’s blood, and…and I wasn’t going to have to go back with him.

Was it really possible I might be safe?

I just nodded, unable to form the words.  It wasn’t exactly an answer, but maybe it would do.

The next several minutes ended up being mild chaos.  The patrol – which turned out to essentially be the supernatural police – showed up and officially took him into custody.  Beatrice argued with the patrol people before removing her magic, but it seemed more like she just wanted to argue with them than that she actually disagreed with how they were handling things.  Ren appeared from nowhere, along with another fairy that, based on his similarity to Ren, I assumed was Sorrel.  Ren seemed really worried about Riven, who assured him he was fine, while Sorrel was asking Nathan what happened and if he was okay, but Nathan just sort of waved him off without answering.  Nathan was carefully loaded into an ambulance and somehow I found myself placed inside with him, Riven next to me – which I was thankful for since his presence was soothing.  As the ambulance pulled away, I wondered where Ren and his brother went and what happened to Beatrice, but I didn’t ask.

I was still finding it difficult to believe this wasn’t just a dream.  Just the idea that he might actually not be able to hurt me anymore was so unbelievable that it felt like it couldn’t be true.

When we arrived at the hospital, Nathan and I were taken to a room with two beds and we were each laid down on one.  Well, technically I sat on the edge of mine, because I didn’t feel like laying down.  Riven stayed in the room with us and Ren and his brother reappeared – they must have followed the ambulance, I realized.  Ren came over to me and Riven while Sorrel immediately headed to Nathan.

“How bad is it?”  Sorrel asked, taking a peek under Riven’s jacket at Nathan’s chest.

“A couple of impale wounds, nothing critical hit, I think.  We’re waiting on imaging to confirm before you’re allowed to heal.”  Nathan gave him a tired smile.

“You’re not allowed to die, you know,” Sorrel told him sternly, but I could hear the worry there, feel how much he cared.  “I’ve already lost one friend this year, no way am I willing to lose another.”

Nathan kind of laughed and promised he didn’t need to worry.

I dropped my eyes to the floor.  It didn’t seem fair to watch them.  I knew Nathan was trying to give up on Sorrel, but they still had something that I could never have with Nathan, even if I allowed myself to feel something for him.

They were soulmates.  Even if that just meant friends, it was something Nathan and I weren’t.  They’d spent years together, made memories, loved each other even if it wasn’t in a romantic way on Sorrel’s part.

Plus, all I had brought Nathan so far was injuries.

I suddenly felt my stomach roll and hopped off the bed, dashing to the nearest trashcan to empty my stomach’s contents into it.

I’d done exactly what I’d never wanted to do, what everyone back in Retherwood said I’d do because of what I was.  I’d caused a prey shifter to get injured.  Granted, it wasn’t at my hands, but it was still my fault nonetheless.  I thought I wouldn’t do that, I thought I was better than that, but it turns out they were all right.

I was a predator shifter.  I would only ever bring pain to prey shifters.

Nathan and I could never even be friends.  I couldn’t risk it.

“Hey,” Ren touched my arm gently.  “You want me to go get you some of the tea or want me to try some healing magic?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nathan looking at me with concern, Sorrel with confusion.

Nathan didn’t know that I had trouble with nausea due to fear.  He didn’t know that just realizing he was a prey shifter had made me unable to keep my food down for a week.  I didn’t want him to find out that the only reason I could eat anything anymore, especially around him, was because of fairy tea.

“I’m okay,” I managed as I crawled back onto the bed, this time curling up on my side to face the wall.  “Just – aftereffects, I guess.”

I don’t think that made much sense, but they didn’t ask because just then a doctor breezed into the room.

“Okay – oh, hello Riven,” her voice smiled a bit.  “Glad to see you’re not having a heart attack because I walked in this time.”  Then she sighed.  “Woodson boys, so nice to see you.”

“We haven’t run up and down the hallways disturbing everyone in years,” I heard Ren whisper to Riven, “we only did that when we were kids, yet she still acts like we’re about to.”

“And Mr. Wright,” she continued, “I thought we’d seen the last of you.  Isn’t one visit per year after being attacked by a supernatural enough?”

Nathan’s voice had a bit of a smile to it.  “Dr. Bale.  I thought about dropping by, but figured you might take more time to see me if I needed medical attention – you’re always too busy for social calls.”

She laughed.  “Or you could just come next door and visit like a normal person.  Now then,” I heard her feet tapping closer to my bed, “who are you, young one?”

“I’m not that young,” I managed, still keeping my eyes on the wall.

That seemed to confuse her, probably because it didn’t answer her question at all.

“He’s Miles,” Riven provided.  “His arm is probably fractured or broken.  Um, he’s a shifter.”

“Okay, well, we’ll need both of the patients to get some imaging to confirm before you fairies are allowed to heal them.  I’ll send Nathan down first, his is more pressing.  Do you want some painkillers while you wait?”

Nathan declined, but then she repeated the question, so I realized it must have been for both of us.  I just shook my head and then held still again.

All I wanted was for this to be over.  I could feel the heaviness settle in around me and I just wanted to cry, but I couldn’t let myself do that.  I should be happy that he’d been arrested and, at least for now, couldn’t hurt me.  I should be happy that there was evidence now, confirming my statements.  I should be happy that freedom might be in sight for me.  A chance for a life without him haunting me.

But instead I just felt miserable, hating myself for being exactly what I’d said I wasn’t – a danger to prey shifters.

I should have never agreed to try to be friends with Nathan again.