"You need sleep too," I replied, noticing the large, dark circles under his own eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm in one piece." Then he smiled, and I could almost smell an ulterior motive brewing. "Besides, I think Morgan'll sleep easier knowing you're close by, don't you?"

"You're a devious man, my friend."

He shrugged, laughing. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then." He tipped a wink at me. "Pleasant dreams."

My payback list had officially expanded.

Some time later, I was awakened from the depths of a profoundly exhausted slumber by something I didn't at first recognize.

Then it came again and this time, recognition was swift.

Ice twitched, then moaned, as if in pain.

Galvanized, I moved quickly away, horror dawning on my face as I realized that, sometime during my sleep, I'd unconsciously adopted one of my favorite positions, curled up on my side, my head on her shoulder, my arm tight about her waist, and my good leg thrown carelessly over both of her own.

"Oh my god, Ice. I'm so sorry! I didn't realize . . . ."

"Angel . . . ."

"I know. I'm here. I'm sorry, sweetheart . . . ." I reached out to touch her, then realized that her eyes, far from being open and pain filled, were instead darting ceaselessly about beneath tightly closed lids.

"Ice?" Her entire face was literally bathed in a heavy sweat.

"Angel! No!"

One long arm blasted out from beneath the covers. The IV tubing stretched, then abruptly came free as blood and IV fluid sprayed across the bed. "Let go of her, you bastard!"

"Ice! Don't!" Reaching out, I grabbed her arm, but she pulled it away savagely as both legs powered up, kicking the covers free.

"Let her go, Carmine. . . . That's right, let her go, or I'll rip your heart out and feed it to ya."

"Ice . . . please . . . ." I wanted to reach out to touch her, to reassure her that I was alive and in no danger, but there wasn't a place on her body that I could do that without hurting her. Instead, I laid back down and put my lips as close to her ear as I dared. "Ice, I'm ok. I'm alright. Carmine isn't here, sweetheart. You're just having a bad dream. That's all it is. Just a dream."

" . . . Angel?"

"Yes, sweetheart. It's me. You're ok. We're ok. No one's gonna hurt us. I promise."

And for a moment, her body went absolutely still, and I breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

"Angel! Nooooo!!"

She stiffened beneath me, then began thrashing violently, as if within the depths of her fevered delirium, she was being held by chains of the strongest steel from which she was desperately trying to break free.

As I watched, horrified, her face twisted in a snarl of black rage while, from beneath tightly clenched eyelids, a stream of tears began to pour.

"Ice," I whispered into her ear, taking care not to be hit by her thrashing head, "it's ok. I'm alright. Please, it's ok." I put my hand down below her chest in an attempt to calm her, then pulled it away quickly. It was red and slick with blood.

I forced myself to stay calm in the face of this new horror, knowing that my agitation could very likely seep into whatever fevered state her mind was in and cause things to become worse than they already were. Lifting my head carefully, I tried to peer over the railing to perhaps catch a glimpse of anyone who might be on the first floor, all the while wondering why they hadn't come running when they first heard Ice's agonized shouts.

She stiffened, then thrashed again, arms and legs jerking as she snarled out her rage. One arm came free from whatever hold her nightmare had on it and flew out, hard, narrowly missing my head as I ducked beneath its killing strike.

When she lashed out again, I jerked away, sending myself tumbling over the edge of the bed to crash gracelessly onto the hard floor. Quickly gathering my legs beneath me, I stood and jumped back on the bed, calling out for help as I did so.

Fresh red bloomed beneath the pristine white bandages, the stains growing ever larger as she continued to thrash atop the bed.

Sounds of booted feet filled the house as I continued to try and calm my lover down without touching her, knowing that any attempt at restraint would be quickly and harshly thrown off.

Then I found myself airborne once again as Tom pulled me off the bed and set me on the ground behind him before moving to grab Ice's flailing arm and pin it to the bed. Pop did the same with her other arm, and John, the largest of the men save for Bull, grabbed her legs.

Snarling and snapping like a trapped animal, Ice brought all her strength to bear against this new threat, flinging the restraining hands from her as her body bucked and twisted violently. Men stumbled and swore at her immense strength before jumping back into the fray once again, trying to hold her down long enough for Bull, who was frantically searching in his magic bag, to do something to calm her down.

Pulling out an already loaded syringe, Bull stepped between Tom and the window. "Alright, hold her down. I need to . . . shit!"

The syringe flew past my head, followed by a backwards-stumbling Bull, who almost took my legs out from beneath me as he crashed into me, his arms pinwheeling wildly for balance.

"Hold her down, damnit! She's ripping all her stitches out!"

"We're trying our best here! Damn woman's stronger than a bear!"

"Angel!!!"

Something about the timbre of her voice struck a chord deep within me and I desperately tried to slip past the tight press of bodies surrounding the bed. "Ice!"

"Angel!!!"

I saw her hand reach out, trembling, and I tried to grab it, only to be pushed out of the way by Bull, who was wielding another syringe. I tried to slip past him, but he grunted as he thrust his hip out, preventing me from getting near the bed as he shouted orders to the other struggling men. "Turn her over, damnit! I need to get . . . ."

He took a half step backward to avoid a blow and, seeing my chance, I slipped into the space he'd created and threw myself on the bed next to my wildly thrashing lover. "Enough!" I shouted. "Back off! Now!"

Four men looked at me, shock plain on their faces, but, to a man, they obeyed.

Then I turned toward Ice, finally confirming that my supposition was true.

She was awake. Her eyes were wide, grief-stricken, and brimming with tears. "Angel?" she asked in a tone of desolation so unutterably sad that my heart shattered beneath its blackened, lifeless weight.

"I'm here, sweetheart. I'm here."

She reached for me again, pulling her fingers back just before they made contact with my face. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I tried to save you. I . . . ."

"Ice! You did save me! I'm here! Right here!"

But she didn't hear me. Just kept speaking as if looking at a voiceless ghost. "Please forgive me, Angel. I couldn't . . . ."

It was then that Bull, no doubt taking Ice's sudden calm as the perfect opportunity, reached past me, bared Ice's hip, and plunged his needle into her bruised flesh, depressing the plunger quickly, then removing the needle and stepping back away.

Her eyes flared in anger, then became almost dead as whatever drug he'd used spread through her weakened system. ". . . couldn't save you . . . ," she mumbled as her eyes finally closed and her head lolled to the side.

I turned to Bull, my own eyes blazing in anger. "Why did you do that??" I demanded, feeling my fists ball tightly with the urge to lash out. "Why???"

"She needed to be sedated, Angel," he said reasonably. "Those stitches need to be tended to."

"You idiot! She thinks I'm dead! And when whatever dope you've shot her full of wears off, how do you think she's gonna react? There's nothing for her now! Nothing!!"

His eyes grew huge as the realization struck him. "I'm sorry. I didn't . . . ."

"Of course you didn't! You didn't think! You didn't trust me! You didn't do anything!!"

"Angel . . . ." Tom tried to break in, so I turned my anger on him as well.

"She's not a dangerous animal that needs to be tranquilized, Tom. She's a woman who thinks her lover is dead. How would you feel if it were you?"

Unable to hold my gaze, he looked down at the bed, not answering.

I turned to the others. "Well? Any of you?"

"You called fer help, Tyler," Pop finally said. "It ain't exactly like any of us has ever done this before. Maybe we made a mistake, but it was an honest one."

I could feel the anger bleed out of me at his words. I sighed, unclenching my fists. "I know, Pop. I just wish I could have had a little more time with her, that's all. I wish . . . well, that doesn't matter now." I turned to Bull. "I'm sorry for lashing out on you like that, Bull. I know you were only doing what needed to be done."

He smiled, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Next time, I'll trust your instincts, ok?"

"Let's just hope there isn't a next time." I smiled to take the sting out of my words.

He nodded. "Fair enough. How about if you help me undo the bandages and we can take a look at the damage, huh?"

"Sounds good."

As it turned out, the damage wasn't as severe as it first seemed. Though she'd torn some stitches from the long, deep cut in her belly, the other wounds had just been aggravated and, with a little pressure, they stopped bleeding relatively quickly.

Her fever remained the biggest danger, at times soaring so high that Bull feared seizures from it. We bathed her with cool water to hold it down as best we could until the antibiotics he'd loaded her system with could do their job properly.

When things had calmed down somewhat for the moment, I finally had the presence of mind to realize just who had come to my call for aid. From my position on the bed next to Ice, I looked up at Tom and John, who looked profoundly out of place now that the immediate danger had passed.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" I asked.

John nodded. "Yeah. We found the car. What was left of it."

I sat up straighter, pulling Ice's hand into my lap and clasping it tightly. "Where?"

""bout thirty miles or so southeast of here, off of one of the logging roads we'd been looking at. Less, as the crow flies, of course. It . . .went off the road and into a tree. Pretty damn fast, too."

I could feel the blood drain from my face as I grasped Ice's unresponsive hand tighter. "What happened?"

John looked at Tom and Pop before returning his attention back to me. "The driver died instantly. He . . .um . . .he had a steering-wheel through his chest."

My stomach turned and I swallowed back the bile that threatened to come forth. Without really knowing why, I nodded for him to continue.

John scratched his heavy beard, then sighed. "The guy on the passenger side, near as I can tell, flew through the window and smashed into a tree. He probably died pretty quick too."

"And . . .the others?"

"They survived. The accident, anyway."

As I waited for him to continue, John again looked at his brother and Pop. The three men fidgeted, obviously not wanting to say anymore on the subject. "Please?" I asked. "I have to know."

Pop came forward and laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Tyler, the men who hurt Morgan are dead. 's best ta leave it go at that."

I wanted to. I probably would have given a king's ransom not to hear what was coming. But, in the end, I just couldn't let it go as Pop asked. I had to know what happened. Ice, I was sure, would never tell me, and the hole that would leave would, in time I was sure, become much larger with each passing day. "Please tell me. Please."

More furtive glances were exchanged before Tom decided, apparently, to step forward and take the figurative male bovine by its bony head appendages. "It was like . . . ." He raised his hands, palms up, searching for the right words, "Like a pack of wolves had had at them or something. It was . . . ," he swallowed hard, visibly paling, "bad."

"How bad?" My voice was so soft, I was surprised anyone heard me.

"Bad."

"Maybe wolves did come? After, I mean?"

Tom and John shook their heads. "No," John said. "Corpses don't spill that much blood."

"Before, then?" I asked, determined to find a way to make things fit, other than the obvious, which I wasn't prepared to believe. "Maybe she left them for dead, and then something came and finished the job?"

Both men shook their heads again. "I'm sorry, Tyler," Tom said, "but that's not what happened."