No fucking way.
Because if she had, then she’d just watched the man who’d spent the night before in her bed turn from a man to a wolf between one blink and the next. And then she’d seen the man who’d coerced his way into her home under the guise of apologizing for his behavior of late and then attacked her, a man she’d known most of her life, change halfway into the same animal.
No. There’s no fucking way she’d just seen that.
There was a noise at the door, and Faye jumped when she saw a large white head poke inside and look around. Spotting her, it came inside with a soft whine and eased up beside her.
Rocky. It was just Rocky.
He planted himself in front of her and growled in the direction of the door.
She didn’t know how long they sat there like that, but eventually, she got herself together enough to try to button her shirt. However, most of the buttons had broken off, so she grabbed the ends of the shirt and tied it together. At least it kept her covered.
Rocky only looked over his shoulder at her and then sat down, his eyes going back to the door.
“Are you one of those things, too?” she asked him.
This time, he didn’t even glance at her. He was too hyper-focused on his guard duties.
She should get up and see if she could close the door, but Faye was frozen to her spot on the couch.
Minutes or maybe hours later, she honestly couldn’t have said, Rocky whined and stood up. Faye straightened too, her eyes going to the door.
A very bloody, and very naked, Adam appeared at the top of her steps. One arm was wrapped around his torso and his eyes were wild as they flew around the room, searching for her. As soon as he spotted her on the couch with Rocky standing guard, he moaned and fell to the floor.
Faye jumped off the couch and ran to him, the bewilderment and fear she’d felt just seconds before diminishing at the sight of him wounded and passed out on her floor.
Faye fell to her knees beside him and grabbed his shoulders. “Adam?”
“Adam!” she called again. His skin was way too pale, and there were beads of sweat dripping down his temple. She tried to see where all of the blood was coming from, but she was afraid to touch him anywhere. Her throat thick with tears, she said, “Hold on, Adam. Just hold on. I’m calling an ambulance.”
His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, scaring her. “No.” His voice was raw. “No ambulance.”
“I have to call,” she told him. “I can’t get you to a hospital by myself.”
“No doctors,” he insisted.
“You’ll die if I don’t get you to a hospital!”
“I won’t,” he told her. “I won’t.”
Faye crouched beside him, undecided. He was bleeding out all over her floor. How could he possibly think he’d be fine? She tried to tug her wrist out of his grip, but he was stronger than she expected for someone in his condition. Finally, she dropped back down to her knees beside him and took his face in her palms. There was some swelling and redness on his jaw and near his eye and mouth, but nothing looked broken. “Adam, please. Let me help you. I can’t just sit here and let you die on my floor.”
A small smile turned up one corner of his mouth. “I won’t die. I promise.” Then he turned his head and kissed the inside of her thumb. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
“Why won’t you let me help you?” she cried.
His green eyes were tight with pain, but clear, when they shot to hers. He reached out for her with his free hand. “Faye, I need to tell you about what just happened.”
“The only thing I want to hear coming out of your mouth is that you’re going to let go of me and let me go get my phone.” That she’d left in her bedroom. Dammit.
“No phone. No ambulance. No doctors. I’ll heal on my own.”
“But there’s so much blood…”
“I’ll heal on my own,” he told her again.
Sitting back, she twisted around and grabbed the towel that was hanging from the dishwasher, then started trying to clean him up enough to see where the worst of the bleeding was coming from. He had multiple wounds on his stomach, like he’d been stabbed with a wide knife. “Are these knife wounds?” she asked.
