"Stay safe."Fear curled around Ezra's heart.
Rourke squeezed his hand."Always.Don't worry.Farkas will keep you safe."
Ezra didn't care about himself, he worried about Rourke.
* * * *
Rourke ran next to Ulric through the forest.Geri and Tala weren't visible, but they were there."Are we getting closer?"
He rubbed his chest, sensing Ezra's worry.Would he pick up on Rourke's feelings too?
"A few more minutes."Ulric watched him."Why are you rubbing your chest?"
"I feel Ezra.He's worried."
"Huh, so the mate bond has finally snapped into place."
Rourke nodded."It's grown stronger over the last few days, but it hasn't been like this before."
Ulric snorted."And it has nothing to do with your room smelling of sex, does it?"
"Classy."One unspoken rule among shifters was to not point out when you could scent people had fucked each other.
Ulric chuckled."I only meant, maybe you didn't do it right the first time."
Rourke flipped him off, but he was correct.He hadn't done it right.The mate bond had been crippled, and he could only guess it was because Ezra hadn't been...open to it.It didn't matter.They'd gotten there now, and Rourke would make it his life-mission to have Ezra sweating and moaning as often as possible.
"Here."Ulric slowed, then stopped, and looked around.
On the ground some distance away was a...form.Rourke scented the air and growled.Tala and Geri appeared between the tree trunks and took a few careful steps closer.
It smelled of blood and magic, the rotten kind of magic, not Ezra's kind.
Ulric walked closer, and the form made a pained sound.What the fuck?When nothing happened, Rourke stepped closer too.
Jiprix.He was almost sure it was Jiprix, except he was covered in...flesh.Blood and something resembling mincemeat pushed through where the skin was torn on half his face.
Nausea rose at the back of Rourke's throat.He was no stranger to blood and gore, but this...It was as if someone had drawn a line in the middle of Jiprix's face, and judging by how the bloody fabric of his clothes clung to him, he believed the line went all the way down.One side was unmarred, one had...burst.
"Fuck."Ulric's voice shook.
"Jiprix?"Rourke moved closer still.Fuck, was this punishment for the cookies?Rourke never should've told Shixyll.
He believed the sound coming from Jiprix was affirmative.
Rourke met Ulric's gaze, then Tala's and Geri's.What the fuck did they do now?
"Take him to a hut?"Ulric didn't sound as if he liked the idea, but what options did they have?They couldn't leave him.He might be a filthy witch, but Ezra wouldn't like it if Rourke left him to die here.Fuck.
He crouched next to Jiprix, praying he wasn't misjudging the situation and ended up dead for his actions."Are you still bleeding?"
He made a minuscule shake of his head."Nataz stopped it."
They had someone who could stop bleeding?"Can you stand?"Would he be lying on the ground if he could?
Jiprix tried to get up only to wheeze out a breath and drop to the forest floor again.He rolled over to his back and panted at the sky.Rourke moved so his good side would be against his chest, then he pushed an arm in under Jiprix's knees and one underneath his back.With little to no effort, he got to his feet.Jiprix was a little bigger than Ezra, but not by much.Tiny witches.
They walked toward the pack house without speaking.What the hell should they do with an injured witch?Rourke caught Ulric's gaze.He shrugged in reply to the unspoken question.
