“Good.” I paused. “I mean, not good that you’re hurt, but good that you acknowledge it.”
The corner of his lip quirked and I tried not to blush.
“Guess you’ll be looking after me, huh?” Orpheus asked.
My heart did a tiny, almost imperceptible flip. “Sure will. Is that okay with you?”
There was a gleam in his eyes. “There’s no one I’d rather it be, foxy.”
4
Orpheus
There wasno way to deny it. Red was sexy as hell.
He was my saving grace, and quite literally. Not only did he save my life by providing a soft place to fall—or in my case, crash land—but he took the time and energy to take care of me while I recovered. In those first few days, I didn’t do much except sleep, which was kind of annoying because I missed out on seeing Red’s face. But the faster I recovered, the faster I could spread my wings and fly again. It was nothing personal, I just couldn’t stand to be in one place for too long.
It was a few days after our initial conversation that I managed to spend more than a few minutes properly awake. Even with Red’s care, my body felt paradoxically sorer than it did initially. I knew it was my body mending itself, but damn if it wasn’t annoying.
It didn’t help that I couldn’t leave the alcove. For one thing, it was unpleasant to me as a raven shifter to be separated from the open sky or canopy of trees. The dirt ceiling got old fast. I was too weak to crawl out of it by myself and too proud to ask for help, so I sucked it up and forced myself to discover new patterns in the hardpacked earth to pass the time.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to do that long because a handsome little fox trotted into the alcove and spat out a bundle of herbs beside me. I spent most of my time in human form because it was easier to lie on my back, so Red politely shifted to match my form.
“You’re awake!” he said, looking genuinely happy.
“For now.” I glanced at the earthy smelling herbs and wrinkled my nose. “You’re not gonna make me eat those, are you?”
“Not these ones, but don’t be surprised if you have to drink something nasty,” he said. “So don’t be shocked, but contrary to my intelligent appearance, I don’t actually know that much about healing, either shifter and human remedies.”
I mock-gasped. “You lied to me, Dr. Red?”
“The invisible medical diploma on the wall is a fake,” he teased. “While you were out cold, some of the other pack members went to go visit an actual doctor. Her name is Dr. Pyne and she lives in the nearby canyon.”
“Canyon?” I hadn’t seen anything like that during my flight. “Just how far away is it?”
“A couple days’ journey,” Red said. “But it wasn’t like we were going to just stand around and wait to see what happened to you. We needed real medical advice.”
I blinked, a bit stunned. Was I really to believe that a bunch of strangers I’d never met went out of their way to help me? I still hadn’t met the so-called pack that Red spoke of.
“Did you go with them?” I asked.
The thought of Red leaving me behind was oddly uncomfortable. It wasn’t that I was afraid of being alone, either truly by myself or with a bunch of wolf shifters I didn’t know, but that I didn’t want him specifically to leave. It was a silly thought to have and I realized that. Maybe I’d hit my head sometime during my free fall.
To my relief, Red shook his head. “Nope. I was here with you the entire time. If I wasn’t in the alcove with you, I was nearby in the grove. I’m shocked you have so little faith in me,” he teased. “You think I would just abandon my charge?”
I smiled. “It’s not that. I just like knowing my handsome doctor’s around, even if his degree is forged.”
Truth be told, I was deeply reassured that Red had decided to stay with me. It was kind of him. I was starting to think this man really was an angel.
I looked him over again, my gaze tinted with rapidly growing fondness. Was it just me or did he get more attractive by the minute?
Still, I wasn’t quite surewhathe was. Most shifters could tell right away if another shifter was an alpha or omega, but ravens had a notoriously bad sense of smell. The only time I could distinctly discern if a shifter was an omega was during their heat cycle. With Red, I had no clue. He could’ve told me he was an alpha or an omega and either way I would’ve believed him.
It didn’t matter much though. It wasn’t his biology that I was attracted to, it was him as a person. A kind, funny man with the most stunning red hair I’d ever seen.
“Is there something on my face?” Red asked.
“Does there have to be something on your face for me to stare at it?”
