Rorik tensed, then exhaled through his bloody nose. “Fine. It did frighten me.”
My heart clenched. Scaring an omega was never something I wanted to do—especially one I cared about so much.
“I’m sorry, Rorik,” I murmured. “The last thing I ever want to do is scare you.”
He was quiet as I wiped red beads of blood away. I was as gentle as possible, not wanting to hurt him more.
“There’s that smell again,” he muttered. “What is it?”
Great. Now he thinks I smell bad, too,I thought miserably.
“It’s just the alcohol,” I replied, trying not to sound dejected.
“No, it’s not.” Rorik’s nostrils twitched. “It smells good.”
I paused for a split second before replacing the cotton pad. “I dunno. Maybe the nurse’s deodorant or something.”
Rorik closed his eyes, sniffing the air—except my hand was an inch away from his nose.
“I scented it last night, too. It’s… nice,” he murmured.
I froze. Was he sniffingme?
And if he was, did he even realize it?
A ribbon of warmth slithered between my ribs. As much as I liked it, I tried to ignore the feeling. I didn’t have proof that I was the source of the ‘nice’ smell Rorik was currently enjoying.
Don’t get ahead of yourself,I scolded.You’ll just be disappointed.
I wiped the last of the blood away, leaving Rorik’s face clean. My eyes were drawn to the stubble lining his rugged jaw. I wanted to run my fingers over it, but I kept my hands to myself. Rorik already had major issues; touching him without consent was a huge no-no.
“So... do you and Poppy know each other?” I asked.
The tension in the room surged again. Rorik’s gaze met mine sharply. He worked his jaw, about to speak.
Then the door abruptly flew open with a bang.
I whirled around. I saw Poppy yelp in fear, cowering at the sound.
A furious man stood in the doorway, huffing with anger. I recognized the grizzly shifter from the volleyball game—the one who’d hurt Rorik. My blood boiled.
Kaskian’s narrowed eyes glared right through me, piercing Rorik instead.
“There you are, asshole,” Kaskian spat. “Thanks to your big mouth, I heard everything you said. You were gonna crush my skull, huh? We’ll see about that.”
Kaskian didn’t even acknowledge me. I wasn’t arrogant, but damn if that didn’t ignite my draconic pride. I bristled, squaring my shoulders, power sparking in my veins.
Behind me, Rorik tensed, preparing for round two of their fight. “Let’s go,” he growled. “I’ll—”
But his face screwed up as another sneezing fit hit him. As he sneezed into the nook of his arm, the wounds in his sensitive nose opened up again. Blood gushed down the inside of his elbow.
“Shit,” Rorik cursed.
My stomach clenched in concern. He couldn’t lose any more blood—especially not to a stupid, unnecessary fight with this asshole grizzly.
Kaskian roared a battle cry. With a flex of his muscles, he shifted into a massive grizzly bear and charged us.
Time stopped as a sense of indescribable calm fell over me. I didn’tfeelcalm—I was enraged, so disgustingly livid that it looped back around to total serenity. My dragon’s instinctsknewI could disable this threat before it reached Rorik, and that was exactly what I was going to do.
