“Did I hurt—”
“She’s dreaming.”I hope.
The pup whined again, wriggling so hard that he nearly slipped from Zane’s grip. His blue eyes were fixed on the girl, oversized paws scrabbling in the air like he could reach her if he just tried hard enough. Zane adjusted his hold, murmuring softly to him and bouncing him slightly, but the pup wasn’t having it. He let out another whine, louder this time, and clawed at Zane’s chest.
“Okay, okay! Chill, wolfie! You’re gonna hurt someone! Namely me!”
“Just calm down, everyone.” Moving closer to Zane, I held the wolf’s face in my palms and waited until his eyes met mine. “You need to be quiet and calm while we help her. Can you do that?”
He didn’t blink, just stared at me. Then, amazingly, he sneezed at me.
“Bat’s bones! Don’t tell me he understood you?” Zane sneered.
“Of course he did.” I scratched behind the pup’s ears before stepping back.
“Ko. Shirt,” Cas called through gritted teeth.
“Shirt,” I agreed as my stomach clenched.
Oh, theshirt.
I hesitated. She was so vulnerable, and the idea of doing this felt wrong. But wehadto. We had to see to help her. Cas’ eyes met mine, and I saw the same reluctance there. We both took a breath, then another, before we carefully lifted her to slide the shirt up.
More bruises, including a deep one in the center of her breastbone, as if she’d taken an elbow to the chest.
“Noctem maledicta.” Zane whistled low under his breath. “Am I gonna have fun with whoever did this!”
The faded pink cotton clung stubbornly to one arm, fused to something. Dried blood and the infection we smelled. When our fingers met to gently pull away the fabric, I felt Cas’ hands shaking. Not from fear, but from fury distilled to tremors.
The wound unveiled itself like a rotten secret.
“Cruor,” I breathed as we looked at four inches of angry crimson flesh, curling around the edges and filled with yellow pus. “Did that pup do this?”
“No.” Zane sounded surer than he ever had about anything in his life. “I smell were, not dire, under the blood and infection. And this guy has done nothing but try to protect her since we found him.”
Leaning a bit closer, I took a whiff and had to agree that he was right about the smell. Before I could get Cas’ opinion, he came out of his stupor and went full battlefield medic mode.
“Ko, glove up. Debridement tools. Sterile saline. Antibiotics. Suture kit.”
“Or—” Zane struggled with the yowling pup, “we let her nibble a vein. Quick heal with a bonding experience on the side.”
“She’s not vamp or dhamp, you troglodyte!” Cas snapped on a pair of nitrile gloves with lightning speed.
“It’d kill her, Z.” I hurried to put on my own gloves. “She wouldn’t be able to metabolize—”
“Since when areyouDr. House?”
The pup chose that moment to launch, a desperate fur torpedo heading straight for the bed. Zane caught him mid-air, earning claw trails down his forearms that closed up before blood could even well in the scratches.
“Everybody shut up!” I whisper-shouted. “You’re scaring him. It’s not helping.”
“Easy, fuzzy landmine. Your girl’s tougher than she looks.” Zane’s thumb stroked behind the wolf’s twitching ears. “She survived whatever shitshow left this mess. A few germs won’t—”
“Staphylococcus aureus,” Casimir corrected, swabbing antibac around the wound. “Could lead to septicemia if—”
“English,WebMD!” Zane bleated.
“If it gets into her bloodstream, she’ll die.”
