We all stared at each other.
We were the Society of Edward’s Sparkles. We’d bonded over choosing the vampire over the werewolf. We’d spent years defending our Team Edward stance against the Jacob fans. And we’d just summoned a werewolf? What kind of sick cosmic joke was this?
“Though,” Krystin said slowly, her eyes still fixed on the unconscious man, “if we had to summon a werewolf... at least this one is fine as hell.”
“KRYSTIN!” Bella’s voice cracked.
“What? I’m just saying. Look at him.”
We all looked.
Yeah. He was... he was extremely fine. I felt guilty even thinking it. Edward Cullen was supposed to be the peak of male beauty, but this guy was giving him serious competition, and I felt like a traitor to everything my teenage self had stood for.
“We can’t call 911,” I said. My voice sounded steadier than I felt. “They’ll ask questions we can’t answer. Where did he come from? How did he get here? Why is he naked and bleeding from what looks like an animal attack? We tell them the truth, and we’re all going to the psych ward.”
“So what do we do?” Daphne’s voice shook.
I looked at my friends. Looked at the bleeding, possibly-werewolf man on my floor. Looked at the spell book still clutched in my other hand, my blood still smeared across the summoning page.
“We... we clean him up? Stop the bleeding? Figure out what the hell is going on before we make any calls?”
It was a terrible plan. The worst plan. The kind of plan that got people killed in horror movies.
But it was the only plan we had.
Bella made another strangled noise. “Are you serious right now? Wen, we don’t know what he is. What if he wakes up and attacks us?”
“Then Krystin stabs him with Gerald.” I gestured to the cardboard skeleton in the corner.
“That’s not how stabbing works,” Krystin said flatly.
“Look, I don’t have a better idea! Do you have a better idea? Anyone?”
Silence.
“That’s what I thought.” I stood up, my knees protesting. “Krystin, you’ve got nurse training. Can you at least tell us if he’s dying?”
Krystin hesitated, then sighed. “Fine. But if he wakes up and eats us, I’m haunting you.”
“Fair.”
She moved closer, crouching down with the wariness of someone approaching a sleeping predator. Her fingers went to his neck, checking for a pulse. “Strong. Steady. Breathing is good. He’s not going into shock.” She examined the wounds, her face going professional. “These are bad, though. Really bad. He needs stitches. Probably antibiotics. Definitely a hospital.”
“Can’t do hospital,” I reminded her.
“Yeah, I got that.” She sat back on her heels. “We need supplies. First aid kit. Clean towels. Water. Maybe some vodka.”
“For drinking or for cleaning?” Daphne asked.
“Yes.”
We scattered. Bella grabbed towels from the bathroom upstairs. Daphne found some old blankets in the storage closet. I got the first aid kit from under the register and a bottle of vodka from the emergency stash I kept in my desk drawer. Krystin was already moving the coffee table out of the way, making space.
Between the four of us, we managed to get blankets under him so he wasn’t bleeding directly onto the floor. The man weighed a ton. Solid muscle and zero body fat. My hands tingled everywhere they touched his skin, and I tried really hard to ignore that.
Krystin returned with more supplies and immediately went into full nurse mode. “Someone should cover him,” she said, her face slightly pink despite her professional demeanor. She gestured vaguely at his lower half. “So I can think. And work. Without distractions.”
Daphne threw a blanket over him, and honestly, it helped. I could feel my brain cells returning now that there was less... nudity on display.
