“Take a seat.” I nod toward the bed, and she hops up, cringing as her soaked clothes stick to her legs. The silent one hovers nearby, his eyes darting every which way before resting on the back of my neck, making the spines beneath my skin tingle with awareness.
“Is this what you do onboard?” she asks. “You’re the medic?”
I snort. “Not quite.” Cookie’s our usual go-to surgeon, and she doesn’t want him looking at her while he’s in a mood or mid-meal prep or she’ll wind up with more stitches than she needs.
I rummage through the cupboards, quickly amassing an armful of supplies, which I place on the bed beside her. Then, donning the reading glasses I keep on a chain around my neck, I inspect the cut at the side of her head.
“It doesn’t look too deep, and it’s stopped bleeding, so no need for stitches,” I tell her. “I’ll clean it, though. Try to avoid getting it wet.”
When I glance down at her, I see how close my face is to hers. Two twinkling hazel eyes are observing me without any hint of subtlety.
“What?”
She swallows hard and then shakes her head. “Nothing. I’ll try my best not to get thrown overboard.”
I don’t think much about what I’m doing as I apply cleansing fluid to a pad and dab at the cut. But as soon as my fingers brush against her scalp, another shock travels up my arm like the kickback from electrocution.
Ignoring the way my entire arm is tingling right the way up to the itchy spot on my arm, I clench my teeth and focus on cleaning her up. The faster I can do that, the faster I can kick them both out.
“Any more injuries I should know about?”
She hesitates for just a second before leaning forward to show me the various cuts and scrapes along her arms.
“This is all from as we were getting on the ship?”
She shakes her head. “I had a fight a few days ago. Some of these are from then.”
I can’t help the growl that rumbles out of my chest. The beast in chains inside me doesn’t like how most of these look like defensive wounds. She clearly fought back, although it looks like she was the one who came out worse off.
“Anything else?”
She shakes her head before turning to look at her mate in the corner, whose avid gaze has been fixed on us this whole time.
“Aster, how about you?”
He shakes his head, and she frowns, reaching her arm out. As soon as his fingertips touch her flesh, another unwanted grumble makes its way up my windpipe. I swallow it down, but the sound doesn’t go unnoticed.
I feel the tips of my ears going hellishly hot as I refuse to avert my eyes, staring them both down resolutely.
The beast inside me is usually quiet. Always watchful. But he rarely lets himself be known until it’s too late for his prey.
He definitely doesn’t growl at people like he’s a disgruntled cub who hasn’t had enough sleep. But today seems to be the day he lost his damn mind.
I eye their soaked clothing and abruptly stride for the door. “Wait here.”
Making my way to the laundry, I return barely minutes later with a pile of oversized clothing for them both, along with a toothbrush and bar of soap I scrounged up. “Donations.”
My ears have cooled down by this point, but the skin on my arm is itching like crazy. I scratch at it once before shoving my hands into my pockets.
Reva nods, pulling the clothes toward her, and I jerk my head toward the door. “Come with me. I’ll show you where you’re sleeping.”
I get through the tour of the lower level as quickly as I can, fighting the urge to twitch and scratch at my arm. It’s distracting as all hell.
My beast is scratching at my insides with metal-tipped claws too. For some reason, he doesn’t want me to leave them. Just like Finch, she seems to have captured his attention.
Which means she has no idea how much danger she’s in.
A chorus of yells sounds from up on the deck, and I chuckle under my breath. “The lads are a bit rowdy at the minute,” I tell them. “They’ve all been cursed to stay onboard the ship and until we can get it lifted, we’re all going a little stir crazy, stuck onboard.” I hesitate and then feel the need to add, “You’ll be safe, though.”
