Bea’s gaze shot to me.
I sucked in air, fear pinning my tailbone to the couch. Metal jangled as she lurched, shoving my brother into the makeshift coffee table and jostling Lucas forward. Liam sprang in front of me.
“Bea, calm down!” Nate screeched as Liam roared and cinched her elongated throat, raising her a full foot off the ground.
She let out a strangled yowl and batted at his raised arm, raking her curled yellow nails across Liam’s skin, making him bleed. His fingers tightened, his knuckles turning as white as snow.
“Liam, don’t kill her,” Nate croaked. “Please. Have mercy.”
I stared between my Alpha and my brother, my lips wobbling with the desire to second Nate’s plea. But I couldn’t speak. Could hardly breathe. When Bea’s arms drooped, when her head lolled and her lids lowered, I unpinned my mouth and gulped in a lungful of oxygen.
“She’s not dead, even though she should be.” Liam tossed her at Lucas as though she were no more than a rag doll that had lost its stuffing.
“Thank you.” Nate’s bloodshot eyes tracked the black-haired Beta as he removed Bea from the cabin. “Thank you,” he whispered again, before lumbering out the door himself, gait unsteady.
“What if she attacks Lucas?” I murmured.
“He has a tranquilizer gun in the car. I told him to use it.”
“Here, Liam.” The whisper of a zipper called my attention back to Darren, who was digging through his nylon bag for sterile gauze and alcohol. Not that we could get infections.
“Take care of Nikki first.”
Darren delicately angled my head away, parted my clumped hair, and swiped the gauze he’d wet against the wound. As he patted the tender spot, I clenched both my eyes and fingers, desperately trying to rein in my runaway pulse.
The air churned, thickened with the scent of mint and wind, and then a warm current ribboned through the cabin’s brisk air. When knees clicked and hands curled around my rolled fists, I peeked through my lashes.
Liam was crouched beside me, his face was so close to mine I could taste his breaths. Although tension traveled across his features, he exuded so much heat and calm energy that I gradually relaxed.
“Will I need stitches, Darren?”
“Depends how fast you want to heal.”
I kept my gaze locked on Liam’s steady one. “As fast as possible.”
“Then stitches it’ll be.”
I gulped.
“I’ll administer an anesthetic, sweetie. You won’t feel a thing.”
I tried to be brave. What was a little head wound considering everything else that was happening? “You can go with them, Liam. Darren can drive me home.”
“They don’t need me.”
The words,I don’t need you eithergripped my tongue but never made their way out, because even though Ididn’tneed him, I appreciated him staying. “I’m sorry I called you an alphahole,” I murmured.
I’ve been called way worse,Pinecone.He popped the nickname out with a hefty dose of snark.
I was about to tell him not to call me that when the tip of a needle pricked my skull.
“So, tell me about this infamous nickname of yours. How did you get it?” he asked out loud.
I gritted my teeth, then breathed out. “A confession for a confession.”
So demanding, Miss Freemont.He heaved another breath, which slid right through my parted lips. “Fine. You first, though.”
My skull went pleasantly numb. I sort of wished the numbness could extend to my temple. I mean, it was in the general vicinity.
