“The razor.” It wasn’t a question. His mouth tightened at the edges, and his eyebrows knitted together. He carefully lowered my arm to rest upright on my thigh. I watched him, shuddering from the leftover sobs.
Weakness sank its claws into me like poison.
Sinclair rifled through the clear box, pulling out a bunch of items and lining them up. I didn’t have the energy to watch. His large hand grabbed my wrist and stretched out my arm, and he began to apply a gel with a sweep of his fingers.
Each pass was so sluggish and careful, it felt like he was moving in slow motion.
“Did you say Elias passed out?” Kyan murmured, keeping his voice soft. I opened my eyes a touch to watch them hovering so close, as if they’d lost the concept of personal space.
“He clutched his chest and then knocked out cold. Hit the ground bloody hard. I thought he was having a heart attack, butthere were no other symptoms.” Sinclair leaned closer to the injury, “Now I know why.”
He felt an echo of my pain because of his claiming bite. He felt my agony . . . so what? I felt nothing about him. No twinge of satisfaction, no anger, just blank.
They kept talking about me like I wasn’t here, and I might as well not have been. I felt like I was outside of my body, floating as I watched. Every move felt detached.
“We should have a doctor come and check on it.”
“I’ll make some calls.” Kyan straightened and strode out of the room.
I met Sinclair’s eyes.
“How could you be so . . . so—” His lip curled, and a cloud worked over his features, morphing them into anger. “You are never to hurt yourself again.” His voice remained low and impassioned. I studied the tic in his jaw and his flaring nose. He was breathing oddly, too.
Now that I saw how he was behaving, how could I have missed it? They’d spent more time not breathing me in. It was because they recognized my unique scent that only a Scent Match would be able to smell.
All the fucking, all this desire . . .
“What do I smell like to you guys?” I asked, but my voice didn’t sound like it came from me, with the frantic edge. They couldn’t be my Scent Matches. They just couldn’t. Sinclair’s cheek twitched again, but he paused, rubbing the antibiotic on my cuts, and turned toward me. He held my gaze for a few seconds, and then his eyes skittered away from mine as he swallowed so hard, his throat bobbed.
“Sweet, sugarycookies,” he moaned on the last word. There was no place for me to doubt, just like I could smell their chocolate scent andknow.
Kyan entered, holding the phone to his ear as he spoke in a low, rushed tone.
“Never do something like this again,” Sinclair repeated, almost mechanically, capping the antibiotic and grabbing a bandage from a package.
“What is going on?” Elias’ voice echoed from the hall, his steps heavy until he reached the door. He was already a pale man, but he looked ghostly.
Elias scanned the bedroom and settled on my arm. Sinclair hadn’t even started to wrap it, so the wounds were exposed, raw, with the thin gel glistening on them.
“What the fuck?” He was hovering over me within seconds. “What happened?” His eyes wildly flicked over the injury.
There was no need to act like he hurt over me. None of them had to put on this show.
Elias groaned, clasping his chest.
“Briar,” he said and doubled over, hand slapping on the wall to brace himself as he pitched to the left.That’s what he gets for claiming me.
What must he be feeling if he was reacting this viscerally? With his one-sided claiming bite, he would only be able to taste a shadow of my emotions. I cocked my head, studying him. It was so odd, I floated over myself, watching everything happen again.
He seemed to collect himself, his breathing ragged and harsh. A touch on the side of my neck brought my focus to Sinclair. He rubbed his thumb over the side of my neck where the imprint of Elias’ teeth remained.
Even though they had their own Alpha bonds, the other two wouldn’t get feedback from Elias’ claim. Sinclair continued tending to my arm, wrapping it carefully.
While I’d been distracted, Elias had neared, hovering behind Sinclair.
“What happened to her?” Horror filled his green irises.
Sinclair’s mouth stiffened.
