Ransom prepared food and smiled at the sleepy Trolleris who scuttled over to join him by the fire.Flynt cooed when Ransom handed him hot food.At least his needs were easy to fix.Nourishment and protection, although the young fellow held hidden powers of his own because he’d cured Ransom’s headache with his humming.Ransom suspected he was much older than they’d first thought, but he didn’t seem to offer a threat.Yet.
Next, Ransom checked on Scarlett.Her arm had swelled, the skin now tight and shiny.Flynt pushed past him and placed his big nose next to the angry, puckered bite on Scarlett’s arm.He cooed and glanced from Scarlett to Ransom.He climbed onto Ransom’s knee and patted the hilt of Ransom’s knife before getting down and going close to Scarlett to point.
“I should lance it, huh?”Ransom frowned and decided Flynt was right.It couldn’t do any harm.Scarlett should shift to her feline again.A wave of guilt pummeled him.He should’ve woken her and insisted she transform instead of leaving her to sleep.
Ransom retreated to grab the medical supplies.He heated water and also his blade.When he approached this time, her eyes were open, but instead of her usual beautiful green, her irises were a milky white.He sucked in a sharp breath.
That wasn’t good.
“What’s wrong?”Scarlett whispered.
“Nothing,” he lied.“How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been in the middle of a cat-fight with all my brothers and cousins picking on me at once.”
In other words, not her best.
Ransom wiped her sweaty face with a damp cloth.“Try shifting.You should’ve done that last blacklight.”
“I woke up during the night and tried.”She swallowed, and Ransom glimpsed her fear.“I couldn’t sense my feline.”
“Phrull,” Ransom said without thinking.
She winced.
“Can you eat?We should keep up your fluids.”
Flynt tapped his arm and smacked his clawed hand on Ransom’s knife hilt.
“Uh, maybe later for food.Flynt is suggesting I lance your wound.His instincts have been right so far, and he’s insistent.This is the second time he has proposed this action.”
“Go ahead,” Scarlett murmured.“I doubt I can hurt any worse.”
Ransom dampened his cloth and wiped her arm.He stood and walked to the fire again to reheat his blade.When he returned, Flynt cuddled against Scarlett’s head, doing his humming thing.As Flynt’s humming continued, the tension released from Scarlett’s limbs and torso.
Ransom sliced open Scarlett’s arm along the healed seam of the wound before he could second-guess himself.She moaned, the anguished cry raising yet more guilt.It was his fault she’d been here.He should’ve ignored the prince’s demands and traveled alone.Ransom tossed aside the knife and held her injured arm immobile to prevent the fluids from flying over any of them.The stench from the discharge forced him to breathe through his mouth.It held the same stink that the larger Trolleris males carried.
Flynt made a chattering noise and gestured at the gray pus that oozed from the cut Ransom had made.Flynt wrinkled his big nose, and Ransom took his meaning and agreed.Contact with the stuff coming from Scarlett’s wound was a bad idea.With contamination in mind, Ransom cleaned what he could of Scarlett’s arm before he doused it with an antiseptic spray.He considered bandaging the injury but left it uncovered.If it attracted bugs, he’d reassess.
Concern fought with regrets as he peered at her pale face.Grata, she appeared small and vulnerable, and more than anything, he wished she was lashing him with snarky attitude.
“Scarlett.”
Her lashes flickered before she opened her eyes.Ransom frowned.Still that weird milky color.He didn’t comment because he hated to scare her.“Can you manage some soup?Maybe water too.”
“Yeah.”
“How is the arm now?”
“It’s not aching as badly.After I’ve eaten something, I might try to shift again.”
“Can you feel your feline?”
“No.”
Ransom hid his anxiety.Instead, he heated water and made Scarlett soup.He gave Flynt a mug too before he warmed a shrink-meal for himself.
With his meal in hand, Ransom sat on a rock near Scarlett and Flynt.
