Despite my injuries, my sense of smell was intact. It was almost the only part of me that was unaffected by my loss of blood and infection.
Mate.
My beast’s voice was weak, but I heard him, and I allowed the man’s aroma to swirl around me. If I’d been well, it would have teased and taunted me, but now it wrapped itself around my body and kissed my skin.
He was my mate and he was a shifter. But what kind? I couldn’t pick up on it through his scent.
“I have to shift.”
He removed his clothes, but my eyes were half closed and my head slumped to the side. I pried my eyes open and blinked, dazed that my mate’s skin had been transformed from pale to dazzling. What was he?
He shifted and four long legs appeared and a mane. My mate was a horse.
No. Look.
I was looking as best I could even though I needed something to prop my eyes open. And I was burning up with fever. My body was on fire and my parched throat needed water. My neck didn’t have the strength to keep my head upright.
He’s got a horn.
My frazzled brain pictured a musical instrument that my mate was going to put to his lips. Was he going to toot it?
I heaved up my bowed head. The “horse” had a horn on his forehead or muzzle or snout or whatever horses had. The tip was pointing upward, and it sparkled in the sun.
Gods, he was a unicorn. My mate, the mythical beast. I understood dragon and unicorn shifters existed, but I’d never encountered one.
The unicorn lowered himself to the ground. He folded his front legs before sinking onto his haunches. I wondered if he was going to have a conversation, but I was past talking, and if he didn’t give me more water, I’d be unconscious.
The tip of his horn came dangerously close to my calf and ankle, but I couldn’t move. The horn touched my skin, and there was asparkling followed by a flash and sharpness, as if I was getting an injection. I experienced a sensation of something flowing into my veins and speeding through my body.
My body cooled a little, though I was still feverish, and the redness around the open wounds faded. I closed my eyes and allowed him to do whatever he was doing.
There was a rustle, and when I glanced up, he was in human form and pulling on his pants. He offered me more water, and I gulped it down, swallowing a couple pills he gave me.
“How are you feeling?”
I hadn’t imagined a unicorn’s voice before, but if I had, this was exactly how it would be. It was light and it sounded as though it was frolicking with the wind.
“Not as bad as before.” I was surprised I could speak, but my bear also had more energy, though neither of us could manage a shift.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
I wasn’t in the mood to give him my life history but said I was rogue and in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I need to move you somewhere safer, just for the night.” He told me he couldn’t take me home with him. I got that. No one wanted to be associated with a rogue. But there was a cave not far from here where he’d played as a kid. It’d be better than being outside, especially as it looked like rain. He shuddered when he mentioned the rain, but I ignored it.
“And I’ll smother the surrounding area with another scent to cover yours so no one else will attack you.”
He picked me up, and I flopped against him as he strode through the trees. His heartbeat was like no other, and it was more of a tinkling or pattering than a thump. And when he put me down on the ground, I was on a blanket. It scented of him, though it wasn’t fresh. After opening my eyes, there was a light coming from the right, but above me was dark. It wasn’t intimating, but accompanied by my mate’s scent, it was comforting.
He tucked something under my head and examined my wounds.
“You still need more antibiotics, but you’re no longer in immediate danger.” He felt my forehead. “And your fever is mild.”
I blinked as the last rays of the sun penetrated the cave.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Roland.” He pulled out a candy bar from his pocket. “This is all I have, but I’ll bring more food in the morning, Bryden.”
