Finally, when our eyes met, he reached for me. Slowly, giving me plenty of time to back away, he took my face in his hands and held my gaze with his green eyes. “Nai,” he said, his voice low and rumbly. “I respect that you’re a virgin. More importantly, we have ourwhole livesahead of us. I’m not going to let our first time be in a situation like this.”
“Okay. I mean, that wasn’t what I was thinking, but whatever.” I gave him a sly smile, which he returned.
“I’m not going to pressure you to have sex, Nai. When you’re ready—when you feel comfortable, and you want to, then it’ll happen. Not just because we’re sharing a room or a bed.”
Relief whooshed through me. I mean, I wanted him, like,yummm! But I was also scared shitless and stressed out about the thought of having sex with him. Yes, we were fated mates, but we had a lot of trust to rebuild after our rocky start. And there was the whole “I have no idea what I’m doing” factor, and he was probably way more experienced in that department.
I smiled up at him, raised up onto my tiptoes, and he leaned in, capturing my mouth in a kiss. His touch was soft and gentle, but I wanted more. After nipping at his lower lip, I parted mine in invitation. Success! He deepened the kiss, brushing his tongue against mine as heat blossomed low in my belly, and a soft moan escaped me. I reached out, grabbing at his rock-hard abs when he hissed, pulling away.
“Crap!” I’d poked his still-healing wound. Worst mate ever.
He swallowed hard and then waved me off. “It’s fine.”
“Rage.” Kneeling, I inspected the wound better and frowned. My blood had closed the skin, but through the scab, it still wept—a gray-milky fluid that smelled like metal.
“Something’s wrong. Why isn’t your body healing?”
My eyes widened and then, at the same time, we both said it:
“Silver.”
Crap. Crappity-crap. Crap. Crap. My heart thumped against my ribs, sending a fresh wave of panic through me.
“Rage … did I heal your wound with a silver bullet still inside?”
Sweat broke out on his brow, and my hands grew clammy with the realization that a freaking silver bullet might be lodged inside of him.
“Okay…” My mouth turned into the Sahara Desert, and I forced a swallow—which did nothing. I was trying to stay calm, but every single heartbeat served as a reminder of the poison that would be spreading through Rage’s body if that was a silver bullet.Please don’t let it be a silver bullet. There was only one reason to use silver against a wolf shifter. Why would the alpha king be using silver bullets?
I needed to do something. I pointed at the bathroom. “Can you shower, or do you need my help to wash off—”
“I’m not going to keel over right this second,” he muttered.
Okaaay. “Not the most convincing pitch, but if you jump in the shower and rinse off all that muck. I’ll go see if John has a pack doctor, and he will be able to better assess the wound if it’s clean.”
Rage nodded, but for a split second, I saw fear flash in his eyes.
If he died, it was all my fault because I might have stupidly closed his wound with a silver bulletstill inside of him.
Way to kill your mate, Nai!
Chapter 4
Ten minutes later,which was pretty much an eternity of mind-wracking torture, Rage lay back on John and Sara’s dining room table as the pack doctor walked in the door.
“Alright now, son, we don’t have fancy medications, so when you start to hurt, bite down on this.” The doctor, a man named Jeb who had a thick Middle Eastern accent, handed Rage a wooden spoon and then leaned over to inspect the wound. He tsked and shook his head before opening up a rudimentary but clean looking surgical kit. “We’ll tie you down first, but that’s mostly just to help you remember to stay still.”
Jeb was a mage who had become the local veterinarian, healing injured animals from birds to bears. So, naturally, he also helped the shifters.
All around the wound, Rage’s skin was turning dusky grayish-blue, the early signs of silver poisoning.
“I thought maybe the bear got you and the bullet was just a regular one,” I muttered, squeezing Rage’s hand as I took up my spot by his shoulder. “I’m so—”
“Stop it, Nai,” Rage whispered. “None of this is your fault.” Then he put the spoon between his teeth and, closing his eyes, bit down.
“Right, then. I’m going to have to do this fast because of your wolf healing.”
Rage nodded, and his nostrils flared as he sucked in a deep breath.
