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I arched a brow. “I asked you first, remember?”
He chuckled. “Right.”
Stepping back from him, I grabbed the supplies and put them away.
Someone came in through the side door and I heard Branson’s telltale heavy footsteps.
“I’m going to help with dinner,” Riddick said and left the room just before Branson hesitated by the open doorway.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “Any injuries?”
“No,” he said and huffed indignantly. Stepping into my room, he looked at the bandage on my arm. “Riddick?”
I nodded.
He turned, and I grabbed his forearm. “Branson, talk to me.”
His growl had my arm hair standing on end. Spinning around, he grabbed my shoulders and bent over so he could look directly into my eyes. “You could have died, Ember! You didn’t know she wouldn’t hurt you. You didn’t know she wouldn’t eat you! You gave her your blood and held us frozen by your powers. You caged us and kept us from protecting you!”
Oh, he’d felt like I had caged him. Oh.
Reaching up slowly, I set my hands on either side of his face and felt tears prick the edges of my eyes. “I’m sorry, Branny Boy. I didn’t mean to make you feel caged. I’m so sorry.”
He snarled, his eyes glowing in the dim light, and released me, stepping out of my hold. “Kieran and I spoke and we’re leaving tomorrow. Now that thecreatureisn’t an issue anymore, we’ve no need to stay.”
I flinched and my right hand slid up to press against my chest. “Oh, I see.”
His snarl turned into a frown. “You knew we would leave eventually.”
Tears threatened to form, so I dropped my head and nodded, hiding them. “Yes, I did. I just wasn’t prepared for it so soon, I suppose.” Shoving the hurt down, I looked up at him and smiled wide. “I’m glad you are healed enough to return to your lives. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on my newest patient.”
Chapter
Eight
Beatrice left a few hours after her shower, calling her sister to come pick her up. She’d thanked me a dozen times and promised to repay me someday, even when I told her I didn’t need it.
Once she was gone, the tension eased a little, but we still ate dinner in silence, everyone avoiding speaking so as not to bring up the day’s events.
I excused myself to feed the animals in the barn, including a very demanding Winnie, before climbing up to the roof and laying down to stare are the stars.
My solitude was extremely short lived, interrupted by Triston in tiger form jumping onto the roof and curling up with his tail over his nose.
Instead of acknowledging him, I kept silent and continued gazing at the stars, hoping they might hold some answer to the questions I still had.
“It was brave of you to help the cursed bear.”
“Thank you,” I whispered. He was the first to say I was brave for endangering myself.
“Brave, but terrifying for your friends.”
“Just my friends?” I asked with a smirk and rolled my head to look at him.
He raised his head and peered at me.“No, not just your friends. I wanted to help you, but your power kept me from moving. Being confined is one of the worst feelings for a shifter.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry, Triston. I did not mean to cause any of you discomfort. I knew if I let you move freely that you all would have stopped me.”
He bobbed his head in a nod, his cute ears flopping as he did.“Yes, we would have.”
