Brie gulped. “I know.”
“He’s going to make it through, Brie. The transition will probably be tougher because of his injuries, and he’ll probably have a longer recuperation time, but he’s going to make it through.”
Brie chewed on her bottom lip and studied the man in the bed only three feet away from her. Was he really her mate? Did huntershavemates?
But they must, if Asher had said he believed she was his, or maybe they experienced something similar. They all shared the same DNA, after all. And the fact he was her mate felt soright.
Pulling her hands out from under the sheets, she grasped the blanket and tugged it back when Zina grabbed her hands.
“What are you doing?” Zina demanded.
“Going to be with him.”
Zina’s eyebrows shot up, but her hands fell away from Brie’s. “Let me help you,” she offered.
With tender care, Zina draped Brie’s arm around her shoulders and helped her rise from the bed. Brie ground her teeth against the pain as she hobbled over to the bed and collapsed next to Asher.
She wore only a T-shirt and a pair of workout shorts that must have come from a store. Asher was dressed only in a pair of boxers. His arm hadn’t been bandaged, probably to allow the pellets to work their way out of him.
Brie inspected the shredded flesh, ligaments, and bone. It looked horrible but was better than the last time she saw him. The blood had been cleaned from him, and the bleeding had stopped, but it still looked like his arm would fall off if it was pulled on.
“How long was I out for?” she asked.
“Over a day,” Zina replied.
“So, he’s pretty far into the transition.”
Brie ran her fingers across his forehead, wiping away the sweat there before turning her attention to Zina. She didn’t have to say anything; Zina handed her a cool washcloth that she used to wipe his forehead.
“He is,” Zina said.
But he was still showing no signs of waking. Zina and Cabo had gone through their transition in a little over a day, although the timeframe could be different for hunters. Whether that was true or not, she didn’t know, but she wanted him towake up.
She had to see him and talk to him. She was desperate to hear the warm reassurance of his voice and experience the electric thrill of his touch. Hehadto make it through this.
When she touched him again, his eyes fluttered before going still once more. She leaned closer to kiss his cheek and rested her head on his shoulder.
CHAPTERFORTY-FIVE
Asher triedto turn his head toward Brie. He was desperate to see her, but he didn’t dare move as every part of him screamed in agony. It felt as if something was carving its way through him, slicing apart his veins and plucking the arteries from his heart before sticking them back in like he was a broken computer someone was trying to reset.
His heart raced before suddenly stuttering and then jumping and lurching in such a way he was sure it would explode. His head felt like someone was battering it into a wall over and over again until he could barely stand to breathe.
Every part of him hurt so bad that the least of his problems was his arm, which had started to feel like someone was taking a blowtorch to it. But through all his unrelenting misery, her voice and touch made everything better for a fleeting second. She was there, safe and with him.
He tried to reach for her and speak, but his body wasn’t his anymore. It was possessed by this insufferable agony that refused to let him rise from its depths. He tried to scream but couldn’t open his mouth.
And while he’d far prefer to go through the transition than die, he wasn’t prepared for it to happen. He’d known it was worse for hunters, he’d seen his friends endure it, but he never could have imagined this was what they went through.
Zina handed Brie a fresh washcloth she’d dipped in the bowl sitting on the table between the beds. She wiped the sweat from Asher’s forehead as she curled up beside him again.
When the doorknob rattled, she lifted her head as Cabo entered the room with a cooler in hand. He set it on the floor, closed the door, and turned toward her bed. Then his eyes shot toward Asher; when he spotted her, a huge grin split his handsome face.
“It’s good to see you up and about, boss,” he said.
“I hate it when you call me that.”
“I know,” he said with a laugh. “But you’re here for me to annoy, and that makes me happy.”
