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Warrick said nothing, grabbed my hand, and led me through the room. I limped behind him, trying to keep up, and as soon as we were out of sight of the rest of the hounds, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me down the stairs.

I wanted to tell him to put me down, that I didn’t need him to carry me, but I realized in that moment, that I kind of did, and I appreciated that he waited until no one saw, so I didn’t appear weak. At least he understood how important that was to me.

He shoved the door to his room open and kicked it shut behind us, then carried me into his bathroom. It was a nice bathroom. Surprisingly so for one built underground. The shower was massive and could easily fit several people, or two hounds, comfortably.

He lowered me to my feet, turned on the shower, and started stripping me. Again, I should tell him no, but honestly, I was tired. It’d been a big, stressful day, and I thought I might have lost a little more blood than I realized. And yeah, maybe I was experiencing a little shock from the whole attempted rape thing. I’d always felt safe here, physically, anyway, and now…not so much.

“I thought all hounds worshipped females,” I said, my voice sounding different to my own ears.

“We do, which is why he’s going to die.” Each word was said with frigid precision, as if he were already imagining the act, and had ice slicing along my spine.

Warrick pressed his face to my hair and breathed in again, then he propped me against the bathroom counter. He quickly shucked off his clothes and then helped me into the steaming water. We really needed to stop getting naked with each other like this. It wasn’t normal. Friends didn’t get naked together as often as we did, and we weren’t even that.

But it did feel good, washing off the grime and the blood…the evil of the day. “I feel kind of…woozy.”

“He clawed you. That you’re still standing proves just how strong you are.”

I grinned and thought it might look kind of loopy, but I didn’t really care. “That’s nice.”

“Our claws are tipped with poison,” he clarified and dropped to his knees in front of me.

“What are you doing?” I asked and shoved my fingers through his thick, dark hair. “You have great hair. Not coarse like your fur when you’re in your hound form.”

He ignored my idiotic comment about his hair and looked up at me. “I need to lick your wounds. It’ll neutralize the poison and my saliva will speed up healing.”

His voice sounded all deep and growly. “That’s a neat trick.” I could hear the words coming out of my mouth, words I would never say and couldn’t stop it. Neat? Gah.

He moved me back so I was leaning against the wall. “Spread your legs for me, dove.”

“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” I said and laughed, or more giggled. I never giggled. What kind of poison was this? I kind of liked the feeling.

“Not fucking loving that someone hurt you,” he said with a lot of feeling behind it.

That was nice as well. “Okay, then. Get licking.”

His eyes flashed red and he leaned in.

“Wait.” I shoved at his forehead. “Do hounds like the taste of blood? You’re not gonna get like bloodlust or something and eat me?”

He drew in a ragged breath. “No, I’m not going to eat you, not yet, and never in the way you mean. As for blood, I don’t mind it, and yours is…delicious.”

He’d said a whole lot of words, and it was like my brain had scrambled them all in my head. He lapped at my inner thigh and I burst out laughing. “Oh god, that tickles.”

His massive hands banded my thighs, holding me still, then he licked some more, his wide, flat tongue rasping over every scratch and graze. I dug my fingers deeper into his hair, and as I watched him, the tickles quieted and something else started.

My belly was flippy and warm, and my limbs felt loose, and yeah, with every swipe of his tongue, my body heated more.

My mind began to clear as well.

I had the sudden urge to fist his thick hair more firmly and drag that tongue higher, to the part of me that was starting to throb, that was growing wet.

Thank god, I was standing under the water. As long as he didn’t look there, maybe he wouldn’t notice. He licked one of the deeper scratches and his lips sealed around it, sucking gently. It caused a deep pull in my lower belly and shot sparks down between my thighs.

Nose to my thigh, his wide, tattooed back expanded on a deep breath—

His eyes sliced up to me.

Oh hell. That look had the power to make me throw all common sense out the window. His eyes weren’t red, they were bright gold and glowing. I’d never seen them like that, not ever. He sucked on my tender skin one more time, then he straightened a bit and pressed his face to my lower belly, drawing in another deep breath before letting it out on a growl.