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But why should I care? She didn’t care when she poisoned me.

Her back was to me as she fumbled for a glass vial of something, but the panic pulsing in her scent did something to me.

Protect, something shouted in me. Stop the threat.

But the threat was herself.

“Fuck,” I mumbled. I rushed to her. But just as I reached her and started to ask what she needed, she spun on her heel, the syringe raised and aimed at me like a weapon. Liquid dripped from the needle, but as her hand came down, I grabbed her wrist to stop the blow.

I had no clue what was in that syringe, but I refused to find out that way. I snatched it, spinning her so that her back was to my front, pinning her against the counter. She thrashed against me as I kept her hands behind her back. “How dare you?” she spat.

“Let’s leave the outraged self-righteousness behind, why don’t we?” I quipped. “What’s in this needle?”

She thrashed against me harder, and this situation should not have allowed my body to respond the way it did, but godsdammit her movements … “Aura,” I said in a low tone. She wriggled again. “Aura, for the gods’ sake. I’m trying to help you. Stop squirming and answer me. What’s in this?”

“The draft that saves my life!” Her voice broke.

She had to be just igniting the theatrics to trick me into letting her go. But her racing heart and the sharp taste of her fear said otherwise. She stopped struggling against me, resigned. I almost missed the fighting, because the stillness that came over her only amplified her shuddering intake of breath, the way her shoulders trembled, and the salty scent of tears, though she didn’t face me. My mind struggled to grasp everything being thrown at me. She’d displayed signs, not just of Lobofebris, but of her body trying to shift uncontrollably. Vampires weren’t affected that way.

“Where do you inject it?” I asked, my lips close to her ear. Her hair smelled of wildflowers and herbs. It smelled of fear and an undercurrent of desire. I didn’t miss the subtle shudder, because my full weight was still against her. She’d gone still, but I didn’t let up. “Where?” I insisted.

“I can do it myself.”

“I can stand here all day.”

She drew in a breath, and I felt the insult coming, but her body spasmed, her cry of pain squeezing my heart as her body fought to shift again. “Aurelia, I will stab this needle into your ass if you don’t⁠—”

“Thigh,” she whispered, urgently. “Into the muscle.”

I nodded, the side of my face against hers. “I’m lifting your skirt, injecting you, and stepping away. Alright?” She kept quiet, and I pressed more firmly against her. “Alright?”

“Alright! Fucking brute,” she mumbled. I couldn’t help but smirk at that. I tugged up her dress, expecting to feel the edge of her underclothing, but my fingers met bare flesh against her hip. I felt more than I heard her draw in a breath as my trousers tightened. Before things could get more awkward, I plunged the needle into the side of her thigh, then froze.

“Push the plunger down, idiot,” she said.

I pushed slowly, then pulled the needle out. She released a breath as I stepped back and allowed her skirts to fall into place again.

Her face was flushed when she turned, but her eyes were back to gold-flecked crimson. She snatched the syringe from me and threw it onto the tray before leaning back against the counter. Her hands gripped the edge, chest heaving with each intake of breath. I could tell she was intentionally trying to slow down her respirations. She was practiced at it.

Her eyes drifted from my face to where the front of my trousers were tented. When she met my gaze again, a dark brow lifted.

I cleared my throat. “You owe me an explanation,” I said, hoping to redirect her attention.

“I don’t owe you anything, Beta.” She turned and started to haphazardly sweep things off the counter and into a bin she pulled from beneath.

“I told you last time I was here that my name is⁠—”

“I don’t care.”

I was impressed with the speed in which she was packing everything, even with a slight limp, and even as her hands still shook.

“If you came to return your book, leave it on the table in the library, grab your new book, and get out of my sight.”

“Oh, this is a lot more interesting than reading about—” Last time we were in the library together, she’d stopped me from picking up a book on the extinct hybrids. “—bloodwolves,” I whispered. Shit.

She spun so quickly a loose curl escaped from the hair pinned at the back of her head.

“Don’t even think about it,” I said as she reached for a beaker. She closed her fingers around it and swung.