Page 21 of The Monster I Am

“Aidan!” he wheezed.

Aidan ignored him, rushing to Jared — who was still hanging from the bedposts, eyes dripping tears and chest trickling blood — and checking his pulse.

“Geoff, get me some towels,” Aidan ordered his companion as he started unbuckling the cuffs holding the human up.

The werewolf disappeared from the bedroom doorway without a word.

“What the fuck is this, Rhys?” Aidan demanded.

Gods. He hadn’t had a chance to even tell Elizabeth about Jared, let alone Aidan. It had happened quickly, and everything had seemed fucked in the lack of communication following the party at Dominic’s.

“Remove the spell so we can discuss it,” Rhys said, his voice equally as angry, though he wasn’t sure whether he was more pissed off at Aidan or himself for giving in to his more primal urges. “And this had better be an emergency.”

“This is an emergency.” Aidan lifted Jared, who’d slumped with a pained noise as soon as the chains released him. He carried the human to the bed and laid him down on his back to get a look at the cuts. “I brought⁠—”

Aidan cut off as Jared made another pained sound and started to lift his hand to his chest, his head turning towards Rhys.

No, they did not need to have this conversation where Jared could hear it.

Thankfully, before Rhys could figure out how to word he doesn’t know I’m a traitor and I don’t know if I can trust him, Aidan caught himself.

Fuck.

Rhys wondered if he’d been set up, if Jared’s presence in his home hadn’t been as coincidental as it had seemed. Dominic knew a great deal of information. Was one of the ways he got that information via putting slaves and servants in others’ homes?

Aidan caught the human’s hand before it could touch the open cuts, laying it back down at Jared’s side. “Don’t move,” he said, then glanced at Rhys with a short, “How long are these going to bleed?”

“Not long,” Rhys replied. “They’re enchanted to heal quickly.” The words came out defensive, but then, why wouldn’t he be on edge?

Aidan would never understand. Rhys was the only one in their group who could handle the kinds of parties he attended.

Someone like Aidan would never be able to keep his temper. He’d have gotten himself killed trying to stop Alastair, which would’ve been… Well. A waste.

“If you’ll let me free, I’ll tend to him and take him to his room,” Rhys said curtly.

“Sir?” Jared asked, his voice hoarse and laced with confusion. “What⁠—”

Geoff returned with towels that he handed to Aidan.

“Washcloth should be in the bathroom,” Aidan directed, his gaze not leaving its intent study of Rhys’s face.

“They are,” Rhys said, his cheeks flushing with anger and humiliation alike. “And there’s a healing cream on the counter.” He wasn’t stupid. He knew how to play with submissives, and he⁠—

Jared wasn’t a submissive.

Jared might belong to him, but Jared wasn’t his in the ways that mattered.

Gods, he’d fucked up by doing this.

“There are going to be questions if you keep this up,” Rhys warned Aidan. There would be questions anyway, but he didn’t know the extent of the damage.

Aidan’s gaze switched to Jared as the human whimpered softly, still looking toward Rhys.

“Sir?” Jared asked again.

Aidan’s mouth tightened, but he straightened. With a whispered word and gesture, the bindings holding Rhys fell away.

Rhys didn’t acknowledge the release, instead striding over to the bed and looking down at Jared. He tucked a few strands of hair behind the slave’s ear. “Unexpected guests,” he stated, which was more than obvious. He almost said that they’d continue another time, but he was wise enough to keep those words to himself.