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Brett walked toward the nearest tree and hung the sleeping bag up anyway.

“Let’s try to fix the tent if we can,” he suggested.

He and Ellie struggled for about fifteen minutes before deciding it was a lost cause at this point. The sopping mess fought against them, and the poles refused to cooperate. The tent collapsed, rain flooded it, and they accepted the fact that their attempts were in vain.

“Your hand.” Brett pointed the beam of the light at her, and Ellie saw red dripping into the mud.

“The blade slipped,” she explained. “I’d forgotten all about the wound, thanks to all the adrenaline surging through me.”

“Let’s patch you up. Otherwise, your shifter healing won’t kick in as quickly.”

They inspected the cuts in the dim light. They didn’t appear too deep, but the blood flow wasn’t slowing. As she looked at it, the sting of the wounds throbbed through her hand. It was as if not seeing it made it unreal somehow.

“I’ll try to find the med kit,” Brett stated before fighting with the opening of the tent. The wet fabric clung to his body as he entered. Ellie tried her best to help prop the roof of their former shelter so Brett could find what he was searching for.

Brett eventually hobbled out of the blob that used to be their tent, clutching the flashlight and med kit. He ushered Ellie over to the tall maple tree next to the towering pine, helping her out of the rain.

“Can you hold this with your good hand?” he asked, flipping the flashlight around so she could grab the handle.

“Yeah,” Ellie replied. Her voice was soft, sounding almost alien to her ears. The shock was subsiding, and she was beginning to feel again. Pain seared through her fingers as an ache spread through her body. Her shoulders were tense after all the paddling, and her thighs burned from the hike. Her hand shook slightly as she held it out for Brett to inspect. Both her body and mind were exhausted.

His gentle fingers dabbed at her wound with gauze. She tried not to wince as he applied the antiseptic goo.

“I guess it’s time to try sleeping in the tree,” Ellie mused, looking up into the welcoming branches. She smiled at Brett as he finished taking care of the slices on her hands.

“After you,” he said, propping the med kit up against the trunk of the tree and gesturing toward the branches.

Ellie nodded as Brett turned around, giving her privacy to remove her clothes and shift. Her body morphed around her, shrinking and changing until Ellie became the black cat she had come to love. Rain dampened her fur, and the mud squished between her tiny toes. She hoped that she didn’t undo everything Brett had done to clean out her wound, but they needed to sleep, and this was their best option.

After a brief head-to-tail shake, Ellie ran up the trunk of the large tree that sheltered them, sinking her claws into it as she scrambled up its trunk. Her wounded paw stung with the climb, but she didn’t feel that she had made it any worse. She kept close to the trunk until she found a suitable bough higher up to lie on. The bark was damp in places, but the leaves around her kept most of the moisture of the rain out.

Branches beneath her shook gently as Brett—in sloth form—made his way up the tree to join her. She’d always thought sloths were incredibly slow-moving, and while he did move carefully and at a languid pace, it didn’t take him long to make it up to her. His claws hooked on the branch nearest her. His shaggy, brown fur ruffled around him as he got comfortable, hugging the giant trunk.

Exhaustion threatened to shut her eyes, but she kept them trained on Brett. She watched his eyes slowly close and his head drop as he drifted off to sleep. Soon she joined him, feeling a sense of safety wash over her.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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