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Chapter 5
“Well,looks like it’s just you and me,” I said to Dagen, who remained unconscious on the bed after the others had left. “I help you and hopefully that buys me my freedom, right? Only fair. I mean, I did put you in that bed accidentally when you attacked me. But Nero said you were saving me from the wolf, and for that I owe you.” Huffing, I dropped my bag on the mattress and rummaged through the contents, remembering I had tossed the bottle at Dagen in the woods. “Nothing in the potion should have harmedyou.”
I never used toxic ingredients. But wolfsbane root had tangled with the bottle, so that meant it must have somehow tainted the potion and I might have inadvertently poisoned him. Wolfsbane was toxic to wolves. If ingested, it killed them quick. Back in ancient times before Haven was split into seven territories, all races lived together, and they fought endlessly. The stories explained that human guardians would tip arrows with wolfsbane to hunt animals and keep savage wolves atbay.
So the urgency to fix Dagen sat on my chest. I had no idea what had made him sick, and what if the wolfsbane was slowly killing him? If he hadn’t died yet, there was hope he hadn’t swallowed any of the spritz. Oryn was ready to rip my head off already, so what would he do if his friend passed because of my mistake? A shiver gripped me because I didn’t want to findout.
Okay, I have to fix this andfast.
Nero returned carrying a bucket of steaming water, which he placed near the end of the bed, along with several strips of fabric forbandages.
“I’m thinking he has wolfsbane poisoning,” I explained. “So Ineed—”
“Wait!” Nero’s deep voice sliced through mine. “Why would he be poisoned when that plant doesn’t grow in theDen?”
I swallowed past the thickness in my throat, hating how I cringed on the inside, loathing how Nero stared at me as if I were a monster. My words raced. “There’s wolfsbane in my bag. I collected it for a friend back in Terra. But the roots got caught on my protection spray. Traces of it must have hit Dagen’s face when I splashed him. I’m so sorry. But he’s not dead, so it’s not toolate.”
Nero said nothing but clenched and unclenched his hands, his attention on Dagen, and my chestconstricted.
“Look, I’ll do everything to help him. I’m an herbalist healer. But I require a few more things. Vinegar, salt, and morefabric.”
Nero wasn’t responding, so I closed the distance and touched his arm, and that buzz zapped through me. He looked down at his hand, then raised his chin and sniffed theair.
“I can smell your scent and a damp, mossy odor from your bag, but I didn’t pick up the wolfsbane earlier.” The harsh tone behind his words had me backingaway.
I nodded. “It’s loose in my bag and probably wet from theriver.”
His face paled. “Hand overeverything.”
“But I’ve got my other herbs in there too.” I picked up the bag from where I’d dropped it, squaring myshoulders.
Nero snatched the handle from my hands and stormed out of the room. A swirl of darkness consumed my thoughts. What was he going to do? Burn my belongings? But worrying about what I couldn’t control wouldn’t keep me alive. So I dragged the bucket to the side of the bed and drenched a piece of fabric in the steaming hot water, the scorching heat pinching myskin.
I had to heal Dagen and prove to Nero I wasn’t a threat, then he’d have to release me, though part of me still craved Nero. I curled the blanket down to Dagen’s ankles and found him naked.Of course. Even unconscious, he was huge. What was up with shifters? All I could say was that she-wolves were a lucky set ofladies.
Picking up a wet bandage, I squeezed out the water, my hands burning, but it was essential the bandages remained hot against his limbs. “Just so you know,” I said to Dagen, “you will not disappoint whoever your future mate is. Or your current mate. You must have a harem of girls.” I continued covering his legs with the hot strips of material. The next piece would need two layers to sit across his strongthigh.
I hurried, but when my hand nudged his privates, I flinched. “Heavens, I’msorry.”
Damn, relax.Before I could stop myself, I fixed the fabric between his legs, my fingers brushing his soft sack—and in all honesty, with my first boyfriend, I’d neverstudiedhim. Now temptation to explore teased me. With a finger, I traced the length of the thick vein running along hisshaft.
Ittwitched.
I leapedbackward.
Nero returned, and I froze, hands to my chest, my stomach locked tight. “Everything isfine.”
His nose wrinkled. “Is Dagenawake?”
Would Nero know I’d felt up his friend? Heavens, I had acted like a pervert, though. Bee would be proud. What was wrong with me? Dagen had twitched at my touch, which was a fantastic reaction because it meant his body wasn’t numb. But I couldn’t tell Nero that or explain how it had happened.Nope.
I rushed to the bucket and prepared another bandage. Nero set a wooden container with what smelled like vinegar near the bed along with a bag of salt and dumped a mountain of material strips the color of hide on the floor. Had the shifters stolen them from someone inTerra?
“You guys get a lot of injuries?” I asked. In haste, I covered Dagen’s other leg, refusing to put my hand anywhere near his…privates.
“This is Oryn’s cabin, and he uses the place as a resting home for wolves in thevicinity.”
With the blanket rolled back up Dagen’s legs, I tucked him tight. Heat radiated from him, which was perfect. “So it’s also a medical housethen?”
