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Chapter Fifteen
Ugh. Ivo felt like he’d been hit by a tanker truck.
A tanker truck made entirely of ram horns.
He closed his eyes as hot water washed over him. Alani had helped him undress, and while she had fought him about showering before she had a chance to look at his wounds, he ended the spat by just jumping into her tub and turning the water on. She left in a huff shortly after, and Ivo used the silence to nurse what really hurt—his pride.
The physical injuries would be healed by tomorrow for the most part. The gash in his side was already almost closed, while his face only looked ten times as bad as it felt. At least they hadn’t broken his nose.
The shifter gene offered unparalleled healing time compared to humans, but that didn’t mean his body didn’t hurt. Everything ached. While he loved the feel of Alani’s hands all over him, her little figure propping up his as she maneuvered him up to her apartment, he couldn’t be handled much right now. Give him an hour or two, plus a few shots of tequila, and he’d be good to go. Sort of.
Ivo had spent the last two weeks hunting rams. He’d stalked through their mountain and across their plains, hoping to find the clan and prove to himself that he hadn’t put his clan in danger. Every day that Vince eluded him, and the rest of the rams hid in the shadows, however, eased him one step closer to being convinced that they were up to no good.
All that hunting, sleuthing, and searching had come to a head today when he found a group of rams making their way toward the base of the mountain. Ivo had seen them first in human form, a bunch of them piled in the back of Vince’s pickup truck, and what started in a daring car chase—one that resulted in a number of brutal dings and scratches on the side of his pristine truck—ended in an all-out brawl at the edge of bear territory.
No one had said anything to goad the two shifter species into fighting. As soon as they jumped out of their vehicles, all bets were off. No one needed to say anything. Ivo knew what they were up to, and now the rams knew Ivo was onto their shit.
They battled fiercely, putting up more of a fight this time, but Ivo managed to break one of their legs while he was in bear form. That sent the others running, but only after one of them had gored Ivo with a horn. Bloodied and bruised, Ivo slunk back to his car and pulled on whatever scraps of his clothes were left.
Only he didn’t have the strength to drive home. So he stripped and shifted, painful as it was, and let his inner black bear steer the ship for a while. Ivo had expected him to head back to their apartment. Instead, he ended up at Alani’s, and once Ivo was there, huddled over in the rain, he didn’t have it in him to go elsewhere.
He blinked slowly as the weak stream of water hit his face. Alani’s showerhead was a little too short for him, but he made do, using the heat—too hot for a human, definitely—to relax his weary muscles.
When the temperature started to dip, Ivo turned everything off with reluctance and stepped into the steamy bathroom, grabbing the towel Alani had left him and drying off. Sure enough, time had already closed some of the more superficial wounds. He swiped a hand across the fogged mirror, twisting and turning with a wince to get a look at himself. All that was left of those wounds were thin red lines, sure to be gone by tomorrow.
“Ivo?” He heard Alani’s sweet voice on the other side of the door, her frustration from earlier gone. Tap, tap, tap. “Are you okay?”
He quickly toweled down, just enough to get most of the excess water off, and then opened the door. She stepped back with haste, as if she’d had her ear pressed up against it, cheeks taking on an adorable rosy red that made him smile.
“Better?” she asked, her eyes sweeping over him. When those concerned ocean blues darted up to his, pressing him, he nodded.
“A little.”
She seemed to suck in her cheeks briefly, as if momentarily displeased, and then pointed to the couch.
“Well. Sit down,” Alani ordered, and while Ivo’s chest swelled somewhat at the thought of being bossed around, his inner bear got him moving within seconds. Apparently, the bear took a liking to Alani’s particular way of getting him to do what she wanted more than Ivo did.
Maybe the guy was on to something.
“I don’t understand,” she said as she followed him toward her little two-seater. “You were bleeding before. I swore there were… more…”
Ivo was perched on the edge of the couch, elbows on his knees and head in his hands. He closed his eyes, running through his options. He hated lying to her. He hated withholding such a huge part of his life—their life—from her.
“What happened to you?” She posed the question hesitantly before pushing the coffee table back and sitting on that directly across from him and mirroring his position. “Ivo… where have you been?”
The hint of sadness in her tone pained him more than she would ever know. All he wanted to do was reach out and brush her hair from her face, but the second his hand twitched toward her, she was on her feet and hurrying into the kitchen.
One of the pots on the stove had boiled over. He watched as she righted it, her thick black eyebrows furrowed in noticeable effort as she rearranged things. When she was finished, she was right back in front of him, waiting, watching—encouraging the truth from him without more than a look.
“Alani…”
“I can see it weighing on you,” she said gently. Then, much to his surprise, she reached out and caressed his forearm with her knuckles before stopping so that her hand came to rest on his knee. “Tell me. You won’t scare me away. You haven’t yet.” She gave a little chuckle, though it sounded more tired than anything. “Well, almost, but not quite. I’m still here.”
But for how much longer? How much more of his bullshit was she going to stand for? Could he risk a lie, only to lose her in the end? That would serve him right—but it wasn’t what he wanted. He was a fuck up, but the look in her eyes now told him she didn’t care.
Well, almost didn’t care. The edges of his mouth quirked up, hidden by his hand, and he sighed.
“Are you sure you want the truth?” he asked, to which she rolled her eyes.
