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I release her and begin to lap at the bite, running my tongue over it and then back up to the gunshot wound. The lycanthropy is already taking effect; the bleeding slows, and she takes a deep breath. She isn’t conscious yet, but her hand comes up to tangle in my hair as I lick her, tasting the blackberries in her blood, smelling that touch of leather which I now realize must be the saddle so frequently between her thighs.
The moon hasn’t set yet, and I’macutelyaware of how she feels beneath me. Lithe and muscular in the torso, with wide, round hips and thick thighs. She’s tall for a woman—has to be about 5’11, maybe six feet, with long brown hair bound into a braid. She already feels like someone I’ve known for years.
I settle myself between those lush thighs as I continue to soothe the pain of the bite, my tongue navigating the curve of her hip despite myself.
I can’t go any farther. She’s wounded.
I shove my wolf back into his cage.
Standing on steady feet, I carry her with me, scooping her into my arms. Blood oozes down bare chest and stomach, painting me in her scent, reminding me that she’s still close to the edge. She’s not out of the woods yet.
I start to run.
I’m gentle with her, holding her close. Her breath puffs harshly against my chest as she comes to, the adrenaline of the bite waking her up. “It hurts,” she groans.
“Easy,” I soothe. “I’ve got you.”
My words seem to work; maybe it’s the strange power of the Alpha Prime already working its magic on her. She calms and nestles into my chest, and I try to resist the primal instinct that tells me to lay her down in the grass and claim her. She’s not yet healed enough for what my wolf has in mind for her, and I won’t touch her that way without her permission.
Even if I’m dying to touch her.
A small crowd has gathered at the gate to the boundary wall when I get there. Their eyes follow me across the lawn, past the visitor’s center, into the den. I must be quite the sight—I’m still fully nude, my clothes left in tatters where I shifted, and I’m covered in the woman’s blood.
I don’t give a damn what they think of me. My priorities have abruptly changed.
“Reyes,” a voice says from my right, and I turn to find my brother, Mateo. “What happened? Why is she here?”
“I have to protect her,” I grit out. I try not to let a growl into my voice, but it’s no use. “Let me through.”
“I’m not stopping you,” Mateo says. “I’m just making sure you’re okay—”
“I’m fine,” I snap, baring my teeth at him. I don’t like all these other alphas around my female, crowding me in. I don’t know how it’s possible, but that blackberry scent…she’s an omega, through and through.
It’s going to drive me crazy if they don’t back off.
“Let me through!” a voice shouts from behind me. I glance over my shoulder to find Suyin striding toward us. The short, dark-haired beta has her first-aid kit in hand, slung over her shoulder in a canvas satchel. “What’s the situation?” she asks as she levels with me.
“She was shot in the gut,” I say. “She’s healing.”
“How?”
I look into her eyes as we reach my door. “We might want to wait to discuss that until we’re inside.”
I swing the door open and shoulder my way in, taking care with the woman the whole time. It’s just a few steps to my bed and then I’m laying her down on the crocheted blankets, not caring that she’ll stain the whole thing with blood. Her brow furrows in the sudden light from an oil lamp on my bedside table, Suyin kneeling beside her.
“How did this happen?” she asks. Suyin isn’t a doctor, but she was in vet school before the Convergence—when the Angels arrived. And she’s gotten quite capable as our only medic, spreading out the supplies for stitching up the stranger’s wounds on the table beside my bed.
“She was uh…” I stutter, unsure of how to explain this. “…with a raiding party, I think.”
Suyin’s eyes widen, and she shoots a glance at the door just to make sure no one is listening. “And you brought her here?” she hisses.
“She was hurt,” I say. “Friendly fire.”
Suyin shakes her head, but bends to examine the wound. I stay beside the stranger, holding her hand tightly in mine, unwilling to leave her side. So I’m sitting right there when Suyin gapes at the wound, taking in the smaller, newer wound just below it. “Wanna explain why youbit her?” she asks.
I open my mouth…close it again. “She was dying.”
“She’s our enemy,” Suyin shoots back.
