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I slam my fist down on the bedside table, making the oil lamp rattle, and Suyin flinches. Guilt swells in my chest, making me swallow my pride. This isn’t like me. “I’m sorry,” I say. “It’s just that something strange happened out there, and I can’t…I can’t explain it. It was an instinct.”
“Instinct,” Suyin echoes. “I’m not sure what that means.”
“She’s my mate,” I say, helpless to find another excuse.
Suyin pauses.
Her eyes meet mine.
“Your mate is a crusader?” she asks quietly.
I take a deep breath, my eyes sliding shut. I focus in on the stranger’s scent, letting the smell of blackberry blossoms wash over me. “I didn’t know,” I tell Suyin. “I smelled her tonight, and then she was hurt, and she was dying in front of me, and I…I couldn’t stop myself.”
Suyin’s lips press into a thin line. “Fucking alphas,” she curses. “With yourinstinctsand yourimpulses.”
I know this isn’t about me; it’s bitterness over Grant. Something has been going on between the two of them, and I haven’t bothered to intrude on their personal business. But I take her comments in stride, reminding myself that I’m a priest and not a monster. “The bottom line is that she’s here now, and she needs your help,” I say. “And I…”
Suyin winces, anticipating what I’m about to say. “You need me to keep this a secret from the others, right?”
I groan. “Yes,” I say. “Just for now. Until I figure out how to tell them I’ve accidentally brought a crusader into the pack.”
“What, did you teeth slip out and fall into her hip?” Suyin says with a roll of her eyes.
“It wasn’t like that,” I snap back.
“All I’m trying to say is that these things don’t happen by accident, and you need to own it,” she says. “And I wouldn’t worry so much about the rest of the pack as I would about this woman. Does she know you’ll be able to track her now?”
I squeeze the bridge of my nose. “She was unconscious when I bit her,” I say. “She probably has no idea she’s even here.”
Suyin sighs. “She’s going to be pissed when she wakes up. Are you going to take her prisoner?”
“I guess so,” I say. “I don’t think I really have any other choice.”
“I wish I could tell you that you can just leave her alone, but for the bite to do its work, you’ll have to stay with her,” Suyin says. “She’s still pretty badly hurt, and I know it’s weird, but you’ll want to tend to the wound. Make sure you’ve got skin to skin contact, nurture the bond. I can’t say I understand the science of it, but I’ve seen this work in the past.”
“Thanks, Suyin,” I say. I go to stand up, but suddenly remember that I’m still very much naked. “Uh…I’ll make sure to put on some pants before I get into bed with her.”
Suyin scowls. “Yeah. Good call.”
She packs up her things and walks toward the door, her hand resting on the doorknob. “Suyin?” I say just before she leaves.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you, again,” I say. “I mean it. For your help and for your…discretion.”
She exhales loudly. “You’re welcome.”
And then she leaves me alone with my mate.
I stand and manage to tear myself away from the stranger, going to the closet to yank out a pair of jeans. I’ll have to find my clothes on the barricades tomorrow—but for now, I don’t think I can leave my mate behind. I crawl into bed beside her, pressing myself between her prone form and the wall, and I lean over to press one more kiss to her rapidly healing wound.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper against her skin.
And I do my best to sleep as the moon finally sets.
CHAPTER FOUR
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