AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But the dog surged after her, gaining on her quickly. Its teeth snapped at her just as she leaped, and pain shot through the back of her leg in a searing tear as the dog’s teeth ripped her calf, hot blood pulsing free. The drag caused her to fall heavily against the top of the wooden fence, the pointed tip impaling her shoulder before she toppled right over it, her flesh wrenching free.
She muffled a cry as she fell heavily to the ground, then rolled to a stop. She was well versed in pain, she faced it every time she shifted. But this was a whole different level of suffering.
With the water gun still in her hand, she blinked up at the slowly lightening sky, breathing slow and evenly as she tried to push back panic. She was still functioning, still alive. She’d live to see another day.
Running footsteps sounded and the dog gave a startled yelp, then a shape materialized over her with huge wings outspread, before Gray landed gracefully, then turned and ran toward her.
“Sienna,” he said hoarsely, dropping beside her and running his hands over leg and then her shoulder. “Shit, you’re hurt.”
“Relax,” she managed to croak. “Once I shift all my human injuries will disappear.”
Except they both knew she couldn’t shift here, within sight of humans and the sun already edging the horizon. Without the river, she’d be lucky to find the strength to shift at all.
“Wait here,” he said hoarsely.
She snorted. Did he really think she was going to go anywhere in her condition? If nothing else, at least she still had her dry sense of humor.
She was only dimly aware of him running and leaping over the fence, back in to the yard. If the dog tried to attack, she didn’t hear it. It was probably intimidated by Gray’s winged form. She was fighting to stay awake when he returned with a shirt in his hand, which he immediately tore into strips.
“Don’t worry, it’s clean,” he said tersely. “I unpegged it from their washing line.”
She almost laughed. It was possibly the only sanitary object in the whole backyard. Her near laugh turned into a moan when he wrapped the cloth around her calf to try and staunch the bleeding. Her shoulder wound was bleeding too, but not half as profusely. He didn’t bother wrapping it. She was running out of time.
He drew her carefully into his arms and against his chest. “Let’s get you to the river.”
She didn’t bother to remind him the river was farther away than it’d been from his house. Instead she relaxed in his arms and gazed up into his face.
I love you.
At his sharp inhalation, she realized she’d spoken her thoughts aloud. She didn’t mind. He deserved to know the truth. Lord only knew she’d lied to herself about her feelings for long enough.
It was odd the floating sensation she experienced in his arms, and the realization the house they were leaving behind was still eerily quiet, the people inside somehow slumbering and peacefully unaware of what had just transpired.
It was the last thought she had before a blanket of peacefulness finally fell over her.
Chapter Twenty-One
