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“Make it sooner than that.” Odin wouldn’t be at ease until he had Hunter back in his bedroom, under lock and key and surrounded by the entire Snow Brumal. Even with all the security measures in place here, a hundred-and-one things could easily go wrong. “When’s the soonest we can relocate him?”
She considered it, clearly not liking the idea. “I’ll have to monitor him closely and see. There’s no way of knowing at the moment. Right now, making sure there aren’t any underlying issues we’re not yet aware of is the most important thing. Many of the ligaments in his wrists were torn. Those devices on his arms are repairing the damage as we speak, but it’s extensive. I’ve already set his leg, but several of his major organs have been compromised.”
Hunter was in worse shape than when Odin had first found him again all those months ago. There were contusions all over his body and the knife wound to his thigh had needed over a dozen stitches—Isa’s fucking signature move. It’d leave a scar no doubt, and that had Odin fuming in a different kind of way.
The thought of Isa leaving his mark on his Huntsman…
A thick bandage covered Hunter’s shoulder where he’d been bitten. The injury was gruesome, even to Odin’s standards, a deplorable show of aggression from a Shout to a Whisper that should never have been allowed or considered all right.
Neither mark could remain when Hunter woke up. No matter what he had to do, how much coin he had to spend, Odin would find a way to rid him of them before then.
“And you’re certain that…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say the words, choking on them.
“As far as I can tell,” Doctor Cher picked up on his meaning easily enough, “there are no signs of rape. But there’s no way for us to know if he was sexually assaulted.”
Considering what Odin had walked in on—Isa, standing behind Hunter, his hands on his hips—it was safe to assume he had been.
“You showed up just in time,” Loni said from where she stood on the other side of the room, tucked into the corner nearest the door. There was a horrified look on her face and it was obvious that she felt pity toward Hunter.
“This is the second time I’ve left him with you and you let him run into danger,” Odin growled, only remembering as much now that he was sure Hunter was, for the most part, out of serious danger.
The doctor glanced between the two of them and bowed her head to Odin before leaving the room, not wanting to get involved in Brumal business.
Wren, who’d arrived not too long ago once he’d finally been able to shake free of the Emperor, set a hand on Loni’s shoulder and gave Odin a look. “We can table that discussion for later, don’t you think? Right now, it’s imperative we figure out where Isa is hiding and catch him before it’s too late.”
“And Meg?” Odin sighed, silently agreeing with him. He’d left Corbi in charge of hunting down Isa and Hunter’s sister and had ordered Vetle to secure the hospital.
“If you let Vetle join the hunt, we’d have more luck,” Wren suggested.
“You said you had people on it as well.”
“I do, but we know how slippery Isa can be. So far there’s been no sign of Meg Thorn, which only leads me to believe she went into hiding a head of time, or she’s with Isa now.”
“Then we’ll catch them together.” And he’d make them pay. It didn’t matter that she was Hunter’s blood. Odin would show no mercy.
“Sir, if I could—” Loni began only to immediately stop short when he sent her a murderous look.
“If you’re about to ask me to let you take over the security of the hospital, you’re insane.” On some level, he understood that it wasn’t her fault Hunter had gotten into this situation. If Meg had been staking out the joint, she would have found an opportunity to approach him sooner or later, but that didn’t help quell the anger currently eating at his insides. He didn’t have the patience for logic at the moment, his mind too cluttered with thoughts of Hunter and all the horrifying things that had been done to him.
All the things that could have been done if Odin hadn’t arrived at the exact second he had.
“Why did he bite him like that, I wonder?” Wren frowned and slid his hands into his front pockets, easing a shoulder against the wall. “It’s not really his style, is it?”
No, Isa didn’t like to dirty himself, and tearing through flesh with his teeth? Not exactly clean.
“He was trying to steal what’s already mine,” Odin found himself saying, having already put the pieces together himself. It was the only thing that made sense. He could see Isa trying to fuck Hunter out of sheer evilness, but biting him? Not to mention the look in Frost’s eyes, greedy and a bit awestruck.
“By…biting him?” Wren wasn’t following.
Since Isa already knew, the secret was out. He momentarily considered waiting and getting Hunter’s opinion on the matter but opted to reveal it himself in the end. He’d do whatever he had to to keep his Huntsman safe, even if Hunter didn’t like or agree with his methods.
He’d be embarrassed when he woke and discovered Odin had shared this secret, had told them what he was, but a little embarrassment was worth it if it meant he’d be more protected.
“He was trying to mate him,” Odin said, waiting a second for that to sink in for the other two.
“…What?” Wren blinked, completely caught off guard.
Since there were no physically defining features, there was no way to tell when someone was a Whisper unless their blood was tasted by a Shout. It hadn’t been hard for Hunter to keep it hidden from the world. In the past, when both of their species were in more abundance, there wasn’t as much need for it, but considering there were only three known Shout in the world now, and Hunter hadn’t been overly fond of any of them at the beginning of this, his urge for secrecy had made sense.
