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“You’re going to be okay,” she said. “Just hang in there.”
Scampering outside, she snatched her basket from the front porch. If she didn’t sell these herbs, she risked falling even further behind on bills. But he needed them more than she did. With a sigh, she brought the basket inside and mashed several ingredients into a salve, which she then applied to his wounds. The telltale signs of infection and rot had already set in. Normally, that quick of an onset would’ve been highly unlikely, even for a human.
It must’ve been the silver running through his bloodstream. With her regular herbs, there was nothing she could do to stop the death sweeping over him.
He groaned in response, and she was relieved that even though his breathing had become labored, he was still with her.
“We’re going to get you all better,” she lied.Not necessarily. You can save him.
She knew what she had to do. But it had been so long. Could she still pull it off?Won’t know until you try.
Placing her hands on the man’s torso, she closed her eyes, feeling his energy converge with hers. Through her closed eyelids, she could see the white light at her fingertips illuminate the room. She was doing it! It had been years since she gave up the mystic art for more traditional medicine at the local clinic. But it seemed after all this time away from her duties as pack healer, she still had the magic within her.
But there was something else. As she ran her hands over this man’s torso, a pull like she’d never felt yanked at her soul. It was so strange. Like something was sucking out her energy from the inside of her body. Then, the reason came to her.
“Shit.”
In spite of all of her reservations, she had connected with this man … the mating bond had formed.
TWO
DEREK
“Wha…”
Derek opened his eyes to a pain that shot down his side, finding himself in an unfamiliar room with no recollection of how he got there.
As he tried to rise to his feet, he couldn’t figure out what had happened. But immediately upon moving his legs, he instantly regretted it. Agony shot through him, coursing through his torso.
“I’ve stabilized you, more or less, but you need to stay put.”
A woman’s voice, one he sensed he recognized, sounded from somewhere in the room. He even struggled to lift his head to look around to find her.
She poured water into a bowl in the kitchen. Her petite frame turned to him. Long, wavy brown hair fell past her shoulders. As soon as she faced him, approaching with a bowl, he recognized her. Those brilliant green eyes of hers immediately exposed the secret he knew she desperately tried to protect.
“You’re the healer without a pack, aren’t you?”
She did not reply to him. And something felt very different as he regarded her now. It was a lingering attachment he didn’t recognize but had only heard about. A feeling that pulsedthrough his bloodstream, shooting straight into his heart. He felt as though he had always known her.
As she sat with the bowl, squatting on the ground beside a wicker basket, Derek could feel her scowl.
She threw ingredients, which she pulled from inside the wicker basket, into the bowl, mixing them with a wooden spoon.
“I’m Derek,” he offered.
She seemed utterly unfazed. “I know who you are.”
He offered her a confused expression. “I don’t recall introducing myself to you.”
“I didn’t know your name. But I know an alpha when I see one. And that’s enough to tell me we’re not going to get along.”
Derek grimaced, looking over the room and the dying embers in the fireplace. Her body language remained cold and distant.
“I’ve done something to upset you,” Derek said. “I’m sorry.”
She stopped stirring the concoction for a moment, looking remorsefully down at the floor.
“It’s not your fault. Completely, anyway.”
