AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And he’ll heal?” he asked, stepping around her to get closer to the bed. He sat just on the edge, facing the unconscious man.
“He’ll heal,” she said softly somewhere behind him. “It’ll take a little time, and he’ll need plenty of rest and quiet. Nothing too strenuous for at least the first three or four days.”
“No shifting,” Doc added, his voice firm. “He’s going to wake up feeling a thousand times better, but he needs to let himself and his jaguar heal. So no shifting for at least a week.”
Quinten nodded, reaching out and running his fingers along the inside of the cat’s closest forearm. The skin was so soft. “No shifting one week, three to four days of nothing but rest. Got it. We’ll make sure he follows the orders.”
A light hand landed on his shoulder, drawing his attention.
“When you find who did this to him,” Tashmica said, her tone hardening, “you let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.”
He met her eyes, a feeling of understanding passing between them, and then nodded. “You got it.”
Chapter Six
Caden slowly swam into consciousness.
His body felt heavy, and his head was throbbing, but the intense pain in his muscles and bones was gone. There was a bit of ache in his joints, he discovered as he flexed his wrists and ankles, but the last thing he remembered was he’d been pretty sure he was dying, so he’d take it.
He’d barely been able to feel his jaguar, his whole body in excruciating pain, like a fire was burning through his veins, destroying everything it came into contact with. He shuddered just remembering. There were flickers of other things—words he didn’t understand, scents he didn’t recognize, but through it all, the comfort of orange blossoms.
“I think he’s waking up,” a strange voice said, and he instinctively flinched away from it.
His lids felt too heavy, and he panicked for a moment when he couldn’t open his eyes.
A large, callus-rough hand cupped his cheek. He inhaled, and his entire body relaxed. He knew that person.
“Can you open your eyes?” Amato asked.
For him, Caden tried harder, forcing his eyes to slit open and seeing the worry-lined face above him. The stern angle of his brows would have worried him if not for the soft smile gracing his tempting lips.
Butterflies exploded in his belly, and he pressed his cheek harder against Amato’s palm.
“How are you feeling?” Amato asked, brushing his thumb against Caden’s cheekbone and leaving a trail of tingles behind.
“Better,” he croaked out, his eyes widening as he grabbed at his throat. The collar was gone. He squeezed his eyes shut, holding back tears.
It was gone. It wouldn’t kill him.
“Better is good,” Amato said.
“Are you in any pain?” another man asked, stepping toward the bed and finally drawing his eyes away from Amato so he noticed there were others in the room.
The guy who’d asked was huge, easily six foot five, and built broad. There was a dark-skinned woman with kind eyes and loose curls who smelled like magic so strongly it tickled his nose. But his eyes were pulled to the man standing at the far side of the room, watching him impassively, another shifter who had to be his mate right next to him, looking worried.
Even without anyone telling him, he’d know that man was a powerful alpha. He could feel it radiating off him just standing there, unmoving.
He forced himself to look at the man next to the bed who’d asked about his pain. His nose told him he was a bear, and he’d guessed he was a doctor based on the slight scent of antiseptic on him.
“A little,” he admitted. He looked back at Amato, unable to keep his eyes off him. “It’s a lot better though.”
The doctor nodded and leaned down to rifle through something, coming up with a syringe. “I can give you something.”
The sight of the needle primed to fill him with some unknown medicine had Caden recoiling, scrambling back across the bed until Amato was between him and the danger.
“Whoa. Easy, kitten,” Amato said, wrapping an arm around Caden as he teetered at the edge of the bed. “You don’t have to take anything you don’t want.” His voice harder, he turned to the doctor. “Step back. Now.”
He forced himself to look away from the needle. “Promise?”
