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Grandmother glanced at me, her eyes narrowed, a glint of curiosity there. But she didn’t say anything else, just got back to work. She cleaned out Kayden’s cuts, picking out shards of glass from her arms and irrigating the wounds while Faye and I silently looked on.
Kayden flinched, and I darted to her side, resting my hand lightly on her back. She scowled, but I didn’t care. She was hurting, and I wanted to do what I could to help.
When she whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut, I couldn’t help myself.
“Be gentler,” I hissed at my grandmother.
Kayden’s eyes snapped open, and she pursed her lips, pulling away from me. “I’m fine, Holden. You need to get out or sit down and stay out of the way.”
My grandmother smirked faintly, but I chose to ignore it, just like I refused to move from Kayden’s side. “Do you have some pain medicine, at least? Something you could give her, so she won’t hurt?”
“I don’t need anything,” Kayden said, shaking her head in refusal.
“You do,” I insisted, this uncontrollable urge welling up inside me to do something,anything, to take away her pain. Even my wolf was going crazy, clawing at my subconscious, insisting I protect what was ours.
This possessive feeling, matched with utter helplessness at being unable to do anything, was driving me mad. I didn’t understand it—none of it. Why did Kayden spark such intense emotions? Why did seeing her in pain make me want to tear the world apart to make it better?
Things had been different with her, almost from the very beginning. She’d initially intrigued me, but over the past week, it had escalated into something I simply couldn’t name.
Rationally, I should accept that Kayden could be injured at any point during the Contention—all of the women could be. That was part of it, and I’d known it going in but it hadn’t mattered.
Seeing Kayden in pain like this, unable to do anything but watch—made me feel helpless in a way I never had.
“Okay, dear,” Margie said. “If you’d like some pain meds, I can get them for you before I start stitching you up.”
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Really. I don’t want anything interfering with my ability to stay alert.”
A million questions flooded my mind at that—the explosion. I had to get to the bottom of it immediately, but I wasn’t willing to leave Kayden.
I turned to Faye, who still hadn’t left, her concern for Kayden clear in her worried expression. “Go see if you can find out what happened, and report to me personally as soon as you know.”
Faye nodded and quickly rushed from the room. When I looked back at Kayden, she was watching me, her face pinched as Grandmother began stitching her up.
Seeing the sharp needle weave in and out of Kayden’s skin made me want to roar, and I nearly ripped the tools from my grandmother’s hands. She must have sensed something in my demeanor because she looked up and gave me another of her sharp, no-nonsense glares.
“I swear to the fates, Holden Wilder. If you interfere in my work…”
I held my hands up. “I’m not.” But inside, I was losing my mind as I watched Kayden grit her teeth, enduring the pain. It couldn’t be over soon enough.
A few minutes later, Grandmother sat back. “Okay. I think I’ve done everything I can for now.” She reached for a bandage kit. “Let me just get this covered up, and then you should be all set, Kayden. I’m going to send this salve with you. Make sure you reapply every few hours. If you feel up to it, a shift will speed up your healing process. I want to see you back in the morning, so that I can check your progress.”
“Thank you, Margie,” Kayden said with a soft smile for my grandmother.
“Of course, my dear.” She patted Kayden’s cheek and gave her a kind smile in return. “I’ll let Faye know to bring you some fresh clothes as well.”
I’d been so distracted by Kayden’s injuries, so worried about her, that I’d barely noticed she was only wearing a bra. Now, as my eyes drifted over her, I could think of nothing else.
The smooth expanse of her tanned skin beckoned for me to reach out and run my fingers along her back, to know what the curve of her spine felt like beneath my touch. But I didn’t dare, not with the way she was still glaring at me. She might break my arm, even injured as she was.
Grandmother stood from her stool and collected some cleansing wipes from a drawer, pressing them into my hand. “Here you go, Holden. You can help clean the blood with these, but avoid any damaged skin.” She fixed a hard gaze on me. “No upsetting my patient. Do you understand?”
I nodded, my eyes on Kayden. “Got it.”
Then she walked from the room, leaving me alone with Kayden. I moved to stand directly in front of her, leaning in and resting my hands on either side of her thighs.
“What the hell happened today, Kayden?” My voice was a low rumble, my anger at the situation barely checked. Seeing her like this, covered in blood and burns, was almost too much. I glanced at her chest, noticing the beginning of purple bruises forming there. I frowned. “What are those bruises from?”
She sucked in a breath and stared at me for a moment, then glanced down, her features twisting in a grimace. “From Sydnee unloading her gun on me earlier.”
