Her brother nodded, a single dip of his head, and then Cael helped her through the door she’d imagined making it past only minutes earlier.
Chapter Four
The moon was on the way down from its peak. They’d been running for hours and it would be daylight soon. Still, Cael’s anger hadn’t subsided enough to even attempt speaking. It would’ve been easier to travel in their wolf form but that was impossible with Isabesh in heat. Even now, through the barrier of his rage, he could scent her need. Her body was ready for conceiving. And his body was ready to meet that need. As would every wolf’s in a ten mile radius. It’s why they couldn’t return to the Ravendale camp yet. Not like this, with his emotions in a tangle and her injured and unable to warn off a suitor.
He needed to find a place for them to stay, out of the cold, until she could heal. It would take longer without her intended.
Cael’s fury rumbled in his throat at the simple thought of that bastard. He squeezed his eyes closed, trying to forget what he’d witnessed upon entering the alpha’s lodge.
“Stop,” Isabesh breathed. “I need to stop for a minute.”
He slowed and turned to look at her. She was bedraggled, dressed only in her ripped nightgown. Her bare feet were dirty and bruised, her face was cut and stained red in places, and her arm was bent in an unnatural way. Even still, she was the most beautiful sight. It wasn’t because of her appearance, but because of the look of determination on her face. The strength she held there like a treasure, after enduring such a horrible thing… it made him proud.
But all the more frustrated.
He was so mad at her. For everything she’d put them through. For giving up on them so easily. For going willingly to the alpha in the first place all those years ago. How could she have been so weak then, and so strong now?
“My arm,” she said. “It’s dislocated. Can you…?” She stepped closer, carefully, as if she expected him to snap at her. Her caution broke his heart a little more. He’d never hurt her. Didn’t she know that?
But that was just it. Neither of them were the same people they were years ago. They didn’t know the other one anymore. He’d become an alpha, ran his own pack. He couldn’t imagine what that must look like in her eyes. Did she see him as a brute?
He stopped in front of her, meeting her eyes. “This is going to hurt.” His voice was gruffer than he’d intended but she didn’t look away.
“I know. Just do it fast, okay.”
Cael wrapped his fingers around her wrist. His heart raced just to be touching her again, but he beat it down with the reminder that they were entirely broken. And this wasn’t a touch that would help anything. It was going to hurt like hell.
“On three,” he whispered. “One… two…”
He pulled hard and fast with all his strength. Isabesh cried out as her arm shifted back into place.
Cael gathered her in his arms. “Shh. It’s done. It will heal now.”
She moaned in pain and drew in a deep shaking breath, nodding quickly.
“We need to move fast. The dawn is coming.” He stepped back and shrugged his jacket off. “Here, put this on.”
She tried, but her shoulder had been out of place for so long. Cael helped her shrug into it, and then led her farther into the forest.
Unless his sense of direction had totally failed him, they were closing in on a place to bunker down. Magic, the leader of the Ouachita cats, owned a cabin in the deep recesses of these woods. Cael hoped it was still uninhabited. This far out, shifters should be few and far between, if not completely absent. There were no packs or clans in these mountains. The only possible threat would come from loners, if there were any.
Unfortunately, there was also no cell service. Hopefully, Vesh would come out of his anger haze with enough mind to realize why Cael wasn’t bringing Isabesh back to camp.
When the sky toward the east began to glow, warning them of the sun rising, Cael picked up the pace. They stopped an hour later at the top of a small ridge. Just beyond was Magic’s land. But if anyone was there, they might shoot first, ask questions later. Cael couldn’t take that chance.
“Stay here. I’m going to check things out. Do not move from this place. Understand?”
Isabesh nodded, pulling his jacket tighter around her.
Cael stuck to the trees of the perimeter, scenting the air as he went. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The pines and the mist and small rodents, but no people and no shifters. No smoke from a burning fireplace. No sign of anyone living in the cabin.
He circled back around to find Isabesh. She was exactly where he’d left her, shivering and looking miserable.