Cole raised his hand. “I did!”
Chuckling, he said to Cole, “Good boy. Pissed on your prey. This will have Mayhem rolling with laughter. An eight-year-old human and his woman caught Alpha’s male.”
Cole elbowed my side, his blue eyes bright. “Ya hear that? My woman.”
I rolled my eyes at the same time the almost-dead beast growled.
Zarik spun around and whistled, a long-drawn-out sound. Minutes later, Hasel joined us. The beast matriarch was a heavyset woman with a wide ridged nose, seven ridges on her chin and two at each temple. If she were a cat, I’d call her Midnight, her skin tone so dark it was nearly black. Her pitch-black eyes narrowed, and she frowned at the beast, then looked to me. “Where did you find him?”
“Out there.” I pointed.
“And his bike?”
“Just him.”
To Zarik, she said, “Carry him into the basement. The spare room. I need to see to his leg.”
Fur sprouted on Zarik’s back, his joints popped, his jaw elongated, and his muscles expanded. He grew about four inches in height. There it was, one nightmare monster. I gripped my dress. Zarik hauled the male over his shoulder. We fell behind him, Hasel strolling next to me. Hasel’s features were softer than her beast-male counterparts. Her jaw was rounded and didn’t appear as if it were carved from stone. At an inch over six feet and at least eighty pounds heavier than me, she made me feel like a halfling from fairy tales walking next to her. She placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not,” I lied.
Hasel stopped. She had disproportionally round dark eyes with long eyelashes and a wrinkled face. I couldn’t guess her age. Maybe hundred. She scrutinized me and said, “You will assist me.”
“In what?”
“The male’s leg is shattered from the knee down. There’s no hope he’ll retain the use of it, and his body is trying to mend it, so he’s losing precious life energy on something hopeless. He needs to use the energy to recover.”
“I’m not following.”
“I need to cut the leg.”
I stepped back. “You don’t need me for that. Zarik will do.”
“Zarik is a male.”
“Exactly. He can chop that thing off in one swing.”
“Zarik cannot care for another male in the same way a woman can. A woman in the room calms the beast. They scent you, and they want to impress you. He won’t protest when I tell him what I intend to do. He won’t want to appear a coward. “
I shook my head. “I don’t… I’m not made for that. Just thinking about it makes my stomach roll.”
“You will assist me.”
“I’ll bathe him after. I’ll change the dressing on the wound.”
Hasel narrowed her pitch-black eyes. “Who else can assist me?”
“Maybe Momma Jo?” As soon as I said it, I knew it wouldn’t work. Hasel wouldn’t ask Momma Jo for help with anything, and Momma Jo would rather die than help a beast. Probably why I liked her better than Hasel.
“No, thank you,” Hasel said.
I chuckled. “That’s only because she makes a killer eggplant parmesan, and you want to taste it. It’s good stuff. Really good stuff.”
Her lips turned up, her sharp teeth white against her dark skin. “I like you, girl. You’re a survivor, know when to fight, when to back off.”
“Thank you.”
“Follow me downstairs.”
Crap.
Chapter Four
Torrent
The hunter Zarik carried me through the halls and laid me down on the floor next to an old metal bed. I sniffed out bleach. The room was dark, but I could see. Zarik had lit candles. No electricity here. “No tech?” I asked.
“Nah. We like it that way.”
“Any com units?”
“Nothing.”
I couldn’t call in, not that I wanted to now that I’d found my mate. All I wanted was for her to curl up against me and tell me everything would be all right. As if. I’d have to earn that privilege, and there were no guarantees. Before, when I was a whole beast, my chances of reconciliation with Sienna were slim. Now? With a fucked-up leg and looking like something found in the dumpster? I didn’t stand a chance. A girl like Sienna could have any man. She sure as fuck wouldn’t have me. If I asked politely, maybe Zarik would grant me a boon and end my miserable existence.
On my right, three first aid kits sat on top of the shelf. Zarik opened the bottom cupboard and rummaged through it, coming away with a stack of towels and a large roll of gauze. He turned back to me, and eyed my leg. “It doesn’t look good.”