Saving the Beast(53)
“Enough,” Zane interrupted her. “Who are you?”
The guy blinked. “I’m Gideon, a friend of Clara’s.”
“Gideon,” Diane said and glanced at him again, remembering what Clara had shared about him. A loner, who was fierce in his need to protect. And Clara thought he might be able to help them with information.
“What do you know about the fever?” Diane demanded.
“Enough,” Gideon replied, throwing Zane’s word right back at him. “Clara?”
“Where’s Thomas?” Zane asked.
Gideon shook his head. “I don’t know. I was hunting for him when I got word about Clara being here. I take it she doesn’t know where he is, either?”
“Who’s hurt?” Zane asked, ignoring Gideon’s question. Why was he so reluctant to speak with them? Did he sense something he wasn’t sharing?
“It’s just a flesh wound,” Gideon said.
“No,” the woman said, stepping forward. “Gideon took two arrows to the torso a couple days ago. His arm’s injured.”
“Arrows!” Diane exclaimed and went to move closer. She was betting the hurt arm was the one hanging at his side. He was wounded and had still had placed himself in front of the other two. She’d barely taken a step before Zane stopped her with a grip on her upper arm and hauled her back to him.
“Hunters,” Gideon said in explanation. “I’ll heal.”
The girl glared at him. “Normally, yes. But they seem to have been laced with something, some type of poison maybe,” she said with a shrug. “He’s not healing like he should, and he’s—”
“Fine,” Gideon almost roared, cutting the girl off. “I’ll be fine.”
“Zane,” Diane whispered, looking up at him. “He’s hurt. You know Clara’s been waiting for him.”
But Zane shook his head and held her at his side. He glanced back at the trio of shifters. “Wait here. If I catch your scent behind me, I will consider it a threat to my mate and you won’t like how I deal with her being threatened. Stay here, and we’ll send someone back for you.”
Gideon nodded, but the girl put her hands on her hips.
“Just take him with you then,” she demanded. “He needs medical care. Surely, you have someone who can take a look at him.”
Diane smartly kept her mouth shut this time.
“I don’t smell any poison,” Zane stated.
“Odorless,” the girl countered.
“We’ll wait,” Gideon said. “I caught the scent of hunters.”
“Dead,” Zane said.
The girl wasn’t done. “If anything happens to Gideon because you took your sweet fucking time getting someone back here, I’ll make sure you pay.” Her hard gaze skimmed over to Diane.
Two roars rocked the woods simultaneously—Zane’s and Gideon’s—and they sounded eerily alike. Zane took a huge step forward.
“Are you threatening my mate?” he snarled.
“Back off,” Gideon growled back, stepping closer to Zane. “Ariel, shut the hell up and stand down!”
Ariel glared at both of them, sent another heated glance toward Diane, then edged back when Zane let loose a long hiss. Her mate was pissed. Diane took a step forward but stopped when that rumble of displeasure was turned on her.
“I just want to take a look,” she said. “That’s all.”
Zane glanced back at Gideon. “Lift your shirt,” he ordered.
“I’m fine,” Gideon said again. “It will wait.”
Diane let her glance skate back to Ariel and the girl mouthed one word at her. Hurry.
“Let’s go, Zane,” she urged, and he backed toward her.
“Wait here,” he said again, and Gideon nodded.
Diane held her tongue until they were a distance away. Zane was moving fast and startled her when he suddenly stopped and pressed her against a tree.
“Don’t ever make the mistake of disobeying me when I tell you to stay somewhere,” he gritted out. “I don’t care who we meet, shifter or human. Until I am certain you are in no danger, you will stay where you are told.”
“Technically, you told me to stay at your side,” Diane reminded him and was rewarded with a deep growl of displeasure. “Clara mentioned Gideon, Zane. And he’s hurt. I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to offer immediate aid to him.”
“He’s a shifter. His body will fight to heal him until he dies. Trust me, if the hunters have taught us anything, it’s just how long and painful it can be for a shifter to die from wounds. Gideon, if that is who he is, will survive until someone comes for them.”