Finally, Miles turned to her and dipped his head to nuzzle her hand, the one on top of Griffen. Miles blinked a few times and then eased back, tugging his hind leg free of her grip.
He stretched out next to Griffen and reenacted the process of becoming human.
Rebecca flinched, but she was growing used to this insane new reality. She didn’t take her gaze off Miles as his bones popped back into place. He rose onto his knees on the other side of Griffen, tucked his hair behind one ear, and took her hand in his once again. “Okay. Here’s the deal.” He stared directly into her eyes, but he spoke to everyone at large. “He’s gonna be okay. I’ll doctor up the leg here, and then we’ll have to hunker down in a pile for the night. By morning he’ll probably be able to make his way down the mountain.”
“What are you going to do?” Rebecca hadn’t broken the stare-off, either.
“I have a poultice I’ll use, and I’ll make sure the tendons and ligaments are aligned right.” He lifted her fingers to his mouth and kissed her knuckles before setting her hand on Griffen’s leg. “I may need you to hold him steady.”
She could barely hear his words through the ringing in her ears. He’d just kissed her hand?
She blinked, trying to make sense of the senseless.
Miles rummaged around in his bag and pulled out a jar of something brown. “You’re a nurse they told me.”
“Yes.” Her voice sounded weak even to her own ears. “Humans are my specialty.”
He chuckled, a deep tinkling sound that warmed her all the way through. “Hold on to him, love.”
That was the second time he’d called her love. Was it just his way of speaking to others? Women perhaps?
He worked the leg in every direction, prodding and pulling and stretching Griffen so much, Rebecca was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold him steady. If he worked his way loose, she was liable to get kicked.
Finally, he was done. “No broken bones. That’s good. Has he had much to drink?”
“Yes. He had a bottle of water out of my hand. Most of it at least.” She’d done her best without a bowl while they’d waited for Miles to arrive.
“Good. He needs more, though. He lost a lot of blood.”
Rebecca nodded.
Miles opened the jar and reached in with two fingers to pull out a glob of the substance.
Rebecca didn’t want to know what it was. It looked like peanut butter. Probably some ancient family remedy.
And then he was finished. He wrapped the wound in clean gauze and wiped his hands on a disinfectant wipe. “When was the last time you ate, love?”
She swallowed hard. The man was so intense. She had the sensation they’d known each other for years. Decades. The way he looked at her with his brow furrowed in concern was daunting. “Lunch,” she murmured.
“Do you have anything in your pack you could eat?”
She nodded. Why was he so concerned with her? What about the others?
“Good. Get it. You’ll need the energy to stay warm. And put on everything you brought. Jacket. Pants.” He nodded at her bare legs.
It hadn’t occurred to her she should be cold by now. Her skin looked so pale in the waning light surrounded by dark fur.
Miles reached forward with one hand and set it on her shin. His skin tone was so much darker than hers. “You have goose bumps, love.”
Someone handed Miles her backpack. Sharon.
Rebecca lifted her gaze to find her friend staring down at her in concern. “I’ll be fine. Why is everyone so worried about me?”
Sharon kneeled on the ground next to Miles. “Because we can all shift and stay warm. You can’t. We can also go for longer without eating.”
“Oh.” They were all going to shift? The idea made her nervous. The thought of cuddling up for the night with a pack of wolves sounded terrifying and lonely.
As though he’d read her mind, Miles spoke again. “I’ll stay with you, love.”
She knew he meant unshifted. Should she be grateful? If she were to lie alongside his huge warm body, there would be no way she could control her physical response to him. Just pondering the idea made her pussy grow wet.
Miles smirked and dipped his head to rummage through her pack. He pulled out the legs to her shorts first and handed them to her. “Zip these on.”
Reluctantly, she released her grip on Griffen and tugged the bottom half of her pants over her hiking boots, zipping them to her shorts when they were in place.
Next he handed her a protein bar. She never went anywhere without a stash of them.
Griffen’s chest rose and fell next to her. She opened the wrapper and took a bite, but it was difficult to chew and swallow. Food she normally enjoyed didn’t taste right. Her nerves had taken over her body. Her hands shook more violently now, and not from the cold she was suddenly aware of, but from the stress of the afternoon all crashing in at once.