novelxo Chapter 15
Chapter 15
“Get her up!”
My wrists are snatched and I’m dangling in the air, my body suspended above the mountainside.
Then I’m back on flat land where I sink to my knees.
A dead wolf is tossed next to me. Then the other two.
They pile up and I stare at their lifeless bodies.
“Find the fourth carcass,” Aaron orders. “Burn them all.”
His gaze rakes over me.
James was the one to save me on the ledge and he grabs my leg now and lifts it in the air. He rips off my shoe to inspect my
ankle from all sides. “This will need stitches. The wounds are
deep.”
Aaron grunts.
Every part of my body hurts. I start shivering and I hug my
2/7
arms around my waist, some lame attempt to hold myself together.
“She’s going into shock,” James says quietly.
Aaron’s brows draw down. He squats and sniffs the air. “The scent is strong.”
“We can track them.” James looks into the trees.
Aaron rises. He’s furious.
He arches a brow at his beta, and I know exactly what he’s
thinking.
You fucked up enough.
It’s broad daylight.
We’re deep into Aaron’s packlands. No enemy should’ve been
able to pass the perimeter.
Let alone to get so close as to attack the Alpha.
And his Luna.
Though they don’t honor me with the title, as Aaron’s wife, I
am still of value.
If we were properly mated, killing me could kill him.
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“James,” Aaron says in a deadly calm voice. “Bring Leah back
to the house and make sure she gets the medical attention
she needs. Am I clear?”
The other wolves in the clearing abruptly freeze and look around nervously.
They know James is a dead man walking if something happens to me.
“Yes, Alpha.”
James lifts me up.
Aaron shifts fully into his wolf and races off without a backward glance. Five other wolves run off after him.
Leaving just me and James.
“You’re in the doghouse,” I tell him.
He nods. “Again.”
From his tone, he blames me for this time too.
“Do me a favor,” he says. “Don’t die on me.”
Then he slings his arm beneath my knees and another behind my back. He lifts me up and cradles me like a baby.
It’s a long way back to the main house.
I hold myself away from him, as stiff as I can.
“Relax,” he says gruffly.
He radiates heat like a furnace and I’m shivering with cold. I really am going into shock.
James mutters something then hefts me higher and tighter,
forcing my face into the curve of his neck and my body against his chest.
He’s warm and hard and his scent is pleasant.
Huh.
Maybe I wouldn’t resent this so much if he was less of a jerk.
But this isn’t some enemies-to-lovers relationship. We don’t
like each other. Not at all.
He walks about a quarter mile before setting me down on a cropping of rocks. The big granite boulder is smooth and cool.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
He drops to a knee in front of me and peels off his shirt.
His chest is ripped and tan and smooth.
Was not expecting that.
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Then he uses the fabric to bind my ankle. He grimaces. “Your arms are bleeding too.”
Ah, yes. “Those are actually from your sister.” From when she
assaulted me in the kitchen.
He shakes his head and swears.
I’d laugh if I wasn’t in so much pain.
“Call Adam,” I tell him.
“Who?”
“Adam Riordans. He’s from my father’s pack. He’s a physician.”
“Our pack doctor can treat you.”
“I’m the key to peace between our packs, do you really want to chance me dying on your watch?”
He whips out his phone and dials the main house, barking orders for Dr. Sutherland to be ready for our arrival and for
“See,” I say. “That wasn’t so hard.”
One corner of his mouth tips up.
“What are you smirking about?”
“You,” he says. “If you’re well enough to break my balls, you must be okay.”
I glance at my ankle where I’m already bleeding through the tight shirt wrap. “Uh, I’m not so sure about that.”
He frowns.
“I’m losing a lot of blood, and I don’t feel so good.”
My teeth start chattering and my body convulses.
He picks me up, cradles me close, and starts running.
“N-not really your fault,” I say as my head lulls lifelessly against his throat. “The offering. They bled me twice this week.”
“Sonofabitch!”