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He leans toward me, hands moving toward my head. I cringe back, wrinkling my nose.

“Rowan, you’re covered in blood.”

“Let me check your head.”

I huff. “It’s fine.”

Still, I let him move his palms around the back of my skull, trying not to flinch when he presses against the lump forming from where one of the Blackburns initially struck me down.

He ripped them to pieces. It was glorious and horrifying at the same time. Disgusting, yet sexy. The human me and the wolf me can’t seem to agree on it.

Rowan’s hands move around my head to cup my face. My heart thumps at his proximity, my skin tingling with heat at the simple touch. He peers into my eyes as if he can see right through to my brain. “Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous?”

“No, Rowan, I’m f—”

“Any memory loss? Do you remember your name? The date?”

He’s so concerned about me that he can’t even see that I’m perfectly fine.

“For goodness’ sake, it’s not—”

His blood-caked hands move down to my shoulders. “Did they hurt you anywhere else? Did you hurt yourself when you hit back?”

“Rowan,” I say more firmly. There’s enough sharpness and command in my voice that it reaches through to him. He blinks, meeting my gaze.

“I thought you…” He pauses, swallows hard. “When I went to The Diner, and you weren’t there, and then that asshole said the things he did…”

“I still can’t believe it…I really don’t understand.”

Except, even as I say it, some small bits of old information click into place. Tim’s younger brother is one of Henry Whiterose’s Betas, a man not much older than me named Jay. I remember Zahra once mentioned that, when Jay first shifted, a lot of people in the pack got the sense that he was more than just a particularly strong Beta, but a potential Alpha. I never thought much about it past that, and Zahra made it seem like it was a non-issue. Henry’s nephew is going to become Alpha, and that’s the end of the story.

But maybe that’s not the end. Maybe that’s not it at all.

My head spins, and I open my mouth to tell Rowan my burgeoning theory, but then a wave of dizziness washes through me.

“Alina?”

“M’fine. Really. I just didn’t have much to eat this morning.”

“Let me make you some food.”

“While you’re still covered in blood?”

For the first time since he hauled me into his truck and booked it back here from the farm, he looks down at himself. He frowns, as if he didn’t even realize the gore from his vicious fight is still all over him.

“Forgot about that,” he murmurs.

“Your clothes are pretty much ruined.”

He swipes at a speck of dried blood on his forearm. “It’s all right. All in a hard day’s work. I have a fresh set in my truck.”

“Shifter essentials.” I gently place my hand over his, the one that’s still resting on my shoulder, and squeeze it. “You can go upstairs and shower. I’ll be fine down here on my own while you do.”

He quirks a brow at me. “Actually, I’d rather not let you out of my sight.”

“Rowan,” I repeat, once again relying on my Luna voice. “Let me care for you the way that you have cared for me. Go take a shower and change. I’ll rest right here while you do, and then we can eat together. I won’t go anywhere, I promise.”

He furrows his brow. Obviously, he’s not used to being told what to do. His instinct is to argue, to bark back that only he knows what’s best right now.