CREVEN
I’d never been so scared in my life as I did when I discovered my mate lying on death's door.
Not when my dad died. Not when Rayne challenged my father.
Not when I was sent out as rogue. None of that came close to what was running through me now.
This was the kind of terror I never wanted to experience again.
When Larkin had asked me what had happened, I couldn’t give him the details he deserved, the entire first day a complete blur.
I had no idea what order anything happened and lost full chunks of time.
After getting him home and cleaning him up, it all melted together…
from making soup just in case he woke up, to using cold washcloths on his forehead in an attempt to keep the fever down, to listening for each breath, asking the goddess for it not to be his last.
At the time, I’d been on auto pilot, which in hindsight was good. If I stopped to think, all of the emotions I’d been ignoring would’ve slammed back into me and I’d have been useless.
It wasn’t until he woke up that the reality of how dire our situation had kicked in. And maybe that was me being melodramatic, because at the end of the day, I was going to be left heartbroken and alone. But I was allowed to be. The situation sucked.
Larkin sensed who I was immediately, even if he didn’t realize it at the time.
His arousal filled the room, the quilt slightly tented.
Being in extreme pain hadn’t stopped his body from responding to me.
I didn’t acknowledge it. He didn’t need to be embarrassed, and I wasn’t ready for that conversation anyway.
Instead, I kept taking care of him…. feeding him when he needed… being his crutch when he needed to use the restroom… changing the bandages on his wounds.
And everything seemed like it was on the right track…
that was until this morning. His fever was higher than it had been, so high, I could feel it radiating off of him like I was standing next to an oven.
But that wasn’t the scariest part. His words weren’t coherent.
Not even close. And there was a stench coming from his wound.
His infection was getting worse and quickly.
There was no way around it, I needed to run to town and get some better supplies. My place wasn’t set up to be a mini hospital. At the very minimum I needed sterile bandages and antibiotic cream.
I waited until he fell asleep, wrote a little note explaining where I was going with a stick figure of me with a stethoscope and set it up like a tent by the nightstand. I hated the thought of him waking up and thinking I had gone.
My truck went through the path in the woods and then the dirt road at speeds far beyond safe for the old thing. I didn’t care.
My first stop was the pharmacy for disinfectant spray, rubbing alcohol, bandages, antibiotic creams, anything and everything that said it might help.If they didn’t have what I needed, I might try the grocery store.
I didn’t read labels or make choices. I snagged it all and planned to sort through it later. For now, getting home was more important than paying for supplies I didn’t need.
An older man in a white coat, possibly my grandfather’s age, walked past me, looked in my basket, glanced back up at me, then to the basket again.
“Looks like somebody needs to be going to the hospital.”
“Thank you, sir, but no. It’s just a little infection.” How had he seen infection from my hot mess of supplies?
“This doesn’t look like a little infection.” He scented the air. “Doesn’t scent like it either.” This time he whispered. “Meet me outside.”
I wasn’t sure what came over me. Normally, if a human told me to meet them outside, I’d have assumed that was the last place I wanted to be. But something about this man had me trusting him.
After grabbing one more roll of gauze, I headed straight to check-out, tossing in some candy as the cashier rang me up, thinking sugar might make Larkin smile.
I barely had my bags in the truck when the man came out and straight to me.
“I know what you are,” he whispered, his eyes darting back. “Here.”He grabbed my hand and put a bottle of pills in it. “Follow the directions. It’s the only way to get rid of an infection.”
“How did you get that?” Humans needed prescriptions, and I sure as hell didn’t have one.
He pulled on the collar of his coat. “Inventory is going to be off.”
I didn’t understand any of this. Not how he knew what I needed or why he wanted to help enough to risk stealing from his job. But I was grateful.
“Use it until it is gone. Whoever it’s for is going to need it.”
I leaned in, scenting deeply, wondering what kind of shifter he was and surprised my fox hadn’t already picked up on it.
“You can scent all day long, and you won’t know what beast I am—because I don’t have one.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “That was rude.”
“Nah, don’t be sorry.” He put his hand on my arm and spoke slightly lower. “I was born to one such as you and a human. I don’t have a beast but I’m not human, either. Now go. If I can scent the infection on you, this can’t wait.”
A quick thank you later and I was racing back home.
Maybe the world wasn’t as black and white as I’d thought. If the pharmacist's parents were a rogue and a human, maybe rogues could have mates.
No. The law was clear and allowing myself to fantasize about happy ever afters wasn’t going to do either of us any good. The man’s parents had been lucky, nothing more.
My fox kept pushing me to go faster and faster on our way home, but ramming the truck into a tree wasn’t going to get those pills to my mate. I did hurry though and parked too close to the house, running inside to find my mate, looking at the note, his eyes half closed, small smile there.
“I just woke up.” His voice was hoarse and weak. “I don’t... because I don’t feel so good today.”
I dropped the bags, gathering the pills first.
“The pharmacist gave these to me. He said they would help.”
“Gave?” He opened his mouth and I put a pill in, holding up the water so the straw reached his lips.
“Yeah... gave. He scented your infection on me.”
He sucked some water and swallowed the pill.
“Not human?
“No. Not fully.”
He froze. “I need to leave.”
“You don’t.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “Trust me. I’ll be the first one telling us to go if I sense any problem. Trust me.”
I wasn’t sure if he did or not, but his eyes were already sagging, and I eased him back down to his pillow.
“I need to do some really thorough cleaning of your wounds. It’s going to hurt. I’m sorry.”
I pulled back the quilt, took off the bandages, and began to disinfect again. This time, being a bit rougher than I had before, not allowing a speck of dirt to remain. I hated that I was hurting him, but I’d rather that than bury him.
He fell back asleep after I cleaned and finished treating his wound. I woke him when I needed him to take a pill or have a little bit of soup, but other than that, let him sleep. He needed it for his body to heal.
For two days, we held that pattern. And then, on the third, he woke up looking better than I’d ever seen him.
“I stink,” were the first words out of his mouth.
He did and the fact that he cared meant he was a ton better.
“Yeah, good thing I have water and soap.” A sponge bath and new sheets would do him wonders.
“Do you think I could stand enough for a shower?”
“I could hold you.” Going from bed ridden to a shower was a pretty big leap, but if he wanted to try, I was going to do everything I could to help him.
He looked at me, bit his lip, and sat up.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Fabulous. I made him uncomfortable, which was the exact opposite of my intent. “I wouldn’t?—”
“No,” he cut me off. “I never thought that you would… it’s that my wolf is kind of being... pushy.”
“Tell me about it. My fox is the same way. He doesn’t understand why I haven’t marked you already.
But let’s not worry about that now. Let’s get you all the way healthy first.” If our conversation went poorly, which, how could it not?
I’d feel horrible having him feeling stuck here. It was far better to wait.
“How about this… I tell you about where I grew up while you take a shower? That way, if you need me, I’m there—but it doesn’t feel... you know .” I wasn’t sure I knew— too personal, too arousing, too close? But it was definitely too something.
He agreed and I helped him to the bathroom and turned on the water.
He only wore a pair of boxers, his high fever making him sweat regardless of what he was wearing.
I helped out of them and into the shower making sure to look away so this wasn’t more awkward than it had to be.
The shower was the size of a tiny little phone booth, which normally sucked, but in this case was good.
He might not be able to stand up fully, but he wasn’t going to fall down either.
“What do you want to know?” I was an open book, at least for him I was.
“What was your favorite thing as a kit?”
“Hmmm, let me think…. my favorite thing was ... den dinners. Not the normal ones, but the ones we had when the grown-ups went on their runs.”
I told him all about the potlucks and especially the cookies my dad used to make and how the other kits and I would crawl around and pretend we already had our animals. It was a carefree time and one I enjoyed talking about.
A few minutes in, he admitted defeat and asked for my help, which I gladly gave. Washing his hair first and then his skin until the water ran cold.
When he was dried off and in a new pair of shorts, he looked like an entirely different person. He still had a way to go, but he’d get there. The medicine was doing its magic.
His stomach rumbled loudly. “I think... I think I could eat.”
“What can I make you? I’ve got noodles, rice, hamburger in the freezer, and some chicken too, I think. Or my fox can go out and hunt if you want something like a rabbit.”
“You know what I really want? Red licorice. Isn’t that weird?”
I perked up. This was my time to shine. I dug through the bag from the pharmacy. “I picked these up. Figured you might need sugar.”
“Look at you. You already know me so well.”
I didn’t. But I really wanted to.