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“Don’t-don’t re-remind me of wh-what you look like naked. I can’t stop-stop thinking about it as it-it is,” she said in a chattering voice.

He winced at the raw, scratchy sound of her voice. “So, you like what you saw. That’s good to know.”

“O-of co-course th-that’s what you’d remember,” she mumbled in a barely audible voice.

He leaned over to catch her words above the wind. His lips twitched with amusement. She was the most obstinate woman he had ever met—and his wolf loved it.

She perfect. She strong.

Yes, she is, but it won’t do us any good if we don’t get her warm.

He shrugged out of his jacket, pulled the silver blanket back despite her growling and threats, and slid it along one slender arm. The second she felt the warmth of his jacket, she was practically clawing at him to snuggle into it.

She leaned weakly against him as he pulled the other sleeve and adjusted the warm jacket around her body and zipped it. Her head fell forward against his chest and she released a raw cough.

“The water… was cold.”

He pulled the hood over her head. “I know. It was too cold for me. I let Peterson swim across,” he teased.

“Smart.”

He looked up when Peterson returned. His friend had his arms filled with branches. On top of the treasure of kindling were patches of moss.

“How is she?” Peterson asked, dropping the wood and moss he had retrieved on the ground by the fire.

“Good. She said I was smart for letting you swim across the river,” he replied.

Peterson chuckled. “It was cold enough to freeze my?—”

“Ca-Can you two go away? I’m trying to sleep,” she grumbled.

Peterson’s grin grew. “Let’s get you comfy.”

He cradled Jayden in his arms, trying to warm her up while Peterson spread the moss over the rocky surface.

Peterson disappeared two more times, returning a short time later with more moss.

Once he was satisfied there was enough to provide some cushion and protection from the hard, cold, rocky surface, he placed an emergency blanket on top of the moss.

Jayden moaned in protest when he loosened his hold on her. He brushed her fevered cheek with the backs of his fingers. She twisted her face into his chest, trying to burrow as close as she could to him. He looked up when Peterson bent to scoop her into his arms.

“Peterson’s going to lay you on a bed he made.”

“Co-cold.”

He grimaced and looked at Peterson with a worried frown. She wasn’t shivering as much as before, but she was still shaking. They needed to get some medicine into her.

“Come on, little tigress. Let’s get you closer to the fire,” Peterson encouraged, lifting her as if she weighed no more than a feather.

“I-I like that,” she moaned.

“What do you like?” Peterson asked.

“Being-being a-a-tigress. They-they eat dogs for-for breakfast.”

“You can eat us any time you want,” Peterson teased.

“In your dreams,” she scoffed before releasing a dry, hacking cough that left her weak.

“Oh, we’ve been dreaming it, love. I can assure you—we’ve been dreaming it,” he teased, covering her with the wool blankets.

“That is-is wrong on-on so many… levels,” she retorted before sighing and closing her eyes as the combined warmth of the jacket, blankets, and fire began to sink in.

“Peterson, grab some pain reliever and the water bottle for me. I want to get some in her. The sooner I do, the sooner her fever will come down,” he requested.

Peterson retrieved the first aid kit and handed it to him. He opened it and pulled out a packet of the pain relievers and two cough and cold tablets. He wished he had something stronger, but this would have to do.

“You need to take a look at where she was bleeding,” Peterson said.

“Yeah. I want to get the pain pills in her first. Why don’t you do a perimeter search to make sure we don’t have any surprise visitors,” he quietly requested.

“Sure thing. I’ll bring back more firewood as well,” Peterson said, adding several pieces of wood to the fire before he disappeared into the darkness again.

He gently slid an arm under Jayden’s shoulders and lifted her up far enough to give her the pills in his hand. She tried to push his hand away and turn her face, but he was persistent. She reluctantly opened her mouth and took the pills followed by a sip of water to wash them down.

She was shivering again and softly moaning. He gently laid her back down and tucked the blankets around her upper body. Breathing deeply, he leaned forward, trying to pinpoint where she was hurt.

“Are you sniffing me?” she snapped, forcing an eye open to glare at him.

His eyes lifted and locked on hers. “I’m trying to find out where you’re hurt.”

“It’s my leg. The razor vines got me,” she groaned before sighing. “I didn’t think I’d ever feel warm again.”

He grunted in response. It was probably better if he kept his mouth shut. Sliding down, he gently probed her left leg before touching her right leg.

“Ouch! That hurts!” she snapped, swatting at him and trying to move away.

“I need to take a look at it,” he growled.

“No, you don’t. It’s fine. I put stuff on it. I just want to sleep and you are keeping me awake,” she retorted.

“I don’t trust you to have taken care of it properly.”

“I don’t need you to take care of me. I can take care of myself.”

“Not from where I’m sitting,” he snapped back.

They glared at each other for a good minute before she laid back, pulled the blanket back over herself, and muttered something about making him into a coat when she was feeling better.

His lips twitched at her grouchy mood. Pulling the blanket back, he carefully pulled the hiking pants up.

The lower half of her leg just below her knee was covered in a white gauze bandage.

He removed the outer gauze before peeling back the thick patch.

A half-dozen deep cuts ran a good six inches down her leg.

“I’m surprised it took you so long to find me,” she murmured.

He glanced up at her face. She was lying with her eyes closed. It was hard to tell if her face was flushed with fever in the firelight. At least she had stopped shivering.

“You didn’t make it easy… neither did the storm. We found where you must have stayed. That was pretty clever,” he said.

Twisting around, he searched through the medical supplies until he found a tube filled with hydrogen peroxide. He leaned over her leg and twisted the top off of the tube. Bending forward, he softly blew as he poured the clear liquid along the cuts. She winced as the peroxide bubbled up.

When it was finished, he gently dabbed the excess liquid away and followed by filling the cuts with a Betadine gel.

It was hard to see if any of the thorns were still embedded in her skin.

The points, curved like a shark’s tooth, were razor sharp, and the tips often broke off deep in the skin.

If they weren’t cleaned out, they could lead to infection.

He could only hope the peroxide had removed any particles.

“It was too dangerous to travel. I was lucky I found the spot. Talking about danger, where’s Peterson?” she asked, struggling to sit up.

With a panicked expression, she scanned the campsite, her eyes darting from one corner to another.

He pressed his hand firmly against her shoulder, his eyes conveying a silent message of disapproval.

She reached up and gripped his hand. He was relieved to discover that the previous icy chill had been replaced by a comforting warmth, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief.

“He’s fine. He’s doing a perimeter check and gathering more firewood,” he said.

Exhausted, she laid back and closed her eyes. Playing with the edge of the blanket, her eyes continuously scanned the surrounding area, occasionally glancing over at him. She anxiously chewed on her bottom lip, deep in thought.

“You don’t understand. There are two shifters in the forest. I overheard them. They said they are going to kill you. They were going to let you find me first, and then they were going to kill you,” she whispered.

“We know they are here. That’s why Peterson is checking the surrounding area. You did a good job covering your tracks,” he said.

“Not good enough if you found me. Please… be careful, both of you. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me,” she murmured, closing her eyes again.

“You should be glad you aren’t feeling well, otherwise I’d let you know what I think about that,” he bit out.

“I had to… leave. I promised I would….”

He frowned when her voice faded. He wasn’t sure if it was the antihistamine he had given her or exhaustion, but she appeared to have fallen asleep. He finished doctoring her leg, wrapped it in another bandage before he pulled her pant leg down and tucked the two woolen blankets around her.

Rising, he added more wood to the fire. The wind was howling, delivering a bone-chilling cold that would be brutal outside the protection of the rock overhang. He looked up at the patch of sky visible through the treetops. It was a brilliant night.

He gathered their combined resources and inventoried them. Van kept going back to check on Jayden’s serene face. She was the bravest woman he had ever met. She was perhaps the most stubborn one he had ever met as well and he knew quite a few of them, starting with Tracy.

Shaking his head, he repacked their supplies into Jayden’s backpack. There was only a day or two worth of food left. He didn’t know how she had stretched what she must have taken so far.

“What are we going to do with you?” he murmured, his expression turning tender when she rolled onto her side, facing him, and tucked her hands under her cheek.

Love her. Hold her. Keep her safe, his wolf replied.

It’s not going to be easy, but someone’s got to do it.