Roaring took over for the
shout. When I burst through the door, knocking it off the top hinge so it
slammed into the wall at a crooked angle, Kraig was crouched on the bed. His
eyes were glowing, but there was no recognition in them. I stared in shock.
The marks on his neck and face
were rippling as his muscles writhed under his skin, almost like something was
trying to get out.
Lydia gasped.
“Keep her back,” I told Henry.
Kraig was crouching on the bed, lowering himself. I prepared myself for his
leap, but what I wasn’t prepared for was his reaction when I boxed him in with
my arms.
My mate yowled and swiped at
my face, his blunt claws ripping down my cheek as his back legs raked at my
belly. I fell on my ass, and he sprang free, skittering down the hall to the
stairs. He scrambled down them on all fours, unsteady but still fast.
“Kraig!” Henry shouted.
“Stop!”
“What’s going on?” Lydia came
out of the room Henry had shoved her in. “Alpha, your face.” She was staring at
me, her mouth dropped open.
“I don’t know,” I said grimly.
Hot blood dripped down my face, and my stomach burned when I pushed off the
floor.
“Are you okay?” Henry asked.
“Not important.” Kraig wasn’t
okay, and I was much more concerned about that. The front door had stopped him,
stymied as if he didn’t know how to work it. Unfortunately, the living room had
windows that were wide open and a screen wouldn’t deter him at all.
“Did Kraig do that?” Lydia
asked Henry.
His reply was indistinct as I
tuned them and focused on creeping down the stairs slowly. Kraig was slamming
into the door. I must have made too much noise, and Kraig turned his head
toward me. His pupils were completely blown.
“Calm down. No one is going to
hurt you.” My voice didn’t help him, and he backed away. His head swiveled, and
he spotted the windows.
Shit.
I chuffed. Kraig froze. I did
it again, keeping the sound low and soothing. He cocked his head, but wouldn’t
meet my gaze. I crouched at the base of the stairs, but I didn’t go lower than
him. I kept my head up, my body loose. Blood dripped on the floor and probably
stained the carpet along the stairs, but I ignored the metallic tang. It wasn’t
enough to be dangerous, and I’d heal.
Keeping up with the
vocalizations, I approached Kraig. I keep my movements fluid, drawing on the
animal soul inside me, relying on my instincts. He was my mate, and whatever
was happening to him, Kraig was still in there.
Inch by inch, I drew closer.
Kraig hunkered down toward the floor, keeping his head low but watching my
every move. I hovered over him, my mouth open as I breathed heavily and
continued to soothe him. When I brushed my uninjured cheek against his head he
began to purr. I thought everything was going to be fine, but then all hell
broke loose.
Henry jumped off the upstairs
balcony, a blanket in his hands. Kraig snarled at the heavy thud and skittered
backward. He turned toward the window and his muscles bunched. I leapt at him
just as he left the ground, slamming my much bigger body into his. The corner
of his head hit the end table between the chairs in the bay window, and he went
limp.
I snatched him up, and his
head lolled backward over my arm. Blood was oozing down his scalp, and he was
out. “What the hell was that?” I roared at Henry.
“He was out of control.”
“No he wasn’t! I was in
control.” I was angry and afraid. “Now he’s hurt. Call the lion pride and see
if their medic will come. I promise him safe haven. I’m taking Kraig to my
place.”
Ignoring my car, I loped
through the woods bordering the houses along the woods, moving toward my house.
Pulling Kraig closer, I murmured, “Please be okay.”
There was too much we didn’t
know. Too much I shouldn’t have put off for even a day as I relished having the
one man I’d always wanted in my arms. Well, he was there now, and look what I’d
done to him.
The slices on my face were
already closing when the medic arrived. I didn’t like the scent of the lion in
my territory, much less my house, but it was what Kraig needed.
I blocked the doorway. “You do
not speak of this. Your oath.”
“My Alpha....”
Contacting the other groups
would have to be done, now that we knew others were involved after Ritch shared
his story.
“Him you may speak with, if
necessary. No one else.”
The medic, a healer with
online training in modern medicine, nodded his head. He was a mid-level pride
member, dominant enough to travel on his own but not so much that he would
threaten group leaders.
“Those claw marks look like
they weren’t too deep.”
“Check him first,” I said. My
stomach burned, but I’d slapped some bandages over them. Kraig’s jaw was
swollen, and he was still unconscious. Worse, the tremors under his skin, the
muscles writhing and jumping, hadn’t stopped.
The medic paused beside the
bed. He turned wide eyes toward me. “What is he?” Even as he asked the
question, he was working. Pulling up Kraig’s eyelids, he checked his pupils.
“A doctor was experimenting
with our genetics. I allowed him here, not knowing what he was doing with his
samples and research. Kraig”—I swallowed roughly—“grew up here, as a human
werekin. Now....”
Feeling along Kraig’s jaw, the
medic checked inside as well. “He has fangs, claws, markings... not just tiger.
I’ve never seen anything like him.”
“Is he okay?” I asked. I’d struck my own mate, caused the livid
bruise on his swollen jaw. Guilt was killing me.
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Great chapter, as usual. 💗
ReplyDeleteAwesome chapter can't wait for more.
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