MASON
Abby's screams are loud despite being muffled by Kie's palm.
I can't say I'm a fan of them, nor do I enjoy the thick scent of terror that pours from her, but this needs to be done. I'm ready for it to be over, too.
I thought bathing the human would be fun, that she'd get angry and annoyed, but this is far from it. It's to levels even I can barely tolerate, and I avoid looking into her eyes as Kie pulls her out of the water and up the riverbank.
She's still thrashing and flailing, trying desperately to break free, but it's useless. Even if she wasn't injured, Kie's too strong for her. All she's doing is tiring herself out.
Blood flows from her knees as she's dragged from the water, and I push up my wet sleeves so water doesn't drip into my bag as I grab our medical supplies. I wasn't planning on walking into a river fully dressed on this trip, so I don't have anything dry to change into.
Kie meets my gaze over Abby's head, and I shrug before setting my supplies on the ground and digging through hers to grab the antibiotic ointment I found yesterday.
Our kind don't get infections, so we don't have medicine for it, but the ointment she had stashed away claims to help prevent them. It's the only one of her items that looks even mildly useful.
"If you stop screaming, I'll remove my hand from your mouth and let you go," Kie promises.
Almost immediately, the screaming stops.
I don't trust Abby to remain silent, but to my surprise, when Kie releases her and steps back, she doesn't continue her screaming. She still reeks of terror, but she doesn't try to run away either as she stands between us with her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
She must be freezing.
Even I can feel the chill of the water on my skin, which is only amplified by the fact that my clothing is soaking wet. It'll take hours to dry, but I assume removing my clothing would've only made bathing Abby harder.
Plus, it would leave my skin open to being touched, and given the sheer amount of flailing she was doing, it was a high risk.
"I want my clothes," Abby says.
Her voice cracks, and her entire body is wracked with violent shivers as she glances between Kie and me. I didn't understand why she was fighting us so hard at first, but when I accidentally pulled down her underwear and heard the primal scream she let out, I realized it's because she thinks we're going to rape her.
I'm annoyed she believes I'd have any interest in that.
I'm tied to Prince Kie and the firstborn son of the shifter alpha—I have no fucking desire for women who don't want me. There are more than enough who do.
"Sit," Kie orders, pointing to the large rock I was leaning against earlier. "We need to treat your wounds first."
Abby continues to look between Kie and me, and I frown as I notice her lips have turned blue. Why? Is this a side effect of her infection? I scrubbed all her cuts well, ensuring any debris or germs growing in there were removed.
My actions tore open the thin scabs she was building, but I figure it's best to start her healing from scratch. I know how to deal with open wounds, but infections are foreign.
"I can do it myself," Abby says, eyeing the supplies in my hands.
Kie shakes his head. "Let Mason do it," he says. "You don't know how to use our supplies, and we need to get moving before the shifters catch our scent."
If they haven't already. A decent amount of blood is pouring out of Abby's knees, and already I can smell the metallic scent seeping into the air surrounding us. If any shifters are nearby, especially in their animal form, they're already on the way.
Abby's throat bobs at the mention of the other shifters. She's scared of us, which is for the best.
I don't know that my kind would go out of their way to kill a random human they found in the woods, not like the trolls would, but now that she's traveling with us, they most definitely would. The second she began following us, she signed her death sentence.
If anything, she should be thanking us for keeping her alive.
"Make her sit," I tell Kie.
Abby's shivering has grown worse, and I'm beginning to worry she's going to die. I don't know much about humans, but I do know they're fragile. Her body doesn't seem to handle anything well, and it's failing her at every turn.
It's a miracle she's made it to adulthood.
Abby buries her nails into her bicep, and I can't tell if the wetness on her face is river water or tears. I noticed she was crying earlier, so I assume it's a mixture of both.
Kie steps forward to restrain her again, the action finally urging her to move. She stumbles over her feet in an attempt to get away from him, her movements clunky. She's always floundering around, and I wonder if it's a human or Abby trait.
She sits on the rock, and her knees clank against one another as she slams her thighs together.
I roll my eyes, still annoyed she fears us raping her.
She's an attractive woman, that much is obvious, but it's gone to her head.
I crouch in front of the rock and set my supplies on the ground so I can roll my wet sleeves back down. I've never let another person touch my bare skin, and I won't be breaking that tradition today.
Although, after the way we've treated this woman, I know she's not our mate. It's said that shifters know who their mate is even before touch, that we know the moment we lay eyes on our person. My father once told me he knew who my mother was to him the second he first saw her, and I know I'll feel the same way for my mate.
Even if I can never touch her and ignite the bond, I'll know who she is.
Abby still seems skeptical, and I let out a quiet sigh as she glances into the forest behind me. I hope she's not thinking about running again.
She won't like the consequences.
I grab her calf before she has the chance to see what I'm doing and pull away. She lets out a dramatic gasp as my gloved hand curls around the limb, but she's smart and doesn't scream.
No, she does something significantly worse.
She begins to cry.
Her bottom lip wobbles, and she turns away from me and stares off into the woods as she lets out a choked sob. I was hoping she wouldn't be one of those women who cries at the smallest of inconveniences, but it seems she is.
Wonderful.
I try to ignore the tears as I rifle through the items between my feet and grab cleaner. I went light with this last time to preserve it, but I guess it wasn't enough for Abby. Her calf muscle tightens beneath my fingers as she braces for me to put it on, which I take as a good sign.
She must recognize what I'm using, and I don't have to worry about her panicking when the cleaner touches her skin.
Kie comes over and helps me pour the liquid onto a single-use cloth, and he casually steps behind Abby as he waits. He's positioning himself to cover her mouth should she decide to scream again, which I really fucking hope she doesn't.
I wipe the cloth over her knee, covering the entire wound with cleaning solution. I don't remember her cuts looking this bad yesterday evening, but I wasn't paying this much attention.
My kind heals quickly, as do faeries, and I greatly underestimated just how fragile human bodies are.
If we want to get Abby to the portal in one piece, I fear we will have to wrap her in cloth and carry her.
Abby hisses as I clean her wound, but she doesn't fight me when I grab her other knee and do the same. I move to do her elbows next, but I change my mind when I see how good they look. They seem to be healing pretty well on their own, so I'm going to leave them alone for now.
"I need stitches," Abby mumbles, staring at her knees.
I shrug. She's not wrong, but I only brought so many sutures with me and need to save them for severe injuries. Blood loss isn't my concern right now, and Abby will survive without the stitches.
She'll be left with nasty scars on her knees, but Zaha won't mind. As long as Abby's face is untouched, Zaha will be pleased with the present. The gods love pretty things, and Abby's round brown eyes, full lips, and mildly chubby cheeks fit the bill.
Zaha will love her.
Abby shivers, her entire body convulsing.
Her typically blonde hair looks dark as it hangs by her face, the soaked strands sticking to her skin. Kie should've done more to ensure her hair didn't get wet, but I imagine it was hard to control when she was fighting him.
Still, the wet head will make it harder for her body to warm.
I need to hurry.
I take a moment to examine her knees and ensure there's nothing foreign inside the wounds before slathering on the human ointment and some of our magic salve. It helps mask the scent of her blood, and I rush to wrap her knees in gauze the moment it's applied.
Abby remains tense, her body rigid as I work.
"We will turn around so you can get dressed," Kie says as I release Abby's leg.
I shoot him a sharp look, and he meets my stare head-on. I may not like how uncomfortable the human is around me, but I never agreed to let her out of my sight. If we start giving her liberties now, she will learn to expect them.
She'll grow bratty and hard to control.
Her fear for me keeps her in line, and I intend to keep it that way.
Kie looks me in the eye, daring me to argue. He may technically outrank me, but his title means nothing when we aren't in the company of his people. Not once have I bowed to him behind closed doors, and I won't begin today.
"No," I say. "Kie will turn around."
If he wants to give her privacy, that's his prerogative, but it's not mine.
Abby grinds her teeth, the sound aggravating. She still reeks of fear, but it's considerably less than it was before. Hopefully, this bathing has finally put it in her head that we have no intention of touching her.
Besides, if we wanted to, we would have already.
I breathe in, detecting a slight hint of shifter in the air. The glands in our skin leak pheromones when we're in our animal form, and it's a distinct scent.
They're close, and if I can smell them, they can smell us.
Fuck.
"Get our bags ready," I say, turning to Kie.
He sucks his cheeks into his mouth, his eyes cutting to the forest beyond us before he nods and moves away to collect our things. I climb to my feet and gesture for Abby to change into her clothing, which she doesn't hesitate to do.
I begin to strip, wanting to already be in my animal form when the shifters nearby inevitably approach.
Kie collects the medical supplies I used before throwing both our backpacks over his shoulders and grabbing my discarded clothing. His are still soaked, but there isn't time for him to remove and wring them out.
Abby dresses nearby, her gaze nervously darting into the forest. She must sense our urgency.
"You may need to climb her up," I tell Kie. "I'll tell you when."
Shifters can't climb in their animal forms, at least not well. If we're attacked, Abby needs to be up high. She's too easy to kill, and Kie and I can't watch her and protect ourselves simultaneously. Getting her out of the way is our best bet.
"I can climb," she says, tugging on her sweatshirt.
It smells, and the next time we stop to bathe, I'm going to make her wash her things.
Ignoring her, I finish stripping and shift into my animal form. I knew stopping at the river was risky. This area of the forest is too populated, and we're still in the heart of shifter territory. The trolls are less of a threat, and we should've waited until we were in their lands before taking the risk of stopping to bathe and drink.
It was our original plan, and we should've stuck with it.
Abby finishes dressing before securing her backpack over her shoulder, and for once, she doesn't put up a fit when Kie touches her. He wraps his arm around her waist, supporting most of her weight so she can keep up.
The scent of shifter is more potent in my animal form, and I crouch low as I scan the woods. The shifters are East of here, which is coincidentally the direction we need to go.
The river travels North to South, but it's not safe to walk along it. Too many rely on the freshwater it provides, and there's too high a risk of us stumbling upon a pack.
I hesitate for a brief moment before heading Northeast. It'll lead us away from the river, and hopefully, we can sneak around the shifters. Abby's blood is saturated in this particular spot, so there's a good chance they'll come directly here.
They'll inevitably double back and follow us once they realize we're gone, but I'm hoping to have us far enough away by then.
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