appear, talking earnestly with Blede, the team leader. Laura smiled to herself. Although the clan leader needed a debrief, Blede was showing his priorities and where they lay as he went straight to Kristin, wrapping her up in a hug.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Kristin said, the words muffled by Blede’s bared shoulder, but still intelligible.
The team leader was wearing baggy sweatpants. Another figure appeared, rounding the bottom of the stairs at the end of the hallway that Laura could stare down. She waited as Vlad revealed himself.
The shifter was covered in burns down the left side of his body and limping slightly. Laura expected Ellyn to freak out, but instead she got up and quietly went to him, angling in on his right side, resting her head on his chest.
“Thank goodness you’re okay,” Laura heard her say.
“Okay?” Laura whispered to herself. “How is that okay?”
“He’ll heal.”
She glanced over at Meghan’s whispered assurance. “Really? From that?”
“Anything not mortal, they can heal from. In a few days it’ll just be a faint mark.”
“Just like this will be,” a gruff, male voice said.
Laura’s neck popped as she snapped around fast.
“Rak!” she exclaimed, bouncing up from the couch.
Her eyes caught up with the rest of her brain then, and she gasped in horror at the bloody mess that was his side.
“What happened to you?” she said, trying to keep the hysterical worry out of her voice.
“Believe it or not, a tree branch,” he said, grunting as she touched just above the wound.
“It looks horrible, does it hurt?” she asked, looking around his side.
It went all the way through.
“Not as bad as the tail to the chest that caused it,” he muttered. “That’s going to bruise something fierce in an hour or so.”
“But you’re okay?” she said, trying to slow her shaking.
Rakell must have noticed, because he took her by the hands and gave them a squeeze. “It hurts, but I’ll be okay, I promise. A shower will clean up most of this. The skin is just about done closing the wound anyway. Two days and I’ll be back to normal. Trust me.”
Laura looked up at him, just happy to have him back. She nuzzled into his arms, careful to stay on the other side from his wound.
“I believe you,” she said quietly.
And she did.
But was that enough?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Laura
“Out,” she said, turning on Rak once they were back in his room.
“Huh?”
“Your clothes. Out. They’re covered in blood. You may heal fast, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get infected. Plus, there is no way you’re sleeping in the bed like that,” she said. “So out of the clothes and into the shower, mister.”
Rak smiled and nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
The pants hit the floor and he wandered into the bathroom. It was tough to admire his shaking butt—which she was confident was swaying extra just for her—when all she could focus on was the huge wound on his stomach and the exit wound on his back.
A normal human would be toast from something like that without immediate medical care. Yet here he is, standing up, walking around like it’s nothing. Unbelievable.
The sound of running water reached her ears as he started up the shower. He was probably okay to get clean on his own, wasn’t he?
You don’t know how much of a brave face he’s putting on for you, her brain reminded her.
It was true. He could be in large amounts of pain, but simply shunting it aside to not appear weak in front of her. She’d seen him do that with his emotions. Why would physical pain be any different? By this point Laura knew that Rak wanted to be nothing less than a superhero in her eyes. It would make perfect sense for him to be hiding it.
She doffed her clothes, stripping naked with a purpose before heading into the shower.
“Can I come in?” she called, knocking on the door just in case.
“Well, I’m naked,” came the reply. “But if that’s okay with you, then sure.”
She pushed open the door.
Rak’s eyebrows hit the roof. “Oh,” he said, running his gaze over her similarly naked body. “I see.”
“I’m coming to help you get clean,” she said, wondering if she could, in fact, keep it to just that.
“Okay,” Rak said, nodding.
She could already see him responding to the sight of her.
“Put that away,” she teased, climbing into the oversized glass enclosure.
Fully half of it was dedicated to an overhead rainfall showerhead that was pouring water over his body, sluicing off dried blood bit by bit. She