Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,31

they won’t say anything.”

“How terribly mercenary,” I murmured.

“It’s the way of the world, dear. I’ll pass some of my yarrow ointment to Tom when I see him. It will help with the healing and make this afternoon easier.”

Oh yes, great, I still had the Spanish inquisition this afternoon. Zippideedoodah.

“Use damp cloths to get the worst of the blood off then re-apply the lotion. You’re probably safe to bathe after the interview, as long as you don’t go near them again for a few hours.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I snapped off a sloppy salute.

Julia sighed deeply. “Take care, Mackenzie.”

Tom returned not long after Julia’s departure. Fortunately, he’d remembered to bring some scissors to cut off my clothes, along with some brutally strong painkillers. I briefly considered saving my modesty and trying to dress the wound myself but I knew that it’d be more sensible to just accept his offer of help. He was actually surprisingly gentle, peeling away my blood-soaked t-shirt carefully to reach the ugly wounds within. He dabbed at them with the cloth that he’d brought, soaking up the worst of the leaking blood, and then used Julia’s ointment as an antiseptic and healing agent.

As he was binding my ribs up carefully with a bandage, Betsy entered. She didn’t look particularly happy to see me lolling around half naked with Tom, in fact there was a dangerous flash of something in her eyes. I’d taken enough painkillers to dull not only the pain but also my senses and wondered if I’d half-imagined it for a second. That was until she started speaking.

“What the fuck? You’re an item? Since when?”

Oooookay, then.

Tom, naturally, was oblivious. “It’s just for the Brethren.”

“Fuck the Brethren!” Betsy spat.

I couldn’t have agreed more.

“And what the hell were you doing in that fight with Anton?” She fixed him with a hard glare and put her hands on her hips. “Do you want to go to London?”

“It would be amazing, wouldn’t it?” Tom sighed expansively.

I didn’t think I’d ever seen Betsy that upset, not even when her favourite soap character was axed in a horrific ball of fiery death storyline. I gaped at her. She was already in the throes of shifting with her spine elongating and pockets of fur springing out on her bare arms.

“Jaysus! You’re tying that bandage all wrong!” There was a definite note of hysteria in her voice now. “Get out!”

“Huh?”

“Get out!” She pulled him to his feet and practically threw him out the door. I looked at her with shocked surprise and was about to start speaking but she silenced me with a growl and went to work on the bandage. Tom and Betsy – wonders would never cease. An uncontrollable urge to giggle overtook me. I tried to smother it and ended up snorting in a most unladylike fashion. She slapped me on my uninjured side.

“Don’t, just don’t, even go there, Mack.”

I snorted some more, now hiccupping a little too. She gave me a death stare until I managed to subside and she spoke. “Don’t think I’m letting you off with this either, Mack. When you heal, and the Brethren have gone, and we’re all safe, I’m going to kill you too.”

I hugged her fiercely. She seemed surprised to begin with but then hugged me back. “I mean it. You are going to be one dead human.”

“Whatever you say, Bets.”

She humphed for a few seconds before pulling back. “Now put some clothes on. We’re going to show those arseholes that one little fight isn’t going to knock you down.”

*

At least this time I managed to avoid the hole in the carpet on my way down the stairs. It was a painful trek to the canteen, however, despite managing to not fall on my bum down the stairs - and with being doped up on painkillers to my eyeballs. Even without shifting, pack members would heal quicker than your regular run of the mill human like me so I’d still have to do a fair degree of pretending not to be in mind-numbingly awful pain, despite my mourning excuse. Tom admitted that he felt bad that he’d shifted during his fight with Anton, otherwise he’d have jumped on my bandwagon to give my reason more validity. It was a nice idea, but I figured that if the truth did come out, the rest of my pack would have a better chance if they could simply pin the blame on the unshakeable geas. Voluntarily helping to cover up a human beyond the spell’s required bounds would