he just needs his packmates.”
Christoph quieted down for about four seconds before blurting, “Thad, when I get fuzzy again, I’m going to take them down. Every single one of them.” He turned to Ashi. “What packs do we know who can kill at least some of them?”
Ashi shrugged. “Blackthorn for sure. Mask might.”
Christoph nodded and stood firmly by Thad like a guard dog, seething.
Mouse had a pained look. Jessica rushed in with supplies in her arms.
Thad gritted his teeth and spat out a few words. “Freaking asshats! They jumped me on my way home from work. I’m gonna kill them myself, cowardly fu—!”
“Thad, shut up and calm down!” Jessica scolded. She pulled on some latex gloves and used some scissors to cut his shirt off, ignoring his protests and revealing numerous tattoos littering his skin, right along with a number of shallow cuts he’d gotten in addition to the one on his shoulder.
Next, she rummaged through a bag she’d brought in. She cracked the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and poured some onto a cotton ball, thoroughly soaking it.
“Can one of you guys go get a clean dish towel and some water boiling on the stove? The towels are under the sink. Bring me the water after it’s boiled for about five minutes. Mouse, hold him down, please.”
Without waiting to see if they followed orders, she started swabbing at the shoulder wound. Mouse gingerly held Thad down as he gave a shriek while Jessica disinfected the cuts.
Ashi went into the kitchen, filled a pot with water from the sink, and set it on the stove. Christoph stayed with Thad, set off again by his anger.
“Don’t you worry. We’re going to get some Blackthorns here and they are going to kill those cowards. I promise you.”
Ashi rolled his eyes. Blackthorn was definitely an odd pack, keeping to themselves and only venturing out when their allies called on them. Gregory had once ordered a small group of warriors to help Blackthorn and saved it from almost certain annihilation. Despite this, they were more likely to laugh in your face than answer your call when you asked them for help.
Either Christoph was just being a big, bad Were or he had been a part of that raid—which meant Blackthorn owed him big time.
“Christoph, that’s not a great idea,” Jessica said, not looking at him since she was busy tending to the cuts. She was swabbing at the ones on Thad’s stomach now, making him twitch. “The White Hats are a bunch of violent thugs, but you’d be stooping to their level if you ran around trying to kill them. That wouldn’t be a smart move, since Others killing humans—particularly when they aren’t under contract—is really, really frowned upon by society.”
Mouse curled her lip. Thad growled out another curse, then yelped when Jessica scrubbed a little too hard at a gash above his navel. “Screw that! I’m not an Other—I’ll kill them!”
Jessica stopped what she was doing to give Thad a withering glare.
“Stop thrashing around!”
Thad nodded sulkily, staying as still as he could. He twitched involuntarily when she swabbed at the cuts, particularly when she got to the one on the back of his leg.
Christoph would have been on the verge of shifting if it weren’t for the collar. He was silent, however, and didn’t seem inclined to start breaking things.
Vengeance was not an ideal Goliaths held dear. If they retaliated, it was because they were eliminating a threat. Any feelings of satisfaction over grinding someone to nothingness against a brick wall were secondary. The pack’s survival was above all else.
Ashi found a clean dish cloth and poked his head into the living room. “It’s boiling. Should I bring it in the pot or what?”
“That’s fine,” Jessica said to Ashi, setting aside the bloodied cotton ball and once again digging through the bag. She’d already washed her hands while getting her things; now came the tricky part.
“Um. Mouse, stay on his shoulders, would you? Christoph, if you can hold down his legs, please…”
“What the hell are you doing?” Thad demanded, starting to struggle again.
Jessica sighed. “I have to stitch up the shoulder. I need you to stay as still as possible while I do it.”
Christoph didn’t make any move to hold down Thad’s legs. “Maybe I don’t have my visa for Crazy Town yet, but wouldn’t it be a better idea to take him to a hospital? You know, that place where they numb you before they start poking you with sharp, pointy objects?”
Ashi nodded.