Page 46 of Feral

He lifted his chin a fraction of an inch. “Who wants to know?”

She drew in a shuddering breath and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, pressing her hands against the bloody place on her white coat. Whoever she was, she wasn’t a threat. He knew that the second she took her eyes off him. He kept his finger on the trigger.

“Zach sent me. Zach… Zach Barnes. He said you… that you could help me.” Her voice died on a whisper as she opened her terrified eyes. They were dull, as if someone had snuffed the life out of her, leaving only a doll behind.

“Barnes?” He frowned, finally lowering his weapon. He hadn’t heard that name spoken out loud in… fuck, how long was I since everything went tits up? A year and a half? “Who’s he to you?”

“My…” She gasped again and a flash of pain crossed through those lifeless eyes, so intense it gave a faint spasm of empathy somewhere deep in his gut. “He’s my… my…” Her hand slipped in behind the coat to tear at her own flesh. Fresh blood seeped through the pale fabric.

He stared at her, dumbfounded, listening to her gasps choking off in the howling wind. Thunder rolled far in the distance, warning of a coming storm. Blood dripped from where she was trying to dig out her pair-bond.

“His mate?” he rasped. “You’re his goddamnmate, aren’t you?”

She only whimpered in response.

“Fuck me sideways,” Jerome muttered. Last he’d heard, Barnes was still on death row. How the fuck he’d managed to claim a mate while locked up, he didn’t know, but it was pretty clear from the woman’s desperation that things hadn’t ended well for his brother-in-arms. Not that any of them had expected it to.

“A’ight, girl, that’s enough of that,” he sighed when the blood from her wound started splattering onto his front deck. Eyes sweeping over the area once more, he put the gun by the side of the door. “Come inside—that thunder’s rolling our way.”

She obeyed, moving unsteadily as if she were on the brink of collapse. She looked it too. He studied her as she entered his cabin, searching for any clue that could unravel the mystery of why the fuck Barnes had decided to claim a mate before his execution. He’d been a lot of things, but cruel hadn’t been among them.

“Shit,” he muttered, shutting the door behind them. If Barnes had claimed her out of selfish indifference, he wouldn’t have sent her here. No, she was here because his brother had known she needed looking after once he was gone.

Seemed it fell to Jerome to pay back the squad’s debt.

Rubbing the stubble covering his skull, he looked at the shivering female. She was dripping rainwater on his floor, and the blood coloring the front of her coat oozed sluggishly.

He’d given up all thoughts of ever claiming a mate after their last assignment, knew he was too fucked up to force another soul to carry the burden of his bond, but it was pretty clear he was all the hope the broken little bird had.

“I need to look at that wound,” he said. “Come.”

She stared at him, but made no sound of agreement or protest.

Sighing, he grabbed her lightly by the arm and walked her to the small bathroom at the back of the cabin. She sat on the side of the tub when he motioned for her to do so, but when he asked her to open the white coat, she snatched both hands into it and clung for dear life, wide eyes full of fear.

“C’mon, girl, I’ve seen tits before.”

Tears welled in her red-rimmed eyes and she looked away, never releasing her hold on the coat.

Jerome sighed and grabbed what he needed from the small cupboard by the sink. When he returned to her, he didn’t ask. Crouching, he pried her cold fingers off the fabric and unbuttoned it easily. She didn’t fight him—just sat stiffly and stared at him with unmistakable unease writ across her pale face.

He didn’t bother reassuring her—there’d be no point. Right now, his goal was to assess the damage she’d done to herself and patch her up, but later, he would have to do exactly what she feared. And she wouldn’t like it. Not at first.

The only thing that could save a bonded female who’d lost her other half was another alpha’s claim to fill the void. That was why Barnes had sent her his way.

Jerome grimaced as he took in the deep gouges marring her rib cage underneath her plump breasts. He was pretty sure Barnes had picked him specifically because—unlike most alphas—he hated having an unwilling female beneath him. He could have sent her to any of their other brothers, and they would have happily repaid the team’s debt by taking her in. Probably would have mounted and claimed her before even bandaging her wounds.

“Fuck you, Barnes,” he muttered, ignoring the girl stiffening at his words. He grabbed the disinfectant and poured a liberal amount onto a tuft of cotton. When he reached for her chest to smear it on her wound, she flinched, but he grabbed her wrists with his free hand and held her in place.

She whimpered at the first sting of peroxide and hissed when he kept dabbing at the bloody mess.

It was a long while before he managed to clean her wound up enough to assess the damages fully. It looked like she’d clawed it raw for many days, maybe even a week, deepening the lacerations over and over.

It wasn’t that he’d expected an invitation in the mail or anything, but knowing Barnes’ execution had passed without even being told about it… He shook his head and grabbed for the bandages. Barnes had given his life. The least Jerome could do was honor his last will.

As he wrapped up her ribcage, more to ensure she didn’t claw herself bloody again than to keep the gauze in place, she offered no protest, seemingly accepting his nearness despite her indecent state.

When he was done, Jerome hesitated for a moment before he shrugged out of his own shirt and offered it to her. Best she get used to his scent as quickly as possible, because judging by that wound and her deadened eyes, she’d need him to establish his bond sooner rather than later.

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