Page 49 of Cold Foot Komodo

“King bit him first,” Kat murmured. She’d taken over drawing venom.

“Bet I won’t do that again,” King gritted out. “This sucks.”

Wait, what? Sasha pushed upward and staggered out into the hallway, holding her aching arm. “Reed?”

“He’s already outside,” Timber said from where she’d been pacing the living room.

Sasha pushed her legs and made it outside just as Reed was reaching his truck, parked sideways in the street. His door was still open from his rush to get King inside.

“Reed!”

He turned, but wouldn’t meet her eyes.

He wore a black sweater with no rips, so she wouldn’t have guessed he was hurt in the chaos of treating King, but as she approached, she could see how the material clung to his skin wetly on the left side of his body.

“Let me see it.”

“I’m fine. Nothing a few drinks won’t fix right up.”

She made a clicking sound behind her teeth, good and done with stubborn men for the day. She tugged at the hem of his shirt and lifted it. A gasp escaped her.

Two enormous puncture wounds were seeping blood right under his collarbone. “Oh my gosh,” she uttered as she turned him around and looked at his back.

“It’ll be healed by morning,” he murmured as he pushed his shirt back down and eased out of her reach.

“Why did he bite you?”

“Because this is the life,” Reed gritted out. “Because this is our normal. You saw it in there. We tried to kill each other and no one is angry about it, Sasha. No one is picking sides. This is just life for a shifter. We fight.” His tone was harsh, and his eyes held anger.

She didn’t understand. “You’re not being nice to me.”

His eyes softened, and he parted his lips like he wanted to say something…but he changed his mind and turned for his truck. “I’ve got to go.”

“Go where?”

“I’ve had a bad day, and I’m spinning out, and I’m…I’m...I don’t know what I’m fucking doing here.” There was such heartbreak in his words. She understood spinning out. She understood questioning what she was doing here.

She inhaled deeply. “You don’t need any bandages?”

He hung his head. “Thank you, but no.”

“Are you punishing yourself?” she guessed.

He studied her face, and then ripped his gaze away from her.

“You cleared the road for me again this morning.”

“I’ll probably do it again tomorrow morning.”

She bit the corner of her lip and remembered what Beth had said. She needed to give him time. Until he figured himself out, she could be a friend though.

“The 406 has the medicine for what ails you. I went to dinner there with Beth.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m giving away all my secrets, but they have fantastic cosmopolitans.”

She could see the swell of his cheeks from his smile. “You got a bartender in Darby, Montana to make you a city-drink?”

“If you ask for things nicely, you’ll often get what you want.”

He lifted his gaze to hers. “Well, I’ll take the nurse’s advice. Goodnight, Sasha.”

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