Page 33 of Promise & Artem

The fucking asshole Nero.

She hoped karma came for him with a dump truck.

Promise ran into the house and stopped inside the kitchen to strip and shift while her mate’s family brought him inside to the family room. She was shaking and her heart was pounding, and her wolf was howling for healing and vengeance.

She couldn’t shift.

Her wolf was too worked up.

She clenched her hands together until her nails dug into her palms and she closed her eyes. As she drew in slow, measured breaths, she focused on the memory of her and Artem makinglove in the hot spring. Unclenching her hands, she rolled her neck and shoulders as her heart rate returned to normal and she could feel her wolf ready to shift.

Precious minutes had passed since he was injured, but she believed she could heal him.

She had to.

She called for her wolf and shifted.

Out in the family room, she found Artem had been laid on a blanket and stripped, another blanket laid over his lower body.

She could see the full extent of his injuries and it broke her heart. He had a broken leg, his chest and abdomen were dark with bruising so he had internal injuries and probably broken ribs as well, not to mention his spine and neck could be hurt. And there was a deep gash on his head.

It was good that he was unconscious right now, because he’d be in a tremendous amount of pain. Well, when her venom hit his bloodstream, he’d be in a lot of pain anyway, but at least he was unconscious.

Looking at his parents, she let out a low whine that she hoped sounded hopeful, and then she clenched her jaws together to force the venom to coat her teeth. She lifted a paw and licked her dark claws to place venom on them. While she coated her teeth, tongue, and claws with the healing venom, she looked at him lovingly.

As a kid, she’d been trained by her mom to heal, watching her as she used her venom on pack members. She was using all her knowledge now.

She just hoped it worked.

Flexing her venom-soaked claws, she sank them into Artem’s thigh, ripping through the skin and muscle until she felt the scrape of bone, and then she bit his side. As her teeth embedded into his side, her venom seeped into his body. She extracted her claws and fangs, soaked her claws a second time, and cut intothe flesh of his neck and shoulder, driving venom farther up his body. Moving to the other side, she bit higher on his chest.

When she’d delivered as much venom as she could into his body, she sat back on her haunches and looked at him critically. Had she done enough? Were his injuries too great and her healing too late?

She tilted her head and listened to the slow beating of his heart, the irregular thump making her nervous.

As she thought she might bite him again, he suddenly shouted in pain and thrashed on the floor. His dad and Ian grabbed his arms and his mom put her hands on his head.

“Artem! Artem, stop! You were hurt and your mate healed you. Don’t shift. She said stay human until her venom heals you.”

His eyes opened and they were bright red and filled with pain. “Promise?” he wheezed out as a tremor wracked his body.

She leaned over with a soft whine and licked his cheek.

Clenching his teeth until his jaw cracked, he snorted out a growl. “Nero.”

“We’ll deal with this when you’re healed,” Axtyn said. “Just focus on healing and not shifting.”

He tried to nod but stopped himself as another tremor made his teeth clack together.

She scooted close and laid down next to him, nuzzling his biceps, which seemed to be one of the few body parts that weren’t injured.

She hoped to hell she didn’t need to bite him again, but she would. She’d bite her mate as many times as he needed, so he would be healthy and safe.

I’m sorry it hurts.

“You’re not going to fucking believe this,” Adir said when Nero answered the phone two hours after he’d sent the male to follow Artem.

“What’s that?” he asked. “And where are you, anyway?”

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