“You keep the goddamn he—object—outside!”
“Oh, that’s easy for you to say,” Jasper argued. “You weren’t here. You were off at your meeting, and I did what I thought was right.”
“And what exactly was that? Scaring my mate until she was sick?”
“No, getting the fuck back inside to protect her in case we were attacked.”
Tank fell silent, but he kept his hand running gently over her back.
“Jasper’s right,” Hunny murmured against his skin. “It’s not really his fault I saw Nata—”
She pushed away from Tank, nearly tripping over her own feet as she raced back into the bathroom, her mate hot on her heels. This time, as she retched into the toilet, he was there with her, pulling back her hair to keep it from falling across her face. He spoke softly to her, little words of encouragement that were both ridiculous and incredibly sweet as she dry heaved until she was exhausted.
Her head pounded by the time she was finally finished, and she was more than a little thirsty as she slumped against the wall in a heap. Crouching down beside her, her mate ran the pad of his thumb over her cheeks, wiping away her stray tears.
“How about a nice bath, baby? Those little bath bombs will help you feel better, and afterward, I’ll get you something to drink.” Tank stood, turning toward Jasper, who still lingered in their bedroom. “Wait downstairs, yeah? I’m going to get Hunny settled, and then Murphy will be back in with the others by the time I come down.”
Jasper nodded. “They hunting down the fucker who did this?”
“Yeah, they are.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t go with them, Tank.” Jasper tilted his head curiously to the side. “Figured you’d want their head on a silver platter—”
Hunny gagged.
Tank released her hair and lunged at his brother, shoving so hard he sent the male flying backward. Jasper hit the edge of the bed, bouncing awkwardly off the side before slamming onto the ground with a heavy thud.
“Rude,” he wheezed, pulling himself up from the undignified lump he now was. “I’ll just go wait downstairs,” he groaned roughly.
Once he was gone, Tank re-entered the bathroom, closing the door hard behind him. He crossed over to her side, running a hand through her sweat-dampened hair. “You think you’ll get sick again, darlin’?”
She really hoped not.
Hunny shook her head, letting him pull her to her feet. “I need to brush my teeth,” she muttered as he turned the tub faucet on. Moving over to the vanity, she did just that, grabbing her toothbrush and applying a heavy amount of toothpaste to the bristles.
She’d just gotten done scrubbing her entire mouth when Tank plucked the toothbrush from her hand, rinsing it off and placing it into the holder.
“Hey! I wasn’t done with that,” Hunny groaned forlornly. She needed another five minutes at least to wash the acidic taste out of her mouth.
Tank narrowed his eyes at her in exasperation. “You scrubbed any harder and your teeth would have cracked.”
Hunny sighed. “It wasn’tthatbad.” She ran her tongue over her teeth, just to prove a point, and then winced at how sensitiveher gums felt. Okay, maybe he was right, but she wouldn’t admit that out loud.
Grunting, Tank tugged her shirt over her head, dropping it carelessly to the floor before reaching for the waistband of her leggings. His palm slid over her lower belly reverently before he undressed her the rest of the way. Lifting her up, he carried her the few feet to the bath before he began lowering her into the warm water. “Into the tub, little rabbit.”
She sank down gratefully into the blissfully warm water as he moved back to the sink, grabbing a bath bomb from the cabinet and unwrapping it before crouching down beside the tub.
“I need to talk about something, anything, to take my mind off of earlier.”.
“Yap away, baby.”
Hunny cleared her throat, struggling to find a topic that wasn’t related to Natasha. Unfortunately, the she-wolf was at the forefront of her mind, impossible to forget. She floundered before giving up and asking, “How was the meeting, Henry?”
Tank snorted, sending her a knowing look. “Jason was a prick. Noticed we were mated almost immediately.” Her brows rose in surprise, and he shrugged, sending her a small smirk. “I might have stated it outright. He seemed more concerned about you than his own mate.” He dropped the bath bomb into the water, and almost immediately, it began to fizz and dissolve.
Hunny made a face. “Well, he’ll probably regret that when he finds out what happened to her.” Tank hummed noncommittally in response, grabbing a washcloth and her shower gel container. He squirted some of the liquid onto the cloth. “Who do you think did that to Natasha?” she asked hesitantly. “It wasn’t someone from your clan, was it?”
She doubted it, but did she really know anyone besides Tank’s family?