Page 12 of Sass Me

“What the fuck happened? Nic, Mom, Ellie, are you okay?” Jake pushed his way into the circle of women and grabbed Nic into his arms.

“I’m fine. But, this guy isn’t.” Nic pointed down at Steele.

Nic’s assessment of the Steele tore at Fleur’s gut. Nic was right. He really wasn’t fine. He was dying and she didn’t have any way to stop it. Shit.

She’d only just met him like an hour ago, and she didn’t understand why, but she could not lose him. Something inside her would break if he did.

“Jesus.” Jake shook his head.

Aric shoved in and grabbed Jordan, kissing her hard and then looking her up and down. “Those don’t look like wolves’ claw marks. What attacked you all?”

“Some sort of black lizard men. I guess they were dragons, but nothing like these two.” Jordan snuggled against Aric.

“Black dragons? What the hell? Did you guys bring some sort of feud with you?” Aric’s voice turned dark, the alpha in him coming out.

Fleur wished they’d all shut up and let her think. Yarrow root? No. She didn’t have time to make a poultice and what would she do with it anyway, pour it straight into his gaping wounds. No. What she needed was a god-damned needle and a whole spool of thread.

Dax stood and shook his head. “They should be here. I’ve never heard of demon dragons in this area. That’s what they are, part demon, part dragon, and all evil.”

“Fucking hell. Just what we need the night before the scenting ceremony. We’ve got wolves coming in from all over for this one, hoping to find mates, and instead they’re going to find god-damned demon dragons.”

“You’re lucky we were here. If you’ve got an infestation of demon dragons, you’ll need our—” Dax glanced down at Steele, “—my help to hunt and destroy them. Unless you want a case of the Bubonic plague on your hands.”

Oh, no. Fleur shook her head, not allowing the tears that were bubbling up there to fall. Even Steele’s friend had given up on him. Fleur couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

The biggest of the wounds she had under her hand seemed to be bleeding less. Olympus above, please don’t let it be because his heart wasn’t pumping.

Her fingers trembled as she placed two fingers on his neck. She was shaking too badly to feel anything. Either that or she would have to admit she couldn’t feel his heartbeat.

“We wouldn’t have this problem in the first place, if you two hadn’t decided to do your dicking around in my town.” Aric stepped up, chest to chest with Dax.

Fleur wanted to tell him to back off, couldn’t they see Steele needed help, not a pissing contest? Bastards.

But, a mere human with a little bit of flower nymph heritage didn’t simply tell the Alpha of the local pack to step off. Not the night before the scenting ceremony where she she hoped to find a mate.

Besides, yelling at the men wouldn’t help Steele. If only she’d studied traditional western medicine instead of botany and herbalism.

“You were supposed to protect our women, not put them in jeopardy. I trusted you with their lives.” Jake pushed Nic behind him and got in Dax’s face.

May Zeus strike them down where they stand.

“We did, and my friend sacrificed his life to protect them.”

That was it. She might lose her chance at going to the scenting ceremony, and she might piss off the Alpha, but she didn’t give a flying squirrel if she did. Not if she could get some help for Steele.

“Shut the hell up, the lot of you. I’m trying to figure out how to save this dragon. Go measure your dicks somewhere else or help me.”

Aric turned his glare on her, the rims of his eyes glowed with the wolf inside of him. Fleur glared right back.

He might be able to intimidate everyone else around him with that look and his inherent power, but just now, he could suck it. “Well?”

“Aric, quit trying to frighten Fleur. She’s trying to save the hotty. And the dragons did fight off a dozen of those beasts before we joined in. We only took out a couple.”

“Fine,” he growled.

The ambulance pulled up, lights flashing, and the circle parted to let them in.

“Shifter or human?” The EMT asked.

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