Page 13 of Tease Me

Niko shoved in and grabbed Zara, 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.” Zara snuggled against Niko.

“Black dragons? What the hell? Did you guys bring some sort of feud with you?” Niko’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 didn’t know what she’d do with it anyway. Not like she could 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 shouldn’t be here. I’ve never heard of demon dragons in this area. That’s what they are, part demon, part dragon, and all evil.”

Niko growled and paced, circling Zara and staring Dax down. “Fucking hell. Just what we need the night before the mating ritual. We’ve got wolves coming in from all three packs, 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 and everyone’s vital organs MIA on your hands.”

Oh, no. Fleur shook her head, not allowing the tears bubbling 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.” Niko 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 packs to step off. Not the night before the mating ritual where 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.” Kosta pushed Heli behind him and got in Dax’s face too.

May Zeus strike them down where they stood.

Dax didn’t give them an inch. “We did, and my friend sacrificed his life to protect them.”

That was it. She might lose her chance at going to the mating ritual, 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.”

Niko 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?”

Zara sidled up to her mate and slid a hand into his. She spoke softly, soothing his beast. “Niko, quit trying to frighten Fleur. She’s trying to save the hottie.”

His wolf was close to the surface, in protection mode. But Zara had soothed this beast before. Fleur wasn’t afraid. She understood he was trying to protect his pack, his mate.

Zara laid her head against Niko’s chest. “The dragons did fight off a dozen of those beasts before we joined in. We only took out a couple.”

“Fine.” His voice wasn’t so much a growl anymore. “Let’s get him to Doc. Maybe he can help.”

Yes. She should have thought of that. Doc was the pack’s healer. Wolves didn’t get sick, but he patched them up after battles.

Serena stepped into the circle that had formed around Fleur and Steele. “I already called him. He’ll be here soon. But,” she locked eyes with Fleur. “He’s never worked on a dragon shifter before. I don’t know that he’ll be able to do anything.”

CHAPTER FIVE