Page 63 of Bonded

“She’s going to be fine. I just need some room.” Riley smiles. He can see the concern etched into the large man’s face, and as much as he doesn’t like that she would choose this guy over himself, he still thinks it’s nice that he’s showing so much concern for her. “So, did you say this was a dog bite?” he hesitantly asks. “I mean, that’s what I heard you tell the nurse?”

“I don’t know… Did I?” Digby shrugs. His brow furrows, and he glares, staring Riley in the eyes. “Why? Does it matter?”

“Erm, no. No, I guess in this case it doesn’t. It’s just I… I heard you say that… I mean I thought that’s what you said? But no, no it doesn’t matter.” Riley stutters with nerves. “Okay, so Kat let me look.” He grips her hand as he lifts the temporary dressing away from the skin. “Shit.” He swallows and cocks an eyebrow as he checks the open wound. “Okay, so that’s going to need a couple of stitches. Kat, what the hell happened here, because…” He looks around at Digby and hushes his voice. “… this is not a dog bite.”

She sighs, anxiously biting her teeth against her lip. “You know Ryan… why don’t you go call Zak. Get him to bring us some clean clothes. I mean, you could do with getting cleaned up and I need something more than a picnic blanket to wear.” She smiles at him, trying to keep the conversation relaxed—calm him. Stop the worrying and pacing so much. “You could bring us some coffee too, and maybe some snack bars? Hmm… yeah? Riley can take care of this.”

“I’m stayin’—I’m not leavin’ ya.”

“Ryan, please…” She forces a smile, trying again to reassure him. “I’m fine. Just go call Zak. Oh… and maybe get someone to go clean up the picnic area? You know what I mean. We don’t want anyone finding it and asking questions.”

“Yeah, yeah… okay, sure. I guess you’re right, but are you gonna be okay, here with him?”

“Yeah, I’m going to be just fine.” she nods stiffly. “As Riley said, it just needs a couple of stitches. I could have probably done it myself if I hadn’t felt so faint. Ryan, please, just go call Zak.”

He kisses her forehead and turns to go; glaring and growling at Riley. A pang of jealousy rises in his chest as his wolf tries to convince him not to leave them. “Kat, I’m sorry. About this… I’m really sorry.”

“I know,” she says. “I know you are. But it’s going to be fine. This is not your fault. Honestly, it’s okay. Oh hey…” she smiles. “See if they have one of those creamy caramel bars, you know the ones I like? I’m so hungry.”

He nods, then hesitating one last time in the doorway, his eyes focus on the pair of them—noticing as Kat sits up the blanket falls away to reveal her blood-smeared breasts. “Hey, Doctor Freak… you got a gown or somethin’ she can put on?”

“Oh um… yeah sure.” Riley closes his eyes as he also notices her nakedness, and he now searches the room for a gown. Kat awkwardly embarrassed pulls the blanket up around her.

The door closes; Kat and Riley are left alone. But Digby can’t help himself and hovers outside in the corridor. Constantly checking on them through the window, he growls and sneers as he watches Riley touching her.

“Fuck.” He snarls as he pulls his phone from his pocket and calls Zak. “Hey…” he sighs, “yeah, it’s me. I need you to come to the hospital… No, no I’m okay but it’s Kat… somethin’ happened… No, no she’s gonna be fine, but she needs a couple of stitches. That freak brother of Quinn’s, he’s lookin’ at her right now.” He checks the window again, watching them. “Oh, and can you go to the house, get some clothes for her, and me? Something casual—comfy tee shirt, joggers somethin’ like that, bring ‘em here?” He lets out another sigh, “Yeah, thanks, man. And send the rest of the boys to go clear up the picnic… I’ll explain later… Just get ‘em to do it, Zak. I can’t talk now… I’ll see you soon.”

He cuts off the call and heads to the end of the corridor where the vending machines are. Realizing he has no spare change, his wallet in the truck, he loses his temper and slams his fist hard into the front of the machine—he’s nearly in tears with angry frustration.

Worried and feeling guilty about what he did. His wolf howls in his head. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. His special day hadn’t turned out quite how he planned. But then a wry smile curls on the corner of his lips, and he looks around. He wants to howl out loud but he can’t. Closing his eyes as he holds it back, he takes a deep breath and smiles.

“I’m bonded now… for real.”

***

With Digby gone, Riley relaxes his stance. “So, you are you going to tell me exactly what happened here?”

“It’s nothing.” Kat looks away embarrassed, trying to avoid a long explanation. The fact she’s naked, wrapped in a picnic blanket, and covered in blood… Where would she start?

“Well, it’s not that—nothing, I mean. Kat, how the hell did this happen? Because we both know this is not a dog bite?”

“Riley, please don’t ask me to explain, you really wouldn’t understand.”

“Then make me. Make me understand. Kat, you know you can trust me, so tell me. Did he do this? Ryan? I mean, is this a… a-a wolf thing? Oh my God, he did, didn’t he? He did this to you. Did he bite you? Oh, God… Are you serious? How is this even possible?”

“Riley, it’s okay. Just calm down, I’ll be okay but… yeah, he did this. You’re right, about it being a wolf thing. But it’s fine. Hell, it’s not like he attacked me.”

“He didn’t attack you?! Are you actually serious? Then what the hell do you call this? Kat, this is not okay. You need to report this because this is… this is assault and you need to tell someone in charge.”

“Report it? Report it to who exactly? Oh yeah, let me see… Oh hey, Commander Edwards, by the way, my werewolf boyfriend bit my neck, which necessitated a visit to the emergency room, just so you know. Yeah, how does that sound? Hmm? Riley this wasn’t assault; this was…” She takes a breath, calming her angry tone. “This was consensual. God, I told you wouldn’t understand. You can’t. You know what…” She gets up from the bed, dragging the blanket around herself. “I’ll sort it myself. We should never have come here. Ryan was right, I should have just… Shit. I just thought, with you having a shifter for a brother you’d understand, that you’d know things are not straightforward in the world. But maybe I was wrong and perhaps you can’t.”

“Kat, wait I do. What I mean is I can… It’s just I don’t enjoy seeing you hurt. I don’t like knowing he hurt you. That is your world this would be an okay thing for him to do? Please…” He grabs her arm to stop her but as she pushes past the blanket gets caught around her feet and still feeling lightheaded, she trips. Losing her footing, she stumbles and falls to the floor.

“Kat!” He loses his grip on the tee-shirt and the full extent of the wound is displayed. It’s still bleeding and a panicked sound hitches to the normally calm doctor’s voice. “Kat! Kat, let me look.” He lifts her chin, the bleeding, though less, still trickles down her naked chest. “You know, I really should arrange a transfusion, you’ve lost a lot of blood.” He helps her up and grabbing a dressing from the cart he gets her to hold it over the wound.

Now he realizes she’s completely naked.

“Oh, God, was… was this like a sexual thing… A fetish? Is that why you let him do this. I’ve seen a lot of injuries—in some bizarre places, especially when I was training in the E.R. You wouldn’t believe what people do to each other. Oh sorry, I forget…” he smiles, “You’re a doctor too.”

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