Page 66 of Bonded

“It’s just a twinge, don’t fuss,” she sighs.

“I’ll um… I’ll go get that shot of antibiotics. You want to take a minute. If you need to get cleaned up, there’s a patient’s shower room just across the hall, you’re welcome to use it. I mean, you might want to wash some of that blood off. Just mind those stitches… Sorry, I probably don’t need to tell you that.”

He smiles; She smiles back.

“Riley… thank you. And I’m sorry, about Ryan… What he did. But please don’t blame him, he’s just trying to make sense of it all. His body is a rage of chemicals right now, but just know he would never hurt me; not intentionally. But I appreciate your concerns, really I do.”

“Sure…” He nods reluctantly. “Well, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

As he closes the door, Kat sighs and sits on the chair. Rubbing at her aching shoulder, she looks up from her seated position—Darius still staring at her. “What?”

“Nothing. So, you let him do it then? You let him bond with you?”

“Let him? I wouldn’t exactly say that. I’m not really sure I ‘let him’, I sure didn’t plan for it to happen. It just did. One minute we were fooling around and the next… I got overwhelmed by these feelings and I couldn’t stop it—I couldn’t stop him. I think ‘she’ took control. It was her that let him do it, not me.” She laughs under her breath as she rubs at the burning ache. “But you know I wish I’d let him do it when we shifted, cos it really really fuckin’ hurt. It was definitely not how I imagined it would be.” She takes a breath and with her head down she sighs. “You know growing up, I got told all kinds of stories, about what it would be like. Well, fuck… they should be a little more honest, cause it sure as hell wasn’t like anything I’d been told. I mean I knew it would hurt, and that it would bleed. Medically… I knew that. After all, it has to be deep enough to mark the skin permanently… But oh my God, it’s like he… he totally lost control. It was savage; he was an animal.”

“Well, at least you never have to do it again.”

“Well, there is that I guess,” she laughs. Standing up, she collects the clothes Zak left. “I should get cleaned up. Are you okay to wait? I mean, I can grab a cab if you need to go?”

“I’m good to wait.” He nods towards the door. “He seems a nice guy… Riley, he seems okay—for a freak that has a shifter as a brother.”

Kat laughs. “You know he’s not a freak, and yeah, he’s a really nice guy—really nice. He’s just caught up in a world he doesn’t understand. But then do any of us understand it? I always thought it was us that were the freaks.” She drops her head and sighs as a swirl of confusing emotions storms around her body.

“Hey… you okay there?” Darius frowns, concerned.

“Mm-hmm…” She bites her quivering lip. “Darius, will this change things, between us?”

“Oh, Kat… Kat, don’t ask me that. I don’t know. I mean this complicates shit way, way beyond the complicated shit it already was. To be honest, I don’t know. I hadn’t even considered about you giving him this—not yet, anyway. I didn’t think beyond seeing you again; being with you again.” He steps closer. Brushing her hair back from her face and taking a deep breath he stares her in the eyes. “You need to go clean that blood off. You smell pretty grim. I can’t be around you like this.” He smiles and backs away.

“Darius…” she hesitates, and then checking the door, reaches up and kisses him. “Just know that I still want you. I don’t know how we make it work but… I do want you. Truth is, I need both of you.”

“Yeah, I know. But, I’m not sure if I can share you. And I really don’t think Digby can either. Not right now anyway.”

She lets out a shaky breath at that. “I should go… the shower. I won’t be a minute. Hey um… you think we might stop and get something to eat on the way back? Only I’m starving. I don’t know if it’s Luna growling or my stomach.”

“Yeah, sure.” He smiles. “Hey… do you like pie?”

“Pie? Um, yeah, yeah sure… Pie’s good. Kinda random, but yeah I like it, why?”

“Okay, well, I know a place—does good pie. So, go get dressed and I’ll take you there.”

“Oh, um…Sorry.” Riley hesitates at the doorway as he watches the pair of them. “Am I disturbing something?”

“No, no, we’re good. Oh, is that for me?” She looks at the tray with the hypodermic.

“Yeah uh, you can have antibiotics, right? I mean wolves they don’t get a reaction?”

He pauses as Darius again glares at him. Kat stands herself between the pair of them. “No, we’re good with that.”

“Sorry, it’s just I’m a doctor, not a vet. Oh shit… Sorry I didn’t mean to say that.” He takes a breath looking at both of them. “Sorry, that sounded so bad, I just meant… Oh hell, I’ve not had much experience with this. My mother deals with Quinn’s medical stuff. She’s a doctor, well psychologist now, but she trained as a doctor.”

“It’s okay, I understand. It’s a lot for you to take in. Don’t worry.”

“Riley, you do understand…” Darius stares at him, “you can’t tell anyone about this? No one can know that Kat was here and I mean no one. You do understand that, right? You can’t go telling your friends. Are we clear?”

“Yeah perfectly. I wouldn’t. As a doctor, I don’t discuss my patients.”

“Good. As long as that’s clear because it puts us all in danger—including you.”

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