He turned and left.
I didn’t feel great about arguing with Hunter. We usually didn’t fight. But on this topic, we’d been itching closer and closer to an argument for months. If he’d told me what their plan was sooner, that argument would’ve happened weeks ago.
I pushed it from my mind. I’d deal with it later.
First, I needed to take care of Nova.
I stepped past the furniture.
The fucker in the chair jerked his head upward, wiping drool from his chin as he looked around wildly. “Clay? What are you doing?”
“Fixing her. Feel free to leave.” My words were shorter than they probably should’ve been. I didn’t have it in me to play diplomat while my favorite woman’s wolf was hiding in a bush.
“Don’t touch her. She was just calming down,” he protested. “We can’t…”
“Fuck off, Kody. I know her better than you do.”
“It’s going to be fine,” Sydney murmured to Kody, sleep heavy in her voice. “Nova trusts Clay.”
The words made my chest burn.
She did trust me.
I hoped so, at least.
Her wolf roused from sleep as I approached. Her bright green eyes were only cracked, but she growled softly at me anyway. She sounded weak.
“Growl all you want, Gorgeous.” I crossed the dirt between us. She snapped her teeth at me halfheartedly when I bent down, but they glanced off my skin. She didn’t really want to draw blood. She was just scared.
The thorn bush she was in had to be stabbing her, and would do the same to me, but I didn’t give a damn.
“You’re filthy.” I tucked my arms beneath her and scooped her up off the ground, careful not to bump her injured leg. It was still wrapped in the human arm brace the doctor had given her. “And you smell like Hunter.”
The way her nose wrinkled made me chuckle. She didn’t care about the dirt or dried blood, but smelling like Hunter was crossing a line for her.
She growled again as I carried her out of the forest, but it was even more half-hearted than before.
I walked smoothly to avoid jostling her broken arm, and having me there seemed to relax her. She closed her eyes almost immediately.
“Where are you taking her?” Kody asked me, falling into step with me the same way my brother had.
He could fuck off, as far as I was concerned.
But if she was dating him, I couldn’t exactly say that.
I heard Sydney rushing to catch us, and slowed down a little. Everyone liked Syd. She could keep the peace if I accidentally pissed my girl’sboyfriendoff.
Considering I wanted to kill him for dating Nova, it seemed like a good call to have Sydney there. Just in case.
“To my cabin,” I said.
“What? Why?”
“She’s not comfortable in the Lodge, and she’s never been in my cabin. I can convince her to shift back there.”
“She’s never been in my room,” Kody argued. “I?—”
“Let Clay handle it,” Sydney urged. “They’ve been friends for more than a year. She knows him.”