Page 95 of Wolf Bitten

When his glassy eyes turned to me, my head jerked back. He was so close to death.

“Why did you attack me?” I tried to keep my emotions level, but some hurt broke through. “I thought we were friends.”

“We … are.” He paused and swallowed. “Had … to.”

Raffe’s hands tightened on Dave’s shoulders, and his jaw twitched. I could feel the unbridled anger swirling off my mate, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Why?” I couldn’t imagine doing something like that to one of my friends. Maybe I would if Raffe asked—he was my fated mate, and I’d do anything to protect him—but Dave was single and didn’t have that kind of connection with anyone. “Why in the world did you believe you had to do that?”

“I …” He shook his head and gurgled. “Can’t …” He wheezed, and his chest rattled.

“Stop making him talk.” Josie straightened and cupped his face. “Leave him alone. He needs to rest so he can get better. You can ask him all this stuff when he’s healing.”

My heart stopped and my jaw dropped. I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t sure how she could assume he’d get better.

“Josie …” Dave’s eyelids closed slowly. “I lov—”

“No.” Josie smacked his face. “Don’t go to sleep.”

What the hell is going on here?Keith linked from his spot behind me, where he was watching the strange woman.They’ve never even talked to each other. Did she fall and hit her head?

I … I don’t know,Adam replied, sounding as perplexed as Keith.

“Sorry …” Dave sputtered, and his eyes closed.

“We need to take him somewhere.” Josie smacked his cheeks again. “He’s lost consciousness.”

Dave’s breathing turned more shallow, and Raffe released his shoulders.

I was at a loss. “Josie, he’s not—”

“Don’t.” She jabbed a finger at me. “He’s going to be fine.” The whites of her eyes were red from crying, and she sniffled. “You’re not a doctor, and you just became a supernatural, so don’t even pretend you know anything about this world.”

I tensed. She’d never been even slightly rude to me before, and it caught me off guard.

“Listen here,” Raffe damn near bellowed, but he kept his eyes on anything but Josie.

Calm down. She’s upset,I linked. There had to be more to her and Dave’s relationship than anyone knew. They were acting as if they were lovers, but with how tight this group was, if they had been, someone would’ve known. It hadn’t taken long for Keith to catch Raffe and me when we’d been dating secretly.Give her a pass.

Dave’s heartbeat slowed and became sporadic.

“He needs blood and lots of it if you want him to survive,” the woman said loudly from behind me.

I spun toward her and sniffed. How did she know this? She was human, yet she clearly knew about the supernatural. One plausible explanation came to mind—the secret society. Were they recruiting humans? Hell, maybe they had been the entire time. We knew nothing about them. Or maybe this woman was a witch and cloaking her scent. “Where do you suppose we find that?”

She moved toward us. “Me. I’m human. I can feed him.”

Adam and Keith growled, the fur on the napes of their necks rising as they advanced toward her.

“Fuck no.” Raffe shook his head, removed his shirt, then tossed it to me. “You were trying to kill him. You want to finish him off so he doesn’t give us answers. We’re not that stupid.” He then linked,Put that on before I have to kill Adam and Keith for looking at you … even by accident.

Don’t forget Josie is naked, not five feet from you!A growl escaped, though I hadn’t meant it to.At least I’m wearing a bra and pants.

I can’t help it.Raffe glowered.You took off your shirt.

We were wasting time bickering like this. I put on Raffe’s shirt to appease him and tried not to focus on his bare chest and muscles.

Maybe I can lure another human into the woods so we can use them to feed him.Keith edged a few steps back toward campus.

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