Page 44 of Wolf Touched

I quickly dressed inside the vehicle, thankful she’d bought me underwear packaged in a box. Once I had clothes on, I felt better, though I wished Raffe would wake up. He was still out cold.

Snagging the gauze, I took a deep breath, ignoring the coppery scent of Raffe’s blood. “Remove his shirt. Let’s see what the wound looks like.” I yawned; my eyelids were still heavy with sleep.

When she removed his shirt, my body sagged. His bleeding had slowed, and his breathing and heart were steady despite him being unconscious. At least those were good signs.

I packed his wound as tightly as possible then rolled the gauze around his shoulder several times, making it as snug as I could. I straightened, wondering like hell what to do next. One thing was certain—Raffe needed to be moved because he wouldn’t be driving.

Keith and Adam, can you help me move Raffe to the passenger seat?He needed to stay slightly elevated.

By the time I got out of the SUV and walked around the hood, Keith and Adam were there. Adam stood closest to the door, his face lined with worry.

“The bleeding slowed, so that’s something.” I forced a smile, trying to reassure him and myself. “He just needs rest.”

“We all do.” Keith hung his head. “This is all bullshit. We left to hide and stay off the grid, and both our dads and the coven found us. At this rate, we might as well go back to campus. At least our place there is paid for. We just spent almost all the money we had.”

I didn’t ask how much money we had left. It had to be hundreds, if that.

“Going back to campus would be handing Skylar overto Supreme Priestess Olwyn.” Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. “And we all know Raffe wouldn’t want that.”

“So what do we do?” Lucy leaned against the back driver’s side door. “Go home to our parents’ pack?”

Adam wrung his hands. “Raffe will kick our asses if we do that, especially after forming our new pack. And for all we know, our dads brought the coven members to us.”

I hated that he was right. If taking Raffe back to his dad would keep him safe, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but Raffe could find me now that our fated-mate bond was complete, and I had no doubt he would track my ass down if I tried to be noble and leave him. He was determined like that.

Even though I didn’t want to know, the question had to be asked. “How much money do we have left?”

“Josie said about two hundred.” Lucy bit her bottom lip.

Less than that,Josie linked.More like a hundred and seventy-five, and guys, we have another problem. Dave needs more blood. He’s hungry and can’t heal without it.

That must be why he’d been struggling back at the house and why he’d tried to attack me when my power sang.

Octavia huffed. “I already said we should go to my house. No one from the pack or coven knows where I live.”

“Sounds great, except we don’t trust you.” Keith arched a brow. “So there’sthat.”

Even though he was right, I didn’t know what better option we had. We had hardly any money. Coven members and wolf shifters lived throughout the United States, and this group had such prominence that most supernaturals would recognize them. I didn’t know where we could go or hide other than her place.

I gritted my teeth, hating the situation we were in and that Raffe had gotten significantly injured because ofme.Dave wasn’t far behind him unless we found him someblood. Guilt and regret made it hard to breathe. My power went to a fizz, and I wanted to scream and pull my hair out.

I was sick and tired of this. For once, couldn’t things be easy for us? “Why should we trust you?” I pivoted to Octavia, needing to watch every expression and read her emotions.

She stood tall, meeting my gaze head-on. “I came to the university, despite all the risks, because I heard you were in danger. I understand how it looked when you found me, but Skylar, even though we gave you up, we never stopped loving you. You can trust me. I won’t betray you.”

I snorted, bitterness rising, but now wasn’t the time to address my abandonment issues. We were in the parking lot of a closed campground. We had to move, and driving around aimlessly would waste what little cash we had left. We had to be strategic. “How do you know we’ll be safe there?”

Skylar,Adam linked.You can’t be serious. Raffe wouldn’t like this.

My head snapped toward him, my wolf stirring enough to rise.Well, he’s not awake and healthy enough to offer suggestions, is he?

Keith’s head tilted backward, and he smirked. “It’s a good thing that Raffe isn’t awake right now, or he’d kick my ass because that right there was very se—”

“Don’t”—Lucy smacked him in the back of the head—“finish that comment. Think it to yourself, but never say anything like that out loud or in the pack link. We’re going to pretend you aren’t that stupid. Just in case, I’ll remind you that he wouldn’t get mad at only you for saying something like that but at all of us for not telling him. But since you aren’t correcting me, we all know you weren’t about tosay what it sounded like you were going to say.” She glared at him, daring him to counter her.

I shivered, my wolf snarling in my head. No one was allowed to look at me in any way but platonically except for Raffe. Before Keith said something else that might provoke my mate, I asked, “How far away do you live?”

“About fourteen hours.” Octavia rubbed her hands together. “If we get moving, we can be there by this evening.”

---