Page 37 of Beast

Axel walked over, glancing at him with a practiced eye.“I need to check your arm,” he said.

“Arm good,” Cosway replied, lifting and lowering it at the shoulder while carefully avoiding any movement of the broken bone below his elbow.

“If the swelling’s down, I’ll tighten the bandage.It should feel more comfortable,” Axel told him.

The prisoner glanced around again, his jerky movements making him seem even more unstable.He didn’t respond.Axel wouldn’t like what I had planned for him, and neither would Marinah.If we left him behind, he’d be a danger to anyone Garret sent back for supplies.His fate was sealed, but I wasn’t ready to share that decision yet.I’d save that battle for when we were ready to leave.

“How is he?”I asked Axel, nodding toward Garret.

Axel glanced over at the man, then back at me and Marinah.“He’s critical,” he said.

The vulnerability in his eyes hit hard.Axel’s life had never been easy.His sexual orientation wasn’t an issue for us, but he carried his own scars.He’d grown up in a small, conservative farming community where coming out to his parents went about as poorly as one could imagine.They’d sent him to gay conversion therapy, which only drove him to run away repeatedly.Each time they brought him back, he’d escape again.

Despite everything, Axel was brilliant and a straight-A student.Eventually, his parents agreed to pay for medical school, hoping that if he became a doctor, maybe their church would overlook what they saw as his “shortcoming.”His Shadow Warrior father barely spoke to him, and by the time my uncle found him, Axel was a broken man.Graystone brought him into our group, and despite his past, Axel somehow managed to keep up with his hospital internship while following my uncle’s rigid rules.

He had been a gift ever since, saving countless Warrior and human lives.

I looked at Garret again.If he didn’t make it, Axel might never get another chance at finding someone truly compatible.That thought twisted something deep inside me.

Marinah leaned closer, her warmth separating my anger for a moment.She was a whirlwind and drove me to the brink of insanity half the time.But I was happy, at least when she wasn’t throwing herself into danger.

“When will he be able to travel?”I asked Axel grimly.

He sighed.“A week, if he survives the next two days.”

“We leave in three days,” I said, leaving no room for argument.

Marinah whipped her head around, cutting Axel off before he had a chance to speak.“Leaving that soon will kill him,” she snapped.

I hardened my voice.“We’ll carry him if needed.We leave in three days.”

Her loud huff was full of displeasure, but I didn’t flinch.She set her MRE can down with a deliberate thud, picked up another, and marched over to the prisoner, completely ignoring me.

“Can you eat with your injured arm?”she asked, crouching beside him.

He cocked his head, studying her as though she was the most fascinating thing in the world.“Pretty butterfly,” he murmured.

“Thank you,” she said curtly.“You need to eat.”She handed him the opened can, and he placed it on the ground, hunching over it protectively as he began eating with the fingers of his uninjured hand.

“I’ll get you water,” she added, again ignoring me as she grabbed one of her canteens.She shook it, testing how much was inside, before walking back to Cosway.

What kind of name wasCosway?

She glanced over her shoulder at me, her expression daring me to object.I stayed silent.Beast, who usually paid Axel little attention because of his preferences, was also ignoring this man.Strange.But Beast wasn’t ignoring Marinah’s displeasure.Her irritation stirred him, and he grumbled inside me.

“Thank you, butterfly,” Cosway said, handing the canteen back after taking a long drink.

Marinah smiled and walked toward me again.Her current displeasure showed in her steel gaze.I ignored it.

“What are we going to do with him?”she demanded.

I looked at the prisoner, then back at her, saying nothing, but something must have shown in my expression.

“No,” she said, shaking her head.“That’s not happening.”

What is it about authority that Marinah does not understand?This decision was out of her hands, and I didn’t bother replying.

“King?”She leaned in closer, her anger burning like hot coals.“You are not killing him.He’s not all there mentally, and he’s not the enemy.”

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