Page 8 of Blade's Battle
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After another night and full day of walking, or rather being carried by Blade, Anna woke to cold water on her feet once again. For the third time in three days, he was cleaning and redressing her feet in mullein leaves. He’d torn additional material off the bottom of his too-tight pants to make fresh bandages.
“At the rate you’re going, there won’t be anything left of your pants,” she said as he wrapped her feet.
“You’ve figured out my plan,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.
She laughed. “You’re an incorrigible flirt.”
“Well, a shifter has to have some fun.”
“Even with a human?”
“And there you go, ruining it for me, Angel. I almost forgot you’re human.”
“As if you’d be carrying and constantly changing the bandages on a shifter.”
Blade tied off the new bandages and caressed the tops of her feet. “Even with the mullein I’m applying, I’m worried they’re going to get infected.”
“We have shifters after us and you’re worried about infection?”
“I never had to take care of a human before.”
“I’m not as fragile as I look.” She ran a hand through her ratty hair and realized how pitiful she must look. She didn’t understand how he could stand the smell of her at this point, let alone last night when she had curled up against him and fallen asleep.
“For the first time in a long time, I feel alert. I must have slept like a log,” she said.
“You were definitely out of it.” Blade sounded upset. “You cried yourself to sleep,” he clarified.
“Oh.” Shehadbeen crying. Too many emotions and exhaustion had overwhelmed her. She hadn’t really slept since the night Drake kidnapped her. She couldn’t allow herself to fall into a deep sleep and be caught off-guard.
“And how much did you sleep?” she asked. His face had a drawn look to it that hadn’t been there yesterday.
“A few minutes here and there. Catnaps, if you pardon the poorly named expression.”
“I’m sorry I kept you up.”
“Don’t apologize. I enjoyed holding you while you slept. It made guard duty less lonely.”
She hadn’t thought about someone keeping watch while they slept. She should have taken a watch. She wouldn’t be able to fight, but she sure as hell could scream and wake Blade the moment she spotted a wolf.
“Next time wake me for a shift.”
“You need to sleep.”
“As do you. Especially since you’re doing all the heavy hauling.”
“You’re light.” He smiled. “I’m starting to think you keep referring to yourself as heavy just to hear me say the opposite.”
“No woman will ever complain about being told she’s light. Even multiple times.” God, when was the last time someone had made her laugh and smile so easily? She was becoming too familiar with him. Already she’d placed him in danger more than she had any right to. He rescued her and then fought the wolves that had tracked them. His job was over, and he deserved to return to his pack, not to be stuck lugging her through the woods.
“Blade, I don’t want to trouble you any longer. If you can point me in the direction that I need to go to get to a road or a town, I can continue on my own.”
The very idea of leaving his side scared the hell out of her, but she didn’t have much choice. They’d part ways eventually, and between Drake and the WSSO, no place was safe. Except perhaps the cabin, and she wasn’t ready to have Blade—this shifter who didn’t like humans—go with her. He was already proving distracting in ways she wasn’t ready to deal with. Kurt hadn’t even been dead a year.
“You think I’m leaving you? Here? Alone?” Blade’s mouth was tight, which made no sense. He should be eager to get rid of her, a mere human who couldn’t keep up with him, who’d caused him to kill several times now.
A hand touched Anna’s upper arm. She jumped, stumbled backward, and barely caught herself before Blade reached out to steady her. She thrust her palms up and out, stopping him.
