Page 65 of Captured By the Scaled Outlaw
“Oh?” he inquires, pressing the area harder. “A broken shoulder?”
I slap my hand on top of his, tripping over my words, “Ah, i-it’s probably just bruised. No big deal.”
I can’t let him see.
Never mind the embarrassment — the implication alone would complicate everything if revealed.
Guy pushes my hand away. “Well, I’ll take a peek to make sure.”
Slipping his hand under the fabric, Guy drags my shirt collar over my shoulder, exposing a small piece of skin. His nose wrinkles as he brushes a claw over the recent scab, the smell of copper apparent to tuned senses.
It only takes him a moment to realize what it is, his look of concernslowly shifting to one of self-consciousness.
My heart leaps into my throat. There is no hiding what happened in the desert with a giant Lowell-shaped bite mark on my shoulder. I can only hope that amating biteis unique to Lowell’s species, but with how Guy is shrinking into himself, I guess not.
Before I can protest any further investigation, a dark silver hand wraps around Guy’s snout in a flash. His body is flung to the ground with athud.
Guy’s expression is dumbfounded and stunned. He stares up at a very angry Lowell, whose eyes are wide and stilted
Lowell’s lower eyelid twitches, a snarl in his voice. “Hands off.”
Guy stammers, crawling backward with a severe look of fear. He pushes to his feet hesitantly, his palms lifted in submission.
“S-sorry, boss,” he whispers, gingerly slinking behind Ginny.
Lowell glances over his shoulder at me.
My heart flutters at how his gaze softens when our eyes connect, the slitted pupils spilling into dark pools.
He didn’t like that Guy was touching me,I think with a goofy smile.
A slapping noise draws my attention to a very angry Ginny who has just smacked Lowell’s chest with her palm.
“What the hell?” she shouts with a scowl. “Stop being such an asshole and let us help you. Your bravado can’t fight off an infection.”
I snort a laugh, hiking my shirt back up to my neck.
“Yeah, whatever,” Lowell says, flustered. “Guy needs to mind his fucking hands.”
I clear my throat in an attempt to cut even a sliver of the tension currently between us all. Lowell keeps a keen eye on a still-cowering Guy.
“I think what Lowell is getting at,” I start slowly, waiting for Lowell to drag his glare away from Guy, “is that we are working in a very short window, given the severity of his injury.”
Lowell grunts in acknowledgment. “Yeah, that.” He smiles warmly at me, dissolving his previous scowl. “And May needs to hurry back to Nilsan to fulfill her end of the deal before any further damage is done. If we don’t get the project shut down by the end of the month, more lives will be lost.”
Ginny’s thin brows tighten skeptically. “Wait, you’re going to let May go back to Nilsan? That’s not what you told me before!”
I knew it.
Lowell laughs her off, crossing his arms while shrugging. “That’s because I only decided to recently. You know I always play it by ear.”
With a lowered voice, Ginny grits her teeth. “Dammit, Lowell. Are yousureshe’ll hold up her end?”
Turning his entire body to face me, Lowell’s massive stature eclipses the sun to cast me in his shadow.
“She will,” he says sternly.
“I technically won’t be lying to the government when I report the Giant’s domain expansion, so I have no reason to betray you,” I chime in, worried that Lowell will change his mind with any more probing doubt from Ginny.
