Page 15 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 2
“Just relax now and sleep,” the voice implored.
It was deep, guttural, and it touched something hidden within me, sending delicious shivers down my back. I nodded, and as the hand smoothed my hair back, I relaxed, letting the darkness overtake me again.
Chapter 14
Fergus
I ranmy hand through Trinity’s thick hair, loving the feel on my fingers. It was a beautiful shade of brown, with lighter streaks of cinnamon and dark strands of black running through it. Her hazel eyes were mesmerizing, but they were closed again, which was probably a good thing. When she woke up, I knew it was going to be difficult to explain to her that my team and I were not like the wolf-shifters. But I’d worry about that when the time came.
We’d needed to take off her coat, so I rubbed my hands against her bare arms to keep her warm. Cutter built up the fire as Grant looked at Trinity’s leg. We’d found the cut after I sniffed it out. It wasn’t very long, but it was a deep puncture mark. She’d probably fallen on a rock and never felt a thing.
“It won’t need stitches,” Grant said as he examined it, “but I will have to clean out the infection. It’s going to hurt.”
I held Trinity’s shoulders down the best I could without hurting her and nodded. Grant told Cutter to stand by with the homemade salve Aunt Kristine had concocted and stowed in my bag with fresh bandages and tape.
Grant took Trinity’s hurt leg, and pressing his fingers against either side of the wound, he squeezed and pushed. Trinity stirred a bit but didn’t wake up. Grant squeezed harder, and the cloudy white liquid oozed from the opening in her skin.
She groaned in pain and shifted, but I whispered soothing words in her ear, keeping her as calm as I could. A few minutes later, the wound was cleared of pus and cleaned before Grant finished bandaging it.
“Her fever should break soon enough,” he told me. “She needs some water and food though.”
I nodded, distracted, as I continued to stroke my fingers down Trinity’s cheek.
Grant nudged Cutter. “We’re going to keep a lookout while you wake her up and get her to eat something.” They walked away.
Once they were out of sight, I took a deep breath and then gently tapped Trinity’s cheeks before shaking her until her eyes opened.
“Wake up. Come on. Up and at ’em, Trinity.”
Her eyes twitched, and she groaned, trying to move. It took a few minutes, but she finally opened her eyes. I smiled, but her eyes darted around in alarm, and she struggled to get away from me.
“Your eyes. You’re that grizzly bear… a bloodthirsty monster. Get away from me.”
I raised my arms and backed away. “Trinity, you’re safe here. I promise. I’m not like Price and his pack.”
“I don’t fucking believe you.” She fought to move to her feet. “Ouch.” She staggered. “What did you do to me?”
“We patched you up,” I told her, still sitting by the fire. “You had a puncture wound and an infection, so we took care of it. Your fever should go down as soon as we can get you to eat and drink something.” I held out a thermos with steaming chicken broth and a small bag of jerky. “Please eat something.”
Trinity shook her head and walked away, but she swayed and nearly fell. I lunged forward and caught her. She fought her way out of my arms, and I let her go once she was back on the ground by the fire.
“How do I know I can trust you?” she snapped. “You’re a shifter… thing.”
“My name is Fergus Sheenan, and currently, you’re in bear-shifter territory—to be exact,myterritory.”
Trinity’s face froze before she broke out in laughter. “Bear-shifters, wolf-shifters… This is fucking unbelievable.”
“This is not a fucking joke, Trinity Holiday.”
Her brow wrinkled. “How do you know my name?”
“From Price and his pack, but we confirmed it with my contact.” I paused. “I work for a top secret branch of the government,” I informed her.
“Wait, so the government knows you exist? All of you?” Her voice squeaked.
“You’d be surprised what they actually know,” I whispered, poking the fire with a stick.
“That still doesn’t explain how you know about me,” she accused.
