Page 11 of Insatiable

He used butterfly stitches to close the wounds. I watch him work with his long fingers, and how he gets the bleeding to stop with a bit of pressure then he starts to bandage me up.

My lips part as my eyes run over where his fur and skull connect. I’m trying to tell if this might be a mask or not. The ram’s skull is the length of my torso, and his body is at least three times my size.

What exactly is… he?

I reach forward, ignoring my pain. Just as I’m about to touch the fur around his neck and his jawline, he grabs my wrist. His long fingers wrap around it basically twice. A gasp escapes me, and I try to pull back.

“Don’t be so stupid next time. If you are going to leave, watch where you step,” he rumbles.

I stare at him. His voice is husky and deep, and it rolls through my body like soft velvet. “I can leave?”

He rolls his eyes. “Doubt you can now, little mouse.”

My brows pull. “Don’t call me that. You don’t even know me.”

“And yet…” He stands, and from down here he looks like skyscraper. “You are bleeding all over my fucking couch… So, your new name is little mouse, until you do something smarter than a mouse getting stuck in a trap.” He walks away, leaving me alone. I hear the back door closing and then the splitting of wood again.

I bit my lip. He came after me. I look down at my bandaged limbs. And he took care of me. Maybe… he isn’t the monster I thought he was going to be. But that’s because he plans on eating me though, right?

Rome—the asshole he is—was my first crush. I have liked him since I was a kid. I looked up to him, especially since he’s Warren’s kid. But he saw me as dirt and yet, he grew up hotter. All the girls in the community wanted him. His first shift at fourteen, he found a mate. He rubbed it in my face, until the day, she was murdered by other shifters clans.

And I never rubbed it in his face.

After that, he became worse. He taunted me, beat me, and pushed me to the ground. I was his punching bag. If I fought back, I was punished by his father, although they didn't serve.

Then… he tried to rape me.

The monster had the decency to be the one to stop him… Out of all the people in the world, the boogie man we were all scared of stopped Rome.