Page 84 of The Wolf Slayer

She nodded.

“I’m sure all this is quite a change, especially with everything going on.”

Kai seemed like a gentle soul. Considering he was the lead warrior, he was most likely also fierce and brave. When she cut her palm and dripped her blood on him, he watched for a moment as his leg healed.

“Fascinating. Thank you.” He stood up and smiled down on her before turning his attention to Blake. “I assume you will stay here with her?”

Blake nodded.

“Then I will return to the patrols and leave you to oversee this.” He signaled the next man to sit down and left into the woods.

After she’d treated all the men and they had returned to their posts, Blake gently laid his arm around her shoulders and guided her inside of Christa’s cabin.

“You deserve a break before the next group of men arrives.”

She nodded and sat on the couch, gratefully accepting the plate full of food that Christa handed her. They sat in silence while Niev ate, and Christa checked her blood pressure. After finishing her plate, Niev leaned against Blake and closed her eyes, enjoying his company. Just as she was about to slip into a dream, a knock on the door awoke her. She opened her eyes and saw Seth step inside the cabin.

“Are you ready for us or should we give you more time to rest?” Seth genuinely seemed to care about Niev’s wellbeing. It reminded her of the night she’d been attacked by the wolves and how terrified he’d been to lose her.

Niev sat up straight, gave him a warm smile, and shook her head. “No, I’ll be right out.”

Christa quickly jumped out of her armchair and walked out of the cabin. Niev assumed she wanted to get a head start on assessing the men’s injuries. Before she could stand up Blake held her back, holding her wrist.

“Are you sure you don’t need a few more minutes? You were falling asleep just a second ago.”

“No, I’m fine. I was just enjoying your cuddles a little too much.”

He nodded, took her hand, and helped her get off the couch. “After all this is over you can have as much cuddle time as you like.”

They walked outside where Seth was busy giving his men instructions to use the wait time to eat and rest. Like the last group of men, this set too seemed to be nervous.

Niev walked over to the tree stump where Christa was already taking care of the first man. He was short, had red hair and was of a broad build.

As she approached the man Seth stepped next to him. “Niev, this is Bear, your future Beta.”

She couldn’t hold back a grin. The man’s name was fitting and described him perfectly. She held out her hand and he took it with a tight grip.

“It is nice to meet you, Bear.”

Bear nodded before letting go of her hand. “I’ve been anxiously waiting to meet the woman who was able to tame Blake.”

Niev’s cheeks felt hot, and she knew she was blushing.

Thankfully, Christa saved her from having to answer. “Niev, he has a few broken ribs. I’m not sure how we’ll be able to heal him with your help.”

“How about we cut Bear open and let Niev heal his bones and the skin we had to cut?” Blake laid his arm around Niev’s shoulder and hugged her from behind.

Christa crooked an eyebrow but nodded in agreement. “If Bear agrees to it, we could give it a try.”

He nodded, but Niev didn’t like the thought of cutting someone open and inflicting even more pain. “We can give you a local sedative to ease the pain of the cut.”

“No need, I’ll be fine.” Bear seemed to be a go-getter, someone who always wanted to prove his strength to everyone around him.

She bit her lip, unsure of this approach. She needed a different way to get her blood underneath his skin and to the broken bones. Her gaze fell on an empty syringe. “Christa, do you know how to draw blood?”

Christa looked a little confused. “It has been a while and I’ve never been really good at it. What do you have in mind?”

“You could draw my blood and we can inject it under the skin where the bone needs healing.”

---