Page 3 of Ruffled Feathers

Rolling my eyes, I watched him nimbly climb the tree, like he was born to it. Maybe he was; he’d never had much fear, so he was pretty well equipped for highwire rescues.

Not me. I’d provide ground support.

I strained to see what was going on, and the soft sound of them bickering echoed back down, too quietly for me to hear the words, but the tone was enough. He was trying to herd her somewhere, and she was being stubborn. It would’ve been amusing, if it wasn’t so dangerous.

“Stop tugging on your dress before you overbalance!” Sonny snapped, and I could hear his calming inhale from here. “At least give me the basket so you can unhook the fabric, Otillie-James.”

“Don’t bark at me, asshole. That shit doesn’t work on me yet. I’m not designated.” But I could see the flash of a baby-blue and white wicker basket being passed over. “Don’t drop them,” she warned, and I had no doubt she’d exact revenge for the lives of those tiny little rodents from my friend’s very flesh if anything happened to them. Hell, maybe she’d designate as an Alpha. She had the balls for it.

She didn’t need to worry about their furry little lives, though. Sonny was a textbook sufferer of white knight syndrome. If he dropped that basket, he’d probably dive out of the tree after it, irrespective of his own personal safety. It was one of his more annoying traits, if I was honest.

There was more huffing and puffing, which I hoped meant that she was about to climb down and I could go back to the open bar.

“Be careful,” Sonny warned.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she snapped back.

The rest happened in slow motion. The cracking of a branch, a scream, the sound of tearing fabric.

“Otillie!” Sonny shouted down, and then she was hurtling toward the ground, hitting branch after branch as gravity dragged her back to earth.

I watched, moving like I was in quicksand, as her dress caught on a branch and tore, suspending her ten feet in the air by the barest scrap of fabric. Racing around, I stood under her.

“OJ, are you okay?” I shouted up, catching a glimpse of Sonny’s pale face above her. Her eyes were wild, and her face was white as a ghost, contorted with fear. “I’ll catch you,” I told her calmly. “We’re family now. I’ll always catch you. You can trust us, Otillie-James.”

She shook her head, then screamed as the fabric continued to tear slowly.

My heart was pounding in my chest as I stood beneath her, grabbing her gaze and holding it. “Just watch my face. I won’t drop you. I’ve got you. You havenothingto worry about—do you hear me?” I put every ounce of my budding Alpha power into that promise. Another tearing sound, and another squeak of fear. “Look at me, OJ. I’vegotyou.”

With that, the thin chiffon gave way completely, and she fell the rest of the way, her shoulder hitting a branch before she landed in my arms. Her weight crashed against me, knocking me onto my ass, but she was safely in my grip.

Whimpering and crying, she clung tightly to my shirt, like she wasn’t convinced she was done falling. I wasn’t sure why the sounds of her tears made my heart hurt. Maybe because her bravery was something I admired so much?

“See? Told you I’ve got you.”

That seemed to snap her out of her terror. She scowled at me and tried to wiggle out of my arms, then hissed with pain.Fuck.She was hurt. Of course she was goddamn hurt—she’d just fallen out of a damn tree and hit every branch on the way down.

Shifting her in my arms, I moved her to my lap so I could get a better look at her. “What hurts? Is it your head?” I searched for blood and bumps in her honey-blonde hair, but couldn’t find anything, and breathed a sigh of relief.

She dragged her head away from my probing fingers, her jaw gritted. “My arm.” Still so fierce, like a little hissing feral cat.

Pulling back to look, I winced. Yep, that was broken, or at least dislocated, because it was sitting at an unnatural angle.Fuck.

“Is she okay?” Sonny sounded frantic. “I’m coming down.”

“No!” she shouted. “Put the babies back first.”

I couldn’t believe this girl. “For fuck’s sakes, Otillie-James. Forget the fucking squirrels. You’re hurt.”

She pulled away from me, her hiss turning into a moan of pain, and I wasn’t prepared for the clenching in my gut at the sound.Fucking fuck. Fine.

“Put the damn squirrels back in their nest so we can get the princess to a damn hospital,” I yelled up to Sonny. She glared at me, and I glared back, but I was all too aware of the fact that she was basically naked in my arms, with a pinch of pain around her eyes.

Grunting a noise of annoyance, I stood with her still cradled against my chest. Honestly, I used every core muscle I had to make it seem effortless. “Did you hurt your legs? Ankles?”

When she shook her head, I put her gently on her feet, holding her steady as I grabbed Sonny’s jacket from the ground at our feet and wrapped it around her shoulders. She was such a slight little thing, like a strong wind would blow her over; I probably could’ve wrapped Sonny’s jacket around her twice. Shewinced as it hit her shoulder, and I wanted to beat myself up for causing her pain. I didn’t let it show, though.

“Leave the nuts in the nest for the mama too,” she called up, though her voice was strained. “To tempt her back, despite the fact you’ve been there.”

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