Page 41 of His Curse

Not hearing him—or really caring at this point—I keep running my hands over his head, his neck and shoulders, then his arms and hands where the blood is thickest.

His forearms to finger tips are definitely caked, but there's blood on his chest, his stomach, and some on his jeans. Ronny looks a bit like he was cradling a stuck pig, to be honest, and it unsettles the fuck out of me, especially since I can’t find an injury.

"Colton, stop. Jesus, I'm fine, man, really. It isn't my blood. I'm ok."

"Does your mother know? Is she on her way? Do I need to call her?"

Ronny grabs my hands, stills them, and looks me dead in the eye when I blink at him. "It's not my blood so she doesn't need to be called. Honestly, my mom will be lucky if I ever fucking talk to her again at this point."

I frown in confusion over that comment, and try like hell not to make my nephew drop his pants so I can make sure he's really uninjured everywhere. He's shirtless, so I can now see he's fine from the waist up, but that doesn't mean shit, not right this second, anyway.

"Are you sure you're ok?" I scan him again, head to toe then back before landing on his face, his blue eyes hard with annoyance. "What happened?" Then what he said sinks in. "What do you mean your mom will be lucky to talk to you?"

He shakes his head and sighs. "We'll get into that later. We have way more urgent shit to get into now.” Ronny grabs my arm and starts dragging me up the front steps. "I was a few towns over, stayed at a motel last night to clear my head away from everyone, and when I went out to my truck this morning, I found a surprise hiding in the bed."

I frown harder as we walk into the living room of Zan’s place. "A surprise?"

"A stowaway, more accurately."

Just before we start down the hall, Frankie comes rushing out of the guest room with an armful of bloody Nic Cage towels and a distraught look on her face. "Oh, thank god.” She blows past us to the kitchen, dumps the load onto the counter, and starts filling a basin of hot water from the sink. "She passed out again but Cora was able to locate the bullets. There's four of them but she doesn't want to extract anything without making sure it won't make the bleeding worse."

Bullets?

Bleeding?

She?

What in the ever-loving fuck is going on?

"I don't have as much knowledge as you do when it comes to this shit,” Ronny says as he pulls me down the hall. "I figured since Grandpa was a medicine man and wolf healer, you should know more about how to fix this than I do.” He scrubs his hand over his dirty blonde curls and grumbles, “Fuck, I wish Henrich was home."

"Fix what? What the hell is going on?" We walk into the bedroom and as soon as we do, the overwhelming scent of blood, coppery blood tinged in dangerous metal, and what I clearly scent as wolves-bane, hits my nose, but I still don't see the source.

"Colt, thank gods!” Cora looks up, her eyes wide and a little panicked. "I don't know what I'm doing! I mean, I do a little. She has four bullets lodged in her muscles, not real deep, just enough that I need to know it’s ok to take them out. Left shoulder, back, side, and butt cheek, but I don't want to start extracting them because I'm worried she'll bleed out. Henrich told me every shifter is wired a little differently, that sometimes arteries and nerves run different lines through the body because of their other half. I know dragons have extra blood vessels in their back because of their wings, and injuries there are more serious because of it, but I have no idea about wolves."

My eyes bounce between her, and Vok and Zan—who are currently holding down a body on the bed. A body I can only see parts of from where I'm standing like a fucking statue.

I can see small feet. Dainty, bare feet. And the soles are full of tiny cuts and dried blood. I can also see patches of smooth, rich tan skin showing through what almost look like tattered scrub bottoms, the fabric marred with dirt and blood as well. Beyond that, I can't see much other than Zan's big body, but the look on his face, the way his purple eyes are locked on mine has my hackles raised.

He knows something, something he hasn't said out loud to anyone, I’m sure, and that has me questioning whether or not I want him to share it with me.

So I stay right where I'm at and respond to Cora. "We're pretty standard. Not too different from humans. Should be able to remove the bullets without issue."

"Will you come check to make sure? Please?" She sounds almost frantic, which makes sense since I can smell the poison coursing through this poor wolf stronger than any other scent in the room, but my gut says there is so much more at play here than that. "Please, Colt? I just want to be sure."

"You need to be careful when you pull the bullets out.” I take a few cautious steps forward, glancing at Zan then back to the feet I have a serious urge to clean and bandage myself. "I can smell the wolves-bane, the poison she was shot with. To be honest, if there's a way for Zan to be the one to remove them, then that's your best bet. It's a huge dose, one that should have been fatal."

I can see that Cora already has the back of the female’s top cut open, exposing three bullet wounds that match her initial evaluation, and I can see a blood stain high on the ass of what are in fact scrub bottoms.

Tattered fabric that barely covers an ass with a gentle curve that leads to skinny hips. An ass and hips that are meant to be meatier based on the frame they’re attached to, same as the slim waist that's almost too slim sitting above them. This female is in rough shape and the longer I look, the more I see, the less I like it. Especially when I narrow my eyes and can make out each vertebrae of her spine, the faint outline of her ribs, and the lines of her shoulder blades despite the fact that they're covered by blood.

My wolf starts to stir a little, his nose in the air as I keep staring, but I ignore him and give my own assessment. "It smells like maybe lead, and a little silver too. A combination that should have taken her out by at least the second bullet, definitely by the fourth.” I stop, stop walking before I get too close, and tilt my head slightly. "She honestly should not be alive right now, so you need to be fucking careful with removal. As potent as it is, it means if you or Vok touch that shit it will definitely leave you with a lasting impression."

Cora nods just as Frankie comes running back into the room, sliding past me and Ronny before she sets the basin of water on the edge of the bed between her and Zan.

I watch intently as she starts flushing the wound to the right of the female’s spine, my wolf on his feet and pacing now. He’s sniffing like crazy—anxious, curious. The female is mostly blocked again, the only thing in my line of sight are those small feet, and every time I focus on them, the oddest sense of familiarity washes over me.

And I don’t like it.“Where did you say you found her?" I ask skeptically, my questions directed at my nephew even though I’m not looking at him.

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