Page 88 of Simon

“See for yourself. We don’t know what’s wrong. Everyone is afraid to touch him because they think—”

“Think what?” I growled. “What are they thinking, just leaving an old man in a tent by himself? Has anyone attended to him, or checked on him? Looked for scrapes from a plant, a bite from an animal, anything?”

Dutton swallowed. “No, they haven’t, Miss Lucy. Please don’t be angry.”

I blew air between my teeth, letting Dutton see my frustration. He gulped and grabbed hold of his companion by the shoulder.

I stomped my foot. “We must leave now. Shift to a wolf, and you take me.”

Thorn pulled me back by the shoulder. “You trust these wolves?”

Dutton and his companion looked hopeful, nodding their heads like little puppies.

I gave them a narrow look. “No, I don’t. Anyone just leaving an old man alone in a tent for days makes me have trust issues, but what choice do I have?”

Thorn stood up to his full height. “I believe waiting for Simon to wake up is for the best. I will not take my female near a bunch of psychotic dogs.”

“Hey!” Dutton defended. “We are trying to make this right, and you weren’t easy to find.”

Thorn huffed and leaned over, his hot breath fanning Dutton’s cheek. “Good. Keep it that way.”

I pushed Dutton away from Thorn and snapped my fingers in front of him. “Shift, let’s go. Time is a-wasting. Hope your mate doesn’t mind me being on your back.”

Dutton’s lips turned into a smile. “What mate?”

“Fucking shift!”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Lucy

AsDuttonracedthroughthe Wood, the wind flew through my hair and tickled my nose as it whipped back and forth. The air’s cool touch brought relief to my warm face, a welcome reprieve from thoughts rolling through my head. Amidst the curious world I should enjoy flying by, heaviness lingered, as if the weight of guilt was suffocating every enjoyment.

I left Simon back in the tent.

I hoped he would understand. The poison was leaving his body. He wasn’t under any duress. Just the random twitch, making his claws pierce the sheets. Even his facial expressions had come back.

As I gripped Dutton’s fur to keep myself from falling off his muscular back, I told myself he would be fine. I’d fed him through these past days. It was a porridge Ellie showed me how to make, though I was sure Simon hated it from the cough he would often give. He was nourished, safe, and warm back there because of me. He would wake soon. But a whole new world of guilt filled me.

I hadn’t thought about my father hardly at all. While I knew Sugha would put him at ease telling my father I was safe, I didn’t think about what my father’s reaction could be.

Did Sugha tell him I was mated to a faun? Was that why he was sick? Sick of just the thought of me being with someone other than a human when he didn’t like human males much, anyway?

Father wanted men to treat me right. He wasn’t doing it to be completely overbearing. I didn’t have a desire to be with anyone else or even date, so his reasoning, his protection to keep me safe, was his way of showing love.

Was it healthy? Eh, probably not, but it didn’t bother me since I didn’t have any sexual desires for anyone anyway.

With Simon, though? What was father going to say about that? He kept me away from humans, and now I was going to bring home a faun!

Simon wasn’t even a shifter who could shift from human to animal, but a person who was both.

This would have been so much easier to deal with if I had dated before coming here. Ease father into the idea that I could date. I was thirty years old. It was just that the first person I found attractive was a faun, and we hadn’t even dated. We justjumped right into… well, being together. Not just physically, but intimately.

All because of a bond that brought us together. A bond that we didn’t know how to seal, and it was making me a nervous wreck to be away from Simon. My stomach was full of bricks, and it got heavier the further away I went from him.

Gods, I hope he didn’t wake up while I was gone.

Then again, I’d never been one for much luck.

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