Page 15 of Great Falls Rogue
“I won’t harm you, little cub.” His low, gentle voice carries no note of recognition.
10
Shade
Shade’s mind roared with confusion that he had no time to unravel. The last coherent image he recalled was the sight of Leralynn of Osprey’s brilliant blue gown as she left—fled—the Great Hall. The dress’s fabric had flowed behind her in the moonlight, accentuating both the girl’s curves and the tug she always seemed to have on Shade’s soul. Shade couldn’t help following her outside, both to steal one more glance and to escape the uncomfortable stares of the female cadets in the Great Hall. Vestiges of laughter and violin music drifted into the night behind him.
Then he was here. Fighting, his mouth filled with the taste of foreign blood. Even now, Shade’s heart still pounded with energy, his breaths quick and deep as he tried to orient himself. Having been losing time for over a month now, discovering himself in places he didn’t remember walking to wasn’t new, exactly. He’d even woken in the forest before. But it was still disorienting as hell—and this was the first time Shade found himself jerked into the middle of battle.Why? How?
Even as Shade asked himself the question, he could feel the answer hovering at the edge of his consciousness. Knew, somehow, that it hadn’t been the arousal of combat that yanked him into the now. It was something else.
Someoneelse.
Despite the night, Shade saw the girl clearly—from her pointed ears and elongated canines to her tattered black combat leathers and those deep chocolate eyes that pulled Shade so strongly that he knew he’d run through flame if that was what it took to get to her. Which made as little sense as Shade being here in the first place, yet was just as true. He frowned at her.Stars,she was small. And hurt.
And very possibly dangerous.
Shade knew thiscreatureshould terrify him, that shackling the fae and marching her at sword point to the Academy’s dungeon was the right thing to do. Yet he felt only awe toward her—awe and worry. Having smelled the girl’s blood and pain, Shade wanted——needed——to fix it.
If she let him.
“I won’t harm you, little cub,” Shade said, kneeling beside her. The effort it took to keep from pouncing on her and running his hands over every inch of her trembling body in search of wounds drove him mad.
“Shade?” The girl’s weak voice tightened his throat as much as the word she’d uttered. This girl, thisfae female, knew him.
“How do you know my name?”
She opened her mouth as if to speak, then shut it, shaking her head. Her fingers dug into the ground in apparent frustration. She couldn’t tell him—because something prevented her from speaking of it, or because she was too injured to do so?
The healer inside Shade surveyed the girl’s body, his mind struggling for dispassion. With her leathers on, there was no way to gage the extent of her injuries, and Shade needed to locate those before giving in to the pull to cradle the girl against his chest.
The girl grabbed his wrist, her soft fingers and moonlit eyes making his skin—and all other parts—waken.
“We need to leave,” she said. “The barrier is weak here. The Night Guard might return.” The girl pushed herself up as she spoke, though her walking just now was out of the question.
Still, she had a point. While Shade little liked the thought of moving her before he could assess her injuries, none of it would matter if the Night Guard—whoever that was—came back for another round. Shade considered his options. Where to take her? He couldn’t bring a fae into the Academy without her being arrested, and even if he could, it was farther away than he liked. One of the large caves in the mountain range was an option but would lack even the starlight’s illumination. A stream a quarter mile off would have to do, its clean water, mossy bank, and relatively good defensive position the best they could hope for at the moment.
Slipping his hands under her, Shade pulled the girl against his chest, her small body feeling perfect against his.For a heartbeat, that contact seemed to be enough to make the world regain the meaning it had lost—a feeling that usually surfaced only in Leralynn’s presence.
Brilliant. Shade went from secretly obsessing over a student to imagining himself connected to an immortal fae. Magic. This female and the abrupt, overwhelming bond Shade felt with her had to be the work of magic, didn’t it?
Shoving away the implications of those conclusions, Shade focused on the girl in his arms. “What’s your name, cub?”
She shook her head. As if she couldn’t tell him. Or wouldn’t.
All right, they’d work that out later, once Shade discovered how badly wounded she truly was. Perhaps the girl had something to do with the time he’d been losing.Later.A healer. He was a healer—and he had to be that now first and foremost.
Setting the girl down on the moss beside the rushing stream, Shade pulled a knife from his boot. “I’m cutting off your armor and clothes,” he explained, lest the cub thought he intended the steel for her. “I need to see where your wounds are.”
“You could ask me. The answer, by the way, ison my thigh.”
Shade snorted softly. “Noted. However, what hurts or bleeds the most isn’t necessarily what’s most grievous, so you’ll bear with me as I make up my own mind.” He pushed her down gently. “The armor and clothes are coming off, cub.”
Having enough experience in the infirmary to know better than allow time for debate, Shade made short work of the straps and cloth, the sight of the girl’s naked flesh filling him with a flash of heat. Lush breasts with nipples peaked in the cool air, flat abdomen, a mound with auburn curls to match the locks framing her face.
Blood,Shade snapped at himself, running his callused hands over the girl’s soft skin.You are looking for blood. Punctures. Hidden wounds. And your cock doesn’t get an opinion.
“So who is the Night Guard, and why do they wish to kill you?” Shade asked, as much from curiosity as to distract the girl from his exam. In addition to the thigh puncture, the girl had a long bloody gash along her arm and several lacerations around her ribs and shoulder. Considering the battle she’d been in, it was better than expected.
