Twisted

He settled his bundle on the bed as gently as he could, then ransacked the bag for something to wear.

“Don’t move,” he told her when she thrashed against the mattress.

“O…kay?” she asked.

“Yes, we’re going to be okay,” he lied.

Only thing he found that would come close to fitting was a pair of shorts that had the word Princess stamped across the ass in glittery pink. Now wasn’t the time to care about fashion—or the lack thereof. Or the fact that the shorts were too snug and he might never be able to have children. He might need to do another endless dash, and he had to be prepared.

He peered down at his leg. The arrow had been pounded out of him when he’d accidentally run into a tree, but he could feel the wood shards embedded in the muscle, cutting at him, making him bleed harder rather than heal. He applied pressure to force the shards out, grimaced, but wasn’t going to let the pain stop him. If he didn’t staunch the flow, he wouldn’t be able to care for Mary Ann.

So he doctored himself as fast as he could, using one of the T-shirts in the bag, and raced back to the bed, where he crouched in front of Mary Ann. Her skin was chalk white, the blue tracery of her veins evident. There were bruises under her eyes, and her lips were chapped. All cosmetic—until you looked at her chest. There was so much blood caking her skin, she looked like she was wearing a red sweater. Worse, the arrow still protruded from the front and the back.

“H-how b-bad?” she whispered.

She was on her side, her shoulders slumped, and her head lolling forward. She was fighting sleep, her teeth chattering. Never had he seen her this weak and helpless. And he never wanted to see her like this again.

What he did want to do was panic the hell out, but he wasn’t going to let himself. Someone needed to stay calm, and bottom line, he was the only option.

“R-Riley?”

Brutal honesty, no more lies. “It’s bad. Real bad.”

“Kn-knew it. D-dying?”

“No!” he shouted, then more quietly added, “No. I won’t let you.” He pressed his fingers into her carotid and counted the beats that jumped up to meet him. One hundred and sixty-eight a minute. God. The speed at which her heart hammered was a testament to how much blood she had lost. If she reached one hundred and eighty thumps a minute, there’d be no saving her.

He had to act fast. “I’ve got to leave you here for a minute, okay? I have to get a few supplies so I can remove the arrow.”

That’d make her bleed even more, but he couldn’t patch her up with it there.

“O…kay.” Her eyelashes fluttered, as if she were trying to focus on him but couldn’t quite manage it. He needed to go, now, now, now, but if he released her, she would fall on her face or on her back, and both options would do more damage to her already fragile body.

Moving like he was on a racetrack being timed, he propped pillows in front and behind her, holding her in that position all the while, and tucked the blanket around her legs to keep her warm. Then he washed the blood off himself and zipped out the door, stealing money from the front desk, then zooming to the convenience store across the street to gather up gauze, disinfectant and anything else he could find that he might need.

Yeah, his shorts got a few looks. When he had what he needed, he just sort of threw the money on the counter and left.

Mary Ann hadn’t moved. Her eyes were closed, her entire body shaking violently. Not a good sign. He counted her pulse again. One hundred and seventy-three beats a minute.

He was trembling as he uncapped the half-gone vodka, held Mary Ann’s mouth open and poured the contents inside. He worked her throat with his free hand, ensuring she swallowed as much as possible.

She didn’t choke, didn’t protest, hell, didn’t notice anything was being done to her. Good for her, since he was about to hurt her worse than she’d ever been hurt, but a bad sign. A really bad sign.

“You will not die on me,” he told her. “Understand?” He splashed a bit of the alcohol over the wound. Then, still trembling, he gripped the front end, breathed in and out, trying to stop his trembling, and snapped the wood in two, removing the tip.

He threw the piece on the floor, lifted Mary Ann into the light of the lamp, and studied what remained. The shaft had gone all the way through, so the wood was peeking out both sides of her. Okay. Good. The damage had already been done. The danger now was leaving shards inside her when he pushed the rest of the arrow out. Which he had to do quickly, smoothly.

Like that was possible when he looked like he had advanced Parkinson’s. Riley claimed the bottle of vodka and downed the rest in three gulps. The liquid burned a path along his throat, scalded his stomach, then blistered through his veins. He’d had to do this kind of triage before. To himself, to his brothers and to his friends. Why was he breaking down now?

He pressed his fingers into Mary Ann’s pulse. One hundred and seventy-five.

A string of curses left him, but at least the alcohol kept him from vomiting. He moved behind her. In the mirror across the way, he could see that her eyes were still closed, her expression still too smooth for what was happening. Another breath in, out. You can do this. Don’t hesitate. Just act.

He raised his arm. Lowered his arm. Come on!

Raised. Lowered. He wanted to grab the end of the shaft and jerk, that would have been easier, or should have been, but the wood was slippery from her blood and he’d never be able to maintain his grip long enough. So, he had to punch one end to shoot the other end out the other side. The thought of punching her, however…

You would rather she die? You would rather puss out than do everything you can?

With a roar, Riley balled his fist and did it. He punched the broken end with all his might. He made contact with the wood, then Mary Ann’s flesh, pushing the arrow the rest of the way through her body, and out the wound in her front. She barely twitched.

Okay. Done, the worst was done. Time for the easy stuff.

So why did he feel faint? The shaking only got worse as he cleaned and bandaged her, and when he finished, he was the one covered in blood. Again. And this was fresh. Meaning, she’d lost more than another spurt or two.

She needed a transfusion and fast. Only reason she was still alive was because she’d fed from a witch on the way here. That wouldn’t save her much longer, though. She was wheezing. The death rattle, some called it.

Riley scrubbed a hand down his face. What should he do? Carrying her to a hospital would kill her, no question. She wouldn’t survive the jostling. Being picked up by an ambulance might actually save her—if they got here at the speed of light.

What a nightmare. Now he panicked. He paced through the room, his gaze constantly straying to the phone. If he called 911, they would pick her up, but they would also hunt down her father. Dr. Gray would take her home, where any number of enemies could be waiting for her, ready to strike while she was too weak to defend herself.

’Course, you had to be alive to defend yourself, and that beat the hell out of dead.

He was decided, then.

Riley called 911, told them about the emergency—injured girl, blood loss, location—leaving out names, and then eased next to Mary Ann.

“Don’t tell them your name,” he said, hoping, somehow, that she heard him. “Whatever you do, don’t tell them your name.”

No response. Worse, she no longer had an aura. She was colorless.

She needed to feed again, or she wouldn’t make it, no matter how quickly the first responders got here. There wasn’t time to find her another witch, her preference, but there was a solution: she could feed off him.

Not allowing himself to think about his actions, or the consequences, Riley reached around her and flattened his hands on her chest, just over her now too-faint heartbeat. He’d never done anything like this, so he wasn’t sure it’d work, but he was giving it a go anyway. Maybe, as stressed as her body was, she would simply feed automatically.

Closing his eyes, he imagined the essence of his wolf-self. Deep inside, embedded in the marrow of his