began to guide me back to the house. My eyes stayed on Scott who carried Camaro
in one arm while the dead wolf laid draped over his shoulder, its bloodied tongue
hanging from its mouth.
I didn’t say a word as Darren nearly dragged me back to the house, his fury so
evident I shivered because of it. My tears had dried down my face in frozen rivers,
and I had a feeling there would be lots more to come. The pain of what was likely to
come was far greater than any wolf bite.
39
TROUBLE
W hen we got back to the cabin, Darren took me back to our room, the posts of
Romero and Alex replaced with two more new faces, ones I didn’t even bother
to look at. It would likely just make things worse. Yanking the door open, he nearly
threw me inside, and I almost went face first into the carpet if I hadn’t caught
myself. Slamming the door behind him, he nearly tore off his own coat and dropped
it to the floor. I felt the coward in me come alive as he stalked toward me, eyes like
ice that pierced my courage.
“Darren, I’m sorry. Please, I’m sor—”
“Not a word,” he said, his voice deadly calm as he began to gently peel off my
coat. I shut my mouth and grimaced as the fabric moved against my stinging skin,
and when he softly pulled the sleeve of my bloodied sweater up, my stomach
instantly twisted in my cut. The dark imprint of a canine’s bite was torn into my
skin, dark bruising surrounding the punctures as blood clotted over them.
Darren sighed and pulled me toward the bathroom before lifting me onto the
counter and rummaging through the cabinets for a first-aid kit. He pulled out a
bunch of antiseptics, coated his hands in a heavy-duty sanitizer, and ripped some
kind of wipe from a packet. Darren then placed his back to me and took my arm
between his arm and side and locked me in place.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice almost panicked.
“This is going to hurt,” he said, and then the sting of a thousand bees enveloped
my arm as he wiped it down.
I gasped loudly, unable to stop myself from attempting to jerk my arm away
from Darren’s grip, but he kept it in place. I pressed my forehead into his shoulder
blade as he continued to gently wipe my arm down over and over, cleaning the
blood and disinfecting the bite. I didn’t cry, but the pain of Darren cleaning me up
had me groaning and biting my lip until I thought that was going to start bleeding
too.
Darren sighed again. “One of your puncture wounds is going to need stitches.”
I groaned.
Rummaging through the kit again, Darren pulled out a second, smaller box
containing a needle and thread.
“Wait, you’re doing them?” I asked.
“I’ve stitched myself up many times, Jaden. This is no big deal.” Darren then
took a small tube, squeezing a dab of clear cream onto his fingertips and gently
rubbed it around the entire bite mark. “This will help numb the pain.”
As the pain in my arm slowly faded, I watched while Darren threaded the needle
and then moved to put my arm back into locking position.
“Wait, I need to see,” I complained. I needed to know what he was doing.
“No, you don’t. Close your eyes and breathe.”
I pressed my forehead into Darren’s back again and felt my skin tug slightly
until the needle slipped through my flesh. The pain was manageable, but that
didn’t make it comfortable.
In less than five minutes, Darren was finished, and two small black stitches
remained in place. He then rubbed some ointment over the entire bite and wrapped
it heavily in gauze. He then grabbed a pill bottle from another cabinet, filled a
disposable cup with water from the sink, and handed me the cup. When I took it, he
then popped two capsules in his palm.
“Open,” he ordered, and I complied. “Swallow.”
I sipped back the entire cup of water, effectively swallowing the pills, and set the
cup down.
When everything was cleaned up, Darren placed his hands on the counter,
leaning against it, his head down and sighed heavily. I could tell he was trying to
reign in his rage, and it was making me nervous.
“Tell me how you got out,” he said. His voice was too calm for comfort, and the
fact that he wasn’t even looking at me made the blood rush through my veins
again.
My stomach dropped, while my eyes inadvertently wandered over to the still
filled bathtub and then up to the window I climbed out of.
“Climbed out the window,” I mumbled.
Darren lifted his head and sighed again.
“Why?”
“I was mad at them. Romero wouldn’t let me go outside after you said
