"Yes, I was thinking about making sausages for the Magaestra and her niece,” he said, falling back on formality. He stepped off the narrow trail and onto the wider path back to the lodge. He sent Marc a morose glare, though his friend was grinning like a fool. "I was also considering stew meat for you. Happy?”
"Happy beyond words, Aldric," Marc chuckled. "I don't think I've ever seen you willing to actively provide for someone outside of the clan. You want to feed her!” Mark as good as giggled, and Aldric grumbled at him
Marc’s grin faded as they approached the building. “I’m less happy that you got clawed up in the process, and I'm downright furious that some mangy strays were in our woods, trying to take our people. We absolutely will not stand for that."
The pair stepped up onto the deck and opened the kitchen door, only to be stopped by Faith, standing there wide-eyed and staring at what remained of his shirt and the blood still sluggishly dripping down Aldric's side.
"I heard the howling and came down to see if something was up. What... Who did this to you?"
"The rogues that we believe have kidnapped your sister. I killed one, but the other two escaped. I am sorry," Aldric frowned. "I failed to capture one of them to tell us where they are keeping her."
Faith blinked, her face unreadable. Marc stood silently behind Aldric, both of them waiting for her reaction.
"Son of a bitch," Faith glared at Aldric for a moment before grabbing his wrist and yanking him into the kitchen. Behind him Marc chuckled again and closed the door behind them.
13
Faith muttered to herself, cursing like a sailor as she pushed him down to sit on one of the kitchen chairs, sitting sideways so that the wounds on his ribs and back were easily accessible.
What in the name of all that was holy was he doing out there? He was dripping blood all over the damn kitchen and there was dirt and sticks and leaves all over him, including stuck to and in the bits of him that were bleeding. She stomped over to the cupboard that she remembered him getting the painkillers from earlier that afternoon and slammed it open.
What sort of mess had he managed to get himself into? What could possibly leave him shirtless and bloody like this? Okay, so she wasn't mad about the shirtless part. Goddamn, but the man was easy to look at! But the bloody part? Un-freaking-acceptable.
Lord, had it only been that morning that her life was normal? Not even a whole day. She felt like she had lived weeks since she and Crissy and Kaylee decided to make brownies.
"You have no idea how lucky you are that Kaylee and Jake didn't wake up, all the racket you all were making!" she fumed. Marc and Aldric stayed silent. Just as well, since she was not in the mood for any backtalk.
She grabbed the handle of the clearly marked first aid kit and jerked it out of the cupboard. Even she wasn't sure what all she was muttering, but it sounded to be heavy on the swearing.
"I was finally asleep, thank you very much, then all of a sudden it's like a damned wolf choir out there. I suppose it's difficult to carry a cell phone when you're not wearing clothes with pockets, but it was a pain in my ass tonight. What the hell happened? Somebody better start talking, dammit.” She set the kit down on the table beside where she had left Aldric, just stopping herself from slamming it down. She glanced up at him while she popped the thing open to rummage around in it before crouching down at his side to get a better look at the wounds.
Aldric, and Marc behind him, were both gaping at her, visibly startled.
"What?" She snatched up some gauze and a bottle of alcohol and started cleaning away the twigs and leaf bits and drying blood off Aldric's skin.
"Um," Aldric started to say something, then stopped. Then took a breath like he was going to say something new, then stopped.
"You look like you're making fish faces," Faith grumbled. "Whatever you have to say, spit it out."
"I think he's in shock," Marc said from over Aldric's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure that the last person to scold him quite like this was his mother. I’ve never seen anything like it, please, continue!”
Faith glanced up at Marc and realized that a wide grin was spreading over his face. "It's kind of fun to watch. I'm going to start the water boiling. We'll all have some tea and I'll heat up one of the spare blood packs for you, Aldric, since you didn't finish your hunt tonight."
"Thank you," Aldric finally managed words.
"So? Are you planning to actually answer my question at some point?" Faith threw the last of the bloody cloths on the table and reached for the bandages.
"We have scented several wolves in the area, as you are aware. The three wolves that we know were at your cabin today appeared in our woods here, tonight, and attacked me," Aldric said. He was trying to downplay it, she could tell. He wasn't even looking at her again, but at someplace over her shoulder. "I defeated them, but two of them escaped."
"They were coming for me and Kaylee," she guessed.
"Well, we're not sure of that," Marc said, grabbing mugs down and opening another cupboard and the freezer. Faith scoffed and he flicked an amused glance at her. "But yes, it's a good assumption."
"There are now only two wolves to worry about, that we are aware of,“ Aldric finally found his voice. Faith grimaced, but nodded. Killing people– even werewolf people– wasn't on her personal list of things that were okay, generally speaking. With another look at the nasty claw marks marring Aldric's otherwise clear skin, she supposed that killing in self-defense was pretty forgivable, especially in this sort of
