Hunting Season: Werewolf Bodyguard Romance (Guarded by the Shifter Book 1) by Kate Rudolph (new reading TXT) 📗

on. I don't know what's going on, but you probably should get a little distance."

"Try and move me." Owen was out of the room. He couldn't see his mate, but the scent of her blood still tickled his senses. "I can't stop Rowe from touching her, but I'm not moving another foot."

Chapter Nineteen

Leland Rowe had kind eyes and a steady hand, but that didn't make the stitches any less painful. Em was right beside her, gripping her uninjured arm in support while Rowe worked on her shoulder.

But Stasia wanted Owen.

She had to shove the thought as far back in her mind as she could. Owen had freaked out royally even though she was the one who'd been unknowingly operating on a freaking werewolf. If she was being reasonable, she'd probably agree with Owen's assessment that they couldn't take Vega to a hospital.

Instead she wanted to yell. But if she yelled and flailed as much as she wanted, she was going to rip out the stitches that Rowe had already done and ruin whatever he had left to do.

"You're not too bad at that," she said. She wanted to ask if he was a werewolf too. Were they all?

Was Owen?

Or were they all just keeping Vega's secret.

Which was worse?

"Medic field training," Rowe responded.

"Army?" asked Em after giving Stasia's fingers a squeeze. She had to be freaking out nearly as much as Stasia, but she seemed calm enough for now.

"Yes." Rowe finished off the stitch and bandaged the wound, which was right at the bend of her shoulder and was bound to hurt every time Stasia shifted.

She twisted her arm and winced at the pull of the stitches, but she had to see the damage the scalpel had done to her forearm. Except there wasn't a wound there. The skin was unblemished.

How?

She remembered the stinging pain as the blade sliced her and there was blood on her shirt from where she'd pressed her arm tight against it to stem the flow. But now it looked like nothing had happened. Had she been mistaken? It was easy to get confused when an angry werewolf was lunging at you.

It had to be that. Stasia poked at her arm to make sure the wound wasn't somehow hiding, but that didn't do anything.

"Something wrong?" Em asked quietly as Rowe backed away.

"I thought…" Stasia didn't want to say, afraid it would make her sound crazy, as if anything could sound crazy after what just happened. "I'm fine."

Em scoffed. "You just got bit by a fucking werewolf." She shuddered and her expression slipped, but she pasted on her best smile, the kind she flashed at audiences every night on tour. Em could pretend everything was okay and Stasia was going to follow her example.

Rowe stood next to Gibson and they were both looking at her like she was about to grow a second head… or fur. She wanted Owen there. Em could hold her hand like a champ, but there was something about Owen's presence that made her feel safe. Protected.

Loved.

It was too soon for that. She could barely stand to think it. And pretty soon her mind was going to catch up to this whole situation and she was going to be pissed as fuck at Owen and the rest of them. He knew what Vega was. He'd put her at risk.

Oh. Well, there was the anger. It burned away the pain of the stitches and Stasia stood up from where she'd been sitting.

The door opened behind Gibson and Owen came rushing back in. He didn't stop until he was right in front of her, those soulful eyes of his roving over her, making sure she was alright. He snagged on the stitches on her shoulder where her shirt had been ripped away, and she swore she heard him growl.

Werewolf?

Man?

"What's going on, Owen?" She wanted to throw herself in his arms and demand that he make everything okay. He was her bodyguard, even if the main threat was taken care of. But that didn't matter. She didn't want him to leave ever, even if she was mad at him.

"Let's take this somewhere a little less bloody," Gibson said, interrupting their reunion.

Owen did reach out and touch her then, careful to avoid the stitches, and holding her like she was precious. After a second he laced their fingers together and led her out of the room to wherever Gibson was taking them. Em followed closely behind.

The new location turned out to be something like a large break room with a few couches and chairs and a huge TV hanging on one wall.

"This is a nice place," said Em with a bit of surprise as she sank down onto one of the plush chairs.

Stasia wanted to stand, but between the rush of treating Vega and the adrenaline from the bite, she was about to crash. She sank down onto the nearest couch and didn't complain when Owen sat next to her.

It only took another few minutes for the rest of the team—pack?—to join them. Andre Gordon, Willa Hunter, Leland Rowe, Erin Jackson, and even Bryan Vega, who had managed to shift back to his human form and only had a bit of bruised and reddened skin on his naked shoulder to show for the bullet wound.

"Am I going to turn into a werewolf?" Stasia's heart was beating madly, but she sounded cool. She wasn't exactly sure how she was dealing, but unless she started screaming she was going to hold to the equilibrium as long as she could. She looked directly at Owen and asked again. "Am I?"

His mouth opened and closed a few times and his eyes widened.

"We don't know." It was Gibson who answered. "No one's ever bit another person before." He glared at Vega.

The young man—and he was young, at least ten years younger than Stasia—hung his head and let out a shuddering breath before he looked up again and met her eyes. "I'm sorry. So sorry."

Maybe Stasia was supposed to forgive him, but how