It’s shame. Pure, unfettered shame when he returns with a small bowl of steaming water and another clean washcloth. I haven’t budged.
He balances the bowl on the low table he didn’t destroy and takes me by the shoulders like I’ll break. Like he’ll be the one to shatter me.
I drop on the couch and groan when the cushions absorb my weight.
The shiver grows stronger as Grayson kneels in front of me, unwinding the tape keeping the washcloth in place. His face gives nothing away when it falls and he gets his first glimpse at the bite.
Please don’t apologize again.
I’m not sure what’s worse. The deft way he handles the situation or the flash of guilt in the furrowing of his brow. He keeps it under control with, but I noticed.
I’m looking too closely.
“It’s from football practice, in case you’re wondering,” he says into the silence. “We get hurt all the time. Me and the rest of the guys. There wasn’t always someone around to handle stufffor us when we had to get back on the field within minutes. You learn things. Especially when you take it upon yourself to attend a first aid class. Sure helps.”
“It’s good you’re not skeeved out by blood.”
I wince at the first brush of hot water on the edges of the tear.
“It’s one of those things you learn to live with. If the skeeve is there, you tune it out pretty quickly,” he replies.
He cleans the dried blood I hadn’t gotten to earlier, pausing to mark the pink edges already closing around the wound.
“Wolves heal quickly. You probably have a headache right now where I hit you but that will fade too.” Unless the moon madness changes things.
No one is entirely sure anymore. The disease is spreading like wildfire. It’s easier to call it a curse when we have no idea where it came from originally or what it’s doing here.
Ironwood closed its borders. A lot of the other packs in the area aren’t so lucky. They’ve been hit hard.
“Don’t,” Grayson warns.
I tilt my head up. “Don’t what?”
“Change the subject off you and onto me. Like what I did, what happened to you, isn’t a big deal.”
I hadn’t even realized I’d done it. It’s second nature to change focus at this point.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
He grabs another alcohol swab packet and tears it open with his teeth in a single rough movement, spitting the piece aside. “Don’t do that either. Apologize,” he clarifies with a smirk before I have a chance to say anything.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Mandi. I’m the one who got you into this mess.”
I blink. “What? No you didn’t. You tracked us down through the woods and saved my ass back there.”
“After you saved mine. You were only caught because you were helping your friend. And you’re mixed up with them to find a cure. For me.”
He doesn’t know the whole truth. The longer he stays in the dark…will it help, or hinder?
I settle deeper into the couch while he works, cleaning up the wound before he expertly winds the gauze and tape around my forearm.
“I have to make it tight. It might pinch for a little bit but the more you use it, the less you’ll feel it,” he explains.
“I trust you.”
He laughs dryly. “You shouldn’t.”
“I already told you—” I break off in a yawn. “We’re in this together. I’m not leaving you. I’m going to find a way to make it better.”