Page 63 of Our Covenant

“I’m so special.” I can practically hear her eyes rolling.

What I can’t say is that she is special. There is something about her that intrigues each of us for different reasons. The threat she poses is nothing like we’ve ever dealt with before. This beautiful stranger comes out of nowhere, stalks us, lures us into her trap, and has been one step ahead of us at every turn. Maybe not now. I can’t imagine that she had the forethought to inveigle a tryst in the orchard. But the fact that I’m questioning it shows just how deeply this woman has us concerned.

I readjust her weight on my shoulder to open the patio door—not because she’s anything close to heavy, but the sound she makes when I do makes me smile. Fox spins around and he does a double take. I can only imagine the racing thoughts hitting him. Elsbeth’s bare ass covered in filth. Me with a wide grin. And the absence of the two other men who ran her down out in the moonlight.

I should have grabbed my phone to take a picture because his expression is priceless and I wish Thorne and Maddox were here.

“I’m going to draw Elsbeth a bath, then she’ll be ready for dinner,” I tell him, and he nods.

I stay still, letting him have a moment to take it all in. His eyes rove over her ass and I swear he blushes before he notices blood. “The first-aid kit is in the hall closet.”

“On it,” I say as I turn toward the stairs.

“I have a healing ointment that will take care of that overnight,” Fox offers, reaching for one of the grimoires he has stacked on the kitchen counter. He’s been looking for something for hours. Not that he has any clue what it is, but he claims that he would know it when he found it. Six hours later, he still hasn’t. “We should have all the ingredients fresh in the greenhouse.”

“Maddox should make it. This is his fault anyway.” I point to her foot and she huffs.

“I’m not a broken toy that needs super glue,” she chides from over my shoulder. “Hope you’re enjoying the view since you’re not doing anything to help me.”

“It’s not terrible.” Fox tightly smiles and tilts his head. After a moment, he directs his dismissing statement to me. “Give me a half hour. I’ll send Maddox or Thorne up with it.”

“Got it.” I shift Elsbeth again to get her attention. “Hear that, no tetanus for you after all.”

“Fuck you both.”

Fox’s brows rise with amusement and I snicker. Turning around, I don’t get to see either of their faces when I start to take the two of us up the stairs, but Fox bursts into laughter, which follows us.

When we get to the top floor, I have to carry her in my arms to avoid the low ceiling. I cradle her lower back and under her knees, but she crosses her arms over her chest like she’s throwing a tantrum. She isn’t fighting me, but maybe her new tactic is to freeze us out.

I bump the bathroom door open with my hip then set her down on the vanity to wrap a big, fluffy towel over her shoulders. It’s not much, but it will warm her up while she waits for me to fill the bathtub. If she gets in right away, she may go into shock, and I don’t want to have to deal with the others if that happens under my watch. Not that it would be my fault. They’re the idiots that didn’t think before letting her run barefoot in twenty-degree weather.

I turn on the hot water and let it run while I gather the toiletries Thorne bought for her from the cabinet. The tub is a deep clawfoot monstrosity that takes up too much space in one of the only bathrooms upstairs, but it gets used often. Usually by Thorne after a rough workout. I sprinkle in magnesium flakes for her sore muscles first, then dried sage for antibacterial wound care, and finish with lavender, because what bath isn’t complete without a little floral note for relaxation. Though, I doubt lavender would ease any fire in Elsbeth, even if she ground it to a fine powder and snorted it.

Her head swivels as she watches me concoct the perfect healing whirlpool. I lose her watchful eyes for a moment when I trek out to the hall closet to gather up bandages and a roll of gauze. I won’t know how deep the laceration is until it’s properly cleaned and flushed of debris. Which is going to hurt a lot. If she isn’t pissed enough already, she’ll be spitting mad and may end up throwing shampoo bottles at my head to share the wealth of pain.

I step back into the bathroom to find her tipping off the vanity top. It’s not a long drop, but with tired muscles and an injury, she’s struggling to put her weight into her legs and hold up her towel at the same time. Her modesty is pointless, but I hold onto the corner of the fabric and keep it in place as I offer her my arm.

I don’t think she’s going to accept help from me but am strangely elated when her nails sink right into the top of my forearm. I can barely feel it, but she draws blood, so I wince in case she’s watching for a reaction. The fresh, bright red makes a line under her dirty fingernails.

Her uninjured foot flattens on the bathmat and her shoulders slump before she looks from her puncturing fingertips to my face. I expect there to be vindication in her eyes but instead, there’s a small apology that hits me square in the chest. A crushing feeling that my head is taking as a warning siren. I should be colder to her. Treat her like the threat that Maddox, Thorne, and now Fox seem to think she is. But I can’t maneuver across my own stubborn nature to believe this delicate woman could hurt me.

A more levelheaded version of myself rings in my ears to not underestimate her or any other would-be danger. But I shove that noise away into a dark corner along with visions of what she might look like naked on her knees on the black-and-white tile. Her lips not parting in a scowl, but wide open in needy expectation.

“Can you walk on it?” I ask, drawing her attention to her wound.

The color in her lips is starting to come back. “Yeah.”

She lifts her hand, but I trap it with my free one before she can pull away. “I’ll help you get in. I need to see if you’ve damaged any tendons.”

“That’s not ominous at all.” She relents and allows me to step her over to the side of the tub.

“Fuck!” She hisses as her uninjured foot dips into the water.

The bath isn’t scalding, but I’m sure it feels like hellfire to frozen extremities. She tenses and stills as her body acclimates to the temperature. The water loosens the mud off her skin and it swirls like ribbons around her calf. We both watch it for a long moment, until the silence between us becomes too uncomfortable for me to bear.

“This should teach you not to run around in the winter.” Her nails dig deeper into my flesh, and I smile to myself at the small sting.

“You’re such a dick,” she grits out, her other foot adding to the graying sediment in the porcelain basin.