Moon Dancer - Hidden Wolf 1

Grayson

I sleepily lift my head from Ryker's chest, my body slightly stiff as it fights off sleep. A yawn stretches my mouth and I curl my toes as I begin to settle back against Ryker's bare chest.

"You bitch. Which one of your pathetic mates is in my house?"

A wave of pain crashes over me in the next second and I realize what woke me in the first place.

I gasp, my hand automatically grabbing onto Ryker's arm to steady myself. "R-Ry." I groan.

Ryker is instantly awake despite it being the middle of the night. His chocolate eyes look black in the darkness of the room as they open and take me in. He quickly scans the room, assessing the danger.

I muffle a sob with my hand and Ryker whips his head back to me. "Gray? Baby?" He says without an ounce of sleep in his voice. His hands quickly move to scoop me up into his lap and sits up.

I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to quell the tears. The burning in my forearm was already disappearing, but the infected bite was hurting something fierce. 

Ryker circles his fingers around my wrist, my hand staying clamped around my mouth. "Sparks." He whispers softly. "What hurts?" He asks at the same time as his mind presses against mine, offering the option to link.

I roughly shove his mind away, remembering with sickening clarity the time I made him sick. I would never wish this pain on one of my mates. My shoulder was throbbing, sharp pain shooting down my arm and chest.

"Hey, baby, I'm right here." Ryker soothes me as he runs a hand up and down the length of my arm. The pain retracts a little.

I suck in a breath of cool night air, realizing that I had sweated through my shirt while we had slept. Ryker notices at the same time as I do and quietly swears. He presses the back of his hand to my forehead, and then the side of my neck.

"Shit, you're too warm." He says, one arm reaching out and grabbing the unmistakable shake of a pill bottle. I hear the zip of the backpack opening and a room-temperature water bottle settles on my lap. "Grayson, open your eyes, baby." Ryker pleads, a trace of panic forming in his voice.

I crack my eyes open and look around wildly until I find his face. "Ry."

"Good girl." He praises, his hands quickly opening the pill bottle. Nausea turns in my gut with another flare of pain. I groan, biting down on my lip. I could feel every centimeter of shredded skin. With each pulse of my heart, the bite was prodded painfully. "I know." Ryker says and takes the water bottle from my lap. "Open your mouth, Sparks."

I part my lips for him, but my tongue is too dry. Ryker places a pill on my tongue and brings the water to my lips. With heartbreaking gentleness, Ryker pours exactly a mouthful of water into my mouth. He tilts my chin back with his fingers so the water moves down my throat with ease. The pill goes with it.

I whimper as Ryker gets the second pill ready. "Hey." He says firmly. "Just one more Sparkles. You can do it." I nod through another soft sob, tilting my face to him and opening my mouth as much as I could manage. Ryker quickly and gently goes through the same process again, the second pill going down with the same ease. "There, good." Ryker rubs a hand up and down my back, offering me another sip of the water.

My hands shake as I place them over Ryker's hand holding the water. I lower my head onto his chest, my lungs rattling with ragged breaths. The pain was subsiding, slowly, but it was still at the forefront of my mind.

An awareness prickles inside of me. 

I can tell that Ryker feels it too when he inhales deeply. "They're back. Just crossed the border."