The Wolves and the Vipers

Chapter 56 - A Full House

Rhys Llewellyn had his hands cuffed in front of him. Jace had not suffered any arguments when it came to the restraints, but it was now making it difficult for me to give him first-aid. I had him sat on a chair in the kitchen with towels underneath so I wouldn't have to scrub blood out of the tiles. The bullet had torn through his arm. A centimetre further to the right and it would have skimmed him, but instead it was bleeding so heavily that I was having difficulty putting enough pressure on the wound. In the end, a wad of gauze and a tight bandage seemed to do the trick.

"Is it still in there?" Jace asked me.

"No," I replied. "I can see where it came out."

"Good. We won't have to take him to the medical centre. Clean it once the bleeding stops and he should be fine," he said.

I glared in his general direction. "Maybe you should clean it. You're the one who shot him."

"And you're the one who wanted him in the house," Jace retorted. "I'm going to show Aria her new bedroom. Come on, kiddo. Up the stairs."

I didn't argue any more because I knew it was a good idea to get the little girl out of here. She was staring at Rhys with wide eyes and her jaw hanging open. And when Jace nudged her, she didn't move an inch.

"He's bleeding," she said. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing. He'll be okay in a minute. Let's go upstairs."

He reached out to take her hand, but she darted away from him. I could see the whites of her eyes from across the room — she was quite obviously scared of him. Maybe because the only other rogue in the room had just been shot, and she was wondering if she was next. I was trying to come up with something reassuring to say, but someone else beat me to it.

"Hey," Rhys told her. "I earned this, and he's right — I'll be fine. It's a lot of blood but it doesn't really hurt. Go see your new bedroom."

Aria blinked at him. And this time, when Jace gestured for her to go upstairs, she followed him, albeit very slowly and cautiously.

"That was nice of you," I murmured. I was making up a bowl of hot, salty water.

He shrugged at me. "Not as nice as what you did. You're alright, for a Luna."

So he'd appreciated that. Good. It would make him less likely to kill me in my sleep if he did decide to go back on his word. I pulled back the pressure dressing, half-expecting another waterfall, but it had almost completely stopped. The edges of the wound were already starting to knit together.

"Gosh, you heal fast," I murmured.

Kara came down the stairs at a terrifying pace, beaming from ear to ear. Rhys did a double take when he saw her, exactly as he had done when he had first encountered her, and I understood that well enough. She had a strange resemblance to his sister. From a distance, you could mistake one for the other, and it took some getting used to.

"I made the bed," she announced. "With the animal sheets. It doesn't really look like a kid's room, though."

"Thank you," I told her. That chore hadn't occurred to me yet — the gunshot wound was a little distracting. "Could you make up a second one? It turns out we have another guest."

"Sure ... but where? Kallie's in the other spare room."

"Oh, yes, I forgot about that," I sighed. "He'll have to sleep in my bedroom."

Rhys looked up sharply at that and started grinning. He didn't have to say anything because it was written all over his face, but he did anyway. "Will Jace mind?"