Straightening, Rage pulled his arm away from his side and sucked in a breath.

My attention jumped from the wolves to my mate, who was turning pale.

Sara clicked her tongue. “Let me get that healing salve, and you both can have a shower before we eat.” She glanced toward her girls. “Take them to the guest room, and mind your manners, ladies.”

Sadie or Audrey, one of the blondes, led the way through the house with the other twin bringing up the rear. We passed a humble kitchen with hundreds of canning jars stuffed with various fruits and vegetables, and I skidded to a stop.

“You guys have a farm?” I asked, my inner Montana girl geeking out.

The blonde in front nodded. “Out back. Dad and mom run it with Lizbeth. Audrey and I run security with James and his boys. Everyone here has a job. Everyone contributes.”

Whoa. Okay. She was not-so-subtly telling me she—Sadie—was in security and not a gardener. Also, no one was allowed to laze about. Got it. I noticed Sadie had her hair cropped a tiny bit shorter than Audrey. Sadie: short hair. Audrey: long. 52.8% got this.

“We don’t want to bring trouble,” I assured her. “And we’re really grateful for your kindness.” Just because we’d won over her parents didn’t mean these young women liked us.

Audrey stepped up next to me and smiled, a sharp, shrewd gleam in her eye. “Trouble doesn’t scare us, and you don’t look like you could cause much anyway. But if your mate is anything like his father—”

She never finished her sentence because Rage spun and, staring her down, growled, “Declan is my uncle, and I’m nothing like him. If you want to know something, just ask—don’t assume.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, dropping her gaze. “Sorry.”

“Well, you sure have a lovely home.” I steered the conversation into less tense waters, and both girls gave me a slight smile.

“Thanks.”

Shortly thereafter, we reached a room toward the back of the house, and Sadie opened the door. Waving toward the queen bed and dresser, the only furniture in the room, she said, “You can stay here if you need rest. Shower’s through that open doorway. I’ll put the healing salve and clean clothes outside the door for you, and one of us will get you when the table’s set.”

Then she turned, and both twins left.

Leaving Rage and me to stare at the bed. The solo bed … for two.

Gulp.

Rage walked past me and into the room. “If we’re going to stay, I’ll take the floor. No biggie.”

He must’ve seen the color drain from my face. How humiliating. I gave a nervous laugh, following him inside, and then shut the door. “What?” I squeaked. “It’s fine. I don’t care either way.”

He raised his eyebrows, and I crossed my arms over my chest, jutting my chin out defiantly.

“Truly,” I continued to ramble. “It’s whatever. I mean, we’re not staying the night, but if we were … why should it matter. We’re mates, right? So, uh, yeah. It’s fine.”

Shaking his head, Rage crossed the space between us. With each of his steps, more and more butterflies took flight in my stomach until all of me was crawling with nervousness. He wasn’t stopping. All the way up until we stood toe-to-toe. I craned my neck to look up at him and gulped.

Finally, when our eyes met, he reached for me. Slowly, giving me plenty of time to back away, he took my face in his hands and held my gaze with his green eyes. “Nai,” he said, his voice low and rumbly. “I respect that you’re a virgin. More importantly, we have our whole lives ahead of us. I’m not going to let our first time be in a situation like this.”

“Okay. I mean, that wasn’t what I was thinking, but whatever.” I gave him a sly smile, which he returned.

“I’m not going to pressure you to have sex, Nai. When you’re ready—when you feel comfortable, and you want to, then it’ll happen. Not just because we’re sharing a room or a bed.”

Relief whooshed through me. I mean, I wanted him, like, yummm! But I was also scared shitless and stressed out about the thought of having sex with him. Yes, we were fated mates, but we had a lot of trust to rebuild after our rocky start. And there was the whole “I have no idea what I’m doing” factor, and he was probably way more experienced in that department.

I smiled up at him, raised up onto my tiptoes, and he leaned in, capturing my mouth in a kiss. His touch was soft and gentle, but I wanted more. After nipping at his lower lip, I parted mine in invitation. Success! He deepened the kiss, brushing his tongue against mine as heat blossomed low in my belly, and a soft moan escaped me. I reached out, grabbing at his rock-hard abs when he hissed, pulling away.

“Crap!” I’d poked his still-healing wound. Worst mate ever.

He swallowed hard and then waved me off. “It’s fine.”

“Rage.” Kneeling, I inspected the wound better and frowned. My blood had closed the skin, but through the scab, it still wept—a gray-milky fluid that smelled like metal.

“Something’s wrong. Why isn’t your body healing?”

My eyes widened and then, at the same time, we both said it:

“Silver.”

Crap. Crappity-crap. Crap. Crap. My heart thumped against my ribs, sending a fresh wave of panic through me.

“Rage … did I heal your wound with a silver bullet still inside?”

Sweat broke out on his brow, and my hands grew clammy with the realization that a freaking silver bullet might be lodged inside of him.

“Okay…” My mouth turned into the Sahara Desert, and I forced a swallow—which did nothing. I was trying to stay calm, but every single heartbeat served as a reminder of the poison that would be spreading through Rage’s body if that was a silver bullet. Please don’t let it be a silver bullet. There was only one reason to use silver against a wolf shifter. Why would the alpha king be using silver bullets?

I needed to do something. I pointed at the bathroom. “Can you shower, or do you need my help to wash off—”

“I’m not going to keel over right this second,” he muttered.

Okaaay. “Not the most convincing pitch, but if you jump in the shower and rinse off all that muck. I’ll go see if John has a pack doctor, and he will be able to better assess the wound if it’s clean.”

Rage nodded, but for a split second, I saw fear flash in his eyes.

If he died, it was all my fault because I might have stupidly closed his wound with a silver bullet still inside of him.

Way to kill your mate, Nai!

Chapter 4

Ten minutes later, which was pretty much an eternity of mind-wracking torture, Rage lay back on John and Sara’s dining room table as the pack doctor walked in the door.

“Alright now, son, we don’t have fancy medications, so when you start to hurt, bite down on this.” The doctor, a man named Jeb who had a thick Middle Eastern accent, handed Rage a wooden spoon and then leaned over to inspect the wound. He tsked and shook his head before opening up a rudimentary but clean looking surgical kit. “We’ll tie you down first, but that’s mostly just to help you remember to stay still.”

Jeb was a mage who had become the local veterinarian, healing injured animals from birds to bears. So, naturally, he also helped the shifters.