Since he wanted little to do with most members of his clan, he chose to isolate himself on the edge of town. Rarely did he come to the bar, but tonight, he had the itch. Last time he made that choice.
Jude smartly said nothing as they slowly walked the few miles toward his home. Halfway there, he had to stop.
Give me a moment
. Kranor dropped to his haunches and rested his head on the ground. The grass smelled sweet, but the mosquitos buzzing made his head hurt. His breaths turned shallow.
When his lungs squeezed, he knew wasn’t going to make it. From the tinny smell pooling under him, he realized he’d lost too much blood. The quarter moon wasn’t enough to illuminate the bright red color, despite his acute vision, but he knew it was bad.
Material ripped, and the next thing he remembered were Jude’s hands wrapping strips of cloth around his legs. As he drifted in and out of consciousness, the feeling of being light alternated with heaviness. His body floated then something hard dug into his belly. His head banged and his wounds oozed.
When he opened his eyes, he was on the floor of his home and daylight was streaming in from the window. The cool tiles seemed to help revive him, but his whole body was on fire.
“Welcome to the living.”
He looked up at Jude. Bandages covered Kranor’s upper arms, but the rest of him looked fairly unscathed.
Ugh.
“You up for a soothing bath? I put some healing salts in the water.”
He knew he had to get clean or the wounds would get infected, and his injuries would turn from annoying to deathly in a hurry. He licked a few of the gashes he could reach, but his energy fizzled quickly. Kranor eased up to a stand, but his legs shook.
Jude was next to him in a flash. “Shift and I’ll help you.”
That takes too much energy
.
“Then I’m going to pick you up.”
Nothing was more embarrassing than being carried by a human. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on changing. The shift took his breath away, but a second later he was standing. One more second, and he was on one knee with his head down. “Fuck me.”
“You need to stop watching so much American television.”
He liked learning the Earth phrases. The harsh guttural sounds appealed to him.
Jude helped him up. That in itself was disturbing. He never had to rely on anyone. The fact his best friend was well versed in the art of healing made his aid more palatable, though only barely.
Jude led him into the bathroom, where the tub was filled with steaming water and some scent he couldn’t even describe. “Smells dreadful.”
“It’s good for you.”
He didn’t bother taking off his bar clothing because most had stuck to his wounds. He tried to wave off Jude’s help, but his friend seemed determined to play nursemaid. “Don’t you have something more manly to do with your time?”
“No.”
Nothing seemed to deter him. He stepped into the hot water and sank down. Though his cuts stung like a bitch, the salts also eased some of the ache. He dropped his head back against the tub and closed his eyes, partly because he never did like seeing the water turn red.
“I’ll leave you to your healing.”
“You do that.”
When the door shut, he let out a howl. This stuff stung. The door burst open.
“What’s wrong?”
He’d had enough. “What the hell did you put in here?”
“Has a bite to it, doesn’t it?” Stupid Jude stood there grinning.
“Go.”
At least Jude listened this time. When his skin felt like it was about to fall off, he got out but didn’t bother to dry off. He hobbled down the hallway, dripping water in his wake. He passed Jude, who’d come scurrying in from the kitchen. At least his friend had enough sense to say nothing as Kranor headed outside where the warm sunshine immediately soothed his skin. Only now did he take the time to examine his injuries. As he ran a hand up his arm, his gut soured and his pulse raced. Light-headed, he sat in the chair on the porch. He really hadn’t thought the wolves would have done this much damage. Hell, he’d been in hundreds of fights. Most battles he engaged in were with wolves, but occasionally, he’d been pressed into service if a lion entered their territory. He never went looking for trouble.
After all, his best friends had been lions. He leaned back and closed his eyes. It wasn’t long before a nudge startled him and he jerked awake. Jude was hovering above him with a pained expression.
What?
He’d tried to speak, but nothing came out.
“Let’s get you inside.”
Why?
“You need to eat and you look like shit. You’re white.”
That wasn’t a good sign. Kranor pushed up on the arms of the chair, but he only managed to lift up a few inches. “
Skelak
.”
This time when Jude wrapped an arm around his midsection, he didn’t balk. However, his legs weren’t cooperating and his knees buckled. He never remembered being this weak.
Somehow, they made it back to his bedroom where he was actually glad to lie down. When his face hit the sheets, his body went limp.
* * * *
Jude was worried. As a healer, he’d treated hundreds of injured wolves, but none had been this bad. At least none who’d lived had been this bad. Kranor hadn’t eaten since yesterday. That worried him. He debated calling an ambulance to come take him, but he understood why Kranor was leery. Not all wolves were trustworthy. Given how both of them had shunned the wolf clan in the last few years, it was a wonder they let them in the bar or work in town.
Moans came from the bedroom, and Jude rushed in. Kranor was half on, half off the bed, but he was too damned big to lift without reopening his wounds. Jude nudged his shoulder, one of the few spots that hadn’t been damaged in the fight.
“Kranor. Can you hear me?”
There was no answer.
Kranor. Can you hear me?
He wasn’t sure if his telepathed words would get into his brain any better.
One eye opened.
Wha?
The fact his friend couldn’t even form a word wasn’t a good sign. “I’m going to the lions.” If anything would wake Kranor, that would. Henla was his good friends’ sister. She was an extraordinary healer, according to Kranor. The problem was, if he traveled to her parents’ home, which was underground, his ability to stay alive long enough to explain his reason for being there was slim.
Kranor tried to push up from the bed but dropped back down a second later. It tore him up seeing his virile buddy so weak.
“Don’t try to move.”
Get the necklace.
Kranor had it hanging on his wall above his dresser. He’d told him about how when he was eight and Henla was six, she’d made it for him. While it would barely fit around his wrist now, he’d never gotten rid of it. To him, it represented the best years of his life.
“Okay.” He pulled it off the wall. The woven rope bracelet was laced with rocks. The handiwork was quite nice, especially considering a six-year-old made it.
“I’m going to take some pictures of your injuries as proof that you’re hurt.”
Ugh
.
Once he had his evidence, he placed the necklace and small device in a bag and hung it around his neck.
Find Taryn and Kellum. They’ll help.
He’d do that. Finding the way to the lions’ underground city would be difficult as he’d never been there, but he did remember how to get to Taryn and Kellum’s tree house. From the stories Kranor told him, his friends would remember the necklace. Hell, they might even remember him from when he and Kranor had saved Cavon and Malik, along with their brothers-in-law. from the Earth wolf attack.
“I’m going to get help. I shouldn’t be too long.”
All he heard in return was a low growl. Before Kranor used his last bit of energy to stop him, he dashed outside and shifted. The big question was whether he could make it alive to get the needed aid.
Henla finished storing her tools she’d used to weed and hoe the communal garden and headed toward home. The heat had gotten to her today and her energy had drained all too fast, though she wasn’t sure why. October wasn’t supposed to be this hot. All day her head throbbed as if someone was trying to tell her something. Her psychic abilities had never acted up like this before, and it unsettled her.
As soon as she reached the tree leading to the underground and went inside, the cool air evaporated the sweat coating her body. Even once her body temperature lowered, she couldn’t shake the unease that permeated her body. The tram that would take her deep into the lions’ den arrived, and she got on. When no one appeared to be looking her way, she sat and closed her eyes, trying to rid her mind of the apprehension. Mentally, she counted the stops until it was her time to get off. When the tram halted, she stepped out into the open and hurried home.
Once inside, the ache diminished.
“You’re home early,” her mom called out.
“It was hot.”
Her mother wiped her hands on a dishtowel and rushed over. “Something wrong?”
“Why would something be wrong?” Her mother couldn’t have known anything from the three words she’d spoken, even though she always did have an uncanny ability to spot a lie. She’d learned to after raising three rowdy sons. From all the stories, it was Taryn and Kellum who almost made her stop having children.
“The heat never gets to you. It’s usually a sign that someone you care deeply about is hurt. I know it’s not the boys, or I would have known.”
“It can’t be Sella.” Neither of them would know if anything happened to her sister since she was on Earth with the two loves of her life. “I can’t think of anyone else.” Okay, there was her girlfriend, Rein, but she would have called.
“Well, take a shower, and maybe you’ll feel better.”
She could only hope. After slipping off her skirt and sandals, she stepped into the streaming water and soaped up. Henla tried to think back to when the heat had gotten to her before.
Skelak
. The last time was when Taryn and Kellum had been injured. It was around the time Lara had decided she wanted nothing to do with Henla’s brothers.
If no one in her family was injured, then who? Was it Tran? Her nephew was only two months old. Surely her mother would have sensed it by now. Unable to think of anyone who she’d get hot over, she washed her hair and finished scrubbing her body.
She stepped from the shower and had a towel around her head and body when a knock sounded on the bathroom door.
“Henla?” It was her mother.
“Yes?” She removed the towel from her body and dried quickly.
“Taryn is here. He needs to tell you something.”
The words had an ominous ring to them. “Be right out.” While the heat didn’t overwhelm her, her head started to throb again. The level of angst stunned her. Someone was in trouble, only she had no idea who.
She ran the towel over her hair and brushed out a few of the tangles. She stepped from the bath and dashed to her dresser to pull out another skirt. Foregoing her sandals, she strode out of her room, her stomach in knots.
Taryn’s shoulders were stiff. He whipped around, and her gaze latched onto what was in his hand.
Her body lurched, and she now knew who needed help. “Where did you get that?”
“Kranor has been severely injured.”
At the confirmation, pain rippled through her body and her breath lodged in her throat so hard she was unable to talk for a moment. Her mother rushed toward her and placed a hand on her back. The soothing touch seemed to undo the clog.
“How?”
“Wolf attack.”
Kranor was a wolf. Why would his own kind attack him? “When?”
“Yesterday.” His fists clenched. “Do you remember the man we told you about who was with Kranor the time they helped Malik and Cavon defeat all those wolves?”
It had been the talk of the community for weeks. “Yes.”
“His name is Jude and he’s at my house. He needs your help.”
“If Kranor’s seriously injured, why not bring him to a hospital?” Maybe it was the fact a person she cared about had been harmed that had caused her brain to malfunction.
“Henla. Please. Get dressed.”
She glanced to her mother to see if she’d had a problem with her helping the enemy. Her mother’s painful smile was all she needed to see. “How long will we be at your house?” Henla assumed if Jude was at Taryn’s, so was Kranor.
“Kranor is too ill to be moved.”
Her stomach twisted, and the heat she’d so desperately tried to wash away returned. “Which means he’s in wolf territory.” She failed to keep the shakiness out of her voice. Wolf territory was not meant for women of lion descent.
“If you’re with Jude, you should be safe, but Kellum and I will take you to the border.”
His air of confidence gave her hope everything would work out. “Let me pack.”
She’d noticed the wolf women dressed more like Lara when her sister-in-law first arrived in Anterra. That meant she had to completely cover herself. She rushed into the bedroom and tossed several days of clothing on the bed then shoved the pile into her backpack. Since she often had to give aid to injured lions, she had a toiletry kit ready to go. Donning sturdy hiking shoes, she rushed back into the living room. “I’m ready.”