Chapter 3
Succulents are resilient.
I replanted the broken pieces in fresh soil.
By nightfall, Theron still hadn't come back.
The rain that had stopped earlier started up again. The air turned cold and damp.
I sighed, pulled on a raincoat, grabbed a bag of medical supplies, and headed out with an umbrella toward where he'd disappeared.
"Theron!" I pushed through the undergrowth.
My flashlight cut through the muddy trail.
I didn't find Theron. Instead, I found another wolf shifter... injured, slumped beneath a tree.
He was shirtless, his torso covered in horrific wounds.
He was curled up under the branches, shivering violently from the cold.
I held my umbrella over him. "Are you okay?"
He seemed to have lost consciousness.
Thin as I was, I braced his weight against me and dragged him out of the woods into a sheltered alley.
Under the dim glow of a streetlight, I opened my bag and started treating his wounds.
The image of Theron smashing through the window and leaping from the seventeenth floor flashed through my mind.
I cared about him. I truly did.
Whenever he got even the smallest scrape at home, I'd fuss over it, insisting on disinfectant and bandages.
But every time, he'd pull away in annoyance.
Theron would scoff, "It's just a scratch. What's the point? This cheap medicine doesn't work. It'll heal on its own in a few days." Most of the time, he dodged me before I could finish.
As I tended to this stranger's wounds, my mind kept drifting back to how Theron treated me.
I didn't notice the shifter had woken up.
He flipped over and pinned me to the ground with one clawed hand.
His sharp claws dug in, and I winced, hissing through my teeth.
His piercing green eyes flicked to the scattered medicine, then slid across my face, finally settling on my red right eye.
Being stared from above like that made me instinctively look away.
"I found you in the woods," I said quietly. "I was just treating your injuries."
He didn't let go, but some of the suspicion eased from his gaze.
Then he lowered his head and sniffed the curve of my neck.
His cold nose against my skin sent a shiver through me.
And then, in the blink of an eye, he vanished into the rain.
*****
When I got home, my footsteps triggered the hallway sensor light.
There, crouched by my door, was a soaking-wet figure... arms wrapped around his knees, head hanging low.
The moment he saw me, his eyes went wide with surprise.
I was as surprised to see Theron there. I'd assumed he wasn't coming back tonight.
"Why didn't you knock?" I asked.
It was midnight. I had work tomorrow, and I was exhausted.
I unlocked the door and walked past Theron without a glance, heading straight for the bathroom to wash up before bed.
Theron was suddenly behind me, leaning in close. "Why do you smell like another shifter? A wolf, like me?"
"You weren't back, so I went looking for you," I said. "Couldn't find you, but I came across an injured shifter."
"I..." Theron stammered, looking guilty. "I saw the lights were off from downstairs and figured you were already asleep. That's why I didn't knock."
After three months together, I wasn't buying that excuse.
He simply had not wanted to come back but had nowhere else to go.
I stepped away from him and pointed at the coffee table. "There's medicine over there. If you're hurt, take care of it yourself. I'm going to bed."
Theron stared at me. "You're not going to treat my wounds? You always did before."
I turned back. "You never liked it when I did."
"Whether I like it or not is my business. But since you bought me, it's your job to take care of me. That's what an owner does."
I was quiet for a moment. "I'm exhausted, and I have work tomorrow."
In the end, I gave in anyway.
Back in my room, I saw the follow-up form from the Federal Shifter Registry again.
I picked up a pen and wrote my request for a return in the feedback section.