Page 55 of Wild Wolf

Stuck unable to do jack shit, I watched and sighed over the additional damage to the vehicle.

With some help from Xue and Jìngyi, Amber returned to her human form, dressed in my pajamas, and kept me company while the Chinese helped with the cleanup.

As expected, so far outside of the outskirts of the city, on the way where only I lived, nobody bothered us.

For a while, we sat together in silence before I worked up the nerve to ask, “What’s my grade?”

“You passed. Clean, merciful shots, no wasted movement. Your aim is impeccable. I’m planning on dragging you to the range once your neck heals. Honestly, if we hadn’t been admiring your shooting and fighting skills, we would have helped earlier. We are all taking the blame on that, because once you decide to fight, you don’t hold back, and we were startled. Were you aware you took out a wolf by shoving your foot down his throat and breaking his neck? You need to work on your hand-to-hand combat, but you still scored high for your general performance.”

Like the rest of me, my foot hurt. “I hadn’t realized I’d broken his neck, but I definitely remember getting my foot chewed on. I think I had decided I wanted to kick his throat out through his asshole. At that point, my wolf and I were pretty pissed.”

“You broke his neck. He was not old enough to survive a broken neck. We had to finish off a few of the wolves you had handled, but it was merciful. We killed them before they woke up. Song thought it was for the best. Moscow would not be merciful to them if we’d left them alive. They definitely wanted you alive, because the instant you dropped, they checked to make sure you had survived having your neck broken. The one started to drag you off, but that’s when we got involved. My witchcraft hasn’t changed much, which is good. I was worried about that, but after you went down, we needed to finish the rest of the mess fast, so I tried to use it. I’m still weak, but I can fight.”

“I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make you hotpot tonight,” I complained.

“You’re not going to be making hotpot tonight. You’re going to be lucky to use a spoon tonight. It depends on how things go between now and then. You’re old enough a broken neck isn’t going to slow you down for too long, but moving is going to hurt, and moving will impair your healing. We’ll probably be pampered in Heihe tonight. I don’t think Desmond is going to allow negotiations to resume today, not with two in his pack sick or injured. I’m feeling better, but he doesn’t believe that, and honestly? I’ll probably start feeling like crap again later tonight. He’s going to focus on us within an hour. The only reason he’s not freaking out right now is because he’s keeping an eye on Richard; we’re in easy range and being monitored, and Richard’s touchy.”

“He’s worried he’ll have to stop Richard?”

“No, not really. He’s just worried.”

“About Richard?”

“Yep. Nicolina will zap him if he worries about her, but Richard gets to play submissive with Desmond, and that’s what Richard needs right now, because his wolf is out.” Amber sighed. “The chewing on logs part of things is weird and new, but it beats him chewing on one of the bodies, I guess. He’s probably just fretting because Nicolina gets upset if he hovers, so he’s anxious. He gets nippy when he’s anxious, so I guess he’s abusing some logs so he doesn’t get nippy with us.” Amber shrugged. “Every time I think I understand Richard, he goes and confuses me again. He doesn’t usually chew on logs.”

Dante abandoned Richard and headed for us, and he sat on the ground beside me. “Amber, if you have ever loved me, just beat me into next week.”

“He’s not cooperating, is he?” Amber grinned. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing’s wrong. His anxiety is through the roof, and from what I can tell with my witchcraft, he’s…” Bowing his head, Dante sighed.

Amber’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me he’s rutting.”

“He’s rutting.”

“But it’s off season.” Amber sighed, and she narrowed his eyes, watching Richard. “Wow. He really is. That’s hilarious. He’s chewing on logs because he wants to drag Nicolina off? This is going to be a lot easier to handle than I thought. Just tell Nicolina to whistle. He’ll follow her without complaint. She’s going to think it’s Christmas.”

Dante snorted, and then he choked on a laugh, his shoulders shaking. “I think the dress did him in, and the dress was doing him in before the dress got dismantled and turned into something rather lewd. Add in the teasing we were doing? He’s basically a furry ball of sexual frustration right now, and he’s taking it out on logs so he doesn’t bother Nicolina, because he is an idiot who hasn’t figured out his mate appreciates when he’s frustrated.”

Poor Richard. “Could the concoction Xue had us drink have something to do with it?” I asked.

“He had the same stuff we all did. Elliot checked. Everything was identical. It could be an unexpected reaction, but if it included an aphrodisiac component, we’d all be in Richard’s shoes right now. Nobody else is rutting, not even you, the new unmated bitch with an eligible gentleman nearby, or Declan, the eligible gentleman with a known history of blurted proposals to the unmated bitch.”

One thing was certain: I would never live down that phone call.

Amber giggled. “Poor Richard. Do you think one of the Chinese witches toyed with him?”

“That would be seriously underhanded, thus something they would do, but no. I think he’s just been working with the pregnant bitches and he’s wired for puppies. Add in his wolf running a bit wild, and the result is Richard is in the mood to have puppies. I’m going to warn Nicolina so she can deal with him as she sees fit—and to be very aware that she really might have an off season puppy if she’s not careful.”

“How tragic.” Amber rolled her eyes. “Try telling Richard we need his wisdom on the problem of Declan’s broken neck. Maybe that’ll help him get enough control to change back.”

“That’s worth a try. Hang in there, Declan.”

I glared at Dante. “Hang in there? Really?”

My friend snickered. “I should be a lot sorrier for that one than I am. Just try to relax and don’t hurt your neck more. Amber, when we go to move him into the SUV, you get to make sure his neck and head stay stable. Don’t let him move until then.”

“You got it. How does it feel to be the distressed damsel, Declan?”