Page 20 of Midlife Animal Rescuer Wolf

His chest immediately contracted, his mind constructing images at rapid speed: Miranda running around town and telling everyone who cared to listen that she’d spotted a monster in the woods; the entire town turning on Bryon, ambushing him in the middle of the night before he could take off again. He swallowed, trying to disperse the images. If his secret got out, he’d be in big trouble, no doubt. But what about Theon and the others at Green Sanctuary?

So much could go horribly wrong for him and the family he’d found in this small town, and all because he’d revealed himself to a human for the second time in his life.

You really should’ve just stayed a wolf back there, he chided himself.

Miranda gave his arm another squeeze, and the memory of her fingers curling around him earlier flickered through his mind. His jaw clenched. When was the last time he’d felt drawn to a human? It felt like an eternity ago.

No, that wasn’t quite right. He had gotten involved with a few over the years, though he couldn’t remember feeling so intensely toward them. Not to mention, none of those humans had known he was a shifter. If they had, they would’ve taken to their heels before even thinking about kissing him.

But Miranda hadn’t done that. What’s more, she’d kissed him back. Even now, he could feel the tension simmering in the air between them. She was just as attracted to him as he was to her, which didn’t quite make sense. Wasn’t she afraid of what she’d seen?

And before that, she’d been curious to learn more about him.

I’d rather not jump to conclusions.

Right. So maybe there was a chance she was different. Maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t run around telling everyone what she’d seen.

It was a huge maybe.

***

Miranda was starting to wish she was a shifter.

The weirdness aside, it did sound like a pretty cool party trick, being able to turn into an animal. Not to mention it could come in handy in situations like hers. Right now, she wished she could turn into a deer and sprint her way out of these woods. Her human body wasn’t equipped for all this walking. If they didn’t make it out of here soon, her legs were going to give out.

As they made their way across a tiny stream, carefully stepping on the smooth rocks jutting above the water’s surface, she glanced sideways at Bryon. “I think I should take another look at your foot.”

He nodded without saying a word. He was staring at the trees ahead, though she got the feeling he wasn’t really looking at anything in particular. For the past half hour or so, he’d been silent, except for a few grunts of pain as he walked.

They made it across the stream before coming to a stop. He made for the nearest tree, sitting down heavily at its base, and she dropped into a crouch next to him, pulling his leg close to her. Before them, the stream gleamed, the gentle trickle of water carrying into Miranda’s ears.

“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked as she unwrapped his injured foot.

Bryon frowned at her for a second before looking away. “I’m just starting to wonder whether I did the right thing, making the foal my top priority instead of getting out of the woods first, so you and I are safe.”

Something told Miranda he had a lot more than that on his mind, but she decided not to push him. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. For someone who claims to be a bridge between animals and humans, you seem to be leaning in favor of the former this time.”

The rest of the sash unwound itself from around his foot and fell into a heap on her thigh, most of it covered in blood and grime from all the walking. She grimaced at his foot, which certainly looked worse than the last time she’d examined it. The bleeding had ceased for the most part, but she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t an appalling sight to behold.

And if they didn’t get out of the woods in time, it would only get worse.

“You’re not wrong,” Bryon told her. “I’m not exactly the biggest fan of humans.”

He should, at least, try to give a damn about himself, even if he didn’t care for humans, she thought, scooping some water from the stream into her palm to clean his foot. “Present company excluded, I presume?”

His silence was all the response she needed.

“Right,” she said, rubbing the dirt and blood off his foot. “Message received.”

He winced as her fingers came into close contact with his injury, his foot twitching against her hand. “I just have less patience and trust when it comes to your kind.”

At this, she momentarily paused what she was doing and frowned at him. “Care to explain why? Sounds like my kind did something really terrible to you.” She definitely understood not trusting men, especially after her relationship with Jerry. But all humans? That was a new one. Just what had this man experienced?

She looked at him for a response, but his expression had turned guarded, his gaze shifting from her face toward the stream.

“I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about it,” she said, nodding. “Okay, then. I guess we could talk about something else.”

Bryon said nothing. In the silence, she washed his other foot, then made to wash the sash in the river, trying to get rid of as much of the dirt and blood as she could. She could feel his eyes on her as she worked, but she paid him little notice as she wrung the sash and began wrapping his foot again. A damp sash wasn’t exactly ideal for dressing his injury, but they didn’t exactly have the time to sit and wait for it to dry.