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There was something strange about this human. I could see that he was scared of us, but not like Quinn had been. Not like a normal person suddenly face to face with a monster. I didn't understand what was different, though, and the beast only cared about Quinn, splitting our attention. I didn't want us distracted around this human, though, so I let my suspicions fall to the back of my mind so we could focus on the current problem.

"Lain… please." Quinn's voice came out thick, and there were tears in our human's eyes as he pleaded with Lain.

He cries for us?

The beast's shock matched my own, and we were in complete agreement that we could not be the cause of his tears. We rose, ignoring the warning growl from the black dog and the cry of alarm from the other human. Neither of them mattered. Our Quinn was upset and we had to fix it.

One limping step closed the distance between us, then we were at eye level with our human. Lain had hold of Quinn's arm like he wanted to pull him away, and the dog was baring his teeth at us, growling viciously in warning, but Quinn?

Quinn smiled at us.

Everything else disappeared. The strange human, the dog, even the pain in our body and the confusion of our unanswered questions… none of it mattered because our Quinn smiled at us. He looked at our face, the face that evoked nothing but fear in those who saw it, and smiled.

We will die for him.

We will kill for him.

The beast and I had never agreed on anything more strongly than this. Quinn was ours, and there was nothing, nothing, we wouldn't do for him.

Chapter 13

Quinn

For a moment, I didn't think I'd get Lain to agree to this. Looking at Typhon, I could understand my friend's hesitation. I had gotten used to him, as much as anyone could, but still when he stood and moved toward me, my heart skipped a beat, an instinctive fear I couldn't suppress.

Despite Lain's warnings and Rom's dangerous growls, Typhon came to me. I choked back my fear, and when I saw the look in the creature's eyes, I couldn't help a tiny smile.

When Typhon stared at me in that moment, I saw a fierce protectiveness that took my breath away. No one had ever looked at me like that before. The closest I'd ever seen was from my dog, but this was altogether different. It was as if Typhon saw my tears and wanted to save me from whatever made me hurt. He'd stood unwavering in front of me despite the danger from Rom and Lain.

Reaching for him was instinct, just as much as my fear had been.

The moment I touched his face, cradling his odd, wholly inhuman head, his soft growls ceased and all the tension drained from his heavily muscled body. His golden eyes drifted shut, and he leaned into my touch. Silence fell around us, and we just stood there together until I had my emotions back under control.

"Thank you," I breathed, hopefully too quietly for anyone but him to hear.

One golden eye slit open, and he nuzzled into my hands in response. The moment seemed to stretch on forever until Lain's voice broke us out of our bubble.

"No, Rom. Settle…. I think."

Unperturbed, my dog kept growling, deep, vicious snarls, like he was seconds away from ripping Typhon to pieces.

"Romulus. Settle," I ordered, finally breaking eye contact with Typhon so I could look at the dog. I had to repeat the command three times before he actually listened, which was unheard of for my dog. Eventually he subsided, but he sat glued to my side.

Lain studied Typhon while I calmed Rom, his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed over his chest. Once I had Rom settled, he nodded once, almost to himself, and glanced at me.

"I need to get some supplies. Get him comfortable while I raid your house."

And that was it. I didn't question why he'd changed his mind, in case he changed it again. I could save that for after he treated Typhon.

An hour later, and darkness had well and truly set in. The lights on my back deck were security lights, bright enough to be nearly blinding, and deemed suitable by Lain. Typhon was too large to do this inside the house.

Lain started with the bullet holes first, cleaning them far better than I had and extracting a bullet from deep in Typhon's back left leg. The second one in that leg had worked itself out, or at least Lain couldn't find it. The shot to his front right shoulder turned out to be the worst, with the bullet embedded in muscle. Typhon hid his pain well, almost too well, but he couldn't fully hide it from me. I stayed near his head, and he never took his eyes off me.

Dark blood stained the old beach towel Lain had found and laid down for Typhon; the sight was enough to make my stomach churn, but I held fast. If he could handle my best friend digging out bullets with makeshift surgical tools, I could handle a little bit of blood. Since accidentally becoming an animal rescuer, I'd started keeping a decent supply of animal first-aid equipment, but nothing that could handle this. I had plenty of gauze, at least, so Lain could bandage the wounds once he finished.

There was nothing to be done for the small hole in Typhon's left wing where he'd been shot, so once the bullets were removed from his body, Lain turned his attention to Typhon's mangled right wing.

"This is going to hurt," he warned Typhon. "Quinn says you're intelligent, so I need your word that you'll keep your teeth and that tail under control."