Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Beau’s lips pressed against the top of my head.
“It’s not my place to interfere in a mating bond—”
“Then don’t,” Beau said, cutting him off.
“But as your elder,” Erik continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I feel the need to inform you both that any blood not yours is no longer compatible with Bjorn’s physiology.”
“Shit,” I mumbled, thinking about the empty bags in the sink.
“Blood donated by a mate will suffice but will still leave him feeling under the weather.”
“But you said—”
“It is the act of exchanging blood that will keep you both healthy,” Erik said. “Not clinically giving each other a shot of blood on a schedule, but the skin-on-skin contact and bite. I’ve been told that it’s something about the pH of the skin and the oxytocin present at the time of exchange, but you’d have to ask for specifics from someone more well-informed than I am.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Beau stated.
“Bjorn, you’ll be ill—”
“We’ll figure it out,” he repeated.
“Could you please just get to stitching?” I asked, recognizing the irritation in Beau’s voice. If they got into it again and made this whole process even longer, I was going to scream.
“You’re done,” Erik announced, his voice laced with amusement.
I whipped my head around to find a neat row of black stitches across my wrist. My stomach gave a small flip, and I looked away from it to find Erik smiling.
“Do they meet your standards?”
“A real doctor would’ve bandaged it, too,” I said somewhat weakly, making him roar with laughter.
“I’ll get to it,” he said, turning toward the bag at his feet.
“Don’t ever hurt yourself like that again,” Beau ordered quietly.
“You were sick,” I countered, my voice equally low.
At some point, his arms had loosened a bit around my torso, and I hadn’t even noticed. They were no longer holding me in place…just holding me. He cupped his palm under my chin and tipped it up until our eyes met.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m dying,” he replied firmly. “If you press your skin to my lips and tell me to drink, I will.”
“He’s not wrong,” Erik said as he began to wrap my wrist. “I’ve seen it done. Instincts are a powerful thing.”
“Well, that would’ve been nice to know,” I griped, raising my eyebrows.
“You know now.”
“Tough lessons are the ones that stick,” Erik mused.
“If I never heard that sentence again, it would be too soon,” Daniel complained from the living room, startling me. I’d forgotten he and Chance were still there. “It was his favorite phrase while we were children.”
“He left me fifty feet up in a tree,” Chance agreed.
“What were you doing fifty feet up a tree?” I asked, catching a small grin as Beau turned his head toward his brothers.
“I’d climbed there,” Chance replied nonchalantly.
“That’s nothing,” Danny scoffed. “I fell in the river, and he watched the current take me downstream.”
My jaw dropped in surprise.
“I told you not to get so close,” Erik said, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed.
“It took me miles downstream!” Danny shot back indignantly.
I let out a bark of laughter.
“That wasn’t even the most irritating part,” Danny said, looking at me. “He was waiting on the bank when I dragged myself out.”
“I knew where it grew shallow enough that you’d find your footing,” Erik informed him.
All at once, the four of them paused, and the room went silent.
“Ulf’s here,” Erik announced, standing. “I’ll meet you all downstairs.”
He strode out of the room with his sons on his heels.
“Ambrose has news,” Beau said, letting go of me. He rounded the table and scooped up the bloody gauze and other medical paraphernalia, throwing it in the trash under the sink. “I need to go down and—” He paused and then turned to look at me. “Come with me?”
For some reason, the fact that he was including me made my skin flush with warmth that had nothing to do with the mating heat.
“I’m not wearing pants,” I reminded him with a grimace. I’d been completely unworried about it while his family was there, but it suddenly hit me that I’d been not only walking around in my underwear but had passed out straddling Beau, and they’d all probably gotten a good look.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, watching the emotions play over my face. “Those boxers cover far more than a swimsuit.”
“They’re underwear.”
“Could’ve fooled me. They look like shorts.”
“I don’t bitch about your underwear.”
“What is there to bitch about?” he asked, looking down at the black boxers he was wearing.
I had to concede that there was absolutely nothing to bitch about when it came to the skin hugging cotton.
“Do I at least have time to put on pants before we meet another brother?” I asked.
“Please do,” he replied, following me slowly as I rose from the table and walked toward the bedroom. “I need to get dressed, too. It’s freezing in here.”