Talons

Chapter 143: The Concern

Colton’s POV

Rhea isn’t in my suite and thinking she may be in her room, I enter, only to find it empty. I shouldn’t have threatened to force my mark on her, and while I meant it, I genuinely hope that I will not have to stoop so low.

I want her to enjoy being marked, and if what I’ve learned is true, she will feel pleasure from it, so long as she accepts it. People who are forcibly marked typically end up with scars from the bite, and while no one knows why it happens, I’ve actually seen a few real examples, so I know it’s true.

I don’t want that for Rhea; it speaks volumes toward me, and it’s typically seen as a badge of shame. I want us to willingly exchange marks and afterward, I want to flaunt my beautiful fully marked mate off at every werewolf event I can think of.

I’ll even cross state lines just to make other males jealous because no woman is as amazing as the one that was fated to me.

“I don’t want anyone drooling over my mate,”

“Neither do I, but there are few I want to see the green faces off; Jack in particular.” Orlin doesn’t mind that, in fact, he suggests for us to hold our own marking ceremony, but Rhea already doesn’t want us, and that would be too much.

I’m already walking toward the garden when my brother links me, asking me to take it easy on my mate. He must have heard what happened from someone, and he tells me something I didn’t even consider.

Dolton claims that Rhea was jealous, which was why she kept mentioning Gale as my girlfriend, and while I don’t fully buy it, he may have a point.

There was no reason for her to keep mentioning the woman in that way, and thinking back to how the words dripped from her lips like a curse, she may have had bitter feelings about it.

I’m glad that I cleared that up from the beginning, and now that I think about it, it was after those words were spoken that Rhea’s wolf began to subside, and she eventually relaxed her challenge.

I get to the Garden where I hear the unmistakable laughter of a child, and instead of barging in, I peek inside, where I find Tyson being read to by my mate. I haven’t heard the boy's voice in so long that I forgot how it sounded, and the fact that he is even laughing aloud right now, says a lot about how good my mate is with children.

I suddenly get an intense headache and let out a deep grunt that alerts the pair to my presence, so I step out of hiding.

Rhea has a complete tent sent up, and based on the food I smell, she’s planning to sleep outside tonight.

“What’s going on?” I ask, but my mate doesn’t talk to me. “Come on babe, don’t set a bad example for Tyson.” The woman just glares at me, but she’s still silent. “We haven’t had our meal together today.”

Rhea seems to have been ready for that because she very unceremoniously tossed an instant meal pack at me, then served a plate of food for herself and Tyson.

The little boy looks conflicted and confused, so when Rhea hands him the plate, he shoves it at me and runs away, making me chuckle. He’s a smart kid who clearly read the mood and made himself scarce.

“You scared him away,”

“No, you scared him away. He and I were fine until you showed up.” Rhea starts to quickly shovel her food into her mouth, and she must have bit her tongue because she winced with actual sound, and I found myself by her side wanting to ‘see’ what happened.

I swear that her eyes studied my lips before going back up to my eyes, but when I leaned in to kiss her, she fled into her tent and zipped it behind her.

“Okay, I shouldn’t have tried that, but you can’t sleep out here.”

“There is no oath against it.”

“No there’s not, but it’s not safe.”

“There is no safe place for me in this pack, and thanks to you, all of your little girlfriends are-”

“Rhea!” I shout. I’m tired of her trying to hit me with that line now. “I’ve already explained myself and I don’t want to keep rehashing the same topic. I have never really had a girlfriend, Jessica was the closest, and you see how that ended.”

Rhea’s POV

Colton’s words made my chest burn and Sylvia is freaking out. There is no doubt about it now; we are feeling the effects of the bond, and I’m not sure I can handle it.

I don’t want to know anything about Colton’s girlfriends, I just want to curl up into a ball and cry. Why did my mate treat me so terribly? Didn’t he used to care about me? What changed? What did I do wrong?

My mood suddenly shifts from sadness to anger, and I find myself wanting to get even, but I don’t know what to do, so I call Mike. The man answers in a groggy tone but hearing his voice doesn’t make me feel better at all, and I suddenly regret calling.

“Sorry Mike, I just wanted to say hello.”

“B?” Mike questions, but I don’t get to respond because my tent is torn open. I toss the phone at Colton who becomes distracted trying to catch it and I climb the nearest tree while he takes over the call.

“Block this number,” he growls into the phone, and I watch him hang up before tossing the device back into my tent. “Did you think that sh*t was funny?” He asks, looking up into the tree I’m hiding in. “If I have to come up there to get you-”

“Be quiet,” I say in anger, and Colton’s mouth hangs open in shock. He tried to climb the tree after me, but he is heavier than I am, so the branches begin to crack.

Colton jumps just as the branch he is on breaks, but he lands oddly, and his loud grunt tells me that he was actually hurt.

By instinct, I scale down the tree, concerned that he may have a broken ankle, and when he sees me trying to help, his entire body relaxes.

“Can you move it? I ask, and Colton slowly rotates the joint.

“It hurts,” he says, and I ask him to mind-link for help, but he refuses. “Do you know how that will look for me? Just help me to my suite.” I nod and after standing, I help him up.

Colton is heavy, but I’m stronger than I look and him using me as a crutch is not actually that bad.

“Don’t put too much pressure on it,” I say. “Adrenaline could be making it feel less painful.”

Colton’s POV

My mate is genuinely worried, and it's not fake. I can feel her shaking, and while I feel bad for milking this out right now, my ankle actually feels messed up, and like my mate said, adrenaline (and the bond,) could be making the pain less severe.

Surprising me with her strength, Rhea is able to act as my crutch all the way to my suite, and she gently helps me sit on the sofa, while she goes to examine my ankle. She’s very methodical in her approach, and when she makes an assessment that it is just sprained, I trust her judgement fully.

“I have something to help with this.” Rhea gets something in a small jar that smells a little like citrus.

“What is it?”

“It's an anti-inflammatory I make. I use it often; it's safe and effective.” I nod and Rhea gently removes my shoe but when she takes off my sock, she scoots back in horror. “W-wh-why?” I raise a brow at Rhea, who is clearly put off by my toes.

“No one has ever looked at my feet before,” I admit, and the woman nods before gently massaging the stuff she makes into my ankle. I can physically feel the relief, but I'm not entirely sure it has anything to do with my mate’s medicine.

“I don’t know what you were thinking,” she says as she steadily works the stuff into my skin. “I chose that tree because you were too heavy for its branches.”

“They would have broken on your way down,” I add, wanting to defend myself, but Rhea just shrugs.

“I’ve got experience falling out of trees; you know that.” My heart aches with her words, but she doesn’t give me time to respond before leaving and coming back with a plastic container in her hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Be quiet,” she whispers, and this time. I listen.

Rhea’s POV

Now that I know what Colton’s toenails look like I can’t unsee them, and there is no way I can let him go on like that.

My mother used to tell me that men don’t take care of their feet the way women do, but this is probably the worst I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what shoe size he wears, but with at least a quarter inch of toenail, he probably can never find a good fit.

I fill the foot spa with water and gently place both the man’s feet in the liquid, turning on the heat setting while I prepare the other items. It took a long time, but I eventually softened the nails enough to clip them, and file them down to a normal length.

Colton didn’t complain the entire time, and when I looked up, the man had fallen asleep. I shake my head in disbelief and grab a towel to dry his feet and reapply a little more of my balm before moving his legs onto the couch so that they don’t go numb.

“I’m worried about us Rhea,”

“Me too,” I reply, but I’m not sure what I can do to stop this from happening. “We may have to leave sooner than planned.”

I can feel the conflict in Sylvia’s emotions, but I know they are only a reflection of how I feel so I don’t call her out on it.

“We need to make sure Tyson made it back okay," I say, wanting to take our mind off the true fear we felt when we saw Colton fall out of the tree.

“He’s smart,” Sylvia responds, and I can only agree with her. Instead of allowing himself to be used as a prop, he fled, which is admirable. “But there's another prop who may not know he should run,” my wolf adds.