Once settled, Wolf turned his face to her and he hastily stopped the catch in his chest before it fell from his lips in a sharp gasp. However, he failed to stop the words that hurried out of him. “You have the most stunning blue eyes I have ever seen.”
She stared at him, speechless. Men had commented on her eyes before, but never the way he did. There was something intimate about the way he’d said it. And she had no response for him.
“Tell me about the culprit,” he said, his lips not far from hers.
She felt him tighten his hold on her, which meant Fyn was about to break the tail of the arrow off. She focused on her husband’s dark eyes, full of strength and actually found comfort in them.
“He was small in size.” She clamped her eyes shut and gasped at the pain that shot through her arm. She felt his brow rest against hers.
“Small in size, you say,” Wolf said to distract her.
She nodded, glad for the feel of his warm breath whispering across her face. He was closer than anyone had ever been to her and for the first time in what seemed like forever she didn’t feel alone.
“And fast, so fast,” she whispered.
His breath faintly brushed her lips. “I’m going to find him and make him pay for hurting you.”
His grip grew tight again and this time Raven latched on to his arm around her waist, needing to hold on to him for what was to come next.
“I’ve got you, wife. I won’t let go.”
He whispered so softly Raven could barely hear him and she thought, for a brief moment, his words sounded as if he actually cared for her.
The pain stabbed so sharply that it caught her unaware and her eyes went wide before everything went black.
“It’s good she fainted,” Greta said, I can clean the wound before she wakes.”
“Be quick if you can,” Wolf ordered and looked down to where his wife’s head rested on his shoulder. He had been surprised at the shot of fear that had rushed through him when her head dropped like a stone on his shoulder. He didn’t know why it had upset him so, he barely knew Raven. She could annoy him endlessly and yet he also admired that about her. She hadn’t shown him an ounce of fear or submitted to his every word. And she defended her family and her men regardless of what she might suffer. If she did that for the family they would have together, then she would make a better wife than he had expected.
Wolf felt the slight stir of her body against him and knew she was fighting to wake. “She’s waking. Are you almost done?”
“Aye, just a bit more,” Greta said. “The bleeding is but a trickle which is good.”
Wolf watched as Fyn gently kept Raven’s arm aloft for Greta to tend it. He hoped Greta would be done with it before Raven woke, but feeling her stir more strongly he doubted it.
“Stay as you are, wife. It is almost done,” he said softly.
Raven managed to look up and finally get her eyes open to gaze upon Wolf’s face, and winced as a cloth was wrapped around her arm. She let her head rest on his shoulder, not having the strength or will to do otherwise. After a few moments, she felt him stand, holding her firm in his arms.
“I’m taking you to our bedchamber. You will rest and Wren will be here soon,” he said as he walked.
A bit disoriented, she said what she thought. “You are kind to me.”
“You are my wife. It is my duty to see you protected and see you kept safe.”
She thought, but once again spoke her thought aloud. “We are enemies.”
“Only if we allow ourselves to be,” he whispered.
Once in their bedchamber, he laid her on the bed, removed her boots, but left the wool socks on her that he had made sure were tucked in her boots for her to use, and her plaid, leaving her in her shirt. He eased her under the blankets, brushed her hair away from her face and ordered, “Rest. It won’t be long before Wren arrives.”
“We need to talk about why someone tried to kill me,” she said, grateful for the warmth and comfort of the bed.
“We will, but for now rest.”
She closed her eyes, the pain in her arm taking all of her focus. She heard the door close and knew she was alone. She allowed herself to drift, to find a way to cope with the pain. She found something nagging at her more than the pain, something about the arrow in her arm, something she had caught when she had first glanced at it. She let herself drift to see what she could find and after some time her eyes opened wide.