He gripped my arm again, tugging me to his horse and grabbing supplies before leading me to a nearby tree.
“Take off your shirt,” he commanded, glaring.
“No,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I was not taking my shirt off in front of him, in front of all of them.
“Take off. Your shirt,” he repeated, stepping closer, towering over me.
“No.” I tilted my face up to his, just inches above mine.
“You’re insufferable,” he seethed.
“And you’re the only reason I’m here.”
He inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring.
“If you don’t take it off, I can’t treat your wounds and if you don’t die from bleeding out, you’ll die from infection. Wounds from their talons tend to fester when left untreated. And then what good would you be to me?” he said with a smirk.
Irritation pricked at me as my eyes darted to the rest of the men. He followed my line of sight and huffed in annoyance.
He walked us behind a group of trees. I pulled the shirt off with a harsh sigh, keeping my arms over my chest, and his lips parted as his eyes found the wound. Looking down, four deep gashes spread from the bottom of my right breast down to my hip bone, still leaking blood. At the sight, pain flared and a hiss escaped my clenched teeth.
“Alright, yeah,” I conceded, sitting at the base of a tree as he knelt beside me.
The closeness brought with it the smell of smoke and evergreen spice. Resisting the urge to lean in and inhale it further, I watched as he unscrewed the lid off the small jar, dipping two fingers into the ointment.
“What is that?” I asked, pulling away as he neared my skin.
“It’s a healing salve. It’s made from a plant that grows at Draig Hearth. When cultivated and harvested correctly, it can be made into an ointment that will heal any wound,” he said, applying it to the top of one laceration. Another hiss escaped my lips and his eyes peeked up at me. “I know, it burns like fire.”
And it did. It took everything in me to sit still as he applied it painstakingly slowly.
In an attempt to distract myself from the flames licking at my skin, I let my gaze roam over his features, following the slope of his jaw up. My eyes snagged on a pointed ear, and just beneath it was the scar. This must have been the salve that healed the wound. Nothing else that I know of would have.
Dropping my eyes back to his hands, he continued applying the salve, inching farther and farther down my abdomen. When his fingers reached just above my hip bone, he stilled, resting on my bare skin. Glancing up at him, his eyes were glued to the curve of my body. He began to run his hand along my hip, leaving a blazing trail in its wake, different from that of the salve.
I grabbed his wrist and his hand jerked back as his eyes snapped to my face with surprise. Embarrassment flushed my cheeks. He stood, clearing his throat and wiping his hands on his trousers.
“There you go,” he said, averting his gaze as I pulled my shirt back on.
“Thanks,” I uttered curtly and joined the rest of the men with Doran. As Rogue stepped over, all eyes went to him, conversation ceasing immediately.
“Let’s just get out of here before we make any plans. The smell of blood will attract other creatures.” With that, he grabbed the reins of his horse and walked him over to me. “Get on.”
I started to argue, but stopped and hoisted myself on the saddle, too tired to walk the last few miles. And based on the soreness of these wounds, I didn’t want to.
We cleared the forest with no other issues. Once we were a good half mile from the trees, Rogue left to give his men a quick order before returning and hoisting himself up, settling on the saddle behind me with his wings resting lightly on either side of the horse’s hindquarters.
My body went rigid.
“What are you doing?” I yelped, whipping my head back to ogle at him.
Our faces were just inches from each other. I jerked back, nearly falling from the horse. He quickly threw an arm around my waist and snatched me back against him.
“Well, seeing as you’re riding my horse, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for me to ride as well,” he said, clicking to the horse.
We trotted forward, his arm firmly in place around my waist.
“We still have a full day’s ride, maybe more, before we reach the castle. Normally, I would fly back in a situation like this, but I don’t want to gain any unwarranted attention by carrying a human across my entire kingdom. And considering there was only one horse spared in the attack, we’re going to continue ahead of the group.”