Justus (4 page)

She pressed a little harder,
and he lay back on the floor.

“I have to clean it,” she
said quietly.

Without a word, Justus
nodded. The pain was clearly written on his face.

This time she poured the
alcohol on his leg, and he only grunted in pain. She could see the
wound more clearly and knew she needed to stitch it.

She started to stand but
stopped when his dark hand shot out to her own.

“Don’t leave me,” he said,
his voice rough and weak.

She swallowed hard at his
words.

“I’ll be right back,” she
said. “I’m going to take care of you.”

Paige let his hand slip out
of hers and picked up the needle.

She hurried into the kitchen.
She flicked on the gas stove and placed the end of the needle into
the flame until it glowed bright red. She pulled back and turned
off the flame. When she came back into the room, she wiped off the
burned end with an alcohol cloth.

Not daring to look at his
face, Paige threaded the thin fishing line through the hole. It had
been a long time since she did stitches. It was rare that an RN
would even do anything like that. Still, she did have the training,
even if it was years ago.

She glanced over to Justus.
His light amber eyes focused on her, and she felt a little shiver
under the intense stare.

“Are you ready?” she
asked.

His eyes roamed across her
until he found the needle in her hand. They fixed on the point.

She cleared her throat. “I
don’t have anything for the pain,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Paige jumped when his large,
warm hand landed on her thigh.

“Do it,” he said.

She leaned over and set to
work. The pattern came back quickly, and before long, she had moved
into a rhythm. When she finished, she cut the string and sat
back.

It wasn’t until that moment
she realized his hand had stayed on her thigh. She followed his
dark bare arm up to his face. To her surprise, he had passed
out.

Concern ate at her. He’d lost
a lot of blood at her place, and there was no telling how much more
he’d lost before he found her.

She hated to do it, but she
was going to have to roll him. It was the only way to get at the
other hole.

With a great grunt, Justus
rolled to his side. It was better to put the pressure on the unhurt
area than risk tearing the stitches.

Blood continued to flow from
the wound.

The only thing she could hope
was the bleeding slowed once he’d had some rest.

Faster the second time, Paige
stitched up the next wound. When she’d finished, and with him still
out, she poured more alcohol over the wounds. There were so many
ways that this could be done better, but it was all she had for
now.

She set to work wrapping the
leg. She blushed a little when she glanced down at his
underwear-clad body and realized just how close her hand was
getting to other areas. In the heat of the moment, she hadn’t even
thought about it, but now she couldn’t seem to get it out of her
mind.

Justus stirred, and she
blushed at where her thoughts had been. As gently as she could,
Paige pulled his pants back up. They might be tattered and bloody,
but it was better than nothing.

She stood and placed the
towels on the couch, then crouched next to him.

“Let’s move you to a more
comfortable spot,” she said.

His eyes opened slightly, and
he shook his head.

“I’ve got to go,” he said.
His words slurred as he spoke.

Paige sighed loudly and
lifted him as best she could.

His body wasn’t nearly as
heavy as it had been when she’d pulled him inside, and she knew he
was straining himself to stand, but there was no way she’d be able
to do it on her own.

They stumbled around her
coffee table. She sagged under his weight but pressed on. Only a
few more feet, and they would be clear.

As if sensing the couch,
Justus leaned forward, pulling them both at a more rapid pace than
she expected.

Paige gasped and braced for
the impact, her eyes wide with worry.

Smoothly, he dropped to the
couch, her body half over his.

Paige bolted backwards and
knelt next to him.

“Can’t stay,” he mumbled
again.

She ignored his words and
lifted the tape on his side. The wound was still bleeding, but it
had slowed some. Paige peeked through the hole in his pants. Blood
dotted the white bandage, but she didn’t want to disturb the leg
more than needed. For now she would just hope the stitches held and
the bleeding stopped.

Her eyes came back to his,
his stare distant. It bothered her. He was really in bad shape, and
there was no way she was capable of handling this.

“Maybe I should call
Titus.”

His deep growl set the hairs
on the back of her neck on end.

“No,” he grunted, his voice
loud and firm.

Faster than she would have
expected, Justus gripped her arm and pulled her across his body so
they were nearly nose to nose.

A bright glow burned in the
depths of his eyes. The light amber she’d seen before deepened and
almost pulled her in.

“What—”

Her sentence was cut off as
he pulled her a little more, pressing their mouths together.

Warm heat pulsed through her
at the touch of his soft lips. She wanted to pull away. Everything
in her said this was the worst idea possible, especially given the
situation. She knew nothing about him other than he’d been locked
up at the lodge and was on the run likely from more than one
group.

Still, she pressed into the
kiss, pulled in by something she’d never felt before, something she
couldn’t even name if she’d been asked. Passion seemed like such a
weak word. This was almost primal, as if she needed to kiss
him.

The thought tore through her,
and she pulled back, not quite sure what it all meant.

Her breath came out in small
puffs as she tried to regain some composure.

She leaned back and realized
the arm that had pulled her before lay limply at his side.

Everything that had just
happened vanished as the nurse in her kicked in.

Now focused on something she
could deal with, Paige placed a hand on his forehead. It was damp
and warm.

“Fever,” she whispered and
pulled an acetaminophen from the bottle she’d brought in.

Paige raced to the pantry to
pull a bottle of water out.

She twisted off the lid and
palmed the pills. When she came back into the room, his eyes were
closed, but unlike before, he seemed to be aware of what was going
on around him.

She knelt beside him and
lifted his head. Gingerly, she placed the pills to his mouth and
pressed them in.

“You need to take these,” she
said and held the water to his lips.

Justus swallowed the water.
She let out a sigh of relief.

“You’re not well,” she said
quietly. “I should really call—”

“Let me stay,” he said.
“Please let me stay.”

His voice was quiet but rang
out in the silence of the room, cutting off all other thoughts but
one. She could sense it. He trusted her.

Chapter Six

Pain pulsed through his
body before he’d even opened his eyes. Justus groaned and was
surprised when a cool, soothing hand pressed against his head.

“You’ve spiked again.”

His eyes opened, and he
swallowed hard as the room spun around him.

“Here.”

His eyes tried to follow the
soft, familiar voice. Slowly she came into view as last night came
crashing down on him.

“Paige,” he said. His voice
cracked and hurt more than he’d expected.

She leaned over him, and
worry creased her brow. Justus could see the deep circles under her
eyes and wondered how much sleep she’d been able to get. It didn’t
seemed like she’d slept at all.

“You are burning up,” she
said and pulled her hand away.

Just as quickly as it’d left,
her hand was back, this time pushing pills into his mouth. He
swallowed the water she poured.

“You aren’t getting better,”
she said and set the water back onto the table.

Part of him wished she’d
continued to let him drink, but when his stomach churned, he knew
it was best he didn’t.

“You’ve been asleep off and
on most of the day,” she said.

He looked out the window in
front and could make out the setting sun in the distance. A whole
day he had lost, and he didn’t even know where it went.

His eyes settled back on her.
Now he understood the reasons for the dark circles.

“I just can’t figure it out,”
she said mostly to herself. “The wounds were fresh. You shouldn’t
have an infection, and yet that’s what it seems like.”

Justus placed a hand on his
bare chest and slowly slid the hand over to his aching side. The
bandage was damp and warm to the touch.

He looked up at her as she
leaned over him.

“You need to tell me what
happened,” she said quietly.

His words were rough coming
out, so he kept them to as few as he could.

“Men in the woods,” he said.
“Shot at me.”

“From Luna Lodge?”

He shook his head.

Paige frowned. She had
doubted the men from the lodge would actually attack Justus, but
verifying that someone else did it only made her more
uncomfortable. For one thing, it raised the possibility the
Horatius Group was lurking about.

“Did they know who you are?”
she said. She furrowed her brow. “What you are?”

Justus nodded and looked
away. The shame of his ability to be hit by such men ate at him. If
he hadn’t been so desperate and starving, he’d been able to disarm
and knock them all out with ease.

“Were they local men?”

He looked back over to her
and nodded. At least he thought they were. They seemed to know what
was going on at the lodge. The way they talked and their mention of
John only reinforced his belief.

Paige stood and paced the
floor. She frowned and paused.

“It has all the same
symptoms,” she mumbled to herself and then looked down to him.
“It’s not as intense, but then it couldn’t be that strong since
they’d have to handle them as well.”

Justus frowned. “What?”

She looked over to him.
“Wolfsbane. It has to be. The wounds are the only spots that aren’t
healing. Maybe they coated their bullets or something.”

He frowned. He’d heard of it
before. The people at the lodge had issues with the plant.

His stomach churned, and he
laid his head back, suddenly far more exhausted. He didn’t open his
eyes when Paige came to stand next to him.

“I have to leave,” she
said.

He tried to open his eyes,
but there was no more strength in his body.

“I just need to get a few
things that will help.” She sighed. “I’ll be back soon.”

He could hear her moving
around the room as everything else faded out.

“I’ll be as fast as I can,”
she said. “For now just, just wait for me.”

* * *

Paige stood outside the
small hospital and took in a deep breath.

It had been a long night and
an even longer day. After she’d cleaned Justus, she cleaned the
blood outside. It wasn’t like she had many people come over, but it
seemed wise not to have the place looking like someone had been
murdered there.

She shuddered. If she didn’t
hurry, it might actually become a reality. Justus was in bad
condition. Her best guess was wolfsbane, but that was still just a
guess. It’s not like she had the ability to run bloodwork at her
house. What he needed was a doctor. One with a lab and experience
dealing with his kind.

Rachel. That’s who he really
needed. She’d let herself be suckered into not calling, but Paige
wasn’t so sure that was the wisest choice. For any of them. Strange
men were out to kill Justus, Titus was hot on his heels and the
Horatius Group was always a threat. All her choices seemed
crappy.

Paige shook herself. Now
wasn’t the time to have the debate. If he didn’t get medicine soon,
Justus wasn’t going to make it another night.

She pushed herself through
the door and followed the path she normally would when working.

Several of the women working
the front desk whispered as she made her way back, and she frowned.
It seemed like word of her suspension had made the rounds.

“Just grabbing my things,”
she said. One of the women gave a sympathetic nod while the other
gave her a serious case of side-eye. She’d never liked that one
anyways. Always seemed to find her way into the bed of another
woman’s man.

Paige nodded, ignoring the
other woman. She rounded the corner and sighed when the break room
came into view. All she had to do was make it to the lockers, and
the rest would be easy.

Without anyone noticing, she
walked into the break room and quickly found her locker. There
really wasn’t much inside beside an old jacket she kept just in
case. But that wasn’t the reason for her visit. She needed meds,
and this was the only way to get them.

She carefully opened the
locker next to her and searched out the extra key card that Lena
kept. She hated the idea of stealing from her friend, but she
couldn’t involve her in all this. If locals had been the one to
attack Justus, the hospital might not even be willing to let her
have the supplies even with a medical need, and bringing him in was
out of the question. She was certain now someone would shoot or
poison him while he slept.

“Paige?”

She whirled around and found
large brown eyes staring back at her, surprise and worry in them.
Ashamed at being caught and concerned others might be nearby, Paige
scanned the room.

She placed a finger to her
lips and walked casually over to shut the door. When she turned
back around, Lena was over at her locker, staring at it in
disbelief.