Resilience

by Bailey Bradford

  “Me either.” Adam sighed, his breath fluttering over Todd’s palm. “I’m so tired, but I don’t think I can sleep.”

  “You need some pain medicine?” Todd spotted the bottles on the nightstand. A loud

  moan reached them from across the hall. “Earplugs?”

  Adam snorted then pressed a hand to his side. “God, don’t make me laugh. Yes to the

  pain meds—two of the ones in the biggest bottle. And no to the earplugs, because, honestly, being voyeurs might be the highlight of our sex life for a few days.”

  Well, that sucked but Todd understood. He didn’t feel so hot himself, but he wasn’t as badly off as Adam. The sound of flesh on flesh was undeniably loud and Adam’s eyes

  sprang open just as Todd’s about popped out of his head. He felt flushed from thighs to ears.

  “Mika’s really…” Adam gulped and propped up slowly on one elbow. “That was—”

  Another loud slap, followed by Gabe’s voice breaking in an unmistakably sexual manner.

  “Oh.”

  Todd couldn’t even say that much as it sunk in that Gabe was indeed getting a very

  hard, and much wanted and enjoyed, spanking.

  “I kind of thought people just did that in pornos.”

  Todd looked for any sort of arousal from Adam, almost terrified of finding it. As

  someone who’d been beaten until he’d passed out on more than one occasion as a child, he couldn’t fathom wanting to be spanked. He didn’t blame, didn’t want to judge, but, hell, he couldn’t do something like that if Adam wanted to.

  “I don’t get it either,” Adam said quietly. “I mean, I love it when you fuck me hard, when you mark me with your teeth and hold on so tight you leave finger bruises, but that’s about as wild as I ever want to get. And I surely don’t want to be doing that,” he darted his eyes at the other bedroom, “to you. I’d rather eat your ass than hit it.”

  “Oh.” Gabe and Mika’s noises were blocked out by the rush of blood flowing south in a whoosh.

  “In fact, I like it when you get kinda dominant, with that growling and stuff,” Adam said, fluttering his lashes. “Turns me all kinds of on. And makes me horny even though I’m hurting. Already I’m thinking about things we could do that wouldn’t jostle much, like you naked, straddling my face—” Adam stopped suddenly and his cheeks turned ruddy as he looked past Todd.

  Todd was already blushing when he twisted around and saw Aidan and Zane looking

  kind of glassy-eyed in the doorway.

  “Sorry,” Zane scraped out, his voice cracking. It was then Todd noticed Zane had both arms around Aidan’s torso, as if holding him up, and Todd thought maybe their glassy-eyed look wasn’t from arousal. Indeed, a glance assured him neither man was even half hard.

  Todd was up like a shot. “How bad?” He ignored his own aches and pains to help get

  Aidan to the bed. Adam sat up and carefully gained his feet.

  “Just the shoulder,” Aidan said, rolling with Zane’s help onto his stomach.

  Todd’s stomach plummeted and threatened to send whatever was in it spurting back

  up. The bite mark on Aidan’s shoulder was deep, and just gross, that was all there was to it.

  “Shit, that looks bad.” Adam obviously wasn’t playing the part of professional, he was speaking as a concerned friend. “Todd, can you get my bag?”

  “It’ll heal in a couple days,” Aidan grumbled, but Todd thought he’d seen something

  that might have been bone. Then again, he didn’t know anything about the inside of a person’s body beyond the basic stuff. Plus, for all he knew, shifters were different. Well, more different than the whole shifting thing.

  “Maybe so, but, unless you can generate several inches of skin, it’s gonna be ugly,

  because this needs to be stitched.” Adam cursed as he looked closer. “And quickly, thanks to your shifter supersonic healing capabilities. They’re going to fuck you over with this if we don’t move now.”

  The next hour tested Todd’s mettle. More than once he had to lock his muscles against being sick. Adam, even hurting as he was, stayed calm and kept at the stitches, even trimming away some skin when it proved to be too healed for his liking to graft together.

  Aidan, for his part, kept a stoic expression in place. He refused to be numbed up, saying only it’d take more than Adam could spare, possibly more than he had. Todd accepted that he was never going to be that much of a badass. He’d have taken all the pain meds he could have got or, more likely, passed out and been done with it. But Aidan stayed conscious, his gaze locked with Zane’s almost the entire time.

  Mika and Gabe came in the room before Adam was done, and Gabe’s steps were a bit

  off, which Todd didn’t want to think about. He wasn’t freaked that Gabe and Mika played rough, and now that he knew Adam and he were on the same page there he wasn’t nearly as weirded out by it. Actually, he wanted to spank Gabe himself on more than one occasion, but not for the same reasons Mika did. Then again, he didn’t know all of Mika’s reasons, did he?

  “We’ll help Aidan and Zane get to their room,” Gabe announced as soon as Adam had

  finished. “Adam needs a long, hot bath and some TLC—Todd’s lovin’ care, how sweet is that?”

  “Dork.” Todd tried not to chuckle but it was impossible when Gabe seemed so proud of himself.

  “You know you love me.” Gabe grunted as he helped take some of Aidan’s weight.

  Todd suspected Aidan was leaning extra on Gabe, and Aidan confirmed it with a wink at him. “Oaf. I’d elbow you but you’d cry and lose all your alpha points.”

  It was almost pleasant to listen to their bickering, especially since they were heading out while they were doing it. Todd locked the door behind him then turned and froze as Adam pulled off his sweats. Acres of naked flesh were bared and Todd wanted to lick every bit, but his gaze landed on the deep purple bruises on Adam’s side and his arousal

  dwindled.

  “Sit, or lay down, whichever’s easier for you. I’ll go start a bath.” He walked over and covered Adam’s face in kisses, a gentle apology for the order. “I just don’t want you hurting.”

  “I know.” Adam caught his chin and slanted his mouth over Todd’s. There was no

  gentle invasion—Adam thrust his tongue in and laid claim to Todd’s mouth. When he leant back, Todd was pretty sure he had a goofy, lovestruck look on his face.

  Adam grinned, dimpling even. “Go on, and make it a hot bath. Maybe I won’t be so

  sore between that and the drugs, and we can experiment.” Adam waggled his eyebrows.

  Todd’s mouth went dry. “I’m all for experimentin’.” He went and started the bath.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Adam woke the next morning so sore he whimpered. The pain, added with the guilt

  over having conked out before any experimenting got done, pretty much ensured he was going to have a sucky day. He knew it for certain when Todd rolled over and kissed the line of his jaw just as someone banged on the bedroom door.

  Todd jerked back and yelped when he went over the edge of the bed, the sheets tangled around him—and Adam. He barely kept himself from tumbling after Todd, kicking and

  scrabbling out of the material and hissing and cursing the entire time.

  “Someone’s gonna get their butt kicked,” Todd grumbled as he sat up. His green eyes

  warmed Adam as Todd looked him over. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to try to take you down with me.” He leaned over and this time even the banging on the bedroom door didn’t distract them. Todd kissed him full on the mouth, morning breath unheeded and, Adam

  hoped, not too bad. He would happily kiss Todd any time, any place.

  “You need help getting up?” Todd asked, tenderly stroking Adam’s cheek.

  Adam’s bladder let out a warning throb. “Yeah, bathroom?” He could get up, but with

  Todd’s help he’d be quicker and it wasn’t l
ike he was ashamed to admit to his man that he needed help.

  “Just a sec!” Todd hollered. The banging stopped and Adam was soon in the bathroom.

  “Let me get you some clothes, then I’ll deal with whoever interrupted our morning.”

  Adam nodded and shuffled over to the toilet. In short order Todd had clothes laid on the countertop for him and Adam was feeling marginally better. He listened to a voice he didn’t recognise as he moved over to the sink. He couldn’t make out the words, but there was an urgency to the tone. Adam gave up on eavesdropping and ran the water to wash his face and brush his teeth. His bruises still looked awful, and he surely wasn’t his most attractive, but he shrugged that off.

  Getting dressed was tedious even though it was just sweats and a shirt. He was sorer today than yesterday, probably because he’d tensed up so much when all that stupid alpha shit had gone down yesterday. Really, though, the shifters were interesting. It had to be an amazing thing, changing from man to wolf. How much did one control the other?

  He wasn’t ever going to know. Adam finished tugging the shirt down then went to the

  bathroom door. Whoever had been talking to Todd was either being quiet or had left. Adam opened the door. Todd was reading the labels of the medicine bottles on the nightstand and turned to him, holding one up.

  “This one?” Todd rattled the bottle. “I know you need something.”

  Adam squinted then shook his head. “Nope, that’ll knock me back out. Just one of the heavy-duty ibuprofen for now.”

  Todd went back to reading the labels, then prised the lid off and pulled out a tablet.

  Adam walked over and took the pill along with a bottle of water he’d left out last night.

  “So, who was the psycho door-banger?” he asked after he’d swallowed the pill. Stupid thing had tried to stick to his throat. Adam had done well not to upchuck all over.

  Todd scratched his head, cocking it to the side in a way Adam knew meant he was

  worried. “That was one of Maarten’s betas. He said Maarten wanted us all in the meeting room. Didn’t tell me where that was, though, and damned if I was awake enough to ask.

  Plus, I could hardly understand the guy. His accent was really thick.”

  “Well, Gabe and Mika will be going, along with Aidan and Zane.” Adam felt a slight

  lessening in his pain level and sighed. “They can sniff out the way if nothing else.” He glanced at the doorway and shook his head. “Speak of the devil, Gabe.”

  “Yup, we can do that, except Aidan and Zane are already gone. They met with Maarten

  earlier,” Gabe said. “Morning, guys. How are y’all feeling?”

  “Like shit.” Adam kind of envied the shifters if they healed as fast as Gabe had implied.

  “How’s everyone else?”

  Gabe pulled up his shirt. The pink lines were gone. “I’m dandy, so’s Mika. Aidan still has a gross-looking bite, but it’s nothing like it was before. Zane won’t let Aidan overdo it.

  Dunno about Maarten or anyone else, we haven’t seen them yet.” Gabe frowned at Adam

  and waved a hand around. “Are you sure nothing’s broken in there?”

  “There’s not, but having the shit scared out of me for a wakeup call didn’t help.”

  Todd eased an arm around him and nuzzled his temple. “Yeah, Esb-Esb—” Todd huffed. “Whatever that guy’s name was, he about beat the door off its hinges.”

  “Esbjörn.” Mika actually blushed when Adam and the others looked at him. “What? I

  can pronounce it, why’s that so weird?”

  Gabe sidled up to his mate and purred, “’Cause you sound so sexy when you say it. Got the accent down and everything.”

  “That isn’t why I was looking,” Todd sputtered, voicing Adam’s denial. “I just can’t believe you can say it. I get hung up when there’s heavy accents involved. Like, I don’t even know where we’re supposed to go.”

  “I heard.” Mika hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “Down that way, if y’all are ready.”

  “Any idea what this is about?” Adam asked, because, now that he wasn’t in so much

  pain, his mind was prodding at him. He laced his fingers with Todd’s as they followed Gabe and Mika.

  Mika grunted and Gabe elbowed him in the ribs before craning his head around

  enough to glance behind himself. “Not really, although Mika suspects we’ll be heading out to hunt for Jameson as soon as you can move around better.”

  “We ought to go without you two,” Mika said, earning another elbow. “Cut it out,

  Gabe. You know it won’t be safe for them out in the wilderness. Y’all are more likely to be bait than help.”

  “Condescending asshole,” Adam muttered, aware Mika would hear. “We aren’t helpless.”

  Mika stopped and pivoted on his heel so quickly he wasn’t more than a blur. He had a hand on Todd’s chest and a finger pointed at Adam. “No, y’all aren’t, but you aren’t shifters, either, and I would think, after that display yesterday, you’d know well and good how much more powerful we are than humans.” He dropped his hands to his hips and glared at the floor. “We just don’t want either of you hurt…more than you already are. Not that I wanted you hurt in the first place, but—oh hell, you know what I mean!”

  “He means he’s worried about y’all,” Gabe offered, and, yeah, Adam had caught the

  gist of Mika’s ramblings. “But I know you can’t sit back and wait.”

  Maybe Gabe understood because he hadn’t always been a shifter. He knew being

  human didn’t mean you were weak, or cowardly.

  “We have to go,” Adam said.

  “I won’t let anyone hurt Adam again.” Todd sounded so sincere it sent a chill down

  Adam’s spine. “But we do need some time. Adam’s not fit to travel right now.”

  Mika turned back around and started walking again. “We’ll need to plan and I

  seriously doubt Maarten has any better an idea of where to look than he did before we showed up.”

  Adam didn’t have anything to say to that. He just wanted to find Jameson and take him back home if he could. If not, he wanted to make sure he was okay. If he wasn’t alive…

  Adam wasn’t going there.

  The room where Maarten and the others were waiting was large and rather barren, no

  paintings on the dark panelled walls and no rugs on the wooden floors. The windows were covered in heavy drapes and the lighting was adequate but not great. Adam had been

  expecting something more like a corporate meeting room for some reason, not a big empty room with shitty stools to sit on. No way was he putting his ribs through the hell of sitting on one of those things.

  “Here.” Maarten stood and limped over to the door. Adam wondered how bad his

  wounds had been yesterday. “Daan! Bring Adam the padded chair from my office.”

  Within minutes, Adam was seated in a comfortable chair. Todd propped his hip on the

  arm of it.

  Maarten looked at Aidan, who didn’t seem to be hurting even if he did still have a nasty bite on his shoulder. Aidan nodded once and Maarten grimaced as he steepled his fingers.

  “Okay, so I don’t have any new information on where Luuk and Jameson might be, but there are more places I haven’t looked than I can name. Truthfully I haven’t been able to go far or leave for very long for fear of what would happen to us if we were caught, but Aidan assures me he and Zane are strong enough to ensure we’re as safe as we can be.”

  Aidan took over then. “Marcus will be sending some of his guard over. I’m not thrilled about that, as I prefer my brother protected at all times, but he will have a few of his most trusted men with him. I did request Alex, one of our best trackers. He’s wily, and I think he can come up with the most likely places for us to search.”

  “How long until we leave?” Adam asked, touching his ribs before he realised what he

  was doing. He put his han
ds in his lap and mentally cursed himself for possibly pointing out how injured he was, or at least reminding the others of it.

  Aidan looked at Zane, who walked over and stood in front of Adam. “May I?”

  Adam wasn’t sure who he was asking, him or Todd, but he answered. “Okay.”

  Zane knelt and, after a quick glance at Todd, lifted the hem of Adam’s shirt. He hissed as soon as the bruises were uncovered. “This looks like it could take a while to heal.”

  Adam fought against the desire to jerk his shirt back down. “It doesn’t matter. We can’t be gone for too long, I do have the clinic and Todd has his job. I can handle whatever I need to.” Maybe if Todd helped him wrap his ribs it’d help.

  “Dr Spiegel might be able to give you something, that man knows all kinds of natural remedies and the like.” Maarten waved at someone behind Adam, which he guessed meant Spiegel was being sent for. “Shifters aren’t susceptible to most human illnesses, or most human medicines, so perhaps Spiegel will have a healing agent not known to humans.”

  “Then how do you know it’d be safe to use on Adam? He isn’t some guinea pig.” Todd

  stood and hovered beside Adam.

  Zane released Adam’s shirt and stood as well. “Todd has a very good point. It’d be

  beyond stupid to use something unproven on him.”

  Maarten rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t suggesting Spiegel pour whatever concoction he

  could find down Adam’s throat. Spiegel did attend medical school. He also knows about human physiology. And he knows what would happen to him if he hurt Adam.”

  Adam felt marginally better about Spiegel helping if possible, but he would still

  demand to know each and every thing the man was doing. No matter how nasty or painful the cure might be, if one existed he’d be all for it. They were running out of time to find Jameson. He and Todd had to be home in less than two weeks. How the hell would that be enough time when Adam was in such bad shape?

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Whatever the doctor, Spiegel, had given Adam, it seemed to have helped. Within two

  days the bruises were faded to a pale yellow and Adam didn’t grimace in pain every time he sat, stood or moved around.