Page 24 of Fury

His proximity was both unnerving and . . . something else she couldn’t figure out.

Before he even touched her hand, Hollyn went rigid. “Wait.” Jostling the injury was torture. If she held perfectly still, it helped.

“I need to see it, Hol.” His calloused hand gently took hers. The warmth of it only mildly distracted her from the pain.

Slowly, he turned her palm to the side.

Hollyn sucked in a sharp breath. Instinct had her free hand jutting out to stop him.

“Easy,” he soothed, even as he blocked her attempt to intervene. His gaze found hers.

Body stilling, breathing ragged, the world tunneled until the only thing in focus was him. She could feel beads of perspiration forming on her forehead and was keenly aware that her reaction was more than a little over the top for what had actually happened. Her brain told her to calm down, but her trauma response was fully engaged now.

“You’re okay.” He was the definition of calm. “Just hold still, all right?”

Hollyn mentally braced herself and nodded. Whatever came, it was nothing compared to what her parents must have felt. She clenched her teeth.

“Looks deep.” Davis grabbed a dishtowel off the stove next to them and dabbed up the blood, doing a good job avoiding shifting the shard embedded in her skin. Still, it sent bolts of fire up and down her arm. “I’ll take you to have it checked out.”

“No!” The word was out before she could stop it. “No hospitals.”

“Hollyn—”

“No.” There was no way on this earth.

There went the muscle in his jaw again. “Fine. Hold on.” He stood and left the kitchen.

Hollyn looked over at Fury. The good boy hadn’t moved an inch. “Think he’s just gonna chop the whole thing off?” she joked. Ran her good arm across her forehead.

Fury’s tail swished once and then he returned to his statuesque state. His only movement was panting, razor-sharp white teeth set off against his dark, sable fur. He could probably crush her arm if he wanted to.

For the first time, she noticed how intimidating he looked. Maybe it was because she was eye level with him now. Though, thankfully, he was on the other side of the kitchen. The way he tracked her was unnerving, to say the least.

Davis was back in a flash with a canvas pouch that he unzipped as he knelt. Took out a handful of packaged first-aid items and tweezers before holding her hand once more. “Looks like it should have missed the tendons.”

Blood continued to ooze out. She’d never been good with the sight of it. Felt like she might pass out. Or throw up. Or both. It was nearly enough to make her reconsider the hospital option. But no. That was out of the question. Never again. Not after . . .

A small moan escaped her.

“Look at something else,” Davis told her while he readied the tweezers. Her fingers curled around his thumb as he kept her hand from closing into a fist. “Try not to tense up.”

A strangled laugh bubbled out of her mouth. “Yeah, sure. This is basically a spa day.” She looked up at the kitchen window.

His chuckle pulled a grin from her. “That’s the spirit.”

A bird flew up to the glass. Hovered just on the other side. The grin drained from her lips. It felt like God was rubbing salt in her wound as she watched the bird flit up and down in the sky without a care.

Dumb bird.

She made the mistake of glancing down as the tweezers neared. “Agh!” She threw a hand out. When the corded muscles of his arm tensed beneath her touch as he paused, she stilled.

Davis eyed her. “Good?”

Hollyn’s heart pounded. For more than one reason. She released her hold. Closing her eyes, she nodded.

The glass being tugged from her palm was what she imagined having a knife blade run across her skin would be like. She hissed in pain. Tried to hold still, but her hand was shaking uncontrollably now.

Fury whined.