Keeping Their Dark Rose by Jessica & Jane

Chapter 23

With a heavy sigh, I go to the library. Not wanting him to use his aura on me again. He’s never done that before, and I’m in no hurry for him to do it again. Once again, Dog follows. At least someone here seems to like me. I sit down in the armchair, the brown leather creaking beneath me. But relief floods me, and I lean back in it just as Max enters.

He gets straight to the point. “Your leg,” he says, his voice as clinical as the medical kit he carries. “Let me see.” He orders, sitting down on the coffee table in front of

me.

I oblige, trying to pull my pants leg up. But the material doesn’t give, and I have a moment where I worry I’ll have to strip them off, but that thought quickly fades. With a snarl, he rips my pants down to my ankles, nearly tossing me onto the floor. The snarl is replaced with a gasp as he looks at my leg. The wound is red and inflamed, and I wince at the way he’s looking at me.

Max kneels beside me, his face etched with focus as he examines the wound.

“You should have told me it wasn’t healing. This is an infection, Rose!” he snaps angrily. He shakes his head and pr ods it. I squirm away from his touch, unable to hold back the whimper of pain. Growling, he opens his bag, but something in him changes.

# 288 Nouchers

He’s gentle, almost caring in his touch, as he cleans the wound with antiseptic. Yet there’s a distance in his eyes, a wall that wasn’t there before. It makes me feel even more disconnected from him than I did before.

“Max?” I try, seeking connection in his distant gaze. He looks up, his face a mask of caution. “What about your uncle? The one with the Omega sanctuaries?”

“Pete?” He pauses, and for a moment, I see something vulnerable in his eyes. A fear that I’ve never seen before. “Why do you want to know about him?” he asks, his voice laced with wariness as he sets the used cotton gauze off to the side.

“I just… I want to know,” I reply, feeling trapped within these walls. Anything would be better than this. At least I would know where I stood. With Max and the others, I didn’t know what they wanted with me.

“Are you planning on whoring yourself out?” he questions. His eyes flicker darkly to the beast that lurks beneath his skin, his aura pushing out at me ever so faintly, and I shiver.

“What? No, I was just curious.”

“Don’t be. You won’t be setting foot in one of those places,” he growls, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. His eyes flick down my body, and I suck in a breath.. Crossing my arms over my chest.

“As I said, I was curious; I have no intention of being on rotation,” I answer, aware of how careful I need to be.