Read Online Midnight Whispers - Paranormal Romance by Catherine Bullard - Free Book Online Page B

she was innocent, but these people didn’t seem to want to listen
to reason—rather they were looking for an outlet for their anger, grief
and frustration, and she was the perfect target.
    “We should
kill her!” another man shouted, stepping forward with his teeth bared and his
fist raised. “The humans kill us with abandon, so why shouldn’t we take one of
their own in exchange for the lives lost!”
    “If you lay a
hand on her, your life is the one that will be lost.” Bryce stepped out from
the crowds and gripped the man’s outstretched arm. The crowd froze, all shouts
and cries ceasing instantly, but the man did not back down despite the
precarious position he suddenly found himself facing.
    “And what of
my wife and her unborn children?” the man demanded, and Kyra’s heart clenched
at the pain in his voice, at the tears suddenly shining in his furious gaze.
“What of their lives? Do they mean nothing to you?”
    Bryce
released the man’s arm and squeezed his shoulder sympathetically. “You know
that isn’t true,” he said softly. “But Kyra is destined to be my mate, and it
falls to me or the Alpha to mete out any punishment she deserves. However,” he
said, raising his voice so that it was clear he was addressing the rest of the
crowd, “I would ask you all to remember we are not barbarians, and we do not
punish or put to death anyone without proof they are deserving of it first. Or
are we to prove the humans right, who think we are demons and barbarians to be
expunged from this earth?”
    He met the
eyes of each individual member of the crowd, who were all quick to look down.
Mutters spread throughout their ranks, but eventually they began to dissipate.
The man who had threatened to kill Kyra gave her one last fulminating look,
then turned on his heel to join them.
    As Bryce
turned to Kyra, she noticed that his shirt was stained with blood at the
shoulder, and gasped, rushing forward. “You’ve been hurt!”
    Bryce glanced
down, and then winced as Kyra grabbed his arm. “It’s alright,” he said, prying
her fingers from his forearm and then tugging her along. “Let’s go back to my
cabin.”
    He stopped by
the communal well for a bucket of water, then led her indoors. Kyra watched as
he stripped his shirt off, revealing tawny skin poured over muscles. The hair
that dusted his chest lightly failed to obscure the scars on his
body—three jagged claw marks slashing across his side, and what looked
like a nasty bite wound on his left shoulder. She blushed despite herself,
having never seen the naked chest of a man before. The thick, bloodstained
cloth bandage circled around his right shoulder and beneath his arm.
    He took out
some more cloth and then reached up to pull of the bandage, but Kyra stepped up
and laid her hands on the bandage before he could. “Let me,” she said softly.
    Bryce
blinked, his hands stilling at the compassion and… guilt in her eyes? “Unless
you actually did betray our location, this isn’t your fault,” he said gruffly.
“You don’t need to feel obligated to tend me.”
    Annoyance
flashed briefly in her eyes, and then she sighed. “I did no such thing, but the
fact that humans did this to you makes me feel ashamed,” she said as she
removed the bandage carefully from his shoulder. “Plus, I may as well make
myself useful since it is obvious that no one outside will want to have
anything to do with me right now.”
    “I’m sorry
about that,” Bryce said, trying to ignore the tingles running through his body
as her delicate fingers brushed his skin. He held himself very still as she
cleaned the dried blood away from his wound. “We are distrustful of humans to
begin with, and incidents like this only make it worse.”
    “I can
imagine.” Kyra finished cleaning the wound, and then gasped, her eyes going
wide. “This… this is almost healed!”
    Bryce gave
her a lopsided grin. “Our kind tends to heal very quickly.”
    “How
fortunate.” Kyra took a