Pretty Poison by Kari Gregg

ceramic jar to Wade, as well as the ice. “More tea?” Fletcher asked. “Trudy said we should call if—”
    “This isn’t from before. He reinjured the leg,” Wade said.
    Noah sucked in his breath when Wade’s touch withdrew, replaced by icy coldness.
    “No, the arnica first,” Fletcher said. When Noah glanced under the shield of his raised forearm again, Fletcher’s phone lit up. “I’ll wake Trudy.”
    “No!” Noah sat up, wincing at the flash of pain that streaked up his leg. “Ice and a general painkiller are fine. I’m no martyr and I know my body. I don’t need a doctor for this.” He sucked air into his lungs at the thick wetness on his knee as Wade slathered on a dollop from the jar and trembled in relief as Wade rubbed it in. The ointment began to work immediately, easing the sore muscle. Noah gaped at it. “Jesus. What’s in that goop?”
    “Arnica is a blend of dried sunflowers that tends to perform exceptionally well on shifters. Humans have pill bottles. We have arnica.” Wade stared at him, eyebrow arched. “Since you’ve never had it or any of the other standard shifter treatments, you haven’t built up a tolerance for the ointment, which is performing fantastically just as Trudy said.”
    Fletcher shifted his attention to Wade. “He is going to the medical center with our healers tomorrow. Maybe waking Trudy isn’t necessary?”
    “He knows his knee better than any person alive, human doctors and Trudy included. If he says this is working, we should trust his judgment.” Wade smiled when Noah moaned in equal measures of surprise and relief. “I’m sorry I woke you. I...panicked. Go back to bed, Fletcher.”
    The beta strode silently toward the door, agile and quick despite the darkness.
    “Fletcher?” Wade called.
    He stopped, looking over his shoulder.
    “Thank you,” Wade said.
    “Any time,” the beta said, voice low. Tired. “More than your mate is at stake.” He exhaled a long breath. “Whatever he needs, I’ll help. You know I will.” Nodding once, the beta left.
    Noah’s knee hurt, but the pain was manageable. Less intense. “What did he mean? More than—” Noah yelped when the bag of ice returned to his knee, as cold as the arctic tundra.
    “The pain is lessening?” Wade turned to screw the lid on the arnica pot and rested it on the night table. He wiped his glistening fingers on a towel by the jar. “If not, I can make more tea.”
    “Doping me won’t shut me up forever.” He shook from cold instead of arousal, though unsated need and the orgasm that had been stolen from Noah still taunted him. “What did he mean, that more than I am at stake?”
    “Not tonight.” Wade shook his head.
    Wade was alpha. Everything that happened in the pack was his business, his choice to share...or not share...with his mate. “Was there another accident? Did somebody else get hurt?”
    “No.” When Wade settled back on the bed, the mattress dipped. “There was no accident.”
    “Then what’s going on? What happ—”
    “Not now,” Wade said on a growl.
    Noah scowled. The combination of arnica and ice had tamped down the ache considerably, but that wasn’t the point. Neither was Wade’s fingers brushing the crease between Noah’s thigh and groin, though his dick tingled at Wade’s touch so tantalizingly close.
    “You need them, don’t you? Human doctors. Something went wrong and that’s when you remembered me.” His breath caught when Wade gently cupped his balls. “Oh, fuck.”
    “Dr. Phares should be jailed for poisoning you.” Wade bent on the bed, sliding between Noah’s thighs. With a nudge, he repositioned the bag of ice and Noah’s knee to spread him wider. “If he’d treated a human patient’s safety with such callous disregard, he would be in prison.”
    “He was instrumental in getting me out of my wheelchair.”
    “That was before.” Wade’s breath heated Noah’s cock, wringing another gasp from Noah. “And the only reason