Chapter 780 He’s Hurt
Hayley’s POV:
It must be a kid!
That was my first thought.
Alright, you little rascal—sneaking around in the middle of the night trying to scare people? You’ve got the wrong girl. I’m about to give you a lesson you won’t forget.
I took a deep breath, put on my best angry face, and yanked the door open with force.
Before I could even let out a scolding word, a body slumped through the doorway and collapsed right at my feet. His head landed just inches from my toes.
With just one glance, I immediately recognized him. Truman. Unconscious.
And then I realized something even more disturbing—the distinct scent that marks us as werewolves was completely gone from him. That only happened when we were severely injured.
No wonder Hera hadn’t picked up on anything outside the door. His scent had vanished.
His forehead was soaked in sweat, his clothes were streaked with blood, and a deep, steadily bleeding wound ran across his abdomen.
His wolf must’ve passed out from the damage. That would explain why his body wasn’t healing on its own and why he’d fallen unconscious.
Looking at his familiar profile, a swirl of emotions churned inside me.
But in the end, I couldn’t just leave him there. I dragged him inside, settled him on the couch, and started patching him up.
“Well, you’re lucky,” I muttered, “the hotel’s first aid kit is still stocked.”
I found the kit and began unbuttoning his shirt to get a proper look at the wound.
It was worse than I thought. The gash was deep and definitely needed stitches, but this kit could only handle basic treatment.
He clearly hadn’t gone to a hospital. He didn’t want anyone to know he was hurt, which meant I couldn’t take him out either.
All I could do for now was clean the wound, stop the bleeding, and buy suture supplies later.
Once I had a plan, I grabbed a pair of tweezers, pinched a cotton ball, soaked it in alcohol, and leaned in to disinfect the wound.
The sting must’ve hit him hard—his eyebrows drew together, muscles twitching around his eyes. He was waking up.
Sure enough, a second later, his hand shot up and clamped around my wrist, gripping the tweezers.
I stared at him without a trace of emotion and gave him a look that said, if you want to die, go ahead and keep grabbing me.
His eyes fluttered open. When he saw me, his voice was barely a whisper. “Hayz?”
My body froze.
Benjamin used to call me that, too.
But this man wasn’t Benjamin. I shook my head quickly, forcing the absurd thought out of my mind.
I narrowed my eyes and scowled. “You know, with that kind of injury, I wouldn’t even need to lay a finger on you. Just leaving you there would’ve been enough to kill you.”
His dazed eyes gradually cleared.
The expression on his face shifted—something like disappointment at first, but it faded quickly into calm acceptance.
He gave a tired smile and withdrew his hand. “Then I guess I’d rather die by your hand.”
I rolled my eyes and pressed the cotton harder onto his wound.
“Ouch-” Truman hissed, sucking in a sharp breath.
A satisfied grin tugged at my lips. That one was on purpose.
He looked up at me and sighed with resignation.
Then he started mumbling again. “So this is what my Hayz is really like… so heartless. But you’re always different with me. Makes me feel kind of sweet. Is this how you treat your mate, too? Gentle and patient like this?”
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Shut up!” I snapped. “And don’t call me Hayz!”
That name belonged to Benjamin—only Benjamin.
This annoying jerk. Maybe I really shouldn’t have saved him.
He talked too much, constantly trying to provoke me. So irritating.
I pressed down the last adhesive bandage, tossed the leftover supplies into the kit, and stood up, brushing my hands off. “There. You’re patched up. Now get out and crawl back to your room.”
Truman slowly sat up on the couch, casually rebuttoning his shirt as if nothing had happened.
As he buttoned, he glanced at me with a lazy grin, “I’ll go, sure. But if the wound gets infected and I drop dead out there, I’m coming back to knock on your door.”
I challenged, “If you’re curious what it feels like to be woken up by me again, I’ll be happy to oblige."