Addie hurried to Ben’s side, feeling Kendrick’s warmth next to her. “Why did you bring him here?” she asked. “He needs a hospital.”

“He’s not human,” Seamus said. “A hospital might mess him up.”

Seamus didn’t look very good himself. His face was wan, and he kept pressing his hand to his side, as though he too had been stabbed, though Addie saw no blood on him.

Addie studied Ben’s flat face, now-pale skin, and dark hair. “He isn’t a Shifter, though, is he?”

“We’re not sure what he is,” Seamus answered. “Calls himself a goblin or a gnome, but I’m not sure if he says it as a joke.”

“Well, he needs a doctor,” Addie said decidedly. “If you pull that knife out of him, and it’s pierced an internal organ, you could mess him up.”

Kendrick nodded, face grim. “She’s right. We need a healer.”

“Finally,” Addie muttered.

She was aware of Jaycee in the darkness of the porch beyond Kendrick, looking but not getting too close. Dimitri stood in the front doorway, in nothing but a pair of very brief briefs and the sling. He held his arm negligently, as though it had already healed a long way.

Seamus kept his hand against his side, but no longer pressing as hard. “Think you can trust him?” he asked Kendrick.

Kendrick didn’t answer. Seamus seemed to know who Kendrick was talking about, but Jaycee and Dimitri looked nonplussed—they didn’t. Tiger, stoic as ever, only stood in place, watching.

“Trust who?” Addie burst out. This cryptic Shifter glance-exchange thing was driving her crazy.

“A healer I’ve met,” Kendrick said. “He doesn’t answer to me.”

“He doesn’t answer to anyone,” Seamus said. “He doesn’t even answer his phone most of the time.”

“I will find him,” Tiger said. He didn’t say it boastfully, but as a statement of fact.

Kendrick shot him a look. “You know where to start?”

“Yes,” Tiger said. Without another word, he walked off the porch and into the darkness. A few moments later, they heard his motorcycle starting up, then he was gone.

Dimitri shivered. “He is spooky.”

“You get used to him,” Seamus said. “He’s a good guy.”

“Sure,” Dimitri said. “And s-spooky.”

Charlie had emerged onto the porch with a lantern flashlight. The cubs, of course, had woken up and come to see what the matter was, but they stayed in the doorway, sheltering behind Dimitri’s bare legs. For once, they curbed their exuberance and watched with quiet eyes.

“He don’t look good,” Charlie said. “Want me to fetch a doctor?”

“We’ve sent for one.” Kendrick unfolded to his feet. “We should make him comfortable and try not to move him too much.”

Ben groaned and fluttered his eyes open. “Have a lot to tell you,” he whispered.

“Later, my friend.” Kendrick leaned down and put his hand on Ben’s shoulder, his touch gentle. “I plan for you to live, so you can tell me when you’re better.”

Ben raised a bloody hand and clapped it around Kendrick’s wrist. “If I die, I want you to take that big sword of yours and run me through. It might not work, but I’d rather take a chance at getting to Shifter heaven than having my soul zipping back to Faerie. Wouldn’t the Fae love to torment me then?”

Kendrick gave him a solemn nod. “You have my word.”

“Thank you,” Ben said fervently. “Now, any chance for some morphine?”