"Leo, grab one of the?—"
"Got it."
A light but warm blanket settled over her as her body relaxed then turned limp.
"Stephen, get the lidocaine out of the top drawer. The needle driver is behind the?—"
"Right here."
How often had they stitched someone's wounds closed? Kellen didn't even have to finish his sentences because Leo and Stephen were one step ahead of him.
Stephen placed his warm hands on the sides of her face and gently turned her head so the bloody cloth faced the ceiling. Kellen pulled the cloth away and tossed it into the trash. Warm water and soap cleaned the wound, followed by cool lidocaine which didn't help much when the first jab of the suture needle pierced her skin. Her sharp intake of breath didn't stop Kellen, but Stephen's hands tightened, holding her still.
"One more, just one more and then it'll be over with."
Those words were the same ones she used when she had to stitch up someone. Even knowing what to expect, she still couldn't stop her hiss when the needle jabbed her again. After some tugging, Kellen washed the wound again, then stepped back from the table. They all stared at her like a lab rat.
"Now what?" Leo asked.
Kellen snapped off the surgical gloves and tossed them into the bin. "There's nothing more the two of you can do here. Stephen, you may as well return to the gym if you want to. There's going to be gossip. See if you can lessen the damage. Leo, would you please run across the street? Talk to George. Tell him that Samara had an accident and I would appreciate it if he would bring dinner to her apartment tonight instead of making her carry it up the stairs herself."
"If he doesn't kill me first." Leo said, already half out the door, with Stephen right behind him.
"Are we running tonight?" Stephen asked, stopping before he closed the door.
"No. I think Samara and I have a lot more talking to do. You two can go without me."
Stephen closed the door.
Kellen held out a hand to help her sit up. Even that small movement stretched the skin around the sutures, causing her to wince.
"I have some pain killers if you want."
Her grandfather would have told her to refuse, but after six weeks of endless pain, it was time to stop treating it like a punishment for not protecting herself better. "Sure. If you have the ones in the red box, that would be great."
Once she swallowed the pills they were back to staring at one another.
"I'm sorry I drove you to this. My intention was to bring you into our group for mutual protection, not to scare the daylights out of you. I should have been more careful with my words."
He looked so contrite it was hard not to forgive him.
"The blame goes both ways," she shrugged, and immediately regretted it. "Ever since I escaped I've been looking over my shoulder, not trusting anyone. When you said you wanted to bring me into your brotherhood, I had a different idea of what you had in mind."
"Considering how you got here, I don't blame you at all." He pulled a rolling stool away from the wall so he could sit closer to her, but not so close as to cause her to panic. "The thing is, I don't know what to make of you. Wolf shifters heal at a much faster rate than humans. That wound should have closed up and disappeared without a scar in under a minute. And, yet here you are with stitches in your neck. On the other hand, your lips and fingertips are blue from the colloidal silver, which should have killed you along with your wolf shadow."
Samara started to shrug again but stopped herself in time. "I don't understand any of this. Until I shifted that one time, I thought wolf shifters were the stuff of legends and fairy tales." She hesitated, but damn the torpedoes, she plunged ahead anyway. "It sounds like you have some sort of connection with the Riverstone Pack."
Kellen nodded. "I do."
That was all he said. "Come on, you already know my secret."
"Not everything. You haven't told me how you executed your escape plan."
Stalemate. "Can I ask you a few questions? Not directly related to the Riverstone Pack?"
He nodded.
"What happened after they turned you into a wolf shifter? I mean, physically? Did your wolf shadow make you do things you didn't want to do? Feel things that contradicted everything you thought you should be feeling?"
