“You summoned me?” Niko called out from across the room. He paused at the foot of the table. “Who is that?”
Viktor turned away. “Raven is injured, and we cannot stop the bleeding. Normally there is some clotting. Can she last until dawn?”
“Move aside,” Niko said, entering my line of vision. He hovered over the left side of the table, looking at me but not really looking at me. “Three stab wounds.”
“Two,” Christian corrected.
“Did you miss the one behind her neck or on her back?”
“What time is it?” Viktor asked.
Niko shook his head. “It won’t matter. She doesn’t know how to use sunlight to heal; it’s not something we’ve tested yet. Aside from that, it’s raining.”
“She’s Vampire and Mage,” Christian stressed. “I don’t think she’s on the brink of making a trip to the pearly gates just yet.”
Niko’s expression tightened. “And if that were Blue lying there and she wasn’t able to shift to heal, would you just walk away? I can’t say if she’ll die—we have not yet learned enough about her. It’s inhumane to allow someone to suffer a slow healing that could take days or even weeks.”
“Don’t turn this around and make me look like the bad guy. I’m just making an observation.”
Niko turned his head in my direction. “Raven, do you heal naturally fast?”
“I’ve never been this banged up. I heal as fast as a Mage without healing light. Maybe you should just stitch me up.”
“Nyet,nyet,” Viktor grumbled. “You will be no good to us lying in a sickbed. Do not give her too much light, Niko. I may need to question her further, and I don’t want her knocked out for days.”
“I’m not going to use Mage healing light.”
My brows popped up. “Exactly what are you going to use?” Fears of metal instruments without anesthesia popped in my head.
His hair tickled my neck when he leaned over me. “I’m a Healer. That’s my Mage gift. Have you ever heard of one?”
I shook my head, focusing on his eyes, which glimmered like pale blue crystals. I’d never seen eyes like his.
“It means I can heal any Breed except for humans. I don’t transfer energy through our hands like we normally do. It’s a more concentrated energy exchange, and I go straight to the wound.”
Anxious, I peered down as he held his hands over my body until he stopped where my leg was sliced open.
Viktor shook his head, giving me an incensed look. “I’ll leave you alone. I have a bloody car and a dead Mage to dispose of.”
If that didn’t make me feel guilty, nothing would.
Christian rested his forearms on the table to my right, his face close to mine. “He’s not as vexed as all that.”
“I didn’t follow orders.”
Christian touched my cheek with his finger. “Sometimes you have to break rules. He knows that better than anyone. What do you think Keystone is founded on?”
I turned my head away from his touch. “Better stop that. People might think you like me.”
When Niko placed his hands on my leg, my body jerked and I reflexively scooted back.
“Keep her still,” Niko said. “Raven, I promise this won’t hurt. Christian, you didn’t tell me there was a bandage on the wound. It’s better if you remove it.”
Christian moved away, and when I felt a pressure release on my thigh, Niko whispered something in another language.
“Is it bleeding?” I asked.
Christian reappeared with a dark smirk. “Have you ever visited Yellowstone? There’s this grand geyser—”
