Oh mage. Oh mage. This was going to—
The man stabbed the scalpel through the scab of Rage’s healing wound, and my mate bit down so hard on the spoon the wood cracked. My breaths grew shallow; my palms were slick with sweat as I watched in horror.
The doctor jerked the blade up, tearing through the tissue, and Rage screamed, his whole body shaking with pain.
John and Audrey held Rage’s legs, and Audrey snapped for him to be still.
I narrowed my gaze but bit my tongue when I met Sara’s fierce stare. She and I held Rage down at his shoulders, and I was grateful for their help.
“You can do this,” I murmured to Rage.
The mage-doctor pulled the blade out and then stuck a pair of tweezers into the gaping hole in Rage’s side.
Fur rippled down Rage’s skin as he convulsed, and his features started to shift.
“Don’t shift!” the man warned. “I can feel the bullet. If you shift, we’ll have to start all over.”
I could see the madness in Rage’s eyes as he fought his wolf.
“Use your bond,” Sara said to me. “Take some of his pain.”
What?
“I … don’t know … how.” I didn’t even know I could until now. It must be a fated mate thing. I opened my mental link to Rage and recoiled at the screaming in his head.
‘It’s going to be okay. You’ve got this,’I told him. ‘Breathe.’
I looked across Rage to Sara, panic coursing through me when she frowned.
“Have you guys, you know…?” She waggled her eyebrows, and I grimaced and shook my head.
She wanted to know if we’d had sex? Not exactly an appropriate thing to talk about right now! Or ever.
“Never mind,” she said with an exhale. “If your bond isn’t sealed, you can’t take his pain. Just try to calm his wolf.”
Ohh, now I understood why she’d asked. So after we had sex I’d be able to take Rage’s pain?
He screamed and shook again, and I banished the thoughts for another time. I cooed at his wolf, again and again, hurling mental encouragement at Rage too.
I had no concept of time while the man dug around inside of my mate; I didn’t even notice when Rage lost consciousness. Or when I started crying.
“Got it!” the doctor shouted, a triumphant grin sweeping his face.
He fished the metal alloy instrument into Rage’s side and then pulled out a blood-covered silver bullet with a grin.
Sadie held a tin bowl out to the mage-doctor, who dropped the bullet in with a clang.
“What I wouldn’t give for a healing potion now,” the man muttered. “Stitching up shifters is not my favorite—”
I thrust my palm out to the mage, giggling hysterically. “Virgin high mage blood healing coming right up!”
Everyone looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
Maybe I had.
All except Jeb. He raised his eyebrows and leaned toward me.
“You’re a high mage heir as well?” he asked.
