“Shifters heal fast,” Robyn adds, reading something in my face. “Faster than you’d think. He’ll probably be discharged tomorrow, same time as you. Maybe a day off after that; he’ll be fine. Two, three days tops and he’ll be back at work.”
“That’s incredible,” I say. The human side of my brain still can’t fully grasp it. “He really went above and beyond, Robyn. Getting me out of situations and more than once.” I shake my head. “He could have been killed helping me.”
“Magma is a good male,” she says, then she narrows her eyes a little. “It sounds like you two got quite close.”
“It was a lot. Life-or-death situations have a way of fast-tracking things.” I smooth the blanket across my lap. “We became friends. He’s a good guy.” The word “friend” doesn’t quite fit. Then again, friends don’t have sex with friends. “Are we still moving ahead with the peace treaty? With Mistveil? After everything? It seems like we are.”
“We are. They were worried we’d back out after the attack. I think everyone was worried.” She exhales. “No one predicted something like that. Not on this scale. I heard from Councilor Reed that they suspect that word was leaked to the feral males about the frontline moving. Someone wanted this to happen so that the peace treaty would fail. Someone wanted it to fail.”
“That’s a scary thought. People died.” I look out the window. The blue outside is deepening. “Flint mentioned four females were taken.”
“Five, counting you, but so far only you were found and brought back. The others are still missing. Three shifter females and one human.” Her voice has lowered, and her eyes darken.
“That’s awful. I can’t imagine what they must be going through.” Something happens behind my eyes that I was not expecting – a hot sting – and I blink against it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. “I know what it’s like out there. On that island. Those males…” I stop. My lip is doing something, so I bite down on it for a moment. “Those males are… They’re…animals… They…” I can’t finish. It’s too much.
“Oh, Carla.” Robyn leans forward and puts her hand on my arm. “Are you sure nothing happened to you personally? I’m asking because I love you, not because I’m prying. I’m here for you. Whatever you need to say, you can say it to me.”
“Nothing happened. I got lucky.” I say it steadily. I mean it. “I got very lucky.” I think about the moment in the clearing when I was on the ground, and those five males were drawing sticks, and I think about the second Magma stepped out of the tree line. How different everything could have been. “I owe Magma a lot,” I say. My voice is quieter than I meant it to come out. “More than I know how to account for.”
Robyn’s hand is still on my arm. “He won’t want anything from you.”
I feel a pang because she’s right.
I look at the cheerful flowers on the bedside table and feel worse somehow. What the heck is wrong with me? I need to stop this.
I’m home.
I’m fine.
Magma is going to be fine.
“Thank you for these,” I say. “They’re beautiful.”
She puts her arm around me and squeezes once, carefully, and I lean into her.
“You’re okay,” she says. “You’re actually okay.”
“I am. Thank you for coming to see me. I feel so much better.”
“It’ll take some time to get over an ordeal like you had. Go easy on yourself. Take a few days off work. Actually, you should probably take a week.”
“I will not.” I give her what I hope is a dirty look. “The best thing for me will be to get right back into routine.”
She gives me a look.
“Really, Robyn. I mean it. Don’t make me stay home for a whole week. I’ll need two days, tops.”
“Okay, but if you change your mind and?—”
“I won’t change my mind.”
26
Magma
My bed is in a slightly upright position. My hospital room is private, which is great. My ribs are wrapped. My collarbone, they tell me, is just fractured so it will heal quickly. It’s my ribs that are killing me. I can’t laugh or sneeze or cough, but it won’t be long before I’ll barely feel them.
The door opens, and Ridge and Flint walk in. Ridge has his hands in his pockets, and Flint looks like he hasn’t slept in a day or two. He has dark smudges under his eyes, and his jaw is uncharacteristically stubbled. Ridge smiles first.
