Page 123 of The Ashes of Summer

Tamara picks up the needle driver. "The local anesthetic should numb most of this. It may still hurt."

Jacob lets out a dry laugh. "No shit."

The first stitch goes through his skin and his whole body locks solid. A harsh breath hisses through his teeth, the muscles across his stomach tightening beneath the bruising spreading over his ribs.

I reach for his hand, and his fingers crush around mine.

Hard.

Tamara keeps stitching while silence settles over the room. Just Jacob's uneven breathing, the soft beep of monitors, the small metallic sounds of surgical tools. The needle punctures skin again and again. Every pull of thread clearly hurts like hell. Sweat gathers along his neck despite how cold the room is.

And I hold on. It's the only thing I can do for him and I do it with everything I've got.

"I'll get you some pain relief," Tamara says quietly after another stitch.

"No." Immediate.

"Jacob—" she sighs.

"No drugs." His eyes close briefly as another wave of it rolls through him. "I need my head clear."

And there it is.

Even now. Even bleeding and laid out on a hospital bed, he isn't thinking about recovering.

He's thinking about going back.

His fingers tighten around mine, and the movement sends panic crashing through me, because I've never seen him like this. Vulnerable. Pale. Hurting. And somehow still trying to comfort me every few seconds with small strokes of his thumb across my knuckles, like I'm the one who needs looking after.

Adelaide's cell comes to life once more, and she turns into the corridor.

I work my free hand slowly up Jacob's forearm, watching goosebumps rise under my fingers, then look up to meet his eyes.

And for whatever reason, after everything, we both smile.

Then Adelaide steps back into the room.

She doesn't stop in the doorway this time. That's the first thing I notice. The second is her face—not normal pale. Ghost pale. Like she's just seen something she'll be seeing for years.

Jacob sees it too. His whole posture changes despite the pain.

"What happened?"

Adelaide glances toward Tamara and the nurse. Jacob follows her gaze.

"Out."

They both freeze, but the nurse is the one to speak. "Sheriff, I still need to⁠—"

"Out." His voice is rough, but there's something under it that means neither woman argues.

Tamara peels off her gloves slowly and nods at the nurse. "Give them a minute."

The second the door closes, Adelaide looks directly at Jacob.

"Carter's got Jackson chained to a chair back at the Ridge. They moved him into the room with—" She glances behind her, as though checking the corridor is empty. "—Kurt's remains. Said he freaked when he saw what you'd done."

My pulse spikes.