Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I sat next to Miles on a large couch with Chris and Soren joining us. Raquel paced around the room. Gabe and Eli were trying to comfort her, but she was rightfully terrified of what the doctor would come out and say. The rest of us stayed sitting so that we didn’t overcrowd her and make things even worse.
“You’re okay, right? Both of you?” Chris leaned in, wrinkles appearing between his eyebrows. He was so worried about us that the Botox he had gotten a couple weeks ago appeared to have lost all power. It was the first time he’d done it too. Said he was curious. I wasn’t sure how it worked but now I likely made him waste his money, so that was great.
“Yeah,” I said with Miles echoing me.
“Not just physically,” Chris clarified.
“That’s another story,” I answered honestly, even though my anxiety was at a very manageable level in that moment. Maybe it was the numbing effect of the adrenaline that didn’t have me in a nervous and dread-filled spiral?
“I’m here whenever you want to talk about it.” Chris gave my shoulder a squeeze before he rubbed my back and took me into a side-hug. “You too, Miles. I’m here for both of you.”
“Thank you, Chris.” Miles reached over and gave his knee a rub. “I appreciate it. And appreciate how much you look after Dyl. He’s important to me.”
That right there felt like an even bigger declaration than Miles telling me he was my fated mate. This was him making it clear to others that we were a thing. It’s what he had promised me he’d do.
“I’ve got you guys,” Chris said and left it at that.
Soren came over with two cups of water. I could smell the cucumber that had been floating inside the dispenser. I gratefully accepted it, chugged it all in one gulp, and thanked him again.
“No problem.” He took the empty cups back and tossed them in the bin next to a large fern that had dark blue leaves rather than the typical green. He sat down just as the doctor walked out of the double doors that separated us from the operating rooms. Everyone got back onto their feet. Raquel was first at his side, asking for an update. He waited a brief moment for us all to gather around him in a loose circle.
“He’s alive,” the doctor started, which earned a unified sigh of relief. He had stress lines around his eyes, but he didn’t look like someone ready to deliver terrible news. “He is in a medically induced coma at the moment. The silver bullet went through his chest and collapsed a lung. It missed his heart and his spine, which I think is a bright spot. Unfortunately, the silver isn’t allowing his body to heal properly. He keeps regenerating and then breaking down the tissue almost instantly. Even when we try and go in with both surgical tools and druidic medicine, it appears that his body rejects it. We’re still working on him and will probably be in there until the morning—but I do want to prepare you for the fact that we may keep him in the coma until we can figure out how to heal him.”
Raquel’s hand rose to her mouth. It muffled a cry. Yuni put an arm around her, as did Gabe.
“Is the bullet still in him?” Chris asked.
“No, no. There’s an entrance and an exit wound. But the silver itself poisons anything it touches if it breaches the skin of a shifter. I have our alchemists working on a potential tonic that could help cleanse him but unfortunately the process to create it is extensive and time-consuming.”
“How long do you need?”
The doctor—Doctor Rosario according to the name badge—shook his head. “A week or two. It’s heavily reliant on the moon cycle in order to infuse some of the ingredients.”
Chris sucked in a deep breath. Miles cleared his throat. The air inside the room felt thick even though all the plants and running air conditioning would have suggested the opposite. There was so much tension and fear that it felt like we stood ankle-deep in a humid swamp.
“Can we see him?” Miles asked. He sounded meeker than I’d ever heard him. I reached for his hand, finding it, holding it. This wouldn’t have happened just a few days ago, but at this point I don’t think either of us cared who knew we were together.
“Unfortunately, not right now, no. You won’t be able to see him until we move him from the OR to a room. I’ll be right out the second that we do.”
“He will survive this, right?” Raquel asked. It almost sounded like a rhetorical question. As if we all already knew the answer. Except Doctor Rosario didn’t say what we all expected him to say, what we all hoped he would say.