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Tears streamed from Adrian’s eyes when he made the first cut and Jaz screamed.
Claws broke through his fingertips.
Red howled and whined in his mind. But Adrian had warned his wolf to not distract him. He’d explained what he had to do.
His stomach turned.
She quieted all at once, her limbs limp. He lowered his head and gave her shoulder a trembling kiss.
Now he had to block everything except getting that spike out. Please don’t let him paralyze her.
Or kill her.
None of those thoughts would get him through this. He could cut out a bullet or spike from any of his Gallize brothers, but hurting Jaz?
He’d rather crawl through fire if he could save her this.
Taking a deep breath to steady his hand, he made a second incision down the spike on the opposite side of her backbone. That slice was perpendicular to the first cut that had sent her screaming. The skin near the wound had begun turning gray.
Had the skin already died?
The longer titanium remained in a shifter, the more damage.
The damned thing looked like a fat nail four inches long and a quarter inch thick, but with no head for yanking it out.
How had she managed the ride here? He struggled to push his anger down. Someone had to pay for this.
His wolf murmured, Think quiet. Work calm.
The last time he’d heard those words from Red, Adrian had been disabling a bomb. He said, You’re right. We have no one to fight here, but time. Thank you, Red.
His wolf made a soft growl, a sound of comfort Adrian also hadn’t heard since before being caught and caged.
He could do this.
He had his wolf with him.
Time seemed to slug by slowly, but it hadn’t taken more than eight minutes to find the barb. He fingered each side at the base to keep the two barbs folded up, turning the surface back into a smooth spike.
He’d take any gift.
Angling away from her spine, he gently lifted, careful not to snag a tip. Sweat from his brow dripped on her back, but he finally pulled the metal free.
This next part was no picnic either.
He’d found a drinking bottle he filled with water from one of multiple gallon jugs before starting. Pulling out the titanium cleaning cloth, he used a bowl that had been with the water and a crate of supplies. He used the bowl to soak the cloth in the water.
His Gallize teammate and medic, Rory, always said the metal had to be washed out of the wound or any residual titanium would still poison a shifter.
Adrian’s hands began to still with focus on washing the wound twice. Then he flushed the wound with clean water and used a strip off the bed covering to soak it up.
When he finished, the skin ringing the gray area at the wound no longer appeared inflamed, just dark pink. That dead gray color worried him, but he had no more tricks.
She and her wolf had to heal. Feeding her and getting her to shift would help. Could she shift yet?
He tore another longer strip of the bed covering and wrapped it around her middle to draw the wound shut.
Lifting her wrist, he checked her pulse. Weak, but still there and she breathed slowly. He put her hand back.
She never stirred the whole time.
Sitting back, he washed the blood from his hands, which wasn’t as much as it should have been. Once the skin turned gray, it would no longer bleed.
He downed the last of the water from the bottle.
Rest and food accelerated healing. She couldn’t eat yet.
Moving her so he could be between her and the entrance to the cave, he removed all his clothes except his T-shirt and boxers.
Stretching out next to her, he spoke through a throat burned with raw emotion. “Jaz?”
He tried twice more to wake her, but she wouldn’t rouse.
Setting his watch for a half hour, he trusted his wolf to let him know if anyone showed up.
When his alarm buzzed the first time, he still couldn’t wake her.
The second time his alarm went off, he woke to see her staring at him. “Jaz?”
“Yes.”
His heart started beating like crazy. He struggled between being thrilled to hear her sweet voice and terrified she couldn’t move.
She moved her hand to cover his fisted fingers. Then she pried them open. “I’m okay.”
This would be the test. He asked, “Think you can shift?”
Her hesitation sunk his heart.
“I’ll try. I have to give Tarski a chance to come forward so we can talk.” She moved her arm as if to push up.
“No, don’t move,” Adrian ordered. He got to his feet and lifted her off the bed until he could slowly stand her up.
She groaned.
He stopped.
“I’m okay, Adrian. It’s a little painful, but not like last night.” She gripped his arm as he lowered her feet to the ground. “I’m standing.”
She smiled and his heart turned into goo. “I’m so glad, babe. Let’s put your hands on my shoulders while you talk to your wolf. That way, I can remove this bandage.”
With her eyes closed, she remained quiet until he said, “I need to check your wound. He slowly pulled her hands off his shoulder one at a time.
He said, “Just stand still. I’ll catch you if you start to fall.”
“Okay.”
Moving around to see the hole, he fist pumped. The gray skin area had reduced to half the original size. She’d begun healing. His knees wanted to buckle with relief.
Wait until he told Rory about his surgery.
Adrian hoped to never use this knowledge on Jaz again.
She announced, “Tarski is ready.”
Coming up fast near the surface, Red said, See golden ... See Tarski?
You bet, Red, Adrian answered. Let me check the wound on Tarski to be sure shifting doesn’t break it apart. Then we’ll shift, okay?
His wolf said, I wait.
It wasn’t the simple agreement so much as hearing Red’s natural voice again that shook up Adrian’s emotions that had already been battered for hours.
First, Adrian had Jaz down two bottles of water until she said, “No more. I’m floating.”
“That’s fine. You probably won’t pee for a while because you’re so dehydrated.”
She leaned in and kissed him. “You say the nicest things to a woman.”
He pulled her back and gave her a real kiss, one meant to let her know how she’d terrified him.
Laughing, she pulled back. “Tarski is normally the most easy-going wolf you can imagine, but she is demanding to see Red.”
Adrian said out loud, “Hear that, Red?”
Yes. His wolf put so much happiness in that one word, Adrian would hurry to check Tarski for his wolf. He instructed Jaz, “Okay, you shift, but tell Tarski I want to see the wound then I promise to shift. Okay?”
“She says that is acceptable.” Jaz got down on her knees and began a slow shift. It hurt to watch.
He had seen other shifters struggle the first time after a titanium wound. All at once, the shift sped up. Her gorgeous golden wolf stood shoulder level. He loved seeing that damned big female wolf.
Red started howling, but not in anger. He just wanted to get out.
Before Adrian could ask, Tarski turned around and stood up with her paws on the side of the cave. Best patient Adrian ever had. He carefully pushed her golden coat away from the wound that had made a little more progress with just that shift.
Red had waited long enough.
Adrian called up the change and marveled at how easy it happened this time. Like the change had always been. He could see clearly through Red’s eyes as his wolf waited for Tarski to drop to all fours and turn to him.
His wolf stood just a bit taller than Jaz’s and probably weighed fifty pounds more. Tarski came up and licked Red, who returned the affection and spoke to Adrian telepathically. Thank you for mate.
You’re welcome, Red. You saved them, too. I couldn’t do it without you.
Their energy swirled with what Adrian hoped was the start of rebuilding their bond.
He let the two wolves have some time. They’d suffered through all of this as well. He’d always cared for his wolf and thought he’d been considerate, but he now realized how he’d failed to recognize the emotional toll on his wolf.
When one of them suffered, they both suffered.
Adrian knew that from day one, but he’d never truly understood just how deeply his wolf felt everything.
The two wolves had been sitting next to each other just being happy for twenty minutes. Tarski cocked her head and stood.
Red asked Adrian, What is wrong?
He told his wolf, I’m thinking Jaz asked to shift so we can talk. Can you do that for me?
Yes.
By the time Adrian had his body back, Jaz had pushed up to stand. He jumped up. “Are you okay?”
“Stop fretting. Your surgery was a success. I can feel the healing and Tarski is resting. She does that so we can shove as much energy into this body as possible. We’ve found that allows for optimum healing.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “That’s impressive.” Remembering to include Red, he said, “We heal differently, but Red does all the hard work.”
His wolf made a happy growl.
Adrian looked around. “I’ve got clothes, but I destroyed most of yours.” Then he grinned. “Mind you, I’m not complaining.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Got me naked and nothing to show for it.”
He lost his humor. Did she want him to ...?
Jaz started laughing. “No, I’m not expecting sex right now. Just teasing you.”
“You’re killin’ me,” he muttered. “You might be lying, though.”
She waved that off. “I have learned I can’t fool you no matter what.”
“Really?” Scarlett told him Jaz had that ability. He still refused to think of Jaz as a murderer, but he liked hearing Jaz admit she couldn’t get a lie past him.
Jaz had stopped moving and gifted him with a great view of her naked while he waited to hear what she said next. “You should know that I can use my energy to fool some shifters if I alter the truth, but they aren’t like us with all this power. Plus, I would never risk draining us for anything less than a crisis and end up hindering Tarski if she needed all of our power to fight.”
He broke out a killer smile, determined not to let on how glad he was for Jaz to come clean about that ability. “Well, I should have realized you weren’t serious about jumping my bones two hours after back-freaking-surgery.”
“Just keeping you on your toes. Without titanium, I heal fast.” She turned to where she had bags and that supply crate. “I have jeans and shirts, plus food. You hungry?”
“Damn. Best survival female ever. Yes.” He pulled his T-shirt off. “Pull this on for now so your back can have a little more healing time before you put on jeans.”
She took the shirt from him and grunted with every move as she worked it over her head.
He reached up to help, grumbling, “Stubborn.”
“I can dress myself,” she dismissed and turned to face him. “At the rate I’m now healing and with some food, I’ll be pretty strong soon. I need to stretch those muscles as they mend.”
She pulled out two Meals Ready to Eat, better known as MREs, which Adrian had survived on more than once overseas and handed him a spork. Finding a spot on one side of an oval rug woven from scraps of material, he held her MRE until she settled across from him.
While they gobbled up four packages and water, he looked around. “What is this? A safe house?”
“Yes. I would not normally come straight to it, but we had no choice. I think you riding us up on the bike will shield our scent from someone tracking.”
Smart woman. “That makes sense. I didn’t smell your scent until we were very close to the entrance.”
Jaz clearly had set this up long ago. They were more secure than if he’d gone to a hotel.
His sleep deprived brain bumped into a logical question. “You must have set this up a long time ago. Did you know you’d need it?”
Jaz lowered her spork, food forgotten.
Red told Adrian, Mate angry.
Yep, buddy. I see that.
