Page 63 of Monster. Me.

On the tray beside him lies a biopsy punch unlike anything I’ve ever seen. A narrow hollow cylinder mounted on a precision handle, its circular cutting edge catching the light. Next to it are micro-forceps, a tissue vial, and a syringe filled with local anesthetic.

Fenn doesn’t move when Dr. Lee swabs the side of his neck with antiseptic and injects the anesthetic around the gland. He waits exactly thirty seconds, watching the monitor and not his patient.

"The surface tissue is numb," he states. "The gland itself will not be."

Fenn’s jaw tightens.

Dr. Lee picks up the coring instrument and aligns it with a marker projected onto the skin. The hollow blade is designed to advance straight into the tissue and extract an intact cylindrical sample, like a geological core.

For some reason, the sight of it makes my stomach knot.

Before the doctor can begin, I step forward on instinct and place my hand on Fenn’s opposite shoulder. His massive muscles are rigid beneath my fingers. Then, almost immediately, they loosen.

On his face that same expression returns, bliss, and I know he’s no longer afraid of the pain.

Dr. Lee begins the tissue extraction, but I don’t watch. I usually have no issue with medical procedures. I’ve seen plenty, and performed many during my veterinary studies. But this time it’s happening to someone who has become close to me.

Close…

Fuck. I actually admit it to myself. He’s not just some strange mutant with an unusual appearance and a complicated history anymore.

Fenn Drax.

He’s now more than that.

His purple eyes stay fixed on my face, widened. I can see how three-dimensional and crystalline they seem, the irises so beautiful, with thin, almost violet dots and patterns radiating from the pupil and spreading outward toward the slightly darker, deep burgundy edges.

His hand lifts again to lace with my fingers.

The procedure continues. Dr. Lee takes the sample.

Drax doesn’t make a sound, not even a grimace. Most AOs would be writhing in pain by now, but it appears that the odd Bond between us protects Drax from suffering.

Makes me wonder why…

"Thank you," he whispers softly.

In a sudden surge of something spontaneous, I lift my other hand and softly run my fingers along his jaw and cheek. I've never felt tenderness toward anyone, maybe because I never received it myself. To me, touch has always been purely sexual, but now something rises inside me, spilling over. I find myself wanting more, the best, the sweetest things that perhaps only this hurt, longing monster can give me.

Fenn slightly closes his eyes, as if sinking into the touch, immersing himself in it, savoring it, while I slowly trail my finger along the sharp contours of his masculine face, brushing his temple and his lips, realizing with sudden clarity that my painful loneliness has an opening, a chance to end in the most unexpected way.

"I’m sorry," Dr. Lee says suddenly behind me, an already prepared dressing in his hand. His dark eyes lock onto me in a way that is impossible to read.

"Uh… sure," I step to the side, making space for him, but I still hold Fenn’s hand. The doctor begins to dress the tissue extraction site, but that doesn’t mean the eye contact between me and Fenn breaks. His gaze keeps following me the entire time.

Dr. Lee finishes dressing the wound.

"All done," he says calmly, placing the sample into a small medical cooler. "Appreciate your assistance, Marlow," he adds shortly, but it sounds genuine.

When I let go of Fenn’s hand, I immediately see the change in his face. Like something has struck him. He blinks and swallows hard. I’m sure he’s feeling the aftershock in his gland now.

"Reed, take Drax to his room. He needs to sleep, one hour minimum," Dr. Lee says, gesturing toward Reed, who had been standing there the entire time, staring at us with narrowed eyes and a very clear hostility.

Reed approaches and brings over a rolling bed with rattling wheels.

Fenn Drax lowers himself onto it with a strained expression, looking slightly disoriented.

"I’ll walk with you," I say.