Page 57 of Wolfsbane

I couldn’t look up at poor Daire, because he kept almost glancing down in the direction of Aleks’s hand, turning distinctly green, and looking away, before continuing to explain about the magic.

The gore of it all was disgusting, I supposed, but I’d seen far worse in my life, and honestly, as we worked, it looked better and better. Sure, Aleks was still covered in blood, but that was nothing.

No, I couldn’t look at Daire because it made me want to try to comfort him, when I needed to be focused on my work. On healing Aleks. All of Daire’s hard work teaching me magic would be wasted if I didn’t pay attention to what I was doing, and Daire would be the one to suffer for my failure.

It wouldn’t have been the first time someone else suffered for my failures, but I’d learned my lessons on that. I was not going to let it happen again.

I would save Aleks’s hand. Daire’s magic was soft and light and filled with everything good in the world, so I was pretty sure it could do anything. With Daire softly coaching me through every step, what was there to go wrong? I knew how hands worked, and I was as dexterous as anyone trained to kill people.

Only now I was being given the gift of being able to heal, rather than hurt.

It was incredible.

Particularly when I was still working on the muscles in his wrist, and Aleks’s own healing started to catch on. I watched as his skin started to stich itself back together, and almost got distracted from my work by the rush of victory that gave me.

“Ow, fuck,” Aleks hissed, but then he sucked in a harsh breath and gave me the fiercest grin. “I can feel it. Hurts like a bitch.”

All around us, wolves started murmuring, the tone shocked and I thought, a little amazed.

Once Aleks’s hand was completely reattached, I went through the whole thing again. Every bit of it. I was starting to feel sapped of energy, but dammit, my brother’s hand was not going to fall off on my watch just because I’d half-assed this thing. I stretched a new strand of magic, using it this time almost like a reinforcing top-stitch over new seams.

As I worked, Aleks started flexing and clenching his hand, and as he did so, the hisses of pain slowed and stopped.

I was still working when a hand clamped down on my shoulder, startling me.

Daire. I hadn’t even noticed him moving closer, or focusing on what was going on rather than trying not to be sick while guiding me. “That’s enough,” he whispered. “You’re hurting yourself. You’ve given him all you have. You can’t give any more.”

I wanted to protest, to point out to him that I would happily die to save Aleks’s hand, because the pack—because Cash—needed it more than anyone had ever needed me. The problem, I realized, was that I was panting. I was completely out of breath, barely able to hold myself up, and sweat was dripping down my forehead and into my eyes. I couldn’t breathe well enough to speak properly.

I’d run twenty miles without being so tired.

I didn’t even get my mouth open, and wasn’t sure I could form words, before Aleks took my other shoulder in his hand, smiling like the beautiful asshole he was, and dragged us both up off the ground at once. Using his previously near-severed hand.

A cheer went up in the group, and someone even whistled, but Aleks acted like it was just another afternoon at work.

He smiled at everyone, giving a theatrical bow and flourishing his hand, then using it to make a dismissive motion. “I think we’ve all earned a long lunch today, don’t you? Everyone go home and eat.”

Jojo lifted a brow in my direction, but I shook my head and motioned for her to go home. As much as I wanted to introduce Daire more thoroughly to the rest of the pack, right now, we had to be with family.

I thought maybe we all did.

So we headed over to Mama’s house, Aleks firmly keeping one arm around me, and wrapping the other around Daire’s shoulder as he went. “Fuck, do I need like four sandwiches,” he muttered, almost to himself. Then he turned to Daire, his eyes serious. “I owe you one. Not that your acceptance here depended on this. I would never have let Cash hurt you. But this is . . . this could have changed things. You saved us all from that today. Thank you.”

Daire looked like he was trapped in Aleks’s path, and he thought he was about to be bowled over. I understood. My brother was a steamroller, and when he decided a thing, it was impossible to argue with him, even if he was entirely wrong.

Worse, he was a clever bastard, and rarely wrong.

We got back to the house, and Leo had already gotten Cash inside right before us, though he wouldn’t stop staring at Aleks’s hand. Once we were inside, complete silence fell, and suddenly, I was entirely aware of just how awkward it was.

The problem was that I was quite literally about to collapse. My legs were shaking with the effort required to stand, and I wasn’t sure the wall was close enough to fall into, or that it would be enough to hold me up.

When Cash turned and almost ran upstairs, I was . . . strangely grateful. No one said anything about how they didn’t have a room in the house anymore, even Drew when we all clearly heard him go into the room they had vacated to move into their own house, that had now been assigned to him.

Aleks sighed and nodded, then glanced at all of us in turn. “I’m just going to take care of things,” he whispered, and then, fuck everything, he took his arm from around my shoulder and headed upstairs.

I slammed my eyes closed and expected to impact the ground at any moment, but a warm, firm arm wrapped around me, holding me up.

Not Leo, the only other person in the house bigger than me.