Page 26 of Freed

“Yeah, don’t forget we have a whole coven offering to help us now,” I tell her, threading my fingers through hers and offering her a smile of reassurance.

She rests her chin on Chase’s shoulder and looks back at Bain as she asks him, “Are you still in pain? From the severed bond?”

“I’ll manage,” he says, not really answering.

“So that’s a yes,” she says in worry.

“It’s much more manageable now you’re here with us,” Maddox tells her. “We’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t want you to be in any pain,” she tells him. “Especially because of me.”

“Having you alive is worth any pain,” Gage tells her. But it doesn’t look like that makes her feel any better.

“I’ll fix it,” she says with determination. “When we get home, I’ll figure it out.” I can see the doubt in her eyes and give her hand an encouraging squeeze.

“We’ll figure it out together,” I reassure her.

I see her eyelids start to grow heavy and remember how much sleep she needs after she regenerates.

“Hold on,” I tell her as I reach under the seat. “Before you go to sleep, drink some water.” I open the bottle and hold it up to her lips. She drinks half of it before pulling back.

“Good girl,” Chase says, kissing her temple and making a small smile pull at her lips. Then she rests her cheek on his shoulder and closes her eyes.

Within seconds, she’s asleep.

“She’ll probably sleep for at least a day, maybe more,” Gage says, looking back at her. “Regeneration takes a big toll on her body, plus the emotional whiplash she’s gone through since being taken last night.”

“I feel like it’s been a week since I’ve seen her,” Chase says, gently rubbing the back of her head. “Not half a day.”

“I’m just glad we finally took care of that asshole doctor,” Bain says gruffly from behind me. I turn to him as I ask, “What did you do to him?”

A smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth as he sits there with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes filling with satisfaction. “Cherry didn’t tell us everything he did to her, but I took some guesses and tried to repay some of that back.” He shrugs as he adds, “It’s only fair.”

“But he’s definitely dead now?” I ask, needing to know for sure.

“After seeing Blaze’s missing body, we took off everyone’s heads and placed them in another room, setting that one on fire first,” Gage says as calmly as if he were explaining how to cook a steak. I’m just glad he’s much better at killing than he is at cooking.

“That ought to do it,” I say, leaning back with relief.

“How was she?” Maddox asks after a few minutes of silence. It takes me a moment to realize he’s looking at me in the rearview mirror.

“She’s okay, all things considered. She’s terrified and shocked. Seeing Gage almost die definitely didn’t help.”

“She’ll need time to recover,” Gage says. “She went through a hell of a lot since she was taken.”

My free hand clenches, thinking about how the doctor skinned her. I have to try to focus on something else, or I risk throwing up.

“Do you think he did that before?” Chase asks. When I look at him, he grimaces.

“What?” I ask him.

“The… fur thing.”

He was clearly thinking about the same thing as me.

“It’s definitely possible,” Gage says. “If she knew, she probably kept it from us on purpose, knowing we’d be upset.”

“Speaking of which,” I say, using this as a segway. “She’s probably going to want to bond with everyone as soon as she wakes up.”