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“Something like that,” Emrys answers for him.
Jason just grunts a little, sprawled on his back, eyes half-closed.
The paramedic lifts his soaked T-shirt and whistles. “Got him good, whoever it was. I’ll stitch him up. For a moment there, when I saw you, I thought the archer who got you last time was back and I was ready to call the Headmaster.”
“What archer?” Emrys frowns. “And this is just a scratch.”
“A scratch? This is way more than a scratch, let me tell you. It will take, oh I don’t know, ten stitches at least.”
“Just stitch him up already,” Emrys growls.
“Shut up,” Ashton mouths at Emrys over the paramedic’s head and gestures for him to move away.
Emrys grumbles and turns his back to the table, folding his arms over his chest. That leaves him facing me and apparently that’s a problem, because he curses and walks out of the examination room.
Well,crap. For a moment there, I had thought he cared—for the others, for me. His arm around me earlier had almost convinced me we could talk this out, that he could lay aside his anger and come back to us.
Shaking my head, I step up to the examination table and stroke Jason’s sweat-matted hair as the paramedic threads a curved needle. “Hey, Jax.”
His green eyes are unfocused, but they somehow find me. “Mia.”
“You’ll be fine.” I take his hand, hold it in both of mine. “I’m here.”
He tenses as the needle pierces his flesh, his hand gripping mine hard, his back arching a little off the table. Confusion clouds his expression. “No,” he whispers, “No, please. I’ll do what you want. I’ll do—”
“Dammit, Jax.” Ashton puts his hands on Jason’s shoulders, keeping him down. “You’re okay.”
He’s still struggling, gaze going wide. “No, no, please, no, I can’t—”
“You’re at the Academy! Fuck, listen to me…” Ashton’s eyes shimmer. “You’re free. This isn’t torture.”
I stare at him, dumbstruck. What in the holy shit? My heart seizes in my chest. Jason is flashing back to when he was held by thevampires?
“Keep him still,” the paramedic hisses. “I don’t want to hurt him inadvertently. Still stitching him up here.”
But Jason is still struggling, despite Ashton’s efforts. He had mentioned bad things happening to him but there is nothing like seeing someone reliving torture to drive the point home.
“Ash,” I whisper. “Could seeing you be what is making him flash back?”
Ashton’s face goes very still. Lifting his hands, he steps away. “Of course. You’re right.”
“I’ll hold him down,” Sindri says, appearing on the other side of Jason and putting his hands on Jason’s chest. His face is haggard, too, dark circles under those pretty, exotic eyes, made all the more visible by the pallor of his skin. It shocks me, how bad he looks, his arms shaking as he pushes Jason down.
“Sin…” I breathe.
“Distract him,” he says.
Jason’s crushing my hand in his, muttering something I can’t make under his breath. His teeth are chattering, his eyes are closed. Is he still caught in memory? What the hell did the vampires do to him?
Anger rises in me, scalding. “Jax, listen to my voice. It’s me, Mia.” I have to stop and take a wobbly breath. “You’re all right. It’s just a cut, and we’re taking care of you. Then we’ll take you to your room, to your bed.”
I’m not sure he can hear me, his grip still crushing, his body still tense on the examination table. Then again, the paramedic is still stitching him up.
“Did you give him anything to numb the pain?” I can’t help but ask her.
She glances up, looking surprised. “Yes, a local anesthetic.”
“It’s obviously not doing much.”
