Page 85 of Fangs
“After you left the clinic,” Sam said.
“Throughthe wall?” My brain was apparently stuck on this. The wood-paneled clinic wall was not a material easy topunch through.
“Well, he did break several bones in his hand,” Sable said, also matter-of-factly as thoughthatwere normal.
“What?” I finally looked at Sable and found him studying me with his pale blue eyes.
“It’s alright. I set the bones and bandaged him up.”
I hadn’t even noticed his hand was bandaged, but I’d been avoiding looking at him at all costs. I exhaled sharply through my nose and stood, gently extricating myself from Apple.
“Where you going?” Sam asked.
“To heal my stupid brother.”
It took me a while to find them. They’d gone into the deserted marketplace. The market only ran three times a week, from morning to afternoon. When it was closed, all the booths were empty. I glanced at the small rectangular booth where a faded green bunting fluttered gently in the breeze, remembering when Griz and I found Jax inside with a bullet in his shoulder. Gods, if we hadn’t found him?—
I forced that thought away.
Wolf, Scar, and Lee were standing at the far end of the marketplace. Wolf had his back to me, but Scar seemed to be speaking to him with their hand gestures. Lee spotted me immediately, but he didn’t warn the others. Instead, he flashed me a crooked grin and watched as I neared. I was almost to them when he finally nudged Wolf. Wolf spun around to face me, and the raw emotion in his face made me falter slightly. It was carefully gone a breath later, his face smoothing into a blank mask.
“Give me your hand,” I demanded when I reached him.
His eyes narrowed at me, and his voice came out rough. “What?”
“Your hand,” I repeated impatiently, gesturing at his bandaged hand at his side.
“You don’t—” he started, but I’d had about enough.
“Wolf,” I snapped, “just give me your damn hand.”
Lee made a suspicious coughing sound, but I didn’t look at him. Wolf glared at me a second longer before slowly giving me his bandaged hand. I took it, carefully unwrapping the bandage and checking to ensure the splints stayed in place. The flesh of his hand was already swollen and darkening with bruises. I cradled his hand in both of mine and let my healing power flow into him, assessing the damage.
He’d broken three bones in his fingers and fractured several in his hand. I was grateful Sable had already set the bones, so I didn’t have to move them, but the damage was extensive. My powers painstakingly fused the tiny bones back together, and the swollen tissue began to recede. His breath caught slightly, but I kept my eyes on his hand. The bruising faded, and the skin smoothed over, leaving no sign of the injury.
“The next time you feel like punchin’ a wall, at least do it where I could put a fucking window,” I muttered.
He didn’t say anything, and I glanced at his face. The emotion and pain there made my stomach flip over in panic, so I just released his hand and strode away.
14
Imade it halfway back to the clinic before Lee materialized beside me, scaring me half to death.
“You healed my leg in the cave, didn’t you?” he asked, and I nodded, trying to slow my heart rate. “Why?”
I sighed. “Because it was gettin’ infected.”
“So?”
I gave him a sharp look. “So?You could’ve lost your leg.”
“Probably would’ve made it much easier for you to escape if I only had one leg.”
I didn’t answer, walking around a particularly deep, muddy puddle in the path.
“Did your dad really tell you Wolf was gonna kill you?”
“What?” I swung my gaze back to him so fast I almost tripped. Had I told him that?
