Page 27 of The Goblin in the Sink Drain
“Well.” Surprise widened his eyes behind their thick lenses. “I bet he didn’t tell you he also accepted a birdbrained dare from his cousin to land on a power line, snapped the cable, and got electrocuted for his trouble.”
A low groan poured out of Rían, who covered his eyes with one hand to avoid looking at me.
“Liam was an instigator even then, huh?” I jabbed the back of Rían’s hand with my index finger. “Though you should have known better. Please tell me you did this when you were much, much,muchsmaller.”
“About the quarter of the size he is now,” Burdock told me, beginning his examination. “Fayne almost died from the shock—pun intended—when she heard the news. Me? I almost wet myself laughing.” He squinted at me while I attempted to picture a dragon sitting on a power line like a giant bird and failing. “I get the sense you’re either protective of Rían or you flat-out don’t like Liam.”
“Can’t it be both?” Pack justice fresh on my mind, I was almost afraid to ask, “How was Liam punished?”
“I would have made him choose his own switch off a hedge then spanked him striped with it.” He shook his head. “Fayne settled for making him wait on his cousin hand and foot while Rían recovered. He had to take over Rían’s chores too. For six months. Cooking, cleaning, cutting the grass.”
God knows adolescent wolves got up to all kinds of trouble, most of it harmless, but they wouldn’t have gotten off with such a light sentence.
“Liam is asteinhart, a stone skin,” Rían explained to me. “The only reason Burdock didn’t spank him was he knew Liam would harden his skin and not feel so much as a tickle from it.”
“And if I had raised a hand to her grandsons, I would have been the one getting whipped. By Fayne.” Burdock’s face shone with fondness. “Your vitals look good, and I sense your pain levels are nothing an ibuprofen can’t fix. For now. You’ll get something heavier when I come back later for your next healing session.”
“Will there be any lingering effects from the damage?”
“Not if you follow the PT program I’m going to design for you to the letter.”
“And Sloane?” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Will she recover fully?”
“Since she can shift, she regenerates much faster than an unfledged dragon,” he said gently, calling me a dragon without a hint of doubt or mockery. “That said, she also sustained more extensive damage. They really did a number on her, but I’ve seen worse. I’m confident she’ll pull through, physically, but there’s an emotional component as well.” He paused for a split second. “Sartori broke her bond to the pack.”
He broke her… I stared at him, certain I had misheard. His somber gaze cured me of that notion.
“I have to get to her.” Panic flooded my mouth like a shot of adrenaline. I fisted the cover, ready to fling it aside. “Lone wolves can’t pull energy from a pack. Her recovery hinges on that tether being intact. Otherwise, you can’t know if she’ll heal.”
“Please, God, don’t tell me you’re another one.” Burdock shackled my ankle then tossed the blanket over me. “I never said your friend wasunbound. I said Sartori broke her bond to him and his pack.”
A dull ringing filled my ears. “Then I don’t understand.”
Hand clasping mine where my fingers spasmed with the urge togo, go, go, Rían growled, “Neither do I.”
“Liam inducted her into the Walsh clan.” Burdock lifted his hands to repel our arguments. “He didn’t have many goodoptions. The bond snapped on the operating table, and Ana is right. Sloane wouldn’t have survived injuries of that magnitude without the biofeedback we receive from a magnus, or an alpha, in her case. Without the strength of a pack pouring through that connection, she would have died in his arms.”
“Liam can do that?” I had never heard of such a thing. “Bring someone into the clan without Rían?”
“Not fully, but he can jumpstart the process.” Rían stood in a rush. “I better go finish it.”
A pained expression swept across his features, and Burdock sighed as he rolled up his sleeves.
“Go.” He shooed Rían away. “Help her friend.” He began removing the wrap on my arm. “Ana and I will start our session a little ahead of schedule to give you the time you need.”
As soon as he was out the door, I found my mouth full of questions. “He asked her first, right?”
“Yes.” He gave me an odd look. “We would never bind someone to us against their will.”
“I meant no offense,” I rushed out, hoping I hadn’t insulted him. “I’m still learning the ropes here.” I swallowed hard, but my mouth was too dry to offer any relief. “Things weren’t always what they should have been in my pack.”
“I’m aware.” He examined my arm, which was thinner but with unblemished skin stretching taut over what had been muscle and exposed bone. “We knew Sartori was unhinged by the way he stalked your mother, but he was clever. He hid himself, and you, from us very well.” Smoke drifted from his nostrils. “I’ve got half a mind to fly over his compound and burn it down around him.”
“No.”I gripped his weathered hand. “There are families living there and?—”
“I wouldneverharm a child.” He fanned away the cloud forming in front of his face. “Sartori, however, wouldn’t survivean encounter with me.” He stared at my injury. “Even if my rage had mellowed over the years at the lives he cost, and it hasn’t one whit, this would be a fresh spark to a keg of dynamite.”
Yet again the stark difference between the Sartoris and the Walshes slapped me in the face.
