There. Relief washed through her as she spotted the large white box with a red cross on it. Wrapping her hand around the handle, she yanked it out from under the ice chest. Maneuvering back over the seat with her treasures was a complete bitch. Her leg slipped out from under her when she was halfway, and she crashed on to Alex’s legs.
He jackknifed upright, his eyes wild and fangs bared in a grimace of pain. Fuck!
His voice roared so loudly in her mind she wanted to whimper and slap her hands over her ears, but knew that wouldn’t do a damn thing. “Lie back down, Alex.”
The feral gleam in his eyes didn’t fade, but he obeyed jerkily. Flipping the lantern on high, she wedged it between his chest and the seat. It cast a bright light over the area she had to work with. Not great, but much better than trying to pul out a bul et in the dark.
Running over everything she remembered from med school about werewolves and silver as wel as bul et extractions, she straddled her godson’s thighs and tried to keep her balance as Merek wheeled the SUV up what had to be a highway on-ramp. It didn’t matter. Their safety was his job, helping Alex was hers.
She cracked open the first aid kit and rifled through the contents. Antiseptic, bandages of al sizes, a few vials of herbal infusions. The most useful thing in there for pul ing the bul et out was a pair of tweezers that she knew wouldn’t be useful at al .
Okay. She could do this with magic. She’d never tried it herself, but she knew it could be done. Her heart gave a sickening lurch. If she messed it up, missed even a single sliver of silver and it got into his bloodstream, he’d be dead by morning. No pressure. She wiped her sweaty palms on her shirt and noticed Alex’s pain-fil ed eyes latched on her every movement. She didn’t even bother with a reassuring smile.
Gods, please. She closed her eyes for a moment and sent up a silent, fervent prayer.
Sucking in a deep breath almost made her gag on the sickly sweet scent of blood. She gritted her teeth and placed her hand over his wound, seeking the metal with her magic. She’d never even watched anyone do this before, even in her rotation in the ER. She didn’t know a spel to do what she wanted to do, but she focused as hard as she could, working every single fragment of the silver back up through the hole it had left behind while Alex’s claws shredded the rental SUV’s upholstery.
His skin smoked and sizzled as each silver piece oozed out. Blood so dark it was black flowed in a thick, sluggish stream from the wound. His muscles spasmed and sweat poured down his face, mixing with tears as he sobbed in agony.
Moonlight shown in the window, slicing across Alex’s face. His eyes went wolfish, fangs extending as he gurgled on a growl. She swal owed at the sight. “How are you even in human form right now?”
“Silver,” he choked out. “Leave . . . some of it in, so I can . . . stay human. Rampaging right now would be .
. . a bad idea.”
“No. It could kil you.” She recal ed vividly the bronze searing into her wrists, and that was an external application of the metal witches were al ergic to.
“Better than me trying to rip you and Merek apart so I can go bite and Change some Normals.” Another sob heaved from his chest, and he turned his face away from her. “So they can live through this every month.”
She scanned the wound with her magic, closing her eyes to focus better. “Al the silver is gone already.”
Shit. The word was no more than a weary whisper in her head.
“I wouldn’t have done it anyway.” Drawing on al the magic she had within her, she began to heal the putrid flesh the bul et had left behind. Bringing new, healthy tissue to the surface, sealing the wound. When it was done, she placed a bandage over the area and let the animal magic flowing through the boy’s veins do the rest of the healing for her. Now that there was no contact with silver, he should be better within a few hours.
Sooner, if he hadn’t lost so much blood. She hoped. The moon might stil be ful and in the sky when he was healed, which was a worry. “We’l deal with it if you somehow manage to get up the energy to rampage, but I couldn’t risk your life by leaving silver inside you.”
He sagged against the seat, every muscle going limp. Tear tracks made clean furrows in the grime on his face. Pain stil dug grooves beside his eyes and mouth, but the flesh no longer pul ed taut across his cheekbones. He flinched and slammed his eyes closed when a moonbeam hit him in the face.
She smoothed his hair away from his forehead. “You won’t have to be like this forever, Alex. I will find a way to stop this.”
His pale eyes cracked open and met hers, his expression too serious and adult. “If these assholes don’t get there first. They’d have wolves on their knees trying to get some of the drug. Any of us would do anything to not have to fight ful moon fever. I would give anything.”
“I know.” Leaning to the side, she dug into the rear of the SUV until she came up with a mylar space blanket. “Luca won’t let Smith win. We just have to stay alive long enough for me to finish my research.”
Alex snorted. “I’m good with that.”
She tucked the blanket around him to help him conserve as much body heat as possible. She hoped the al ergic reaction to silver didn’t mean they’d be facing an infection. If it came to that, she was making Merek take them to a hospital with a Magickal ward. He’d do it, too. Merek always took care of them, even if it meant bul ets and dark spel s were flying.
She swung her leg off Alex so she could stand on the floor, but had to bend so she didn’t hit her head on the roof. She hung on to the back of Merek’s seat when they bounced over a pothole. “We’l make it through this, Alex.”
“Okay.” There wasn’t a single ounce of conviction in the wolf’s voice, and he was clearly humoring her.
She sighed. He didn’t believe her, but what could she say to convince him? She didn’t know that everything would be al right. Squirming along the seat so she could sit with Alex’s head in her lap, she tried to ignore the drying blood al over her clothes.
“It might be better if you sat in the front seat. Away from me.” He closed his eyes, but the claws of one hand stil sank deep into the backseat every time the moonlight touched him. His fangs clenched tight, his jaw flexing.
It wasn’t that he was worried about turning her into a werewolf. None of the Magickal races could combine, and she was already a witch. Even if an elf married a wolf, they could have a wolf child or an elf child, or some of each, but a hybrid was a Magickal impossibility. If Alex’s rampage made him bite Chloe, it could kil her the way any traumatic injury could, but she wouldn’t turn wolf.
She stroked her hand down his sweat-soaked hair. “You would never hurt me, Alex. No matter how bad it got. Not even the ful moon could change that.”
His green eyes fixed on her face, as if he was trying to absorb some of her certainty, and her heart broke at the expression on his face. He let go of the front seat, reaching up for her hand. She grabbed his hand, squeezed it tight, and ignored the sharp talons that tipped each finger. His throat moved as he swal owed. “I love you, Chloe.”
“I love you, too, kiddo.” She let go of his hand, set it on his chest, and tucked the blanket tighter around him. “Try to sleep.”
“Thanks. For everything.” His voice slurred, and his thick lashes made dark crescents on his cheeks. “You too, Merek.”