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I clamped my hand over the gaping bite and pressed. It wasn’t going to help. I could barely span the width of the injury with my palm, but I couldn’t just let him die without trying to do something. Blood welled between my fingers, but it seemed to be slowing. He was bleeding out. No. No. No. I can heal myself. Why can’t I help someone I love?
And it stopped. No more blood flowed…he must have none left. I still held my hand over his wound, where I had been no help, unable to do anything. I’d have given up my ability to heal myself in a heartbeat for him. Because when Wolfe’s heart stopped, so would mine.
Chapter Twenty-One
“What did you do?” Lex’s whisper cut through my searing grief. “How…”
“I couldn’t stop it.” My voice was a rasp. “He helped me so much; he was the only one who knew about my gift, at least I think… But look how useless it was. A curse if it’s only to help me. I don’t need a selfish gift.”
Lex gently took my wrist and lifted my hand from Wolfe’s neck and lifted me to my feet. “Ava, I don’t know how you did it, but he didn’t bleed out. You stopped the bleeding.”
I looked down. “It’s gone.” Not only had he stopped bleeding, but the open gash, the work of a wolf’s jaws, was no longer there. I’d healed my own injuries, but none had been anything like this one. An expanse of pinkish skin in the shape of my hand replaced the gaping wound. My knees wobbled, and I would have fallen onto Wolfe had Lex not supported me with his hold on my wrist.
“I got her.” Nolan marched up to us, naked and dragging an equally naked girl behind him. “How is Wolfe?”
“I’m okay.”
I’d looked away just long enough to miss him rolling over and sitting up. “Wolfe!” I flung myself to my knees and was about to hug him, but then I hesitated. What if he wasn’t as healed as he looked? “How are you?”
“Good. But that wolf knocked me down, and I am embarrassed to have let it happen. Lucky my man Nolan was on the job. Lisa, what the hell?”
“Lisa?” I looked more closely at the attacker. “Oh no!” One of the mean girls. “I thought you wanted my mates. Why would you hurt one of them?”
She lunged toward me, and I saw her go fuzzy around the edges as if about to shift, but Nolan shook her hard and she came into focus. “I didn’t want him,” she snarled. “I would never hurt Wolfe, and I’m so glad he’s all right after all. I was aiming for you but he got in the way.”
“He’s all right because—” Lex began, but I cut him off.
“Lucky for you, he is.” I studied the skinny blonde. “Where are your clothes? Nolan shifted all of a sudden, but I assume you had a plan.”
“Oh, she did.” He chuckled. “And I caught her just as she got to them. But I wasn’t going to let go of her so she could dress. I’ll just be dragging her back to school in her natural state to face the headmistress.”
“I am going to stay with Wolfe and Ava, if you’ve got her, okay?” Lex said.
“No worries. If she gives me any trouble, I’ll make sure she’s sorry she did. Let’s get you back so you can be expelled.” As he headed off down the street, she stumbled along behind him, pleading for mercy. Apparently her parents would kill her if she got kicked out of another school.
“Come on, Wolfe.” Lex reached down for him. “Can you walk, do you think?”
“Of course.” He accepted the help, but shrugged his friend off as soon as he was on his feet. “I’m not made of porcelain.”
“No, but you were almost gone.” Lex pointed to the sidewalk.
Wolfe looked down, growing even paler. “What is that?”
“What do you think it is?” his friend asked. “It is the place where you almost bled out, and our mate saved you.”
At that, he swayed, and we both caught him by the arm and helped him the block and a half back to the Werewolf Academy. Recognizing that we’d never be able to avoid it, we stopped by the office, after a quick change for Wolfe, and gave testimony to the headmistress who had been summoned by security when Nolan and Lisa arrived. Lisa broke down under questioning and admitted to everything, but even though she had not “broken skin,” having shifted and attacked, in full public view, had assured her expulsion.
Nolan remained behind when we were dismissed because the headmistress had more questions for him.
When we arrived at our suite, we took Wolfe right into the bathroom to get him cleaned up for real. I might have stopped the bleeding, but he was still quite gory under his changed clothing with the drying blood caked all over his skin. Lex turned on the shower, and when the water was warm, we helped Wolfe undress and then I struggled to shed my tight leather outfit. Once it was off, I stepped into the stall and held out a hand. “Come on, Lex, you too. Wolfe is still shaky. You can support him while I scrub away the mess.”
Lex, to his credit, did not argue, just climbed in. I could imagine a shower with these guys would be a sensual delight, and even under the circumstances, I was not beyond submitting to their charms, but Wolfe had a rough night, and I didn’t know what the healing or the injury might have done in regards to his energy, so I confined myself to using the big sponge to rub lather all over his body and carefully clean away the gore. He and Lex were both the most beautiful men I’d ever seen, but this was not the time for anything more to happen.
We’d have lots of nights when we could mate, nights when none of us had come close to death. Once I’d cleaned him from head to toe, I used the handheld showerhead to rinse away all the lather then Lex helped him out of the shower and I dried him with a big fluffy towel.
Nolan returned as we were leaving the bathroom, and I felt such relief at having us all together in the suite that I made a bold suggestion.
“Can we all sleep in the same bed tonight?” I barely recognized my voice, and even a few hours ago, I was all for taking our time and seeing what happened, but after nearly losing Wolfe, I couldn’t stand the idea of being apart from them. “I need you all.”
