Page 77 of The CEO Alpha’s Substitute Mate

I stare at him, my heart pounding. “S-Salar?”

His hold is gentle, and he sits me up carefully. “Luca is safe. Both of you are.”

Before I can even comprehend his words, the door flies open.

“Mom!”

Luca throws himself into me with everything he has, and I absorb the pain, the force, not caring about the agony the movement causes. My arms are around him, and I’ve got a fistful of his hair with my mouth on the top of his head. Seeing him, holding him feels like I can breathe again.

“Are you okay?!”

He nods against my collarbone. I hold him back by the shoulders to check for myself because a six-year-old will nod at anything. There’s a pink seam down his forearm with new skin over it, nothing else on him anywhere, and I have to breathe through my mouth to get the relief under control. I swing my legs toward the floor.

“No, you can’t put pressure on your leg right now.” Salar has a hand out. “Please stay still.”

That’s when I look down. The dressing is off. Somebody has left it open to the air, so what runs from the top of my thigh to just above the knee is a line of black stitches through skin that has gone every color between purple and yellow. The edges don’t meet cleanly. There’s a section near the middle that puckers.

“I’m sorry.” Salar sits back down slowly so that he isn’t standing over me. “My healing magic doesn’t work entirely on human skin. I tried to heal the inside as much as I could, but the human skin I had to stitch.”

I’ve spent twenty years looking at my own legs in mirrors. I know the line of that quadricep better than I know my own face, and now there’s a scar running the length of it. It’s so ugly. My legs, which I had once been so proud of, are now an ugly sight. I shut my eyes.

“I don’t care. As long as Luca is okay, what’s one more injury to my leg?”

“I’ve heard human plastic surgeons can do wonders.” Callum is in the doorway now, and as I look at him, I recall the large wolf racing toward us on the beach and the relief I had felt. My lips tremble. “Are you hurt?”

He approaches me, and looking down at my injured leg, I see his expression twist. His fingers reach to touch it, and I immediately yank the sheet over it, unable to bear him touching such a distasteful scar. His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t say anything.

I pull Luca in against my side. “What about those wolves who attacked us?”

“They’re all dead.”

The air comes out of me in one long push. I get my chin down onto Luca’s hair and keep it there, then I lift my head to look at Callum properly.

“Why?” My voice shakes. “Why would they attack us?”

“They were most likely sent after Luca.” His fingers wrap around a strand of my hair, and his gaze is strange, dark in a way that has a shiver running down my spine. “You got caught in the crosshairs.”

I think about the sound of my flesh tearing, the burning sensation of the claw piercing me. My mouth is dry, and I whisper, “I thought your home was safe.”

Callum doesn’t answer right away. When he does, there’s an anger in his voice, a vicious terrifying thing. “It will be from now on. You have my word.”

The reality of the world I have been thrust into is beginning to settle in my bones now, and my heart quivers in my chest.

“Is she awake?” A familiar voice has me stiffening.

Isabella is standing in the doorway, her hand in a cast. A man stands beside her, one I’ve seen around the estate a few times. Damien. I don’t know whether he is Callum’s friend or his assistant.

Isabella steps inside. She’s in a plain gray sweater instead of silk, and her hair is tied back off her face. She no longer looks like that graceful socialite from two months ago. She looks surprisingly young in her bare face and simple clothes.

She stops at the foot of the bed. “How’s your leg?”

“It hurts, but not that much,” I answer cautiously. “What happened to your arm?”

“She’s being dramatic.” Salar rolls his eyes. “You don’t need a cast, Isabella. Your bone is already healing.”

She grins. “I wanted to see what it felt like. It’s fun. I get arm support for no reason.”

I stare at her, not knowing how to react.