Chapter Eight

He carried her into the apartment realizing he may have lost her. She was trembling, had been since the minute he picked her up. He set her down on the couch but couldn’t sit. Instead, he went to look out the window.

“Would you like someone else to stay with you?”

Is that what she wanted? Her mind had been swept up in a wind tunnel of thought since he picked her up, and she was tired of trying to keep up with them. What she wanted to do was sleep and deal with this in the morning. He probably wasn’t going to let that happened. Which is why she was trying to wrap her mind around what happened today.

“You killed thing two.” Calling him a name didn’t make her forget that he was a real person who probably had a family. A wife and children would be crying when he didn’t come home.

It wasn’t like she had a family when he tried to make sure she was dead and would disappear forever. Didn’t that make it better? If you kill someone that no one loves does that somehow make everything right? She didn’t know, but all the questions were driving her crazy.

Xander turned around, and the bullet holes in his chest were apparent.

“He shot you,” she screamed. She was off the couch and pulling him by his hand to sit down. Then she ran to the door and started screaming that she needed help. Cait was coming down the street, so she motioned for her like a crazy person.

“Cait’s coming, she will make sure you’re alright.” She was petting his arm and hand and gently hugging him. Any thought of running away because he was a monster was long gone. Right now, he needed her help, and she was going to save him like he saved her.

“Thing two shot Xander.” She told Cait when she entered the apartment.

“Thing two? Never mind tell me later.” She opened an old-fashioned doctor's bag and began to examine Xander.

“Saffron, I need you to find me an extra sheet to lay on the floor.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“Xander, the bullets have to come out.”

“I know. I’m trying to help them move upward, but one seems to be stuck.”

She looked deeper it was lodged between two bones.

“Here’s the sheet.”

“Thanks, move the coffee table and lay it out there.”

“Why do you need a sheet?”

“The bullets have to come out.”

“No, wait. Why aren’t you taking him to the hospital?”

“We don’t have one, but more importantly; he has a bullet stuck, and if we move him, there’s no telling where it may go or what damage it may cause.”

“What can I do? Is there something I can get from your office? Should I go find the other doctor?”

The thought of Cait operating on Xander on the floor was messing with her head. Maybe it was just how they did things as long as he lived she wouldn’t complain.

“There’s nothing you can do. I think it would be better if you went and waited in the club. Caden will escort you.”

“I’m not going anywhere. You’re operating in an apartment, and you want me to leave like this is a sterile environment?” She went and knelt by Xander taking his hand.

His eyes were half closed. “Xander, how do you feel?”

She hated that question and wasn’t happy with herself that she asked it. How did she expect him to feel?

“Better because you are safe. I scared you, sorry.”

“No, you saved my life. I wouldn’t be here if those five bullets hit me. Thank you.”

Now she really was crying, and her tears fell on his face. He caught one on his finger tip.

“These are special I’ll always keep them safe.”

“Saffron,” Cait called her taking her attention away from Xander.

“I have to get those bullets, and I can’t use anything to knock him out.”

“What do you mean? That’s cruel.”

“The ones that made us are cruel. I can knock him out with the brand of alcohol we make ourselves. Normally, I would, but since he just changed forms and all that is on his mind is your safety, I need him awake to realize you're alive. A drunk werewolf waking up in the middle of surgery and going on a rampage over his mate is not how I want to die.”

“Then I guess I’ll be right here holding his hand.”

“Humans.”

“Funny I was thinking the same about you.”

Saffron got up while Cait was getting her instruments together. She went to the kitchen and put on a pot of water to boil before heading to the bedroom to retrieve a pillow. She placed it under his head and then went to the bathroom where she found white towels.

“I don’t know what it is about white towels, but they make us happy when people are sick. I think it’s because we know the coloring won’t seep into their bodies and cause reactions.”

She went back and got the water and placed it on a towel next to Cait. “To help with sterilization.”

Saffron knelt next to Xander and took his hand.

“You would make a great nurse. On the battlefield, we didn’t have anyone to care about our comfort.” She held up an instrument and then sat it down and began to open him up.

“You can’t just pull out the bullet?”

“No.” She held up the instrument again. “Do you see the red shadow on his chest?”

“Yes.”

“That’s where the bullet is lodged. He has two small bones in his chest here.” She pointed to the location. “If I break one, he will die. So, I must pull it out in one piece without hurting him. I need to open him up so I can see the bullet.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“If you hold the Pulso that would help.”

Saffron took it from her and held it steady. She could see the cut that Cait was making showed up red as well.

“I’m going to go in. Keep the Pulso steady, as long as I can see the bullet, I should be able to get it out.”

Saffron bit her lip but didn’t reply. She wanted all Cait’s attention on Xander. Cait took a long instrument and placed it inside. She watched as she very carefully maneuvered it until it was touching the bullet. Then she touched the first bone and the second one.

“Here is one of the secrets we guard. If one of those bones is broken our heart shuts down. They're connected. I believe it was a failsafe, a way to easily dispose of us if our creators decided they no longer needed us. Fortunately, you can only break them by being inside of our body. Alright, here we go.”

She touched the bullet again and then moved back to grasp it. The bullet was firmly entrenched and didn’t budge when she pulled at it. She tugged at it again; nothing happened.

Xander opened his eyes and looked at Saffron.

“Wild cat, I’m glad I got to know you.”

“No, we’re not doing this. You don’t get to leave me after killing for me. You saved me. I’m yours, so you have to live.” Her throat was too tight, and her brain hurt too much to make a real argument, but she meant every word she was saying.

“What has to happen Cait?”

“The bullet had not only speed and momentum, but it also had heat. I need to heat it up and slip it from between his bones, can you do that?”

Of course, she couldn’t do that. What did they think she was a toaster oven? Her fingers tingled. It had been happening since she came to the compound, but she ignored it. Now they burned. She put the Pulso down so she could look at her hand. It felt like it was on fire.

Do it now. You don’t have a lot of power yet. The alien in her head who had been silent was urging her.

This is stupid she fired back.

“Cait can you hold the Pulso?”

She picked it up and showed her the bullet, and the instrument wrapped around it. Saffron took her hand and laid it on Xander’s chest until it felt red hot. Then she pressed two fingers over the bullet and concentrated on pouring heat into it.

“The bullets changing shape. Try to pull it out.” Cait told her in a voice that sounded like she just found the secret to long life.

Saffron took the instrument into her other hand and began to pull.

“Do it slower, that’s it, you got it out now pull it out of his body.”

Saffron took her hand away from his chest and pulled the bullet out handing it to Cait. Then she laid down next to Xander totally wiped out.

“Sleep I got the rest.”