The Unmarked Mate

Chapter 60

James

"Sorry, the door..." started mumbling a familiar voice. Elestren chuckled when she recognized the voice as well.

"Come in Dr. Goodman!" she said in a cheery voice, with a few tears still coming down her cheeks. When he came in, we were still holding each other. He gave us the same scolding exasperated but still endeared look he gave us at his clinic.

"So Miss Warwick, bleeding from silver again?" he said in a scolding tone that held no real reproach.

"Ah you know me Doctor, I'd found any excuse to be in your care!" she joked.

"Hmm hmm, even stapling your wound shut yourself as I have heard just to be with big scary guy? Come on, lie on the bed and lift your shirt so I can see how much I'll be yelling at him later." To my surprise she didn't even try to argue and went on the bed directly.

I stood behind the doctor to see how much she was really hurt as she had downplayed it and never let me see the actual wound. Dr. Goodman didn't even bother asking me to go as he knew by now it was useless. He carefully took of the bandage. There were five staples in her stomach, luckily none of them had moved from any of our activities. But the wound was even deeper than I expected. I recalled the pain I felt when he stabbed her, how hadn't she howled out in agony, I would never know. A deep frown was now written all over the doctor's face.

"Miss Warwick how is the pain?" he inquired.

"It's manageable. It wouldn't stop bleeding earlier, that's why I used the stapler. I know my body, I knew it would help." She simply stated.

"I gather you have done this before?" he asked, but this time with more worry than reproach in his voice.

"Dr. Goodman..." she started.

"I think we're past the formalities my dear, call me Antoine, would you Elestren?" He proposed gently. Somehow I felt her relax.

"Okay Antoine. I am a messy fighter with a dislike for doctors, you know that." I chuckled recalling Orithya asking why she would always end up covered in blood each time she would fight. "I have learnt to treat my own injuries a long time ago, I have good healing abilities so it was always about just helping the process going and keeping everything clean to avoid infections." She added, it troubled me to think of her stapling more wounds shut. I thought again of her body and realized they were a few tiny scars, nothing major, nothing that would alarm me, but how many of them had she closed herself? I was now deeply frowning too.

"I presume you did all that without anaesthetic..." said Dr. Goodman in a sad voice.

"Yes, I don't like to feel numb, I was kept numb for far too long, the pain makes my wolf growl in my head if you want, it reassures me that she is still there, not silenced by wolfsbane. Besides, the pain... it's not like I'm that sensitive to it since..." she started but then she sort of realized she had said too much. She looked at me with guilt and lowered her gaze. I felt my heart clenched as the cold realization hit that all of this was not only because she was stubborn as hell, but because of the trauma. It was always deeper than I realized. I knew what that "since" implied, I knew it all to well. The month she was kept by him, the month she had been tortured and raped and whipped and tied up and unable to even defend herself if she wanted to save her friends. At this instant, I could have given anything I owned to bring that bastard back to life just for the chance to kill him again myself.

"It's okay Elestren, but I think with the dagger being silver I need to check. I'll take off the staples, clean it and sew it, so that it can leave the smallest scar possible. I won't force you to take any anaesthetic but if at any point you want something you just ask." The doctor said with an infinite gentleness. I was glad that man was here, he never forced her into anything, even if medically other choices would have made more sense because he wanted her to be on board. And she had handled it before, she could again, although from his demeanour I sensed he hated that he had to do something painful to her.