Enter the Shadows (1st Edition) [SAMPLE]

Those Red Eyes - 2 | iii

Lochlan stood holding the knife in his hand, knowing what he had to do and dreading it. The flesh around the claw marks had festered turning a sickly black. It smelled like dying flesh. He had to remove it. All of it. That meant skinning eighty percent of her back. That percent rose with every minute he stood there unable to get it done. Penny was still unconscious and would remain so until he woke her. To be sure she would feel none of it, he sent her into a deeper sleep. A kind of a coma.

Taking his time and being thorough he removed every inch of infected flesh sometimes having to take out chunks of muscles that had gone bad. There was blood everywhere as the procedure was a messy one. A tedious one that took hours. In between he had to wake her partially, feeding her his blood while holding back the pain from registering to her. It took a toll on him as well.

The process of healing would be painful. Penny would feel every muscle regenerating, her skin growing back and stretching to cover her back. As a human, she wouldn't be able to compartmentalize the pain. He kept her under unless he had to give her more blood. Even with him holding back the brunt of the pain he could see the strain on her face, the sweat breaking out on her brow when he woke to feed her. It was a necessary step, but one that pained him as well. After nine days of that, he woke her fully.

Penny woke with the side of her face nestled in a pillow. It felt like she was lying on a cloud. She tried to move, hissing when she felt the pain in her back.

"Take it easy."

Moving only her eyes, she saw Lochlan sitting on the edge of her bed. He was grinding herbs into a wooden bowl. Penny couldn't place any of the scents that swirled around her but they made her head light, in a soothing kind of way. Her eyelids were heavy and her voice slurred when she spoke.

"How many days this time?"

"Nine."

"For a little scratch and a bruised ankle. You must be losing your touch wolf man." The last time she had been broken to pieces and it had only taken three days.

Lochlan smiled at the name. "Broken bones are easier to heal than a werewolf scratch. It's poisonous to humans. I had to remove a considerable amount of skin and muscles to make sure I got all the infection out."

Her eyes flew open. She stared at him in shock.

"Don't worry, it's almost all grown back."

"Grown back?"

"I healed you."

"How'd you...?" the question came out before she asked herself if she really wanted the answer.

"With my blood," Lochlan said, keeping his eyes locked with hers. He knew the question had been a mistake on her part, but it was out and he didn't intend to lie to her. He wanted to see how she would react.

While he waited, he applied the mixture from the bowl to her back with his fingers.

"With your..." Penny paused when a memory came flooding back to her. She licked her lips, an involuntary reaction to the memory of the taste. The taste of him. Of his blood. It hadn't been abhorrent as she would have expected. Even now remembering it, laying naked with her top half exposed, with his fingers rubbing gently over her skin, she was not turned off by it. In fact, the taste was familiar. As if she had tasted it before.

The kidnapping. It wasn't the first time had fed her his blood. Why hadn't she remembered it before? Penny had mixed emotions but none of them was tainted with disgust. That was why she was so confused. Humans didn't drink blood. They got blood transfusions, yes, but that was done intravenously at hospitals by trained doctors. You didn't just drink from another person like she had. Shamefully she bit her lip. Penny was not about to admit that she liked it.

"In a few days, there won't be any scars."

He continued until the bowl was empty.

"Thank you."

He placed the bowl on the nightstand and continued to dress her back. He covered the area with a large sheet of a clear film like the one they used on burn victims. Lochlan said nothing as he worked, trying to make her comfortable. Still, she sensed that something was bothering him. Penny stopped him when he took up the empty bowl and started to leave.

"Lochlan?" 

He turned to face her.

Penny's brow knitted. "What is it?"

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Author's Note:

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