Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Yakov knew she didn’t care about the scar itself; she cared about what the state of it said of her injury. He cared about the scar—because every time he looked at the jagged slash in her throat, it reminded him of the horror of almost losing her.
Now she said, “I’ll get it removed as soon as Nova says it’s healed enough for the procedure.” One side of her face a patchwork of black bruises under a healing mesh, but the blue of her gaze tender. “Until then, I’ll take up wearing turtlenecks.”
Lifting her hand to his lips, he pressed a kiss on it. He was still having trouble speaking, his mind awash with the final images he’d seen before the world had gone dark. Blood, so much fucking blood.
“I’m alive because we changed the future,” she reminded him, her voice husky from the strain of her wound, and when he scowled, said, “We did. I always died in your dreams. But I’m not dead today.”
“Too close,” he gritted out. “She should’ve never got to your throat.”
“Yashin’ka.” A coaxing tone with a thread of steel as his Theo used his name in a way intimate and affectionate. “We can only control our decisions, no one else’s. Don’t be a stubborn bear and refuse to accept that we altered the trajectory of my certain death to almost-death. Big difference.”
He scowled at her. “Are you sure you’re not a bear under the skin? You sound smartass enough.”
A grin that was his sun. “Ouch.” She patted with utmost gentleness at the side of her face overlaid with the glow of the healing mesh and attendant gel.
“I need to hold my energy in reserve for any other emergencies,” a tired Nova had said while Theo was unconscious, her usually perfectly set hair bedraggled and pulled back in a haphazard fashion. “Mesh takes longer but will heal her cheekbone fine.”
Having witnessed the fury with which Nova had worked on Theo, Yakov had just hugged her until she’d squeaked. He’d always loved StoneWater’s healer, but now he fucking worshipped her.
“Stop touching that,” he ordered. “Or I’ll tattle to Nova.”
Theo narrowed her eyes—but dropped her hand. Because even his pchelka knew not to push their healer. Nova had once put Valentin himself on bed rest, then dared him to fight her when he protested.
Needless to say, Valya had stayed put—while sulking.
And his obedience hadn’t been because Nova was one of the alpha’s big sisters. It was because she was their healer, with the attendant power behind it.
“Am I interrupting a lover’s quarrel?” A mock whisper from the doorway.
It wasn’t the first time Pavel had dropped by. The rest of their family, as well as Arwen, had come for a quick visit to reassure themselves he and Theo were both fine, then ceded visiting rights to Pasha, since Nova had made it clear she did not want guests “riling up” her patients.
A bear healer had to have a firm hand—and a big stick.
Nova’s stick was the sweetness of her temper. Calm was never so fucking terrifying as on the StoneWater healer.
“You want to tell me how we ended up here, bro?” Yakov asked him. “I’ve got no memory of anything after I detonated the aural bomb.”
His twin, who’d squeezed the life out of Yakov on his first visit, his heart thumping like a drum and his breathing unsteady, then kissed Theo gently on the mouth with her smiling consent, was in a more composed frame of mind this time.
Grabbing the chair he’d left at the end of the bed, he spun it around and straddled it. “Right, so I went down like a sack of bricks—”
“Wait.” Theo’s voice. “You felt it?” A wonder in her tone that made Yakov want to cuddle her. “I didn’t know changeling twins could do that.”
“Yeah,” Pavel said with a grin. “Not like Psy telepathy, but Yasha and I’ve always known when the other one is in trouble. I first got a glimmer of it a bit earlier, tried to track you down via your phones and the car, and couldn’t. I’d said fuck it and was just going to go with my gut and drive to the facility when”—he spread his hands outward from his head—“my head went boom.”
“Back when we were cubs,” Yakov added, “they once had to put my arm in a sling after Pasha broke his, because I was in so much pain. Our mother still has a photo of the two of us bandaged up side by side, Pasha’s other arm around my shoulders.”
“Arwen loves that photo so much he asked for a copy.” Pavel’s smile went tender and soft for a moment. “Right, where was I? So, I crashed, then Valya felt you go down through the alpha-second bond.” A nod at Yakov. “He’d already been trying to get through to Krychek, but the man wasn’t picking up, so Valya got ahold of Silver and she touched base with Krychek through the Net and asked for his help.”