The boat reached them and got the injured back to Miami, while some stayed with the cargo ship to complete the delivery.
I picked them up and brought them back to the apartment, where Emilia assessed each of them with a frown.
“Can you shift?”
Javier closed his eyes and immediately dropped to all fours, his wolf taking his place in an instant.
“Good, you should be able to heal quicker.” She moved on to Derek, who shook his head. She hissed at the wound on his chest. “Is that a gunshot?”
“Just a graze. It didn’t go through.” His hands trembled.
She led him to the couch where she had supplies waiting to clean away the blood while I pulled Cruz to the side.
“What about you?”
He lifted his right arm, exposing a nasty gash on his ribs. “Burns like a motherfucker.”
I leaned down and sniffed, immediately gagging. “It’s causing necrosis.”
“Clean it out with this.” Emilia threw a bottle I was only able to catch with my super speed.
I poured the purple liquid over the wound as Cruz let out a streak of curses.
“Come over here,” she called. “He can take some pain relievers until he can shift.”
“Why can’t they?” I asked as I helped him drop down.
She pursed her lips. “Sometimes when the body goes into shock, it can prevent it.”
“I’ve been shot, stabbed, broken, inches from death, and still able to shift,” I argued. This didn’t make sense to me.
“Their wolves knew it wasn’t safe for them. Now that we’ve started the healing process and their minds and bodies can relax, they’ll be able to soon.” She gestured to Cruz. “Take those pills and lie down.”
He obeyed, and within a few minutes, he was asleep. His wolf took his place.
“You’re strangely good at this.” Derek broke the silence as he watched her stitch his skin closed.
She pulled back and lifted her shirt a few inches.
“I was shot here.” She pointed to a spot to the left of her belly button, then dropped the fabric and pointed to her right shoulder. “And here. Both times, I couldn’t get back to the Pack lands, and I was on my own. I found first aid supplies and sewed myself up.”
“That sucks,” he slurred as the medicine finally kicked in.
“It did.” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. “But it sucks worse that the scars disappeared.”
“Like it never happened.”
I understood. I hated each time my body healed and removed all the proof of what I survived.
The corners of her lips twitched. “No one else has ever gotten that.”
“Because why would you want an ugly scar?”
She nodded. “Plus, it would make it fairly hard for me to explain on my missions. A girl like me shouldn’t be getting stabbed or shot.”
“No, better to appear perfect.”
Derek let out a snore, then his wolf appeared. She smiled at him before standing and starting to clean. I helped her, neither of us speaking, still processing.