Page 101 of Savage Reign

“Should she be here?” Killian asked.

I scowled at him. “I’m not so delicate that I might pass out over the sight of a little blood.”

“Don’t know about thelittlepart, firecracker,” Killian responded.

Maverick spoke up then. “She’s staying. Let’s get this done and over with so Mila can go to bed.”

Killian grumbled something under his breath that I didn’t hear before opening the kit and turning to Maverick.

“Take off your jacket and shirt.”

Maverick pulled away from me to do as Killian asked, and I nearly protested, not wanting him so far away. Silas looked at me carefully, and I worked hard to control my expression. The last thing I needed was for them to tell me again that I shouldn’t be here. Or that I couldn’t handle it.

I looked away from him as he walked to the bathroom and then back to Maverick just as he pushed the white button-up shirt off his shoulders, revealing golden-tan skin—golden-tan skin that was currently covered in blood on one side.

I sucked in a sharp breath. I couldn’t even tell what the injury looked like, considering how much blood was there. “Are you sure he hasn’t lost too much blood?” I asked Killian.

Maverick answered me, “I haven’t lost too much blood. I still feel fine.”

He would have said he was fine even if he was bleeding out on the floor. That didn’t tell me anything. I turned to Killian.

“I don’t think so,” Killian answered me.

Not reassuring, but I nodded.

Silas returned then, a small bucket of water in one hand and several clean towels in the other. He set the bucket down on the floor and began to wet a couple of the towels, handing one over to me once he wrung it out. I grabbed it and began to clean Maverick. It took some time, but at least he wasn’t bleeding anymore. I winced as I tried to remove a bit of the dried blood surrounding the cut while Maverick was as still as a statue.

“Does this hurt?” I asked.

He shook his head.

Silas gave me a dry towel when I was finally able to get most of the blood away. And the more I revealed, the more I wanted to cry. The cut was a long vertical line from close to his armpit and straight down to near his hip bone. It was close to where his feather tattoo was, and touching it toward the end.

What could have caused a wound like this?

I moved away slightly when Killian bent down to get a closer look. “This needs stitching. I can do it, but there’s no numbing cream. We can call Dr. Lee?”

Maverick was already shaking his head before Killian finished. “Just stitch me up.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “It doesn’t make you a wimp to want the doctor to come by.”

Maverick smiled a little at me. “I’ll be fine. Why don’t you hold my hand while Killian stitches me up, yeah?”

I nodded, grabbing hold of his hand with both my own. “Yeah. I can do that.”

“Good. I’m sure I can withstand the worst imaginable pain possible with you holding my hand. What’s a mere stitching?”

I pouted. “Be serious.”

Maverick squeezed my hand. “I am.”

“Let’s get this started,” Killian said gruffly.

I bit the inside of my cheek as I watched Killian prepare. He had some of the same tools he had used when he tracked me. I turned away and buried my face into Maverick’s shoulder. The sight of it just reminded me of a memory I’d much rather not think about.

I peeked one eye open just as the needle pierced Maverick’s skin. I don’t think he even flinched from that. I did though.

I bit my lip and watched for a few minutes as Killian worked before it all got to be too much, and I looked away. Silas sat down on the bed next to me and silently rubbed my back.

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