Chapter 52 The Pain Is Proof


    Henry’s POV


    Mate. Mate. I want our mate.


    Callen hadn’t stopped screaming in my head since we left the junkyard. He thrashed around like a rabid animal, demanding we forget about Aubrey and go find the powerful Alpha–level mate he was convincert belonged to us.


    Over and over–those same words. My temples throbbed from it. I had no interest in this so–called “<b>Alpha </b>mate,” so I did what had to be done. I severed the link with Callen.


    Atst silence.


    Unfortunately, our family’s wolf doctor, Xavier, had left for an errand and hadn’te back. I tried contacting him through our mental link, but either the distance was too great or he was blocking. I couldn’t reach him.


    Then I remembered Aubrey knew medicine herself. I grabbed the first–aid kit and headed toward her room<b>. </b>But the moment I reached her door, I froze.


    Damn it.


    I was just going to check on Aubrey–not my mate–so why the hell was my heart racing?


    Muttering a curse under my breath, I forced myself to calm down and knocked.


    No answer.


    That blood… what if something had happened?


    I opened the door.


    And stopped dead in my tracks.


    Clothes were scattered across the floor–her bloodstained jacket, a ck bra–trailing toward the bathroom.


    She was… showering?


    My mind betrayed me, reying that night at the banquet when she stripped in front of me to prove her


    innocence…


    I hadn’t meant <i>to </i>snap at her that night. But when I saw those marks all over her skin, my temper just exploded. I wanted to protect her–and humiliate her. It made no sense.


    Just then, the bathroom door opened.


    Aubrey stepped out, drying her hair with a towel. Her wet ck hair clung to her pale skin, making the bloody wound on her chest look even more jarring.


    But the moment her hazy, sapphire–blue eyes met mine, that injury no longer mattered.


    She looked like a sculpturee to life–every curve carved to perfection. A living Venus, cold and unapproachable.


    Chapter 52 The Pain is Proof


    Our eyes met. I jerked around, turning my back to her, bracing for a scream or a furious borburs


    But nothing came.


    When I finally nced over my shoulder, she had already wrapped herself in a towel and was sentent at thi vanity, calmly inspecting her wound.


    It was no longer bleeding, but the gash was raw and jagged, the edges peeled back. It looked brutal.


    “Since you brought it,” she said, catching my gaze in the mirror. “aren’t you going to hand it overt


    I frowned.


    That calm expression–it irritated me for reasons I couldn’t exin. I almost preferred the old Aubrey, the one who snapped and fought me at every turn. This silence felt….dead.


    Still, she was injured. I shoved aside the feeling and passed her the first–aid kit.


    She pulled on a pair of gloves and began treating her wound, but she was too rough. Blood welled up <b>again</b>. staining her pale skin with shocking red.


    Without thinking, I grabbed her wrist.


    “Can you be a little gentler?”


    My voice was low and sharp. “If you’re going to keep doing this like a butcher, I’ll get someone else to stitch it for you.”


    She blinked, surprised, and gave me a look that seemed to say, What’s it got to do with you? It’s not your body.


    But under my re, she eased up slightly. My temper cooled.


    Then she picked up the needle, preparing to stitch the wound.


    “Wait–you’re not going to numb it?”


    “There’s no anesthetic,” she said weakly.


    Right. I’d forgotten. In our house, anesthesia was considered dangerous–anything that dulled a werewolf” reflexes wasn’t allowed in our medical supplies.


    “I’ll get some,” I said, already heading out. “Just wait.”


    Aubrey’s POV


    As soon as Henry was gone, I scoffed and plunged the needle straight into my flesh.


    Pain surged like a wave, and with it came sharp, unshakable rity.


    Sometimes, I doubted all of it–the rebirth, E’s awakening, this new life. What if it was all a lie, <b>a </b>delusio I’d conjured after breaking down/in that cage? What if this was nothing but a dream?


    Only pain felt real.


    Every thread I pulled through torn flesh whispered the same truth.


    Chapter 52 The Pain Is Proof


    Pain means I’m alive.


    The more it hurts… The more real it is.


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