Bound to Shadows (Riley Jenson Guardian 8)

"Numb?" His expression deepened to worry. "That happened fast. "

"As I said, I'm extremely sensitive. "

He grunted and carefully pressed open the sides of the wound with his free hand. Blood poured out over his fingertips and started dripping on the floor. Thanks to the numbness it didn't actually hurt, but something inside of me trembled anyway.

"I can't see a goddamn thing through the blood," he muttered.

He carefully pressed the tweezers into the wound anyway, driving them down into my flesh.

"You're going to have to tell me when I hit the bullet. "

He dug deeper and hit it. Only gently, but it felt like he was driving a red-hot poker deeper into my flesh. I just about jumped through the roof, and sweat popped out across my forehead as my breathing became short, sharp gasps.

So much for the wound being numb.

"Meaning I've hit it," he commented. "Hang on hard to something and try not to move. "

If I gripped the arms of the chair any tighter, I'd fucking shatter them. And the damn things were metal.

The bullet moved again. Heat flashed, white hot, through my muscles and nausea rose thick and fast. I swallowed heavily and closed my eyes, hoping that not watching would make me less aware.

It didn't.

I felt every inch of the bullet's journey upward. Felt it when his grip slipped and the bullet fell back into my flesh. Sweat dripped from my forehead and ran in rivers down my back, and bile rose so fast it took all of my control not to vomit on his shoes.

Then the heat was gone and Harris was holding up the tweezers with the bloody bullet clamped firmly between its jaws.

"Done," he said. "But you need to change to stop the bleeding. "

"Thanks. " I rolled out of the chair and reached for the shifting magic, instinctively calling to my wolf rather than the seagull.

There was no hesitation, no pain, this time. Just a surge of power that swept through my body, numbing and reshaping my body, until what stood there was wolf rather than human. I stayed in her form for several seconds, simply enjoying the feel of her, then, somewhat reluctantly, shifted back. The wound was nowhere near healed, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

Harris closed the first aid kit then put the bloody tweezers and scissors into a plastic bag. "What now?"

"Well, the vamp has proven capable of getting past the nanowire and controlling Benny, so our first order of business is to get him contained. And Evin's waiting outside in the car for an all-clear, so we need to bring him in. "

He raised an eyebrow. "Why is he outside?"

"Because I knew something was wrong the minute we pulled up. I'm used to dealing with vamps. He's not. " I shrugged. "I was simply keeping him safe. "

"Given the vamp is injured but telepathically unrestrained, how safe would it be to bring him within range?"

"With the silver out of my leg, I'll be able to protect him. "

I said it with more assurance than I felt, but Harris didn't seem to notice. He pushed away from the bench and moved toward the front door.

"I thought you suspected him of being a fake brother and connected to the evil plot surrounding you?"

"He is a fake, but he's not willingly connected to the machinations. "

"Meaning you've unraveled more clues?"

"I certainly have. " And some of them he wasn't going to like.

He opened the front door and waved Evin in, then walked across to Benny and squatted down beside him. He pressed his fingers against the side of his neck, then gave a slight nod. "His pulse is steady, but his nose will be mighty sore when he wakes. "

There wasn't much I could say to that, so I didn't say anything.