“Okay, Jon Snow.”
Abby laughs. “Let me know if you need anything or if his stitches come undone. His muscle tore, too. If he moves the wrong way or exerts himself too much, it will easily tear open.”
“That’s what I told him last night,” I mumble.
“Wait, you two hooked up last night? After everything that went on?”
“It was this morning, and yes. Though he’s more or less okay. He’s making me breakfast now.”
“Are you sure he’s real?”
Now I laugh, but my laughter quickly fades. Lucas is everything I could ever want. And the reality of losing him is all too real.
“Thank you, Abby,” I say sincerely. “For helping last night. I’ll order you a new blanket and towels today.”
“Don’t worry about it, Cal. It’ll give me an excuse to go shopping.”
“I still feel bad for making you have to go out and buy stuff. I can pay you back for what you buy.”
“Normally I feel like an ass if I say this, but remember that Phil and I are both doctors. I can handle a little shopping.”
“Oh, right. I did forget you’re loaded.”
“Loaded might be pushing it. We just paid off Phil’s student loans last year.”
“I forgot about that, too.”
“That just made me wonder something,” she starts. “You went to a school for witches. How did you pay for it? Or do you not have to pay?”
“You pay. I’m not sure what the tuition is, but it’s more affordable than the average private school. Tabatha covered all my costs since I was ten when she took me in. She bought me everything, from school supplies to clothes.”
“There’s so much about you I don’t know.”
“Same about you. I didn’t know you had a C-section,” I tell her.
“Oh, right. I was in labor for twenty-three hours and then had an emergency C-section.”
“That sounds awful.”
“It was,” she says honestly. “But not so bad I don’t want to go it again in a few years.”
“That’s good.” I turn and look back into the kitchen, watching Lucas cook the sausage. “Well, I should go and try to get ahold of Evander. I’ll call you later.”
“Please do. Love you, Cal.”
“Love you, too.” I end the call and call Evander as I walk into the kitchen. It goes right to his voicemail, which means he’s at the Academy. I leave him a quick message and then send him a text, asking him to call me back.
I try Kristy next, and her phone goes right to voicemail, too. She hangs out at the Academy from time to time, and if she can get my message before she’s too far away from the Covenstead door, then maybe she can turn around and tell Evander I need to talk to him.
“I can take over,” I tell Lucas, worried he’s going to overdo it.
“I like cooking for you. The way I see it, you feed me, so I should feed you,” he tells me, and Eliza makes a gagging noise from the living room.
“I like when you cook for me, too.” I stand behind him and go to wrap my arms around his waist but stop, not wanting to touch the stitches. “I’m going to get more healing balm. It might not work anymore, but it won’t hurt.”
Lucas sighs but nods. I give him a quick kiss and go upstairs, getting the healing balm and a large piece of gauze to put over it so the balm won’t get on the inside of his shirt.
Once the balm is applied, the gravy is slowly simmering on the stove, and Lucas is sitting at the island counter, I try Evander again.
And get his voicemail.
I call Kristy and don’t get ahold of her, either. I know Tabatha will be at the Covenstead, but I try her, too. Every minute counts, and I look at Lucas, knowing that curse is like a ticking time bomb. Will we know if the binding spell breaks? Or will we only find out once his symptoms worsen past the point of no return?
The timer on the oven goes off, and I jump up before Lucas has a chance to. I get the biscuits out of the oven, stir the gravy, and get out a bowl. The gravy needs another few minutes to simmer, and I break apart hot biscuits while I wait, anxiously looking at my phone and hoping it will ring.
I take my food into the living room, and Eliza pesters Lucas to drink another bag of blood in hopes it will help him heal. He keeps telling her he’s not hungry since he had more of my blood last night, but she refuses to believe that my blood can be more filling than human blood. I’m about ready to tell her to scratch me and try my blood just so she’ll shut up, but my phone rings.
I practically throw my bowl to the side as I reach for it, grabbing it off the coffee table. But it’s not my friends.