Chapter 546 Chapter 546
Standing up, she grabbed a few more towels and wrapped one around his neck, but not too tight. She rolled him gently on his back and set the other towel under his head, she placed the first aid kit on his chest. Despite him being part of the Tomas organization, she still apologized in her head when she lifted his feet and started to drag him out of the bathroom. Pausing, she dropped her phone on his chest and started backing up across the room. “How do I go about cauterizing?”
She reached the stove and positioned him close so she could reach both him and the blade she would heat. Glancing around, she spotted an oven mitt in the kitchen and jogged over and grabbed it. She didn’t have time to shift and heal any injuries caused by stupidity.
Pulling her knife from her ankle, she set it on the wood stove's edge and knelt to check the bleeding. “Heating the blade now.”
She unwrapped his neck and saw it was still oozing blood. Putting the towel back over, she held it in place as she moved her phone and the first aid kit from his chest so she could roll him onto his side.
“The blade is going to have to be close to red hot,” Kenzo told her. “Doctor says roughly five seconds to seal it.”
“And that will seal it inside and out?” If something went wrong with how she did this, she would be responsible for losing the biggest lead to date in stopping Aiden Tomas and all his sicko buddies.
“He says it should.”
‘Should’ was not a comforting word right now.
“Is there some kind of antibiotic ointment or salve in the first aid kit?”
Reaching over, she flipped it upside down so all of the contents spilled onto the floor. She picked up a tube and read the label, “yeah.”
“After, put that on it and try not to cover it up unless necessary.” Kenzo cleared his throat, “was he trying to take off?”
“Boss, I don’t think he has any intentions of taking off or going back there.” Blaise looked over at the cage he’d been in for days, “I think he just wanted out to move around. Those pills wearing off has been making him really restless.”
“Oh? How can you be sure?”
She glanced at the blade and wondered how long red hot took. “He’s been writing down details,” she glanced down at him, “that will save us a lot of guesswork. If he planned to take off, why would he tell us?”
“Interesting.”
“He marked locations on the map too…”
“How’s his pulse? Did he pass out from loss of blood, or did he faint?”
She checked his pulse again. It wasn’t the strongest, but it was still enough she felt a little of the panic ease. “I can’t be sure, boss. Pulse is decent enough.”
“Okay, good. How’s the blade?”
Rising to her knees, she looked at it. How the hell was she supposed to check it?
“Rinse the area before you seal it.”
She quirked an eyebrow at the phone. “Right.” Cursing in her head, she rose , bolted for the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water off the counter, and slid back beside him. Holding the towel in place, she wrestled the lid off with her teeth and then paused. “When you come to, I’m kicking you in the ass.” She mumbled. Setting the water down, she put on the mitt, using her teeth to pull her hand all the way on it. Picking up the knife, she dipped her finger into the water and flicked it at the blade. It hissed on contact. She put the blade back on the stove and nodded, looking down at him. “Doing it now.” She hoped the blade was hot enough because doing this more than once was not happening.
Moving the towel, she picked up the water with the hand in the oven mitt and poured it over the site. Setting it down, she grabbed the knife and then huffed out a few breaths to build up the courage to do it. She pressed the knife against his skin and winced for him. One. The sound of searing flesh, combined with the smell, made her want to puke. Two. She was definitely kicking his ass later. Three. Four. She blew out a breath again. Five. Pulling the knife away, she set it on the bricks around the stove. The wound looked worse than it had oozing blood, but it appeared to be sealed. “Okay, I think it’s closed.” Her shoulders slumped slightly.
“Get the ointment on it and get him back in the cage.” She could hear other voices in the background. “Check for the tracker where he did it, just in case he got it out. I can’t tell you how big it is, because X-rays were never done.”
She lifted an eyebrow and opened the tube up. Her hands were red with his blood. The areas dry were dark now. She clamped her jaw together and then put the ointment on very carefully. He was an idiot, but something that angry looking deserved a little tenderness. At least until he was awake again and then she planned to press her knuckles into it, as payback for putting her through this.
“Keep whatever he’s writing in a safe place. Call when he’s conscious. I’m going to reach out to Uri and see what’s going on with the one he was sending your way. I still think Tomas is going to keep looking until he finds him.”
She nodded. “I’d appreciate a little surveillance on my location.”
“As soon as he is conscious, get some liquids into him to help replenish the blood loss. You did good, Blaise.”
“I’ll call when he’s awake.” She didn’t wait for any touching goodbyes, just reached over and hung up her phone. Pushing back from him, she sat on the floor a few feet away and studied him. “This can’t be real,” She whispered, “Because I haven’t already been handed a shitty deal,” she looked at the darkly pigmented skin on her arm, “now this.” She lifted her hand to her nose and inhaled. The blood had dried, and she couldn’t be sure. Crawling over, she leaned close to his chest and took a slow breath. His scent hit her like a smack in the face, causing her to bolt upright and then get to her feet. Her mate was the half-brother of the man she wanted to see on the ground with a blade sticking out of his heart. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked at the floor. What the hell was she going to do about it?
Blaise stood with her arms crossed over her chest and her nose an inch from the wire, staring at him. He was still out. How long until he’d wake up? Should she be worried? Having already gone inside the cage three times and checked his pulse and the burn on his neck, she was beyond annoyed with herself. She had a mate. For whatever lack of reasoning, she had always thought that because she was a mixed breed, there wouldn’t be a fated one out there for her. Yet, there he was, unconscious on the floor a few feet from her.
Her mate was not only half-human, he was related to the family that had been hunting shifters for the last century, maybe longer, she wasn’t into the history part of it. Obviously, in some past life, she had done some serious wrongs that she was paying for in this life.
If she was smart, she would get the hell out of here and never look back. She might have if it weren’t for Kenzo and the Alliance. She’d never quit an assignment, or any task given to her and now was not the time to start. Especially with the weather the way it was, getting someone else here would be impossible.
Taking a deep breath, she blew it out slowly and reached for her cat. It was odd how quiet she’d been since she had inhaled Griffin’s scent. Her animal was there, in a very watchful state. Why? Why wasn’t she giving her opinions? Her animal was always free giving with her thoughts and feelings about things.
Stepping back, she turned and went over to the table. She wasn’t going to check on him again tonight. She needed to grab a few minutes of sleep, or she was going to start losing it. Dropping down into the chair, she kicked her feet up on the table. Hissing out a breath, she got up and went over to the chair by the stove. If she sat in the other one, she’d spend the rest of the night staring at him like some kind of fool wishing for shit that could never be.
As soon as the storm let up, she would ask Kenzo to trade assignments. One of the guys watching him would be better. When he set a replacement, she would go take the information Griffin had written down to her team leader or the prince—anyone that would get her away from him.