Chapter 56

FIFTY-SIX

T he medical wing hummed with controlled chaos as they arrived. Talon felt every spike of pain as Bennett’s team worked on Asher’s shoulder. His dragon paced restlessly, wanting to snatch her away from anything causing discomfort.

“Your scales are showing,” she murmured, reaching for his hand despite the medical team’s protests. “I’m fine. Just slightly perforated.”

“Slightly?” He growled as Bennett revealed the full extent of the wound. “He drove cold iron through your shoulder.”

“And I crashed his evil genetics program. I’d call that a fair trade.” She squeezed his fingers as Bennett began cleaning the injury. “Besides, some of us can’t solve every problem by hitting it really hard.”

“Says the woman who overloaded a quantum device out of spite.”

“That was strategic application of chaos theory.” Her attempt at dignity dissolved into a hiss of pain as Bennett applied some kind of ancient healing paste. “Okay, and maybe a little spite.”

From the next treatment bay, Lori’s voice drifted over. “Are they doing the whole banter-through-near-death-experience thing again?”

“Always,” Levi answered, his tone fond despite the lingering worry. “Though you’re one to talk. You coded a virus while bleeding.”

“Multitasking is an important skill set.”

Asher’s laugh turned into a groan as Bennett hit a particularly sensitive spot. Talon’s wings manifested fully, his dragon demanding to protect her from further pain.

“I need to check the corruption’s spread,” Bennett said, reaching for her shirt.

Talon’s growl shook the walls. Bennett rolled his eyes. “Unless you’d prefer I let the residual cold iron poison her slowly?”

“It’s fine,” Asher soothed, though electricity crackled along her skin. “Though I feel compelled to point out that ‘slowly poison’ is a bit dramatic. I prefer ‘gradual systematic breakdown of hybrid cellular structure.’“

“Not helping,” Talon gritted out.

The black veins had receded from her chest, but angry red lines still traced the poison’s path. Bennett prodded one carefully, making Asher flinch.

“Fascinating,” he muttered. “The mate bond seems to have altered the cold iron’s typical reaction pattern. Your hybrid genetics are adapting rather than deteriorating.”

“See?” Asher brightened despite her pale complexion. “My near-death experience is providing valuable research data. We should document-”

“No.” Talon’s voice held no room for argument. “No documentation. No experiments. No using yourself as a test subject.”

“But the applications for other hybrids-”

“Can wait until you’re not actively bleeding.”

She pouted, which shouldn’t have been adorable given the circumstances. “You’re being unreasonable.”

“You died.” His voice roughened on the words. “Your heart stopped. I felt you...” He broke off, scales rippling across his skin as the memory hit fresh.

Asher’s expression softened. She reached up to trace the scales along his jaw, electricity sparking between them. “Hey. I’m alive. Slightly malfunctioning, but definitely here.”

“Malfunctioning?” His laugh held a desperate edge. “You make it sound like a computer glitch.”

“Well, from a purely scientific perspective, cellular degradation due to magical heavy metal poisoning could be considered a system failure-”