The anesthesia should have kept me under, but the tumor’s location made this surgery different. They had to wake me up halfway through–something about needing me conscious for the delicate part.
It was a procedure only two people in the world could perform: Soren and his mentor. But his mentor was overseas, making Soren the only surgeon in the northern territories capable of saving my life
When he entered the OR, his eyes found my pale face on the operating table. I watched something flicker across his features–pain, maybe? Fear?||
He knew the tumor was a side effect of the wolf bone bracelet’s curse. But after nearly three years, he wasn’t about to stop now. Not when Ophelia was so close to waking up
He leaned down, his voice barely a whisper against my ear: “Hold on Kaela. Em going to save you. Twenty more days until our mating ceremony–everything will go back to normal after that.”
1 couldn’t respond, but I heard every word. Something in his tone made me think he was trying to convince himself as much as me.
For the first time in his career, he looked genuinely afraid of losing a patient. For the first time, maybe he understood what families went through in these waiting rooms
His voice came out steady despite the tremor in his hands: “Begin craniotomy.”
We were forty minutes into the most critical phase when a nurse burst through the OR doors
“Dr. Blackvein! The Virethorn patient–she’s-“||
Before she could finish, Soren dropped his surgical instruments and stepped back from the table]
“Dr. Blackvein!” His surgical resident’s voice cracked with panic. “The procedure isn’t complete. If we don’t remove the tumor and close the skull soon. the patient will die.”
Soren froze. his gaze locked on my exposed brain. I could see the war playing out behind his eyes–duty versus desire, medical ethics versus personal obsession.
His hands shook violently as he stripped off his gloves. “Ophelia’s condition is critical She’s also my patient. Keep everything sterile–F’ll be right back.” And then he was gone, following the nurse out of the OR without a backward glance
The words hit me like a physical blow. Even with my skull open on the operating table, everas my life hung by a thread, I still came second to her. I tried to speak, to call him back, but only air escaped my lips.
That’s when I realized the most devastating part: I wanted to cry, but no tears would come. I’d finally reached the bottom of whatever pit I’d been falling into for three years
The surgical resident met my eyes, and I saw pity there. Heal, genuine sympathy that somehow hurt worse than Soren’s abandonment
“Don’t1
I worry,” he said gently. “Dr. Blackvein will be back soon. He’s the best neurosurgeon in the territories–if he says you’ll be okay, you will be.“]
y entire
Minutes crawled by. The anesthesia was wearing off, and the exposed nerve endings in my brain began sending signals of agony through my body. What started as a dull are became fire, then evolved into something beyond description]
I bit down on the mouth guard they’d given me tasting blood as wave after wave of pain crashed over me.
Forty minates
passed. The resident kept glancing at the door, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool OR temperature
“We need to close,” he finally told the surgical team. “The patient can’t take much more of this.“[
That’s when the doors burst open again, and every person in that room turned toward the entrance with desperate hope
