Chapter 40

• When things finally settled down, Calum stood back, wrestling with his own personal demons. It had been hard to stand back and watch Shaelan touch other men, even though he knew they needed her help. Her gentle looks in his direction was the only thing that prevented him from going full berserker mode. He needed to get a better handle on this if he was going to make it, and he didn’t want to be arguing with his mate every other day.
• It had taken a good hour, maybe more, for Nona and Shaelan to get Chad patched up and comfortable. As strong as his new-found abhorrence to sedatives was, he knew the longer they kept Chad drugged, the easier it would be on him. Over one hundred stitches, Nona had counted, they had put into him. He was too weak and swollen for her to clear him to shift, because until the swelling went down she didn’t know the full extent of his injuries. That, and she was afraid in his debilitated state he’d get stuck halfway through a shift and be stuck that way. He couldn’t even imagine that. There was man and cat, no pausing in-between. Eyes, sure or some claws from time to time, but half-shift. Damn. As he stood there helplessly as the women tried to help Chad as best they could, Calum decided then that Jerome deserved no mercy.
• Marc and Dale both had cuts and bruises all over, open sores from the cuffs and collars. Sitting on the cold floor that long hadn’t done them any favors either, but Nona expected in a few days they’d be running again. Both were going to be okay, physically at least. Marc was always going to have that scar to remind him, but he supposed the mental ones were much worse. Hell, he hadn’t gone through anything similar to what they had, but a man being chained like that… it left its mark, where no one could ever see.