le Phe

ors of the Savage Pack Medical Center, my feet leaving str

each and antiseptic stung my nostrils, mixed with the fai

mergency prep room. Thick leather straps clicked around my wris

art, his arms crossed over his chest, watchi

eedles and thick vacuum blood bags. When she saw my sunken cheeks, the deep bruising

depressed. Her blood pressure is plummeting, and without an inner wolf to accelerate bone

ain surgical suite dying of silver shock! If you delay this extraction by another thirty

hands shaking as she t

the leather restraints, pulling with eve

ts, reopening the scabs and sending fresh blood dripping

d, my vocal cords burning. "I am a citizen of

etween his thumb and forefinger, sque

ath hot against my cheek. "You are an unshifted defect. Giving your blood to sav

ling in my mouth and spa

uze pad from the tray, calmly wiped the blood f

u want your official Freedom Contract. You want your name strippe

d at him through narrowed e

d, tapping the leather armrest. "If you do, once your mandatory parole observation period ends next week

hund

that much blood in a single sitting was near-lethal.

I refused, they would simply sedate me and take even more.

my eyes and letting my head fall back agai

e nurse's should

my left elbow. A sharp, cold sting tore through my ar

lastic tubing, filling the first four-hun

from my fingertips toward my chest. My vision narrowed into a dark tunnel, t

taste revived my senses, forcing myself to sta

l bag and yanked the needle from my vein, my

out their support, I slid off the chair

he two warm blood bags by their plastic handles and

but before she could reach out a hand

agged myself upright. My knees shook violentl

all and pulled myself out into the wide, quiet

the private recovery suites. When he heard my uneven footsteps, he stoppe

aching out his arms. "How much blood