Julian POV
"Elder Ella is coming down from the Holy Mountain to slice you open herself," Penelope says.
Her voice hits the hospital room like a bucket of ice water.
"No!" Hazel screams.
She bolts upright in the middle of the narrow hospital bed. Her sheets fly back. The thin white cotton gown twists around her waist as she swings her legs over the mattress.
"Hazel, stay down," I say.
I reach for her shoulder, but she hits my hand away. Her palm makes a loud, wet smack against my skin. There is no tremor in her fingers. There is no weakness in her wrists. She plants her feet flat on the cold linoleum floor and stands straight up.
"I do not want the surgery!" Hazel shrieks. "Get away from me! I am going home!"
I step back. My boots click against the floor tiles.
Asher, my Lycan spir
