Spellbound by Fate

Thread and Blood

Janice opened her sewing kit and pulled out a small curved needle. “Luckily, I was into embroidery for a little while, so I have the perfect needle for this.” She said, holding up the curved needle. “Definitely not medical grade thread though.”

He took a deep breath and chugged the whiskey.

“Ok. Do it,” he said.

Janice took out some anesthetic wipes from the first aid kit and wiped down the wound. He cringed slightly. “This is going to be the bad part,” She said, grabbing a towel in one hand and rubbing alcohol in the other. She poured the alcohol down the wound and quickly pushed the towel over it.

Lyric let out what sounded like a growl. Janice cringed and wrinkled her nose. She was not cut out to be a nurse.

“Alright,” she said, looking over the book on the table. Now for the stitches. She had him hold the towel with his good hand while she threaded the needle.

“This is not going to look pretty,” she said.

“If I wanted pretty, I would go to the hospital. I just want to be healed enough to keep living.”

“I think I can handle that much,” She said, lifting the towel from his arm. Her hands were shaking slightly, which she knew wasn’t a good way to start. She took a deep breath, took the whiskey from the table, and took a swig to steady her nerves. Lyric raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Rest your arm here," She said, lifting it and setting it on the table. “Ok, now don’t clench any muscles; try to relax your arm as much as possible.

“That’s a difficult request," he said, clenching his teeth through the pain.

“Just do the best you can,” she said, looking into his golden eyes, and at that moment, the room stilled; it felt as if she would drown in those eyes. She could tell he was just as affected by their locked gaze. She cleared her throat and looked away, trying to focus on the task at hand instead of the butterflies in her stomach that had nothing to do with her anxiety about performing stitches.

She pulled the thread through the first time, and he clenched everything but that arm.

“Good. You’re doing good. Skin is a bit harder than cloth to sew,” she remarked.

She continued in that vein and was about halfway through when he called for a reprieve. “I need a minute,” he said, gasping for breath.

She let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding and took another swig from the whiskey bottle before handing it to him. Trixie had wandered into the room around this time and jumped onto the table to stare at the pair of them.

“Something is not right about that cat. It looks at me like a human would,” Lyric remarked.

“I know. She does have astonishing human qualities for a cat. You get used to it, though.” Janice said. “I find myself talking to her a lot because it’s like she understands me perfectly.”

One more swig, and Lyric put the whiskey down. “Ok, let's finish this.”

Janice took a deep breath and continued stitching. “Almost done,” she said, as much for her benefit as his.

When she finally finished and tied off the thread, she sighed and looked at him, the adrenaline still coursing through her.

“The book suggests leaving them in for seven days at least, then they will need to be removed.”

“Guess I’ll be back in 7 days then, Doc,” he joked.

Janice didn’t say anything. She still could hardly believe that she had just sewn up a man she hardly knew in her kitchen with a normal needle and thread. She got out bandages to put on his other, less serious wounds, including a nasty one across his forehead. She placed the butterfly bandage and then handed him an ice pack for his eye. She then wiped down his stitched arm one last time before wrapping his arm in gauze.

“Make sure you disinfect your arm every day, or it will get infected. I have no access to antibiotics, so I won’t be much help there,” she told him.

“Words can’t express my thanks to you,” he said while grabbing her arm and looking into her eyes sincerely. “I’m sorry to put you in this position, but I’m kind of a loner and don’t make friends. You are the only person I could think of, since you’re pretty much the only person I’ve spent more than an hour talking to, even if it was just about research.” He knew, though, that it wasn’t the only reason. He knew the mate bond was pulling him to her, even as he knew it was a terrible idea to involve her in his life.

Janice looked away for a second, then back. “I assume you don’t have anywhere to go for the night,” she said. He shook his head. She should tell him to leave. She didn’t need to be mixed up in anything more than she already was, but she couldn’t make him go when everything in her was screaming for him to stay.

She meant to step back and let him put his shirt on; maybe go get some extra blankets so he could take the couch. But something stopped her. She stepped forward instead of back and placed a palm on his chest. She felt the spark again and thought, Why does that keep happening when I touch him? It’s nice though, like I want to keep touching him.

Before she could delve deeper into that thought, Lyric looked down into her eyes. She drowns in the gold color and hardly realizes when she meets him halfway in a kiss that is not gentle. It feels more like she had been waiting for it since she saw him, and the culmination of anticipation might kill her.