She continued to avert her eyes. “Simply put, I knew your dragon’s wing was fine. I had done all I could to save it, but I had to make sure your human arm was also healing properly.”
“Usually, when one heals, the other does too.”
“Well, I didn’t have the benefit of knowing that, and I didn’t want to take a chance. Portia warned me that your healing would be slower and more painful, but I had to make sure. I didn’t know if adding my own magic to your shifter healing powers would mess things up. I didn’t want to save your life only to permanently maim you.”
“Right, well, that makes sense. I appreciate what you’ve done, Alice. My dragon and I both owe you a debt…”
“You’ve said that before,” she interrupted. “I need more poultice.” She turned to walk away from him, but Cooper reached out and grabbed her arm. It took all of his strength to do so, and he had to collapse back into the bed, his forehead beading with sweat.
“No. Don’t go. Don’t make more poultices to erase a scar.”
Alice pursed her lips. “You want to keep the scar? But you wouldn’t have had one had I not interfered. For all we know, I made it worse by doing magic.”
No,his dragon insisted.We would've died if she hadn’t used her magic to help us. You should tell her.
Cooper agreed, and so he didn’t let go of her hand. “I would have died on that beach if you hadn’t helped me. My dragon is sure of that, and he doesn’t lie. Not to me.”
Alice blushed. “You really want to keep the scar?”
He looked at it and ran his index along it. “Oh, yeah. I want to keep this as a living memory that Michael is not to be trusted. That he will kill me the first chance he gets.”
“But I thought that the dragon who attacked you for the alphaship was at the bottom of the ocean.”
“He is, yes. But the dragon who sent him on his deadly mission is Michael. The dragon I killed was his crony. Don’t ask me to remember his name. Thomas, maybe?”
Alice looked down at their joined hands. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Cooper. I really am, but soon, you’ll be able to walk out of here as good as new.”
“With a new scar,” he amended with a smile.
“With a new scar,” she repeated. “Now, if you’ll excuse me …”
Cooper didn’t want her to leave, but there was no reason to keep Alice by his side. She had already done so much for him, and asking for more would make him nothing but an ungrateful ass.
“Don’t forget, Alice. A life for a life. Until my debt to you is repaid, I will feel guilty and tied to you.”
She gave him a small smile. “Don’t. My life isn’t worth much. Nothing to feel guilty about.”
Before he could ask her what she meant, she vanished, closing the door behind her and leaving Cooper alone with his thoughts.
Always a dangerous thing.
THREE
ALICE
Alice Gatlin was not like other witches. Where others had covens and families, Alice only had herself. A witch without a coven was a dangerous thing to be, but she usually didn’t mind it much. In truth, she often preferred being alone.
The coven politics she had run away from weren’t something she was ready to be part of. Not again. Not ever.
The only thing she missed from a coven was the built-in protection. Of course, even that wasn’t a given in a coven, but as a general rule, people assumed that if a witch was in a coven, they shouldn’t be messed with.
Alice Gatlin was a lone witch, and every witch out there in the world knew it. It sure didn’t help that Alice was very powerful and that she used her powers to make the world a better place. She didn’t mind undoing the magic of the ones who would purposefully harm others.
That’s why she didn’t mind in the least when Portia asked her to help save the beached dragon. Alice figured that if she did help, Portia would be more amendable to helping her in return. Or at least, that’s what she had to believe.
Now, at least, she could ask the dragon for help too.
After all, he mentioned that he owed her. He probably didn’t mean it, but that wasn’t why Alice wouldn’t actually ask him for help.