Embracing The Shadows (Shadow Series #5)

16 - Selfish

The final stitch smoothly slid out of Isaac's skin as I carefully pulled on the thin wire with my fingers, no longer having the correct hospital equipment in my possession. The blue gloves covered the skin of my hands, the same ones I nicked out of the box from the hospital before we left. I dropped the wiring of the stitch into the glass bowl I placed on the kitchen island beside us, adding to the pile of the ones I already removed. A wave of relief washed through my whole body as I saw his skin move closer together, thanks to him being a werewolf. A faint, pink scar began to form as the wound continued to heal itself, one that would be gone within a few hours, like it had never been there in the first place.

A soft sigh floated off of my pink lips when I sat back on the bar stool that I had been perched on for several hours to safely remove the stitches from Isaac's torso. My muscles stretched out in my back, thankful to no longer be hunched over for so long. I flexed my fingers a few times after peeling the gloves off of my hands and stood up from the stool, wanting to get the blood flowing through them again. Beside me, Isaac let out his own sigh of relief, running his blue eyes along the length of the scar until it wrapped around his back.

"You are such a badass, you know that, right?" He broke the silence that had fallen upon the apartment kitchen ever since I got to work on him. A beautiful grin spread across his face, proud of his nearly healed chest. His fingers gently brushed over the scar covering most of his chest. "You're amazing, Clara."

I scoffed, "I'm not the one who nearly died."

How could he think that way of me when I was the reason he was hurt in the first place? A badass wasn't someone that allowed so many people to get hurt. That wasn't me. Too many people have gotten hurt because of my own stupid actions.

His head lightly shook from side to side with a smile remaining on his lips. "If we're being technical, you have died before and came back to life, so still a badass."

I pushed up from the bar stool and grabbed the bowl full of the wiring, not making another comment. The bottom of the stool loudly dragged against the wooden floors. The intensity of his gaze on the back of my head followed me around the kitchen. All within twenty-four hours, I nearly lost two of the most important people in my life and I hadn't been able to save them from all the pain they went through. Sure, Isaac healed after I stitched him up, but Lydia finally finished her surgery a few hours ago and would be in the hospital for a few days.

"Clara."

Lost in my own negative thoughts, I tossed the whole bowl into the trash without a second thought about it. The glass bowl and stitches clattered at the bottom of the trash can, loudly. His eyes never left my body as I purposely avoided looking in general direction while I cleaned up the mess I made.

"Clara..."

My jaw flared at the harsh thoughts clouding in my mind of Lydia having to stay in the hospital. If I had just moved a little faster, I would have been able to push her out of harm's way instead of having Tracy's tail slice through her skin. My vision gradually turned blurry as the hatred toward myself began to build within my skin.

Isaac pushed himself up from the other bar stool, quickly closing the distance I had put between us from where I stood in front of the double sink with my back to him. An arm stretched out toward my body. "Clara?" He slid his open palm across my back, gently tugging on my body to make me face him. A frown slipped on his lips when I wouldn't budge, only digging my fingers into the edge of the counter even more.

I shook my head at his kind actions, along with attempting to shake the thoughts in my head, piling high in my skull that made it hard to comprehend all of the hate. My tongue was pulled in between my teeth, poking against the inside of my cheek. "I'm not," I whispered on the verge of tears.