Seven Days by Shari Richardson Page A

raised an eyebrow, but left without comment.
    “Fine,” Xavier said, “if you did this, I’ll rip his arm off and beat you with it.”
    I laughed and then groaned. Everything hurt. The gouges in the chest and the stitches currently holding them together throbbed and tugged with every breath I took. My arms and legs where the paramedics had drawn blood and strapped me to the gurney for the rough ride from Highland Home to East Hampton were bruised and sore. And worst of all, I was petrified. My entire body was tense with terror and that made everything else hurt more.
    “Easy, dear,” Dr. Coffman said. “The cuts are new, they’ll take some time to heal. Unlike this strapping young man, you don’t heal so fast. I nearly had to re-break a bone in his hand before it knit wrong. Let me get the blood drawn for the tests so I can send for your sister.” He turned to Xavier, shaking his finger in Xavier’s face. “There will be no arm removals in this hospital, Xavier. Mathias‘ presence likely saved Kerry from worse injuries. You should thank him.”
    “But what if...” Xavier’s stricken expression notched the rate of my heart up another few hundred beats per minute. It was clear Xavier was just as concerned about possible infection as I was.
    “Is your life now worse than death would have been?” Dr. Coffman asked.
    Xavier looked at me and then back at the doctor. “No. Death is worse. Much worse.”
    “Then let us care for her most immediate wounds and we’ll deal with any other eventualities as they arise.”
    When the technician came to draw blood, Xavier held my hand and watched everything but my face. It worried me that he wouldn’t meet my eyes. What if he didn’t want me if it turned out I had been infected? What if part of the reason he loved me was because I was human and not a panther? As the needle slipped into my skin, the pain was sharp and deep, but nothing compared to the pain I felt from Xavier’s averted eyes. This tiny slip of metal into my body was the beginning of the end of my life as I knew it. Though no one would say it, I could tell by the way Dr. Coffman and Xavier both looked at me and avoided meeting my eyes that they believed Lane’s partial transformation meant nothing when it came to his ability to infect me with the virus that would make me a panther. They believed I was infected. End of story. I would become a panther and hunt with the pride at the full moon. I would crave raw meat and I would heal like Xavier and the rest of the pride did. And I would never be myself again.
    “How long, Doc?” Xavier asked when the tech had gone.
    “Two days for the test results and maybe a third for analysis,” Dr. Coffman said. “There are a couple of newer tests I want to run. We want to be sure.”
    Xavier nodded. “It’s seven days until the full moon,” he said softly. Every member of the pride knew the lunar calendar to the minute.
    “Now don’t get ahead of yourself here, Xavier,” Dr. Coffman said. “We’ve never had a case where the panther, or any other type of wereanimal, was only partially transformed. There’s a very good chance that this young lady will escape this night’s activities with nothing more serious than a few scars.”
    I took as deep a breath as I could around the stitches and bandages. “And what if...”
    Dr. Coffman cut me off. “No ‘what ifs’ Kerry,” he said. “Let me get the results of the tests back and then we can work from there. Until I’ve had a chance to look at your blood, anything we discuss is pure speculation. I want more concrete information before I start talking about your possible future.” The doctor took a moment to look over Xavier’s bruises. “You’ll be fine in a few hours, boy. Don’t run into anymore quarterbacks this week, ok?”
    “Well, he actually ran into me,” Xavier said, laughing. “But I’ll take it under advisement.”
    “And no beating vampires with arms in my emergency room. I don’t have