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“I was.”

“And now you’re here.”

“You needed me.”

I lifted his suit jacket and moved his shirt aside. Fresh red blood stained his bandages. I sighed. “You’re bleeding again.”

“I’m fine.”

Just to prove a point, I gave a hard push on the bandage. He stumbled back, and his body locked up. One hand slapped against the shelf beside my head as he braced himself. The stain on his chest bandage spread for one terrifying second.

I grabbed his shoulders to steady him, and his pain filled me, unbearable and iron hot. My hands slid up to his neck, and I drew him closer, my mouth meeting his.

My magic slid into him, and the bleeding slowed. The torn edge under the gauze knitted tighter. The bruise at his jaw faded another shade lighter. I felt his pain dull.

I pulled back, gasping. “Am I hurting you or fixing you?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the honest one.”

My laugh shook. My eyes burned. “I don’t know how to do this.”

His hand cupped my cheek. “Liv, you don’t have to heal me. I’ve never minded pain. To be honest, I tend to enjoy it.”

“You have a problem.”

“I have several. But right now, you and your settling powers are the loudest ones.”

I wanted to smack him, but instead I pulled back and gave him a half-assed excuse for leaving the walk-in so that I didn't continue to fall for my stalker. . .

“I need to get back to work.”

“I’m serious, Liv. If you need me, I’ll be here.”

“You,” I said, pointing squarely at his chest, “should be focused on healing.”

“I am healing.”

“You heal like a nightmare.”

“I am a nightmare.”

“Of course you are.”

“Liv . . .” His tone said Stop trying to change the subject and listen to your stalker with control issues because he knows better. Which made me want to egg him on to see what he would do. One day, science would study me. I decided against it, given the threats for tonight he had already laid out.

“You meant it,” I said. “About me needing someone built for me?”

“Yeah.” No hesitation. “Power-wise, you are not weak, Liv. Once you wake up fully, you’ll chew through lightweights by accident.”

“Comforting.”

“That is why you call me when you get hungry. You do not wait until you are half out of your mind in a walk-in and whoever happens to touch you looks like a meal.”

I leaned my head back against the metal shelf and looked up at him. “You’re willing to let me use you like a battery?”