“I’ll come as soon as I’m released,” she promised, extracting one of the contacts and tipping her head back to drop it into her eye.
“They’ll likely release you tonight.” Kalen held out his hand for the contact case and she dropped it into his palm. He returned it to his pocket and jerked his chin at Niko. “So we’ll do dinner, and then nobody will make you sleep in their room. I promise.”
An empty laugh bubbled up in her throat, and she easily swallowed it down, nodding as they left the room. Only thirty seconds later, the nurses came in, holding charts and headed by Teak.
“Isobel.” Teak sounded relieved and overwhelmed, her smile shaky as she stood beside the bed, her hands fidgeting like she didn’t know what to do with them before she settled a palm on Isobel’s shoulder.
Theodore shifted so that none of Teak’s fingers touched his chest, his nose brushing once against the side of Isobel’s neck, sampling what was probably a harried, pained scent.
“Hey,” Isobel greeted weakly. “Thanks for giving me all these surrogates.”
Teak smirked. “Don’t think I could take them away if I tried. You have a very special bond with your friends.”
Isobel stiffened, watching as the other woman retreated, quickly consulting with the nurses.
“She didn’t mean it like that,” Theodore whispered, his breath misting over her ear.
She shivered, turning slightly to face him, but almost as soon as their eyes connected, he nudged her back to face the front. Something had been off in his expression, but he hadn’t given her enough time to examine it.
The nurses didn’t seem to want or need Theodore to move as they examined Isobel, though they were careful not to touch him in any way. The more they skirted around him, the more confused Isobel grew, and eventually, Teak seemed to notice.
She gave Isobel an understanding smile. “It’s important to treat surrogates like real mates, especially in times like these.”
“Oh.” Isobel didn’t understand at all.
“People hate to have their mate touched in front of them,” Teak specified. “Or not in front of them. At all, basically.”
“Oh,” she repeated.
Theodore scoffed out a soft laugh behind her. “You have upwards of five surrogates and understand exactly zero rules.”
“There are rules?” she asked as the nurses took her blood pressure. “Is five too many? It seems too many.”
“Just try reducing it.” Theodore’s voice turned gritty. “We aren’t just going to let you get sick and die. But yes, five is approximately four more than usual.”
“There aren’t strict rules, exactly.” This came from Teak, who had pulled a seat to the side of the bed, waiting for the nurses to finish their examination. “It’s more that surrogates should mirror a proper mate as much as possible, with two notable exceptions. Sex and—”
“Marking,” Theodore supplied.
Teak looked impressed.
“The others did some research,” he muttered.
“Hmm.” Teak crossed one tanned leg over the other, her skirt catching at her knee as she relaxed back into the chair. “The ‘others’ are correct. While only a permanent marking can complete a bond, sex will bring a half-bonded pair much closer together. If a surrogate permanently marks a bonded or half-bonded person or has sex with them, it is considered an egregious disrespect to the bond, and could result in a minor tear.”
“Tear,” Isobel echoed, peering down at the arms the nurses were now lightly bandaging.
“A soul infraction,” Teak specified. “They happen in varying degrees of severity. Some soul infractions can kill a person. It’s very important to avoid them. If a soul infraction kills an Anchor, the Tether will also die. Being intimate with someone outside of your bond isn’t likely to cause you much damage, but if you have a strong emotional connection with that person, the bond may see it as a defilement. Accidental markings might have no effect at all, but deliberate markings can have very serious consequences. In your case, since you haven’t even met your mate and you’re only half-bonded, it’s highly unlikely that sex will cause any sort of soul infraction, but permanent markings and …” She motioned to Isobel’s arms. “Direct assaults on the bond magic are a different story, no matter how close to your mate you are.”
When Isobel looked back up, Teak’s eyes had filled with tears, but the bond specialist managed to blink them away so fast that Isobel started to doubt she had seen anything at all.
“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” Teak whispered, her voice cracking before she cleared her throat delicately. Her next words were smooth and even. “Most people don’t survive such a serious soul infraction. Some believe it’s a rupture of the soul itself, and if the body doesn’t shut down from the abuse, the mind will. But you seem …” She shook her head, a small smile trembling on her lips. “You must have an incredibly strong mate to sustain you through such an event, and to continue to sustain you even without being by your side as you heal. I bet they’re an Alpha.”
“Yeah,” Isobel agreed hollowly. “Maybe.” Or there were ten of them.
“I should caution you, though.” Teak straightened in her chair, flicking her eyes to Theodore briefly, though the Alpha behind Isobel was keeping quiet. He seemed to be monitoring what the nurses did to her very closely. “With your bond still unformed, your mind and soul will take longer to heal than your body. There will be side effects.”
“I love side effects,” Isobel said dryly, but the joke didn’t really land. Not when her voice was so raspy and her mouth was still pinched in pain.
Theodore was the only one who reacted, his soft exhalation against the back of her neck sounding like the beginning of a laugh.
“Would you like to discuss everything later?” Teak asked, surveying Isobel with concern.
“Am I getting out of here tonight?”
“If you’re cleared,” Teak hedged.
Isobel sighed, sinking back against Theodore, most of the strength sapping out of her. “Might as well get it over with, then.”
“I’m sorry.” Teak patted her hand. “You probably just want to sleep.”
“I’ve been asleep for … days?”
“Over a week,” Theodore corrected her.
“Over a week,” she repeated numbly. “So … actually I am tired. Why am I so tired?”
“One of the side effects,” Teak explained. “You’re going to sleep a lot, and you’ll be weak. Your appetite will disappear, but you need to force yourself to eat. A man suffering from a soul infraction once died of thirst without even realising he hadn’t been eating or drinking. So, sip water regularly and eat at your usual mealtimes even if it’s only a little. Do light exercise regularly—”
“Can I dance?” she interrupted, her heart jumping into her throat and pounding there viciously.