All Chapters of Shattered Mate Bond: Chapter 21 - Chapter 22

Waking Pain Jace's POV Consciousness returned slowly, dragging me up from the depths of medicated sleep like a reluctant swimmer breaking the surface of dark water. The first thing I noticed was the absence of the constant, gnawing ache that had been my companion for the past three days. The silver was gone, extracted from my system, leaving behind only the sharp, clean pain of surgical healing. The second thing I noticed was Grace. She sat in the chair beside my cot, a book open in her lap, her face illuminated by the soft afternoon light filtering through the hospital window. She'd changed clothes since this morning—traded the blood-stained shirt for a simple black sweater that emphasized the lean lines of her shoulders and the elegant curve of her neck. For a moment, I let myself simply watch her, drinking in details I'd been too pain-addled to appreciate earlier. The way she tucked a strand of short dark hair behind her ear when it fell across her cheek. The small furr