Chapter 277: Selfish or Selfless

Kieran ground to a halt in the foyer and turned around to stare at her. "Stop asking stupid questions."

"I’m serious!" Yuki insisted, her emerald eyes searching his face. "What if I lose my mind completely like that soldier? Would you put a bullet through my head?"

Kieran rolled his eyes, a dry, sarcastic curve touching his lips. "I would hardly waste a bullet on a perfectly rare medical specimen that I haven’t finished studying yet."

Yuki hissed in annoyance, her cheeks flushing. "Aren’t you even a little scared that I might bite you and turn you into one too?!"

"Even if you went entirely rabid, my little vixen," Kieran drawled smoothly, stepping closer and leaning down until his face was inches from hers, "a tiny wolf like you wouldn’t pose much of a threat to an Alpha Lord. Now stop asking ridiculous sci-fi questions—it’s rotting your brain."

Yuki glared at him, but the banter succeeded in easing the suffocating terror in her chest.

She looked around the villa’s interior, genuinely surprised by the aesthetic. While Kaden’s private compound was a sharp, hyper-modern fortress defined by minimal monochrome designs and cold metallic accents, Kieran’s home was an exquisite, seamless blend of contemporary glass and classic old-world architecture.

Rich wooden beams spanned the high ceilings, warm natural tones filled the living spaces, and lush indoor plants and flowering vines flourished throughout the halls. It explained why he always carried a subtle, intoxicating scent of herbal tea and fresh florals. It was a far cry from the cold, sterile image she had cultivated of the "crazy scientist" triplet.

"Stop staring at the decor and hurry up," Kieran’s deep voice snapped her out of her daze.

She glanced up to see him standing at the landing atop the floating staircase, holding a heavy set of keys. Yuki pressed her lips together and quickly ascended the stairs to catch up with him.

Kieran led her down a quiet second-floor corridor to a heavy, reinforced door and pressed his thumb to a biometric scanner. The lock disengaged with a metallic hiss, and the door swung open to reveal a massive, state-of-the-art private laboratory. True to his style, the lab’s rear opened directly into a climate-controlled indoor greenhouse filled with rare, glowing medicinal herbs and ancient botanical specimens.

Yuki walked past the stainless-steel examination tables toward the massive floor-to-ceiling glass wall at the far end of the room. Her breath caught in her throat.

Beyond the glass lay an intricate botanical garden and fruit orchard spilling down the cliffside, several fruit trees heavy with seasonal harvest. Beyond the edge of the estate grounds, a sheer rock cliff dropped down into the roaring, endless expanse of the dark blue ocean.

"Take a seat," Kieran’s calm command echoed from behind her.

She turned around to see that he had already stripped off his blood-stained suit jacket, rolled up his crisp white sleeves, and pulled on a pair of sterile medical gloves. Yuki nodded silently, stepped over to the central examination chair, and sat down.

Kieran walked over, pulling up a rolling stool beside her. His long, steady fingers reached out and carefully unwrapped the blood-soaked layers of white gauze from her forearm.

Exposed to the sterile light, the shallow claw scratch was still raw and wet, fresh crimson drops slowly welling from her skin as if she had just been cut seconds ago.

Kieran looked up into her face, his blue eyes softening slightly. "Are you scared?"

Yuki looked at her bleeding arm and swallowed hard. "I’m... nervous," she admitted quietly.

"You don’t need to be," Kieran assured her, his voice dropping into a gentle clinical rhythm as he prepped an antiseptic swab. "The soldier was exposed to an extreme concentration of the biological agent over a prolonged period, and his physical injuries were catastrophic. It took weeks for his nervous system to collapse entirely. You merely sustained a minor surface scratch."

He carefully dabbed the wound clean, setting the bloody cotton aside. "First, we have to manually close the flesh to stop the blood loss." He picked up a delicate surgical needle and a spool of specialised thread. "I’m going to sew it shut."

Yuki watched him thread the needle with practised, methodical precision. As the sharp point pierced her skin, she let out a sharp hiss of pain, her fingers clutching the armrests tightly.

Kieran’s hands paused instantly. He looked up at her, his brow furrowing with concern. "Do you need local anaesthesia?"

Yuki shook her head quickly, gritting her teeth. "No. It’s just a small scratch. I can endure it."

Kieran didn’t argue. He took a long, steadying breath, his piercing blue eyes locking onto her face as he leaned closer and resumed his work.

To Yuki’s absolute shock, the moment his fingers resumed guiding the thread through her flesh, the stinging, agonising pain vanished entirely. She blinked in utter bewilderment, staring down at her arm. She could see the needle piercing her skin, yet she couldn’t feel a single trace of discomfort—as if the nerve endings in her arm had been completely numbed.

Within three minutes, Kieran neatly tied off the final knot and snipped the thread, leaving a clean, perfectly aligned row of tiny stitches across her pale skin.

Yuki looked up at him, her emerald eyes wide. "What... what happens next?"

"Next, I need to formulate an advanced formula for the regenerative serum before tomorrow," Kieran answered flatly, standing up and shedding his gloves. He didn’t mention that the advanced serum requires a greater concentration of healing magic and his body hadn’t healed to do it without causing more harm.

He couldn’t ask his brothers either. They would be glad to know Yuki might probably lose her life. Maybe he might consider asking Killian; at least he could see the logic in it but that would mean an extensive lecture on his impulsive behaviour which wasn’t like him.

His fist clenched but as much as he disliked Aevia for being Alexander’s mistress and the fact that Yuki was her sister he really couldn’t swallow the thought of her dying..

’ Kaden is also out of consideration. ’ he wolf chirped in an amused tone and Kieran almost laughed as he freed his hand. ’ Kaden loathes Yuki the most. Although....’ his thoughts strayed to the wedding night and the day of the official engagement remembering the way they were arguing like Tom and Jerry. Two creatures who hate each other yet can’t stay away.

He shook his head what was he thinking? He was thinking of Kaden the most loyal to Eloise. Kaden would probably be mad he chose Yuki over Eloise this once. ’ I don’t know if I should call you selfless or selfish.’ His wolf said dismissively. Kieran ignored the taunt.

"I cannot hide you away in this villa forever, Yuki. The hospital staff knows you were injured during the breach, and if you remain absent for too long, it will arouse massive suspicion across the medical board. Besides... General Reed will certainly be keeping a close eye on your status." He paused, his gaze darkening slightly. "After all, he is technically about to become your father-in-law."

Yuki fell completely silent. A heavy, cold weight settled in her chest as she remembered that her formal engagement ceremony with Xavier was scheduled for Thursday—just two short days away.

Kieran carried the blood samples he had drawn over to his central workstation, placing them under an advanced digital microscope and pulling up a blank data file.

"Can you still feel your inner wolf?" Kieran asked, his back turned to her as his fingers flew across his keyboard. "Your innate cellular regeneration is directly tied to your beast’s spiritual connection. If your wolf is suppressed, the magic won’t flow."

"I can still feel her," Yuki answered quietly, looking down at her bandaged lap. "She’s just... very quiet today."

Kieran nodded thoughtfully. "Good. That means your core isn’t corrupted. I plan to synthesise a modified variation of my high-tier cellular regenerative drug using the viral data I harvested from the soldier’s bloodwork. With any luck, the compound will bypass the neural blockage and seal your wound by tomorrow morning."

He paused, resting his hands on the desk.

Yuki looked at his tall, broad back, curiosity finally overwhelming her discretion. "Kieran... how did you do that?"

Kieran stopped typing and turned his head slightly to look at her over his shoulder. "How did I do what?"

"The pain," Yuki blurted out, pointing at her freshly stitched arm. "The moment you took a breath and looked at me, all the pain completely disappeared. How did you stop it?"

Kieran turned his body around, leaning casually against the edge of his workstation with his arms crossed over his chest. "It’s a specialised Ravencourt bloodline trait," he explained smoothly, his tone nonchalant. "Alpha-tier lords of our lineage possess the rare ability to temporarily siphon and absorb physical pain from others through direct contact as long as they are pack members. It’s really not a big deal."

Yuki’s eyes widened. She had heard something similar to that before. Some Alpha bloodlines had the ability to take away physical pain through the pack link.

*******

Note this is completely different from absorbing the backlash of the rejection; that wasn’t an ordinary physical injury