I glanced at it. A new patient, an adult cat named— “Oh no,” I groaned softly, making sure the patients couldn’t hear. “Not a ‘Baby.’” Anyone who had ever worked with animals knew how it went: the sweeter the name, the more vicious or evil the animal was likely to be. If given no other data about an animal, I would pick “Cujo” over “Princess Sweetums” any day. “You’re evil.”

Lainey cackled, totally unrepentant.

After I checked in Baby, then cleaned and bandaged the scratches she gave me, I went into the back to change my scrubs. I can deal with most things, but owners didn’t like it when you walked into a room reeking of cat urine. I quickly changed in the bathroom, shoving my dirty set into the laundry by the kennels.

I had a moment before I had to rush back up, so I stopped to pet and soothe some of the patients in recovery. We did surgery in the morning so that we could watch them during the day to make sure they were doing well enough to be sent home later in the afternoon or if they needed to be kept overnight.

I cut through the back room on my way up front and found Declan holding a chow for one of techs. Declan was using his alpha stare to keep the dog calm and still so the tech could draw blood. All of his focus was on the chow, meaning he wouldn’t notice me studying him. He really was ridiculously handsome, even though he looked worn out and worried. His eyes held a pinched, shadowed look to them that told me how exhausted he was. My heart squeezed at the sight.

In the short time that he had lived with us, he’d done so much for the house. So much for me. I knew he blamed himself for what I was going through, but it was far outweighed by the good he brought to our cobbled-together little family.

I simply couldn’t picture our home without him in it.

That realization hit me hard. There was a very good chance I would come out of this mess banned from bonding familiars. That would hurt.

Not having Declan as part of my family would hurt more.

I’d been worried about what everything would do to Mama Ami, but if I was talking to her right now, I knew exactly what she’d say—ultimately, she was a healer. Healers valued life, and the binding had saved Declan’s. From what I’d seen, Eva binding him again would crush him. Mama Ami would tell me to put Declan’s life on one side of the scale, and my career on the other. One vastly outweighed the other.

Would it be fair if I lost my career? Of course not. But life wasn’t fair. I could find a new job. Declan couldn’t find a new life.

The tech was done, stepping away, and Declan loosened his hold on the dog, who immediately licked his face. Declan spluttered and laughed, his joy spilling over into our bond.