I liked writing this scene into the part of Spellspeaker’s Prophecy (Beasts of Vegas #2) where Dr. Julia Burke is performing surgery on a very messed up Maksim Volk after he escaped Sergei, but in the end, I felt it was too gratuitous. Poor Maks had been through enough!

Enjoy this alternate scene.

“Can you sedate him?” Ali asked, staring worriedly down at the writhing Maks.

“I already have,” Julia said. “He burns through it too quickly.”

“Maybe I can try.” Connor put one large hand over Volk’s nose and mouth, pressing tightly.

Immediately, Volk stiffened. Under Lukas’s hold, his feet kicked helplessly and his hands flopped back and forth. His eyes bulged and turned pink as blood vessels popped.

“Connor…,” Ali warned in an unsteady voice.

“He shouldn’t have to suffer more pain,” Connor said. He watched every second of Volk’s struggle as if it were his penance for causing it.

Volk gave a final, jerky spasm and then went limp.

Connor whipped his hand off Volk’s face and pressed his cheek to the other man’s mouth and nose. “He’s breathing,” he said, suddenly out of breath himself. “Sorry, I need a minute. Keep going.”

Lukas peeled his hands from Volk’s body and stepped away.

“Jesus,” he swore. “You people really know how to party. Do you mind if I go throw up now? No? Good.” He rushed out of the kitchen in the direction of the bathroom.

Roz kept up a steady rhythm of healing spells, but her face flushed and her pulse was a galloping pony in her chest. She swallowed in between phrases, tasting bile.

“Just hurry up,” Ali said to the doc, sniffing hard. “I can’t watch that happen again.”

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<3 Anna