Chapter 34 · Chrome and Bone

"Don't you dare scream, Lucian. If you jerk your spine now, I'm just going to leave the clamps in and walk away," Silas hissed, his voice strained.

Lucian didn't scream. He couldn't. His jaw was locked in a leather strap, and his entire lower body was bolted to a cold titanium slab. Every single nerve from his waist down felt like it was being threaded with white-hot needles.

"Tighten it," Lucian managed to grunt through the strap, the words muffled and wet.

Silas paused, a heavy tungsten clamp hovering over the exposed vertebrae. "You're insane. This isn't a tune-up, it's a reconstruction. I'm literally fusing chrome to your marrow. Your body is fighting the graft like it's a virus."

"Do it," Lucian spat, his eyes bloodshot, staring straight up at the flickering surgical light. "Or I'll find a surgeon who isn't afraid of a little blood."

Silas scoffed, but his hands were shaking. He slammed the clamp shut.

Lucian’s world exploded. It wasn't just pain; it was a sensory overload that felt like a freight train hitting his spine at full speed.