I blinked and pointed in the general direction of my scars. “This face?”
“Yes, that face, unless you happen to have another I’m not aware of. I’m a lion, Wells. I am interested in challenges. Delicate little flowers aren’t really my thing.”
Huh. I blinked and placed my hand on the steering wheel. “What would happen if I pulled over and took my shirt off to show you the other scars?”
“I probably wouldn’t be looking for your scars. Also, I was not aware you had more scars.”
“It’s almost full body coverage. My feet and ankles emerged unscathed, and the scarring really starts at my knees. I’m pretty lucky to be alive. I was caught in a fire as a kid. I am my charming self due to the realization I will never be able to charm a man. The surgery is just for my face because that’s all I’ll be able to afford. I haven’t even asked about the other scars. I can’t afford my face as it is. At best, unless this job pans out, I can only, in a few years, afford the cheap version of my face.”
“I see.” Sebastian pulled out his phone, tapped at the screen, and held it to his ear. “It’s Sebastian Sumners. Please put a note in the Wells file that her scar removal will be a full body op rather than only facial, as there’s no point in doing the procedure twice. Assume full coverage; from the little I’ve coaxed out of her, the scarring is from her head down to her knees. Excellent. Thank you.”
Hanging up, he placed his phone in the console. “The problem with your surgery is taming your virus long enough to retrain your body that you shouldn’t be scarred, and there’s little difference between doing your entire body versus only your face. It’ll add an hour or two to the procedure. I have been in a few too many sessions about that operation, how long you’ll be out of service, the difference in your recovery times if you’re mated versus unmated—”
“There’s a difference in my recovery time if I’m mated?” I blurted.
“Yes. You’ll heal approximately three weeks faster.”
“Three weeks faster?”
“It’s a difference between a week and a month. For your recovery, you’ll essentially be pampered. Think daily spa treatments with creams while your virus replenishes itself. In bad news, they’ll basically be skinning you and applying skin grafts to train your body what your skin should be like. You will be unconscious for that part of the procedure, and they’ll take however long is needed to accomplish this. Only the face doesn’t take long for them to complete. Lycanthropes are sturdier than regular humans, so the operation goes faster. The restoration of missing bone matter is easier. Your virus won’t be actively trying to take away the new bone, where it’s been trained to expect and form scar tissue. If you’re mated, you’d be given a major transfusion from your mate, whose virus will essentially overwhelm yours for a while. If you’re part of a pack or colony, family or others with blood types can help donate blood and virus. Your virus will be so busy assimilating donated virus and blood it won’t be forming scar tissue. You’ll come out with a little scar on your wrist from where you’ll be deliberately bled and given a virus-enhanced transfusion. It’s complicated.”
I eyed the navigation panel, spotted a dinky ass road ahead, and turned off on it before parking the vehicle. “But what if this non-existent mate isn’t my blood type?”
“Mated pairs end up with the same blood type. Usually, the female takes the male’s blood type, although not always. The virus makes the changes as required. Depending on how different your blood type is from your mate’s, the process can take from six months to a year. If it’s only polarity, it can take as little as a week during a virus spike. Your operation would be delayed long enough to allow for those changes, and the day of the operation, your virus would be tapped out, your mate’s blood would be introduced, and you’d be given daily care and transfusions to make sure your virus stays down and out for the count until it is retrained. The procedure is much simpler and less painful should you be mated, so the CDC has requested I play matchmaker.”
“Conditions!” I chirped, as my virus would grieve until our dying day if we couldn’t have ready access to his roars.