Before that day, he’d had no idea about all those things that went bump in the night, and now…
He didn’t think that he could go back.
He-
“Go check on Izzy,” Caine murmured quietly as the fetal monitor recorded his son’s heartbeat, letting them know that he’d survived.
“What’s going on?” Noah asked, quickly adjusting the fetal monitor around Danni’s belly as Caine sat down on the bed next to his mate and took her hand in his.
“She’s in pain,” Caine said, leaning over to kiss Danni’s forehead as his mate slowly exhaled.
“Where is she?” Noah asked, double-checking Danni’s cardiac monitor before heading to the door.
“Her bathroom,” Caine said as Noah quickly made his way down the hallway as he had to admit that the Pyte’s ability to hear a pin drop a mile away definitely came in handy at times.
He didn’t bother knocking, knowing that Chris was still out on patrol and that Izzy wasn’t going to answer him, not if she was as bad off as he thought she was, and Christ, he really hoped that he was wrong. She wasn’t doing well. He’d tried talking Michael into asking the Council about giving her the surgery, but they wouldn’t fucking listen. She was in so much fucking pain and…
There was nothing that they could do anymore.
She was a Sentinel and there wasn’t a hell of a lot that they could do, but the few options they had were no longer a possibility. Transfusions of Sentinel blood wouldn’t help since the injury had already set. He’d wondered if they rebroke her hip and gave her Sentinel blood immediately if it would fix it, but it wasn’t a chance that he was willing to take. The only other option was a shitload of drugs just to take the edge off and the Council had decided that was no longer an option for Izzy after the results of her last blood test came in.
Her liver and kidneys were starting to fail and her heart…
He really needed to fucking talk to Kale, Noah thought, only to feel his heart break when he found her. Izzy was curled up in the fetal position, her face pressed against a towel, screaming in pain as she struggled to hold it together and-
“Fuck it,” Noah said because he was done waiting.
He wasn’t sure if this would work, but they didn’t have a choice. She was suffering. He needed to do this now before things got worse and with the way things were going, Noah knew that it was only going to get worse.
They were out of options.
“Hold on, Izzy,” Noah said as he reached down and pulled the small Sentinel into his arms, swallowing hard when she screamed in pain. “Just hold on,” he whispered as Izzy grabbed hold of his shirt and buried her face against his chest as she released another heartbreaking scream.
“What are you going to do?” Madison asked when Noah headed out of the room and found Ephraim’s mate standing in the hallway, her red eyes full of concern as she cradled little CJ in her arms.
“Fix this,” Noah said, tightening his hold around Izzy as little CJ squirmed in Madison’s arms, trying to get to his mother and reminding him that there was more at stake here than just finding out if his theory was right. Izzy had four beautiful babies that needed their mother and a mate that would be lost without her.
Praying like hell that this worked, Noah quickly made his way downstairs and headed for the infirmary. “It’ll be okay,” he swore, kissing Izzy’s forehead as he carefully placed her down on the gurney and held her for another minute when she refused to let him go. Her sobs became louder, her body trembled as her hold on his shirt tightened and he told himself that he didn’t have a choice.
“Everything will be fine,” Noah murmured absently, placing his hands over hers and gently pulled them away. He forced himself to ignore her screams as he walked to the small refrigerator he kept in the corner, telling himself that this was going to work as he grabbed a small vial of blood from the back and tried not to think about what could happen if he was wrong.
He grabbed a syringe and filled it with the blood, wishing that it was fresh and-
“What the hell are you doing?”
Chapter 55
“Answer me,” Kale bit out, watching as Noah filled the syringe with Ashley’s blood.
“I can fix her,” Noah said as Kale tossed his backpack to Jacob and focused on the small woman curled up on the gurney, screaming in pain as she grabbed onto the metal bedrail and buried her face against the mattress.
“What are you talking about?” Kale asked as he climbed onto the gurney behind Izzy. He barely managed to pull her into his arms when she was burying her face against his chest and releasing another scream, letting him know just how bad it had gotten. They never should have trusted the fucking Council to help her, Kale thought as his attention shifted to the doorway and watched as Caine joined them.
“The blood can fix her,” Noah said, heading to his desk as Kale’s attention shifted in the direction of the stairs as he asked, “How?”
“It’s hard to explain,” Noah said, drawing Kale’s attention back to find him creating a slide with a drop of blood from the syringe.
“Try,” Kale said, his gaze returning to the direction of the stairs as the small woman in his arms clung to him. “Where’s Christofer?” he asked, needing the Pyte to make sure that his little girl was okay.
God, he couldn’t fucking lose his little girl, Kale thought, struggling to hold it together, but the thought of losing his daughter…
It would destroy him.
“He’s out on patrol with Ephraim and Drew,” Caine said, leaning back against the wall.
“This isn’t going to work with old blood. I need a fresh sample,” Noah said, looking through the eyepiece of his microscope only to straighten with a frustrated sigh.
“In the bag,” Kale said, shifting his attention back to Izzy as Noah grabbed the bag from Jacob and searched for the Ziploc bag of vials that he’d filled with Ashley’s blood before they came here, hoping for answers that it looked like he was finally about to get.
“It hurts,” Izzy whispered against his chest, her voice breaking as she struggled to keep it together.
“It’s going to be okay,” Kale promised her as he watched Noah create another slide and viewed it under the microscope.
“Start talking,” Kale said, watching as Noah finished examining the blood while they waited for answers.
“After the Council revoked my access to the network, I was limited on what I could do, so I started using what I’ve learned since I came here and began experimenting with the blood that you gave me. I started by comparing it to Christofer’s blood and noted the similarities. Their blood is stronger than a normal Pyte’s. They recover faster, they have quicker healing times, and their blood reproduces faster, but that’s where the similarities end.”
“While Pyte blood is normally dangerous to everyone but another Pyte, hers isn’t. Humans, Sentinels, vampires, shifters, and demons, none of them can handle Pyte blood. The only exception is humans when there’s a blood exchange done at the same time, otherwise, they share the same fate as the rest of them. But with this blood, it’s the opposite. Her blood can be safely consumed by everyone but humans because their blood isn’t compatible,” Noah explained.
“That’s why Ashley can’t consume human blood,” Jacob said as they shared a look.
“It weakens her blood and slows everything down. It’s like poison to her. Consuming human blood would probably make her very ill, but one drop of her blood would kill a human. I’ve never seen anything like it. It destroyed every cell, ripping them apart and making the cells look like they had gone through a shredder before liquefying them. She would never be able to turn a human. She’s lucky that she wasn’t given human blood as a child since it probably would have killed her,” Noah explained as Kale made a mental note to keep their children away from human blood.
“That doesn’t explain why you think her blood will help Izzy,” Caine murmured absently as he glanced over his shoulder towards the stairs before shooting
Kale a curious look that he decided to ignore at the moment.
“This blood…it’s amazing. It can consume Sentinel, shifter, demon, vampire, and Pyte blood seamlessly, using the blood to make itself stronger and when I combined her blood with any of those sources, the results were unbelievable,” Noah explained, grabbing another syringe as he joined them.
“When I applied her blood to a sample of Ethan’s blood after he lost his arm, the blood repaired his, making it healthier and stronger, but the amazing thing is that her blood didn’t affect his DNA. It didn’t change it but enhanced it, making his blood heal faster than it should have been able to. It did the same thing when I took shifter blood and exposed it to silver. Her blood helped the shifter blood fight the silver, made it stronger, and healed it faster and when I added more silver to the blood, nothing happened. Her blood somehow gave it immunity against silver.”
“Did you test her blood against silver?” Kale asked, watching as Noah drew some of Izzy’s blood.
Nodding, Noah said, “Her system couldn’t handle it. It was like acid was dissolving her cells, which was strange since it helped give the shifter blood immunity. It’s like her blood was able to strengthen and protect anything the other blood came against, enhancing the foreign blood’s abilities to protect itself, but it couldn’t do that for itself.”
“Did you test it on Danni’s cancer?” Caine asked, his gaze never leaving Kale’s.
There was a slight hesitation and then, Noah said, “Yes, but it’s complicated.”
“What happened?” Caine asked, holding Kale’s gaze as he waited for an answer.
“It completely destroyed the cancer, but I don’t think consuming Ashley’s blood would be enough. The cancer has completely taken over and the amount of blood that Danni would need to consume in one sitting to kill all of it would be impossible. We would have to filter Danni’s blood through Ashley’s body so that the cancer could be destroyed. It would take some time. The only problem is that I’m not sure how it would affect Ashley,” Noah answered quietly as Caine’s eyes turned red, letting Kale know just how dangerous this information would be if it ever got out.
If what Noah was saying was true, the Sentinel Council would want to keep Ashley around so that they could use her blood to heal their Sentinels and followers faster, making them stronger, and keep them going. And everyone else…
They would stop at nothing to get their hands on her.
“Does the Council know?” Kale asked, keeping his eyes locked on Caine.
“No,” Noah said as he created a slide with Izzy’s blood and added a drop of Ashley’s blood to it before examining it beneath the microscope.
“Keep it that way,” Kale said, realizing just how badly he’d fucked up by bringing her here. If he had known what her blood could do…
He needed to get her out of here before it was too late.
“Already planned on it,” Noah said, sighing in relief as he finished examining the blood sample.
“What else can you tell me about her blood?” Kale asked, struggling against the urge to get Ashley out of here before it was too late, but he couldn’t leave Izzy.
She was part of his family.
For so long, he’d been alone and then, this pain in the ass Sentinel with a sugar addiction that matched his own came into his life and he’d hated it, hated knowing that something could happen to her, knowing just how much it would hurt him if he lost her. She’d helped fill the void that Aine’s death left behind and if he lost her, it would feel like he’d lost his little sister all over again. He couldn’t leave her.
“I think there’s a good chance that she could pass on her Pyte abilities in a blood exchange, but there’s an even better chance that it would kill anyone she tries changing,” Noah said softly, letting him know that they were going to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders.
Ashley was safe, Kale reminded himself as he tightened his hold around Izzy while he watched Noah grab the syringe filled with Ashley’s blood. “What are the risks?” Kale asked, hoping like hell that this worked. Izzy deserved better than a life full of pain.
“I’m honestly not sure,” Noah said, sighing heavily. “I just know that we don’t have any other choice anymore. She’s not going to survive this for much longer.”
“No other choice about what?” Chris asked as he walked into the infirmary, only to swallow hard when he spotted Izzy curled up in Kale’s arms. “What the hell happened?”
Noah hesitated with the needle in his hand as he sent Kale a questioning look.
Keeping his eyes locked on Chris, Kale said, “Do it.”
“Do what?” Chris asked, frowning in confusion as he moved to check on his mate.
“Wait a minute. Ashley’s pregnant. What if that changed her blood and it hurts Izzy?” Jacob asked, pushing away from the wall and looking as though he was struggling with the need to stop this. Not that Kale could blame him since they both knew just how badly this could end if Noah was wrong, but he knew that the human wasn’t wrong.
Hours later and Kale could still feel the power coursing through his veins from Ashley’s blood. He felt better than he had in years. The exhaustion that always plagued him was gone, leaving him feeling stronger than he’d felt before. It was an addictive feeling and one more reason why he needed to get her out of here before it was too late.
“The blood that I just tested strengthened Izzy’s cells. This is her best bet,” Noah said, moving closer and swallowing hard when his gaze landed on Izzy who was now sobbing as she begged them to stop the pain.
“Who the hell is Ashley?” Chris asked, frowning in confusion as he looked from Jacob, who had a really big fucking mouth, back to Kale.
“My mate,” Kale said, watching Caine as the large Pyte glanced back over his shoulder towards the stairs.
“What?” Chris asked, looking confused as he watched Noah grab hold of the waistband of Izzy’s jeans. He pulled her pants down, exposing the vicious scar that Joshua left behind when he’d destroyed her hip and-
“What the hell are you doing?” Chris demanded, realizing what Noah was about to do and moved to stop him, but Caine and Jacob were already there, taking him down to the floor and yelling, “Do it!” before the large Sentinel could break free.
“I’m sorry,” Noah said, sliding the needle into Izzy’s hip and-
“Get your fucking hands off my mate!” Chris yelled, trying to shove Caine off him as Izzy released a bloodcurdling scream, but the Pyte wasn’t letting him go, not when it meant that Izzy could finally find some relief. They’d all watched her suffer over the years, heard her crying, and saw her struggle to keep it together.
She’d suffered for long enough.
“Shhh, it’s okay,” Kale said, tightening his hold around Izzy as she thrashed in his arms, her screams becoming louder and more heartbreaking with every passing second while Kale sat there, holding her tightly as he watched the large pink scar marking her hip lighten as the raised skin slowly disappeared, leaving behind healthy tanned skin as the awkward angle of her hip and leg suddenly aligned with an audible snap, tearing one last scream out of her mouth and then…nothing.
“Munchkin?” Chris said, sounding terrified for the first time since Kale had met the large Sentinel as Caine and Jacob slowly released him.
Releasing a shaky breath, Izzy sat up and slowly turned around in Kale’s arms, her bright blue eyes narrowed dangerously on him as she said, “You have a mate and this is the first time that I’m hearing about this?” making him chuckle and damn near sighing with relief.
She was fine.
“Did I forget to tell you about her?” Kale asked, unable to help but smile as he helped his best friend climb off the gurney so that she could properly glare at him as she stood tall for the first time in years.
“Yes, yes, you did,” Izzy said with a firm nod and an angry gesture in his general direction as Chris stood up, looking as though he was struggling to make sense out of what
he was seeing. “How is this even possible?”
“Because a certain someone that I am no longer speaking to has a mate, one that I am now just finding out about,” Izzy bit out, looking adorably pissed.
“Would you like to meet her?” Kale asked, chuckling as he pulled his watch off and showed her his mating mark.
“I would like a new best friend!” Izzy snapped, crossing her arms over her chest as she pointedly looked away from him.
“Would it make you feel better if I told you that you were going to be a godmother?” Kale drawled, watching as Izzy struggled with the need to stay angry at him and smile as Chris pulled her into his arms and-
Kale realized that Caine was gone.
Chapter 56
She never should have let him bring her here, Ashley thought with a grumble as she shifted to get more comfortable beneath the large bed that she’d been forced to hide under, only to swallow hard when the screams started again. For several long minutes, she lay there, struggling to remember how to breathe as the screams of agony continued, and then just as suddenly as they’d started, they stopped, and she was left narrowing her eyes on the little traitor.
“You really just can’t pull that off,” Marc said, sighing heavily with a sad shake of his head as he settled beneath the bed that carried a faint trace of Kale’s scent, next to her.
“You do realize that this is kidnapping, right?” she pointed out to the thirteen-year-old boy who’d helped Kale by distracting Cuddles with the extra bowl of frosting that she’d kept in the refrigerator so that the man that she’d stupidly allowed herself to fall in love with could throw her over his shoulder before she could make a run for it.
“And you do realize that you’re a shifter and a Pyte, right?” Marc countered, which had her once again grumbling as she went back to trying to figure a way out of this.
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