by Lauren Dawes
‘I thought you could do with some coffee,’ Mark said softly. Looking around the waiting room, Jerry found them alone with the exception of some nurses occasionally wandering back and forth.
‘What time is it?’
‘Late,’ Mark replied grimly.
Jerry coughed to clear his throat. ‘How late?’
He looked at his Omega. ‘It’s eleven fifteen.’
‘Damn it,’ he muttered under his breath. He got up to stretch his legs.
‘Why? What’s the problem?’
‘Are they still in surgery?’
‘Yeah, but the doctor said that now they’re just resetting her arm and a plastic surgeon has been called in to deal with the deep cut on her face.’
Jerry’s blue eyes scanned all the empty plastic chairs and his heart stuttered. ‘Have you seen Indi?’ he asked frantically, turning back around to look at Mark.
‘Indi?’ Mark seemed surprised. ‘Why would I have seen Indi?’
‘I called her and asked her to come down here. You haven’t seen her?’
Mark shook his head, and with each shake, panic ratcheted up in his chest. Indi should have been here by now. It had been a little over five hours since he’d called. She should have been here by now. His heart began pounding behind his ribs, his mind skittering and coming up with a thousand possibilities.
‘Maybe she went to the café for something to eat? I was asleep just like you. Maybe she didn’t want to disturb you when she got here?’ Mark suggested in his amazingly seductive baritone of a voice. Jerry thought that tie-die coming back into fashion had more of a chance of happening. If Indi had come into the waiting room, she would have woken him up. She would have heard how much he needed her in his voice when he’d called her before. He shook his head and took his phone out of his pocket, bringing up the missed calls menu. Nothing. Redialling her number, he brought his phone up to his ear and waited.
‘Hi, you’ve reached Indi. You know what to do … BEEEEEEP.’
With a growl, he slammed the phone shut and upped the pacing speed. If she wasn’t at the hospital yet, she was either still back at her apartment or … Jerry paused, refusing to think on what else might have happened to her. She had to be at her apartment. She just had to be.
On the verge of telling Mark that he’d be back soon, the surgeon whisked out from behind the theatre doors.
‘Mr Beckitt?’
He wheeled around. ‘Doctor?’
‘The surgery was a success. We located the source of the bleeding and repaired the puncture. We’ll need to keep her in for observation though as the first three days after surgery are the most dangerous. We’ve reset her arm, putting plates into both her radius and ulna as they had both been shattered in the accident. The plastic surgeon also took a look at her face while she was under to reduce the chances of permanent disfiguring scars.’
A weight felt as if it had just lifted off Jerry’s chest. ‘Can I go see her?’
‘She is still unconscious, but you can see her, though only for a few moments. If you’d like to come with me?’ the doctor suggested.
Mark asked, ‘Can I see her as well?’
Jerry’s eyes darted to Mark. He hadn’t thought of it before, but Mark had been hanging around a lot longer than he needed to. At the notion, his heart warmed a little. Mark must have been here to support him, to help him through this awful event.
‘Are you family?’ the doctor asked, breaking Jerry’s traipse back into the past.
Mark’s eyes darted to Jerry’s for a second. ‘No, but I’m a close family friend.’
The doctor shook his head. ‘Sorry. Just immediate family at this point. Mr Beckitt? Are you ready?’
*
Nox looked over the half blood’s body. Her clavicle was shattered, the bone splintered and protruding from the skin that had been covering it. He’d intended on tearing out her heart with his teeth, but somehow she’d shifted her body. His eyes drifted up. Her neck was unrecognisable, just a mass of red gore. He studied her still form, unable to hear her pulse and sensing that her essence was gone.
Taking his dagger from the shoulder harness beneath his leather jacket, he cut the half blood’s sweater down the middle of her chest, opening up the cut sides like a present. Visually measuring the length of her chest to find her heart, he positioned his knife to make the first cut. The knife slid into her skin, offering no resistance. On the verge of making the downward slice, he stopped. A vibration down his spine triggered all his survival instincts. Without having to look up, he knew there was a wolf standing in the mouth of the alleyway. With a snarl in his throat, he looked up at the black mass with glowing eyes, growling at him with just as much animosity. He laughed humourlessly. So she did have a Guardian after all.
‘You’re too late,’ he said in a rumbling bass. ‘She’s dead.’
The wolf growled even louder, padding closer and closer to him. He stood up, grasping his knife lightly in his palm. When he was at his strongest, he could fight the wolf—no problem at all—but his months of forced abstinence from feeding properly had left him weak. The only guaranteed way of killing it would be to attack first and hope to get the kill shot before it did.
‘She is mine,’ he growled, gritting his teeth and refusing to back away from his kill.
The wolf kept coming at him, its blue and green eyes burning with rage. Its upper lip peeled away from its menacing teeth, saliva dripping slowly from its muzzle. A growl was building down low in his chest, travelling up his throat and coming out as a snarl.
‘Mine!’ he snapped, taking half a step closer. It was a stupid move, but he had to protect what was his. He’d been hunting this half blood for too long, and he wasn’t going to give her up so easily. He gripped the handle of his knife, ready to throw it at the throat of the wolf, but movement at the mouth of the alley stopped him.
Icy-blue eyes stared at him from a huge white frame. Nox laughed humourlessly. He should have known. They always travel in packs. The new wolf started trotting down through the shadows, coming to a stop a full head’s length ahead of the black one. Nox licked his lips and looked down at the half blood. He spat a curse at the wolves and stepped into the closest shadow.
*
Rhett’s body was wracked by pain. Along with the pounding in his head, he felt as if the marrow in his bones had been doused in petrol and set on fire while his bones were being reset courtesy of a pneumatic drill. He shook from the shock of changing too quickly and he’d be paying for it for at least another hour. The wind whipped past him, a rash of goose bumps breaking out over his bare skin.
He crouched down next to Indi’s body, his muscles and tendons still knitting back together to fit his human form. Her skin was ashen, her body already cold from the lack of a heartbeat and the ten pints that had just been sucked out of her. He couldn’t believe that he had failed her. He was supposed to be her Guardian and he’d let her get attacked. Marcus’ words crashed into him. “You think you can take care of her properly?” Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.
There was a grunt, and when Rhett looked up, Vaile was stalking towards him with menace rolling off his naked body.
‘Have you got a damn death wish or something?’ he snarled, hauling Rhett up by the back of his neck. His wolf wanted out; his body shaking so violently with the effort to keep it contained.
‘He was killing her,’ Rhett replied, his words were slow and crawling with danger. Vaile’s eyes were icy-blue as he glared back at him. Vaile growled and threw him, cutting up Rhett’s palms and knees as he slid along the frozen ground.
‘You ignorant fucker! You have no idea who that was, do you?’
Rhett kept his eyes glued to Vaile’s. ‘You think I give a shit about who he was?’ he snapped. All this posturing could wait. Indi was dying at his feet.
Vaile’s head swung around, pinning Rhett with a burning gaze. ‘You just challenged Nox; the leader of the Sicarii and Eirawen’s one and only vampire lover. Didn’t you s
ee the tattoo on his neck? The snake is her symbol. Her blood has made him stronger than you can ever imagine.’
‘I could have taken him,’ Rhett growled.
Vaile barked a laugh. ‘Sure you could have kid,’ he replied sarcastically. ‘He would have ripped you to shreds in the time it took you to blink once. He’s stronger than me or you. He’s stronger than the whole goddamned pack!’ he said, kneeling down above Indi’s head. He slid two fingers along the side of her throat that hadn’t been torn open and left leaking, feeling for a pulse although Rhett wasn’t expecting him to find one. ‘Goddamnit,’ he growled.
‘What?’ Rhett asked frantically, already knowing what he was going to say.
‘She’s dead. We’ve lost her.’
‘No,’ Rhett whispered, his body suddenly aching to go to her.
Vaile shrugged. ‘See for yourself,’ he replied, standing up and stalking around to the shadow that Nox had melted away into. Rhett pushed himself off the ground, his body protesting with every movement. Pressing his fingers to the side of her neck, he felt for her pulse, tears pricking his eyes when he felt nothing there but the tremble of his own fingers.
He wasn’t ready to accept that she was gone. He sat down next to her head, ignoring how the broken glass on the ground bit into his bare skin, and lifted her head onto his leg. He stroked her hair slowly, willing her heart to start beating again. He looked up to find Vaile glaring at him.
‘Don’t even think about it, kid. You’re already in enough trouble as it is. You did your job. There was nothing more you could do. We were just too late getting here.’
‘I can save her,’ Rhett breathed. ‘The pack needs her.’ I need her, he added silently.
Vaile growled, low and fast. ‘You know it’s forbidden to use your blood. You’ve got a crazy-ass look on your face right now and I don’t like it. She’s gone. Deal with it,’ he spat. His head jerked up suddenly. ‘We’ve got company. Get your ass back to the house now so you can make a report to Antain.’
Vaile’s skin began to ripple and writhe as he called on The Change. Rhett looked away when the sucking wetness of bones breaking and resetting echoed around the alleyway. When he turned back around, Vaile was a snow-white wolf bigger than any other wolf in the pack besides the alpha. Vaile bared his long canines at him in warning.
‘I’m coming. I just need to say goodbye,’ he lied. Vaile growled again before loping out of the alleyway.
Rhett looked down at Indi, feeling hollow inside like his heart had been scooped out of his chest with a spoon. Tucking a bloody strand of hair behind her ear, he whispered, ‘Indi? Can you hear me? I’m going to give you what you need to survive this, okay?’ He shifted his canines to bite into his wrist and put it to Indi’s mouth. Deep down in his soul Rhett knew that she was too far gone, but he had to try. Pressing his wrist harder against her teeth, he stroked her neck where her carotid should have been pumping with life, willing her throat to start working his blood down. ‘Please, Indi. Please. We can’t lose you yet.’
I can’t lose you yet.
Chapter 16
Jerry was sitting opposite Mark at a Formica table that was new in the seventies, his hand wrapped around a Styrofoam cup full of terrible coffee from the machine in the hospital’s cafeteria. Mark’s legs were stretched out under Jerry’s chair, forcing his own legs to straddle Mark’s ankles.
Mark’s mouth opened again, then shut, then opened and finally shut once more. Jerry studied his expression, deciding that it looked as if Mark wanted to say something for a long time, but couldn’t find the words. Jerry cleared his throat. ‘What is it Mark?’
His chestnut eyes met his. ‘I’ve missed you,’ he replied candidly. Jerry squeezed his eyes shut and pretended that he hadn’t just heard that. He didn’t need to hear that. He’d been working hard on forgetting all about him, and those four words just set him back to the beginning. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. ‘Did you hear me, Jer? I’ve missed you.’
Jerry opened his eyes slowly, breathing out a steady breath and focussing on Mark. ‘Why did you have to say that?’
Mark looked confused. ‘I wanted you to know that I still—’
Jerry stopped him by holding up his hand. He didn’t want to hear those words again. Twice was more than enough. ‘Don’t say it again. Please. I heard you the first time.’
Mark crossed his arms and leaned forward on the table. ‘Were you ever going to say something?’
Jerry looked at him from under his lashes. ‘What would you have me say?’ he asked, his voice rough with feelings and emotions he thought were long dealt with. Panic, hopelessness, emptiness, guilt. They were all back and all because he was sitting in the same room as Mark.
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. That you miss me too?’
Jerry sighed and took a sip of coffee. ‘You know that I do,’ he replied softly, hating how true those words were. He missed Mark like he was missing a limb; he could still feel him even when he was gone. The truth hit him. Gone. Mark was gone and he was sitting there like a god in Armani demanding to know just how much Jerry missed him. Disgusted with himself, he stood up to pace around the empty space. He shouldn’t be just sitting there. He should be out looking for Indi, but the doctor said that his mother could wake up at any moment and he wanted to be there for that. He was going to give them fifteen more minutes and then he would leave.
‘Jerry, say something to me please. Tell me how you’re feeling?’
He took a few more steps before he turned on Mark. ‘You want to know how I feel? I feel like you walked away with my heart Mark. You still haven’t given me a reason why.’
‘Why what?’
‘Why you left me. Why I came home to our apartment one day to find all your things gone and the ring I gave you on the nightstand like it meant nothing to you at all.’
‘Christ,’ he cursed under his breath. ‘I met someone else, alright.’
Jerry swallowed past the lump in his throat. ‘Who?’ He didn’t know what he’d do with that information, but he wanted to know anyway. Better the devil you know, right?
‘Christ, Jer. Do we have to do this now?’ Mark asked, running a hand roughly through his hair and looking around the empty room.
‘Yeah, we do. I thought that you would have had enough respect for me to tell me who you left me for.’ Mark’s lips sealed shut, so Jerry nudged him a little harder. ‘At least tell me how long I was making a fool of myself for.’
His hand took another trip through his blond hair. ‘We’ve been dating for about six months now.’
‘Six months?’ Jerry repeated. ‘We only broke up four months ago!’
‘I know. I couldn’t lie to you anymore. It was better if I just made it a clean break.’
‘Better? Better for whom? I certainly didn’t benefit from the wardrobe-and-drawers- cleaned-out situation. The only person it was better for was you.’
‘Jer, please don’t be upset with me.’
‘You’re a selfish bastard, you know that right?’ Jerry spat, pacing in a tight line behind his chair again. Mark watched him pace. ‘You owe it to me to tell me who it is,’ he said, stopping in front of Mark again. He hadn’t answered, which meant he was caving. ‘Do I know this person?’ he asked through gritted teeth.
Mark sighed. ‘Yeah,’ he mumbled, slumping down further in his chair.
‘Is it someone from the gym?’ Mark shook his head. ‘Is it someone from your office?’ He shook his head again. ‘Is it a mutual friend of ours?’
‘You could call them that, but you’ve known her longer than I have.’
‘Her?’ he asked, not bothering to hide his shock. ‘You left me for a woman?’
Mark finally lifted his eyes to meet Jerry’s; regret and guilt swirling around them. ‘Yes.’
‘Who is it?’
‘Jer, you don’t need to know this.’
‘Who. Is. It?’ he hissed, planting his hands on the table to loom over Mark.
&nbs
p; Mark’s eyes never wavered from his. ‘It’s your mother.’
Chapter 17
Rhett approached the late-model Camry he was about to boost. Grand theft auto wasn’t high on his to-do list today, but he had to get Indi to a hospital. Besides, he was still buck-naked and hurting from the rapid change and the liquid donation. He glanced around the street, looking for humans. When he couldn’t smell or hear any close by, he punched his fist through the passenger side window. The tempered glass crumbled, falling into the seat and giving Rhett all the access he needed.
He swayed suddenly, clutching the top of the car to stay upright. He realised where the weakness was coming from. Indi had taken a lot of his blood; more than he’d really been able to give, but he gave it willingly knowing that it would drag her back from the precipice of death she’d been flirting with. And although he’d pay for what he’d done, he didn’t give a damn.
Popping the locks, he scrambled to get Indi into the back seat; snagging the blanket on the parcel shelf and spreading it over her. Her chest was rising and falling shallowly, but the colour had come back to her cheeks. He brushed a few stray cubes of glass off the driver’s seat and hopped in the car; hot-wiring it to get it going.
Cranking up the heat to inferno to compensate for the accidental window, he tore off in the direction of St. Mary’s hospital in Reynard. It was in the next town over, but still within the Helheim territorial boundary. A wolf named Laithe worked in the ER as a nurse. He figured that if Nox was going to make another attempt at ending her life, she might as well have someone fighting on her side while she was there.