by Faith Gibson
As much as Sin wanted to rescue their mother, this plan – get in and get out – was better suited to Sin’s life at the moment. He was ready to be home with Rocky where he could spend time with her. Now that Banyan owned the bar, she would be free of her responsibility and could do whatever it was she wanted. She had mentioned studying nursing, and if that’s what she wanted, Sin would help her get her degree. Finley had helped him to understand how females didn’t want to sit at home and do nothing. They were used to being out in the world, making a difference. Whatever his mate wanted, he would see to it she got it. One of the things at the forefront of his mind was the fact Rocky couldn’t have children. He did his best to put the reason why in the far reaches of his brain and focus on their options.
Sinclair hadn’t given much thought to having a family over the years since the females of his kind had become close to extinct. Sin had long ago given up any idea of having sons of his own to continue the Di Pietro lineage. Now that he’d found his mate, the idea was still no good to him. He would have to watch his brothers raise their own sons and daughters while waiting for the day to see if they would transition into half-bloods or remain fully human. Even if he and Rocky adopted, the children would never become shifters. Sin didn’t understand why the fates chose the way they did, but there was a reason they’d chosen Rocky for Sinclair. Something besides her outer beauty. Rocky was young and had been through so much in her twenty-four years. If anything, his mate was strong, and Sin respected the hell out of her for coming through the other side of such adversity. Maybe the fates saw something in him Rocky needed, and not the other way around.
Less than halfway into his fifteen-hour flight, unease settled in Sin’s gut. Getting more restless by the minute, his beast stopped rumbling and spoke.
Something is terribly wrong.
I feel it too.
We must go back.
We don’t know Rocky’s in trouble.
Yes, we do.
Sin had vowed to give Rocky some space. She needed time to think about all he’d told her, even though it hadn’t been much. For the security of the Clan, Sinclair wasn’t going to tell Rocky the truth until she agreed to a relationship. That might not be fair, but it’s the way it had to be. Still, the bad feeling deep inside continued to grow stronger the longer he ignored it. When he couldn’t stand it any longer, Sin pulled out his cell phone and tapped out a text. How’s it going, beautiful girl?
Almost immediately he received her reply. Everything’s good. Kinda busy. Chat later.
Sin was happy Rocky responded, and he left her alone since she and Banyan were probably busy with the bar. He settled back into his chair, and the beast settled down in his head. As Sin stared out the window at the clouds, he began planning his next trip – the one he would take with Rocky, anywhere in the world she wanted to go.
Chapter Twenty
After Banyan helped Bridget get all the paperwork picked up, they began going over the accounts. Rocky had a good system in place, and he wouldn’t change anything about it. He didn’t see the need to fix something that wasn’t broken. At least the internal workings of the bar weren’t. The outer shell had been torn apart, and he vowed to find the culprit. This act of vandalism had been aimed at Rocky, and he would bring them to justice, one way or another.
Banyan hadn’t seen Rocky in quite a while. The last time he’d checked on her, she’d been behind the bar, cleaning up broken glass. “Let’s take a break,” he told Bridget. Banyan reached out with his enhanced hearing when he didn’t immediately see Rocky anywhere. The women’s restroom door was open, and the small room was empty. “Have either of you seen Rocky?” he asked the two employees who were hauling the broken chairs outside. They both responded they hadn’t, and Banyan began to get worried. “Rocky?” he called out. When he received no answer, he took the steps to her apartment two at a time. It, too, was empty of its occupant. Banyan practically jumped down the stairs, and by this time, Bridget had caught on to Rocky’s disappearance and was yelling for her friend.
Banyan took off out the back door calling her name. When he received no answer, he reached out with all his Gargoyle senses. There was no sound out of the ordinary, but the one thing he did notice caused his heart to stop. The coppery scent of blood wafted to him, and Banyan ran the short distance to the Dumpster. There on the ground was Rocky, knife in her hand, and puddles of blood beneath both wrists. “Oh, Fuck. Rocky, what did you do? Bridget, call an ambulance,” Banyan pled when the woman walked up behind him.
“Rocky!” Bridget cried, dropping to her knees.
“Bridget, call a godsdamned ambulance,” Banyan yelled. Bridget snapped her head to him, but his tone broke her out of her shock, and she pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket, making the call. Banyan already knew there was a pulse, but it was fading fast. He stripped his shirt over his head, tore it into long pieces, and tied the strips around each of Rocky’s wrists. “Don’t you die on me, Raquel. Sin will have my head if you do.” Once he had her wrists secured, Banyan called Dr. Mercato and told him what was going on. Rocky had lost too much blood, and Sin was across the pond on a business trip in Rafael’s place. With Bridget standing so close, Banyan couldn’t come out and say what he needed to, but the doctor understood Banyan’s meaning.
“We’ll do all we can to save her, Banyan. I suggest you get a hold of Sinclair and get him home. The King will understand. I’ll meet you at the ER.”
Banyan immediately called Sin’s phone, but it went to voicemail. He checked the time, and Sin would still be in the air with probably five more hours left in the flight. If he couldn’t get hold of him before he landed, it would be late the next day before he could get back home. They didn’t have that kind of time. Rocky was fading fast. Banyan called Finley and told him what was going on. He asked him to continue trying to get in touch with Sin and to also call Rafael and fill him in. They had to let Sinclair know about his mate. It was imperative.
While they waited for the paramedics, Bridget sat on the ground beside Rocky, holding one of her bandaged hands. “Why would she do this? I mean, I know shit’s bad with the break-in and all, but it wasn’t that bad.” Tears streamed down the woman’s face, and Banyan didn’t know how to comfort her. He was thinking the same thing. She had been visibly upset when they walked into the bar and found it vandalized, but it was Banyan’s trouble now, not hers. She had spent the night with Sinclair, and when they were together in the kitchen that morning, it was clear on her face she was feeling the pull of the mate bond.
Banyan had been told part of Rocky’s past, and he admired the young woman for coming through the other side. He couldn’t say she was unscathed, but Rocky was still standing. Still, Banyan had only just met the woman and didn’t truly know the faces of her demons. Sin told Banyan and Finley that Rocky had confided in him, so maybe Sin knew her secrets. Still, he refused to believe things were so bad she would take her own life. He stood from where he was crouched, and Banyan called Rett. He wanted the cop to go over every inch of the area outside to make sure there hadn’t been someone there to help Rocky slit her wrists.
Once the paramedics arrived and had her loaded, Banyan rode in the ambulance with Rocky, because if she flatlined, he was going to do something really stupid like cut open a vein and drip his Original blood into her mouth. It had worked with Desi, even though it had been mixed with Simone’s blood, but there was no way he was letting Rocky die on his watch. If that happened, he would have two choices. He could die at the hands of Sinclair or move far away from the Goyle. Neither appealed to him.
Dr. Mercato was waiting at the emergency room as promised. He called out instructions to the staff, and Rocky was rolled away to a private room. Banyan was taken to a room close by where a tech set him up to remove some of his blood. John explained how Banyan and Rocky were the same type, and his staff didn’t question his authority. If they happened to test either one of them, they’d see he had lied. As soon as the tech had drawn a pint, she too
k it to the doctor, who immediately began the transfusion himself. Banyan stood right inside the door, staying out of the way. Rarely did he pray, but standing there helpless, he sent up a request to the gods they keep her alive at least until Sinclair could return home. Banyan had no doubt the despair Sinclair would succumb to if she were to die while he was away.
Dr. Mercato excused the nurse so he could speak with Banyan privately. “Miss Cartwright’s blood is laced with drugs. I can smell it. I have drawn some and will test it myself. I need to know what she’s fighting so I’ll know how to treat her.”
Banyan grabbed his neck and rubbed. This was getting worse, and he was going to have to face Sinclair and admit he let both Sin and Rocky down.
“I know that look, Brother, but you cannot beat yourself up over this.”
“I don’t have to. Sin will do that for me.”
“No, he won’t. I’ve known Sinclair for many years. He’s a good male.”
“But this is his mate, John. He trusted me to watch out for her, and I didn’t. She’s fighting for her life because of my carelessness.”
“Nothing I say is going to make you feel better, so I’ll leave you to your self-loathing, but know this; I’m not going to let her die. I’ll do whatever is necessary to keep her alive and see that she recovers fully.” John clapped him on the shoulder and turned his attention to his patient. Banyan walked to the other side of the bed and picked up Rocky’s hand. He stayed there, by her side, until Vivian arrived. He left Rocky with her best friend, and Banyan made the call he dreaded.
Finley was torn between sitting at the hospital and helping Rett find the ones responsible for Rocky’s condition. He and Banyan had promised to protect Rocky in Sin’s absence, and they’d failed. Fin should have gone with them to the bar to be an extra set of eyes. Instead, he had gone to spar with Urijah and the others. Uri had called stating they were a male short, so Fin had jumped at the chance to get in some physical activity. He had left Rocky’s security in Banyan’s hands, and now she was fighting for her life. Not that Finley was blaming Banyan. On the contrary; Fin was blaming himself.
He had freaked out that morning when Sinclair asked Finley to stay with Rocky at Sin’s home. It wasn’t that Finley didn’t trust himself around Rocky. Knowing she was Sin’s mate was all he needed to keep his hands off her. But just a few nights ago they were supposed to have had sex. If Rocky’s schedule had been different, he would have taken her and Vivian to Sinclair’s home instead of Dana. Fin was attracted to Rocky before he knew she was Sin’s mate, and even now, having that knowledge, he was still attracted to her. That didn’t mean he would dishonor himself by approaching Rocky in an inappropriate way, but he didn’t want there to be any sort of misunderstanding where they were concerned.
He was already skating on thin ice with Banyan over Urijah. It didn’t take long to figure out there was something between his best friend and Banyan the first time he saw the two of them together. It wasn’t until they were shooting pool that Finley felt their connection, even if they were denying it. Uri refused to speak of the years he spent in New Orleans, but Finley knew deep down something went on between him and Banyan. The longing on Banyan’s face when he stared at Uri was undeniable. It was tangible. It was heart-breaking. Fin decided then and there to keep things strictly platonic from that point on with his best friend. No way would Finley knowingly cross the line with another Gargoyle’s mate.
Rett had come in the waiting room and filled Fin and the others in on what he had found at the bar. CSU had looked at the area and said it was impossible to know someone had been around Rocky at the time of her incident, but Rett had been able to detect the same scent around the Dumpster as he had inside. “There were two distinct human scents other than Rocky’s. When the cops canvased the area, a local security camera had caught the images of both a man and a woman running from that direction. Their faces weren’t clear, so I’ve asked the lead detective to begin looking at all the cameras in the vicinity, but with it being such a secluded location, it’s doubtful they’ll find anything. I’m going to canvas the area one more time and talk to all the other shop owners.”
“I’ll go with you,” Finley said.
Vivian was sitting with Rocky, and Remy was standing guard outside her door. Banyan had been pacing the hallway trying to get hold of Sin on the phone. The least Finley could do was to help Rett talk to people.
Sin’s phone vibrated. He couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face when he thought it would be a text from Rocky. What he found was several missed calls and about twenty text messages from various people. Before he could check them all, the flight attendant left the cockpit and stopped beside his chair. “Mr. Stone, we have an emergency.” Sin rarely flew with a full crew, but it was necessary to have at least one person to assist the captain. “Yes, Andre. What is it?”
“Sir, the King called the captain when he couldn’t reach you. There is an emergency back home, and we are rerouting our trip so we can get you back to New Angeles as quickly as possible.”
They had stopped in London to refuel and hadn’t been in the air long at all. “What is the emergency?”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t given the details.”
Sin waved his apology off. “Thank you, Andre. I will call Rafael now.” Before he dialed his brother’s number, Sin scrolled through all the voicemails and texts to find the one from Rocky.
Miss you, baby.
Rocky had yet to refer to him with a term of endearment, even though he’d used several with her. Maybe the time apart had softened her to him. Smiling to himself, Sin called Rafael.
“Sinclair…”
“Rafe, what the fuck is going on? Is Kaya okay? What is so important that we would abort rescuing Mother?”
“Sin, it’s Rocky.”
“Rocky? She is fine. I just received a text from her.”
“No, Brother. She isn’t fine. I hate to tell you this, but a lot happened after you boarded the flight. She and Banyan arrived at RC’s only to find it had been vandalized.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Sin interrupted, getting agitated. That wasn’t an emergency. The bar was Banyan’s, and he could clean up the mess.
“No, but afterwards when everyone was cleaning up, Rocky went missing. Banyan found her out back by the Dumpster. Sin, Rocky had cut her wrists.”
Now Sin was getting pissed. “That is impossible, Rafe. Like I said, I received a text from her. I…”
“Sinclair, fucking listen to me. Rocky is in the hospital. Dr. Mercato has given her some of Banyan’s blood hoping it will help stabilize her, but Brother, you have to know, she’s barely hanging on.”
The blood pounded in Sin’s ears making Rafe’s voice fade in and out. This was a mistake. “Hang on a second,” he practically shouted at his brother. Sin checked the time stamp on the text Rocky sent. It was a little over an hour ago. “Rafe, her text was sent an hour ago. When did this happen?”
“About three hours ago. We’ve all been trying to reach you.”
“Fuck. FUCK!” Sinclair roared. He didn’t understand how he could get a text from his mate saying she missed him if she’d tried to kill herself. “Wait, did you say she cut her wrists? Rocky wouldn’t do that.”
“Sin, you just met her. You don’t know what she’s capable of. Banyan said she was upset when she found her bar in disarray.”
“It is not her bar; it’s Banyan’s, and I do know her, Rafe. I might have just met her, but I know her heart. She is strong, and she is a fighter. With all the shit she has been through in her short life, finding her bar vandalized would be a walk in the park compared to everything else. Don’t you think it is a coincidence this happens within hours of the other? Something is off, I know it. My girl did not do this to herself. Would you have believed Kaya capable of suicide the first day you met her?”
“No, but Kaya was chief of police. She was strong. In control. Rocky’s an ex-…
“An ex what, Rafe? An ex-junkie? A former stripp
er? These things are in her past. She is no longer that person. You have to believe me.”
“I believe you, but we need to look at the evidence set out before us.”
“I don’t have to look at shit. I know my girl did not try to off herself. Now, I am going to hang up and call Julian. I need someone to trace the text coming from her godsdamn phone.” Sinclair disconnected the call and dialed his cousin’s number, doing his best to get his breathing as well as his ire under control. When this was all over, he and his older brother were going to have words.
“Sinclair? Landon. What can I do for you?”
“Landon, why are you answering Julian’s phone?”
“He’s concentrating on a lead he may have with regards to his mate.”
“Good. That’s good. Listen, I need you to find out where my mate’s phone is. I’ve received a couple of texts from her, but she doesn’t have her phone on her.” Sin rattled off the phone number.
“Got it. I’ll call you back as soon as I have it.”
“Call Banyan first. I am on my way back from London, and he needs this information before I do. Landon, this is top priority. Someone tried to kill my mate, and I need to know who it is.”
“Sin, last we spoke you didn’t have a mate.”
“Things can change in the blink of an eye, Landon. Do not ever forget that.” Sin thumbed off his phone and stood. He began pacing the short length of the cabin while he waited on Banyan to answer his phone.