He smiled back at her as reality finally faded to nothing.
34
Emma MacBride
Tearing around the corners as fast as she could run, Emma made her way toward the detention center.
Aiden was nowhere to be found, and Nikita had vanished as well, but Ace lay in a crumpled heap on the ground. He looked as if death had already taken hold. Splotches of hives brought some color to his graying complexion, just as she’d seen on Regina. Had she arrived too late?
Panicking, she threw herself down and began checking for vital signs. His heartbeat was slow, with an erratic stuttering rhythm. But he was still alive. That gave her some momentary relief. He was far from okay, however. She dug around in her bag, searching for either the atropine or epinephrine. A weak and irregular pulse was only the first of the problems she’d have to tackle, but being the most important, she had to act quickly.
Fallon arrived, panting as if she’d run the entire length of the house and back. “Is he alive?”
“For the moment.” Emma fell into her own rhythm of procedure. “We’re going to need to set up an IV and get started on fluids.” She prepared and swabbed Ace’s skin with an alcohol wipe, looking for the best spot to set the IV. “He’ll need a dose of atropine too. His heart is failing.”
“What do you need me to do?” Fallon asked.
“Did you get a hold of Jay or Brady?” Small talk helped her to keep her nerves as she worked on setting up the saline drip and administering the initial push of atropine.
“Brady yes. Jay no,” Fallon answered. She held out a hand, offering to hold up the bag of IV fluids without being prompted. “Where’s Aiden?”
Emma pulled out her stethoscope and listened to Ace’s chest as she waited to see if the medication was having an effect. “Don’t know.” She counted the beats as she listen to Ace’s chest. Since she’d had to calculate the dosage on the fly, she wasn’t sure if she’d given him enough of the atropine. Too much could make matters worse, but not enough was ineffective. At the same time, she began to second-guess whether she should have just opted for epinephrine first.
Shouting and screaming echoed from the far side of the hallway, and Emma and Fallon both turned their heads to see.
Nikita was struggling against Aiden’s iron grip. She spit curses and flailed as he calmly walked her toward the detention center door.
Far from the perfect specimen of femininity she’d been earlier, this version of Nikita looked completely unhinged. Even her perfect hair was matted and tangled, and mascara was smudged all around her eyes like bruises. She’d have been stupid to try to fight off Aiden, but by the looks of things, sense had escaped her quite a long time ago.
Aiden, however, had on the Alphas mask of stoicism. Completely composed as he walked up to them, he asked, “Is Ace okay?”
“I’m working on it,” Emma replied. His heart rate had not changed, and she administered another dose of atropine. “What did you give him?”
Nikita laughed and then screamed when Aiden brought her arm up sharply behind her back.
“I can break this with just a little more pressure,” he threatened.
“Do it!” Nikita challenged.
Emma turned away, knowing what was coming, but still cringed at the snapping of bones.
Nikita’s cry was loud enough to wake the entire building.
“What did you give him?” Aiden asked again.
“My own special blend,” Nikita whimpered. “Oleander and foxglove extracts.”
Exactly what Emma had thought. She could work more confidently now that she knew she was on the right track.
“Can you save him?” Aiden asked.
“Working on it,” Emma answered.
“You broke my arm,” Nikita cried.
“In the grand scheme of things, how does that compare to what you’ve done?” Aiden responded. He put the code in for the detention center door and shoved her inside. “I’ll be right back.”
Fallon sat in shocked silence, staring at the door.
“You okay?” Emma asked seeing the distress on her friend’s face.
“I’m kind of surprised he didn’t snap her neck, given the circumstances,” Fallon replied. “I’ve never seen him so mad.”
Emma would have laughed had she not been so focused on listening to Ace’s heart. The second dose seemed to be working; his heart rate had increased. It wasn’t quite back to normal, but it was better. His color had started to perk up as well.
“He’s okay?”
“He’s not dead,” she corrected. “Toxic plants can wreak havoc on the body. Without tests to be sure, I’m sort of working blind. But if I remember correctly, this particular plant will screw with the potassium and calcium levels in the body.”
“Sure. Let’s go with that,” Fallon agreed.
“Which means that next to the heart, we’re looking at possible renal failure.”
“And you treat that how?”
That was a questions she was already asking herself. She’d use IV fluids to flush the body. Foxglove poisoning inhibited potassium uptake by the cells, resulting in hyperkalemia. “Electrolyte imbalance,” she blurted out answering her own question rather than Fallon’s, and dove into her bag again.
Aiden emerged from behind the locked door. “Those two are a couple?” He chuckled. “They sound like they hate each other.”
“You locked them up together?” Fallon asked.
“Why not? They seemed to have a lot to discuss.”
Emma would have enjoyed being part of the joke, but riveted to the task of saving Ace, she let Aiden and Fallon’s conversation fade into the background. Ace was nonresponsive, but his heart still beat and his chest rose and fell with each shallow breath. These were positive signs, but not enough to stop doubt from whispering the odds of failure in the back of her mind. Even wolves could succumb to death if their injuries were great enough. And kidney failure was definitely not a warrior’s death.
Aiden’s mask might have been on, but she saw through the cracks. Behind the hard line of his mouth was a tight jaw and gritted teeth to hold back sorrow. Ace was like him in many ways. Kindred spirits. Both had lost their father too young. Both had taken up the mantle of authority before they felt truly ready. Aiden had spoken so highly of Ace before they’d arrived, and said he knew a good leader would emerge if given the time.
She’d seen it too. Despite a rocky start, Ace had proven himself thoughtful and capable, and annoyingly persistent in his desires.
Her mask slipped as she stared down at his face. She was supposed to be the doctor – detached, clinical, and riveted to the task of bringing him back from the brink of death. But as she lingered on the paleness of his lips, she couldn’t hold back the burning of tears that would reveal her true feelings. If he didn’t wake up, she’d never have the chance to see what might have been.
“How long till you know something?” Aiden’s solemn voice brought her back to the conversation.
Emma sucked in a sobering breath and gave another quick listen to Ace’s chest, noting how his heart had finally settled back into a normal pattern. His breathing too sounded steady, and as she moved the stethoscope around his torso, she failed to hear anything else out of sorts. However, he remained unconscious. A coma had not been something she’d considered. But it was not far from the realm of possibilities in this case.
“Wish I could say.” She tried to sound neutral about it. Best not to tempt fate by suggesting a worst-case scenario. “We just have to wait and watch.”
Thankfully neither Aiden nor Fallon pressed for more information. Fallon sat by Ace’s head, holding the IV bag dutifully, but her eyes watered as if she’d come to the same conclusion as Emma.
Aiden began to pace in the hallway, every few moments checking his watch as if it might somehow make time move faster. “Any word from Brady?”
“He went to fetch Jay, last I heard,” Fallon answered. “Why don’t you call him?”
Aiden�
��s hand dove into his pocket but came up empty. “I left in too much of a rush,” he growled angrily, and squatted down next to Ace. “Let’s hope Nikita didn’t dose anyone else with her personal concoction.”
“She did more than that, by the looks of it.” Emma pointed to the raw bruises around his cheekbones and eyebrows.
“Coward.” Aiden vented his anger with a growling breath. “She and her mate will both pay for this.”
“What will happen to them?” Emma asked, hoping to be part of their sentencing. Her own personal rage needed an outlet, and the wolf within begged to exact justice.
“If it’s up to me...” Aiden turned to meet Emma’s eyes. He might have been in human form, but she only saw his wolf staring back at her. “I’d throw them to the wolves.”
“One at a time,” Fallon added eagerly, “for sport.”
For all their civility in their human halves, their kind were still very much beasts, and when it came to punishments, this was the most savage of all. And Emma prayed it would be their fate.
Ace had not moved in all the time they had been sitting there. His vitals had stabilized, and the thought of him being comatose indefinitely began to feel like reality.
He didn’t deserve that. He deserved vengeance. She’d rip the fur from Nikita’s back personally in Ace’s name for what she’d done to him.
“Sooner rather than later, I hope,” Emma replied. “Speaking of. At some point we are going to have to move him. He’s not waking up, and this is a far cry from a hospital bed.”
Aiden’s wolf retreated behind his eyes as the Alpha stood and looked around the hallway. “Agreed. We’ll need to carry him back to his bed at the very least.”
Wolves were supposed to heal faster than humans. He should have woken up, or at the very least given some sign he was on the mend – a moan, a twitch; any sign of life. Another worry took root in her mind. Maybe he hadn’t stabilized. What if the poison were still shutting down organs she’d not considered? They needed to get him somewhere safe. And she needed to get hold of the right equipment and tests.
“He’ll be okay,” Fallon whispered. “We’re a hearty breed.”
Her words of comfort were the same Emma had used many times over, and yet hearing them now made her want to break down into a fit of tears. She reached out and took hold of Ace’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. He looked broken and weak; a far cry from the arrogant prick she’d thought him on their first meeting.
All his talk of what he owned and how powerful his territory had been. She’d thought him a braggart when he’d been so desperate to make her see his worth. How wrong she had been! But, just as she’d opened her eyes to the truth, Fate stepped in and screwed it all up.
“We had a date,” she whispered, allowing the tears to fall. “Do you hear me, Aeson Silverman? You have to wake up.”
Fallon reached out with her free hand. “Hey. I’m sorry we pushed you, Em.”
“Don’t be. You were right. I needed to give him a chance.” She wiped away the tears, sniffling. Crying wasn’t going to solve anything, but it felt good every now and again to release that pent-up negativity. “And now that I’ve agreed to a chance, I’m not letting a silly thing like poisoning screw it up.”
She placed her hand back down on his chest, spreading her fingers across his pecs. “You hear me, Ace?” His eyes fluttered for a brief moment.
“You promised,” Emma used her own force of will to command him. “Wake up!”
His eyes cracked open slightly, and the moment light touched them, he winced as if it hurt to see. “Are you always this bossy?” he groaned.
“Do you always have to be the center of attention?” she replied snarkily, wiping away the tears. He was awake. She whispered a silent prayer to the gods and nearly threw herself down to hug him, but stopped before she made a complete fool of herself.
“Don’t be mad,” he said in a strained whisper. “I’m going to be a little late for our date.”
“Unacceptable,” she snorted. If his joking wit was any indication of his healing, he’d be back to his old self in no time.
“Just let me die, then,” he replied, with a laugh that sounded painful.
“You’re not getting off that easy.” Relief washed over her, releasing a fresh bout of happy tears. She allowed them to make trails down her face, and smiled genuinely. No need for a mask.
“I’m at your mercy. Do with me as you will, doctor.”
“Let’s get you well first, and then the real fun can begin.”
“If you two are done flirting,” Aiden interrupted, “can we take this party somewhere more private? We’re not out of the woods yet. There are missing guards to account for.”
“And my bother...” Ace’s smiling face contorted with fear. “I need to know if he is okay.”
“I have a feeling your brother and mine are in the same place,” Aiden replied solemnly, as he helped to lift Ace to his feet. “Let’s go find them.”
35
Aeson Silverman
News came as Ace lay recovering in his room.
Brady had found Jay sleeping off a high dose of insomnia medication. Nikita had lied about killing him, probably because she needed a fallback if her first attempt failed. But the other guards who’d been stationed around the home, and Peter, whom he’d personally assigned to watch her, had not been so lucky.
The death toll had been brought into double digits, and in his rage, Ace promised to add two more to the list before the night was over.
Poison crept slowly through Ace’s body, causing bouts of nausea and lightheadedness, despite the medication Emma had ordered to counteract it. Shifting was always the cure-all for his race, and once he could successfully call the wolf up, he knew he would return to fighting form. Each attempt had ended in failure as he worked for hours to get his body to cooperate. The wolf was there, but had not been able to rise up.
Food, however, had the opposite effect, and without nourishment, the cycle repeated over and over, to his frustration.
Morning quickly turned to midday, and as the hours passed, Ace became more desperate. Only when Jay remembered the last bottle of magical wakeup juice did Ace finally see some results.
He concentrated hard, imagining the sensation of relinquishing his broken body to the strength of his wolf. He sent his consciousness down into the depths of his mind, shrinking within himself as the beast grew larger.
What was normally a painless process of calling forth the wolf and assuming its form this time taught him a whole new meaning to the word pain. His skin prickled with each hair that erupted across his body. Bones shattered and reformed as limbs reshaped. Ace fell to the ground moaning in agony as the wolf emerged, howling for freedom.
Excruciating as it was, morphing between forms hit the reset switch, and the ill effects of the drug were purged from his body. His mind clear and his vision shaper than ever, Ace was ready to tackle the change in reverse.
The wolf growled at being put back so quickly, but Ace promised his other half blood and vengeance as a reward for patience.
Those who had brought pain and death to his pack would soon learn the true meaning of those words.
His strength renewed, Ace called the entire company of wolves to the back lawn for an emergency meeting. He’d lost nearly the whole day in recovery, but night time had always been his favorite for hunting. The moon in all her silvery glory rose high above the treetops. He welcomed her light and bathed in it as he waited for his guests to arrive.
Jay was first to join him, as always. Orion and Richard arrived right on his heels. There had been so many deaths in the last twenty-four hours. His pack had suffered greatly. But he remained thankful for the ones spared in this battle.
“All healed now?” Orion asked.
Ace turned and nodded to his uncle and then at Richard. The old enforcer wore his scars well, but age was catching up to him, and he didn’t heal as completely as he used to. “How about you, old man?”
; Richard reached up and touched the spot on the back of his head where Emma had drilled into his skull. “I’ve got a bit of a headache. Hope that’s not permanent. But otherwise, at your service.”
“Tonight, we end this,” Ace replied.
Orion looked as if he wanted to smile, but his face remained neutral. “You must give the order.”
Vivian walked out through the solarium with a drink in hand, looking as if she’d already had a few. “The others are on their way,” she said. She threw her arms around Ace and then reached out and pulled Jay into the hug. “My boys. I don’t know what I would have done...” She stifled a sob and buried her head in Ace’s chest. “I love you!”
“Love you too, Mom,” Jay said, as he tried to push away and break free.
Ace let her hold tightly. Death had nearly tore them apart; she could hold on as long as she needed.
At the sound of the back door opening, Vivian let go. She turned as the remaining guests began to filter out onto the back lawn.
Ace turned to Richard and Orion. “Go and fetch them, please.”
The two men backed away and disappeared into the crowd.
“What’s going on here, young Alpha?” Tito demanded.
“Justice,” Ace answered. “Our justice!”
“Do you not mean vengeance?” Tito looked as if he were on the edge of laughter.
He had not been put through the same hell Ace had. He had not lost any men or nearly lost family in the last few hours. Anger burned brightly within Ace’s chest. And it would only be sated by blood.
“Who among us has not suffered at the hands of Leif and Nikita?” Ace shouted to the assembled crowd. “I demand justice for my people and those who have died throughout their reign of terror. Blood for blood!”
He stared down each and every Alpha, daring them to speak against him.
Aiden and Brady both nodded in silent assent.
Emma too, though she spoke with only her eyes. She had the look of someone who eagerly awaited the chance for vengeance.
Tito met Ace’s glare. The old Alpha would have been well within his rights to challenge him. Ace had gone almost feral with anger, and to call for the most severe of punishments was not to be taken lightly. However, Tito did not seem to disagree. He bowed to Ace with a slow nod of his head. “Now you see why dominance rules our people. Despite our human abilities to think and negotiate with each other, at the end of the day, those willing to take action are the ones who maintain control. You have learned the first of many great lessons as an Alpha, Aeson Silverman.” His voice, low and flat, demanded silence to be heard and it its way was an execution of authority as he agreed with Ace’s demand. “The wolf demands wolf justice, and he shall have it.”
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