by Nikki Duncan
Her heart seized a beat. She backed another step. A man’s approval, aside from her father’s, had never mattered. So what made Aidan different? Why did the opinion of a grumpy and judgmental man have her willing to let a story go?
I love him.
Her legs trembled.
I love him.
Shock drove her back another step.
I love him.
Lana wanted their attraction to be an infatuation based on the excitement of animosity. They were too different to ever have a future, but damn if she didn’t want that more than any story. She reached for the wall for support. It wasn’t there.
Tumbling to the floor, she braced for impact. Steady hands stopped her fall.
“You okay?”
“F-fine.” Lana looked into a soft face framed by blonde hair—looking just as she had in her DMV photo. Jayleen’s face. Buzzing filled Lana’s brain. Her vision hazed at the edges, making it tough to focus. She was in love with a man who wouldn’t love her in return and she was face-to-face with a killer.
“You’re not.” Jayleen wrapped an arm around Lana’s waist and led her toward Dr. Grayson’s waiting room. “Come in here and sit down.”
“Lana?” Aidan’s voice through the com was muffled by the fog in her mind. “What are you up to?”
“It’s nothing.” She tried to dissuade Jayleen while hoping to ease Aidan. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“You’re pale and shaking.” Jayleen pushed her into a chair. “Are you sick? Has something upset you?”
“Damn it, Lana.” Aidan’s curse penetrated. “If you’re with Jayleen, keep her there. And stay out of the way.”
Out of the way of what? How could she be out of the way if she was with the killer? Everyone on the coms spoke simultaneously, reporting their readiness to change positions. Breck ordered them to hold. Aidan cussed again. Jayleen pressed a paper cup into Lana’s hand.
“Thank you.” Plastering on a small smile that she couldn’t make herself feel, Lana accepted the conical cup. Jayleen didn’t seem to care that the receptionist wasn’t at her desk. Lana would keep her distracted enough to not care. “I’m not sure what happened out there.”
“Maybe you need to eat?” Jayleen studied Lana with concern as she sat in the chair beside her. She didn’t act like a killer with the FBI searching for proof of her guilt. She acted instead like a woman concerned about another woman.
“Maybe.” Food had nothing to do with her sudden dizziness, but she’d let Jayleen think she was on the right track.
“We have some protein bars in the back. I’ll get you one.”
Lana grabbed Jayleen’s hand when she began to rise. Her birthmark-free hand. “I think I just need to sit for a minute.”
“Let me go get the doctor for you,” Jayleen offered.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at, Lana, but you should have stayed where I left you.”
“No.” Jayleen’s desire to help paled in comparison to Aidan’s snarl over what he saw as Lana’s interference. She couldn’t fully explain herself without giving herself away to Jayleen, and if she did anything that would let a killer go free she wouldn’t have to worry about Aidan’s forgiveness. She would need her own. “I don’t want to get in the way. I was just…leaving.”
“Where’s Daisy? What’s going on?” Dr. Grayson’s tone shifted from mild irritation that his receptionist wasn’t at her desk to curiosity as his gaze settled on Lana and Jayleen. Kieralyn stepped in behind him with awareness in her stance. Dread dawned in Lana’s belly as she realized a piece of what they’d missed.
Shit.
“I found her in the hall about to faint,” Jayleen put in.
“I was in the area and thought I’d see how you were doing. Maria said you’d come back to work.” Lana pushed to her feet and offered a smile to Dr. Grayson. “I just got a little dizzy in the hall, but I’m fine.” She turned to Jayleen and extended her hand. “Thank you…”
“Jayleen.”
Tension eased from Dr. Grayson’s shoulders as Jayleen shook Lana’s hand, but not enough that he seemed to be relaxed. Breck said something to the receptionist still following him through the back offices. Lana didn’t catch it all but the gist of it was that he was keeping her out of the way while Aidan handled the situation in the waiting room.
“Lana, don’t do anything else stupid.” Aidan warned. “Kieralyn, watch her. Grayson’s involved.”
Lana edged to the door, trying to put some space between herself and Jayleen and Dr. Grayson. Kieralyn looked between them all, pretending to be an unsuspecting patient as she moved slightly between Dr. Grayson and Lana.
Lana could protect herself, but Kieralyn was the one with a gun. She was also the fed, so it only made sense to stand behind her. Then Dr. Grayson seemed to notice Kieralyn’s protective posture. He looked from her to the empty reception desk and back to Kieralyn. His stare hardened. His jaw twitched.
“What’s going on here?”
“We’re stopping a killer.” Aidan stepped into the main office without the leather jacket he habitually wore. His badge was clipped to his belt. His gun sat, as if anticipating potential danger, at his hip.
The power pulsing off him streamed across the room and slammed into Lana. She’d seen him work but she hadn’t. She hadn’t been as aroused as she was in this moment.
“A killer?” Jayleen asked innocently. “Who’s killing who?”
Lana shifted to study Jayleen, wondered if she was really clueless or simply a damn good actress. Watching her closely, catching the flicker of a muscle edging her right eye as she looked at Dr. Grayson, Lana went with actress. The woman was too closely connected to the people who’d been killed not to know what was going on.
“We thought we had that answered.” Aidan’s smile was eerily chilled as he raised some papers he’d been holding. “Until I found this.”
“What is it?” Kieralyn asked, shifting again to ease Lana away from Dr. Grayson.
Dread braided itself along Lana’s spine. Whatever he’d found didn’t make this bigger than they’d thought. It made things monumentally wrong.
“A contract with a pharmaceutical company wanting to mass produce Dr. Grayson’s latest treatment. There are a lot of zeroes on here.”
Breck and the team were talking in the coms, quietly giving updates on their positions as they moved closer to the waiting area while staying out of sight. Lana shoved the information aside and focused on the scene facing her.
“Maria’s blend?”
“Yes.”
Kieralyn asked the question that Aidan answered. It was innocent enough until it seemed to spark a thought in Dr. Grayson. His gaze sharpened and narrowed on Kieralyn. He took a step closer.
“That wouldn’t be his to sell.” Lana shook her head slowly and watched Dr. Grayson. His skin was reddening. The pulse in his neck throbbed on both sides. A dark spot spread from the size of a freckle to a larger smear of color on his hand.
“It could be with Maria dead,” Kieralyn added.
Faster than Lana’s eyelids closed and opened with a blink, Dr. Grayson lunged with his hand outstretched. It was the hand she’d seen in the video. It was the hand she’d seen reaching for her at her apartment. It was the hand capable of killing her best friend.
Lana lunged for Kieralyn, hoping to knock her away from Dr. Grayson’s touch. Kieralyn fell to the floor and for the second time in a week Lana watched a killing touch reach for her. She was moving to dodge, but things seemed to go in slow motion and she wasn’t sure she’d escape. She also wasn’t sure she’d survive a second touch.
Aidan appeared in front of her, knocking her back as he blocked her bodily. Howling, Dr. Grayson grabbed Aidan’s throat.
Somewhere in Lana’s subconscious she was aware of chaos around her. A woman screeched and then began crying. Tyler and Liam grabbed Dr. Grayson’s arms, careful not to touch his skin, and hauled him away from Aidan. Breck and Kieralyn went after Jayleen as she tried to flee
.
Aidan made a choking sound and grabbed for his throat. He stumbled, tumbling backward to Lana. She caught him with her arms beneath his and supported him against her chest.
He’d accepted her story had merit. He’d saved her when she’d been touched. Now he’d taken the hit aimed at her. He had to be okay so she could tell him thank you. Tell him how she felt.
The skin where Dr. Grayson had touched him swelled and bubbled with pustules. Each breath Aidan tried to breathe shook his body as it wheezed through his air pipes. If she had thought to get a new EpiPen she could help. She hadn’t. Liam demanded Dr. Grayson help Aidan. He refused, not caring that he’d be taking another life. His staff didn’t know how to counteract the effects of his touch.
Bending her knees, fighting to maintain her balance so they didn’t both crash to the floor, Lana eased down. Her thighs sizzled with the strain of supporting her weight and Aidan’s. Her heart pounded with exploding beats in her chest. “Aidan, stay with me.”
Settling Indian style with his head cradled close, she brushed his hair and stared into his eyes. “You better be okay.”
He opened his mouth, trying to say something. More wheezing, growing rapidly quieter, was all that escaped. His face was taking on a sick shade of pale.
“Damn it, Aidan, if you die because of a story I wanted to write…”
“I’ve called 9-1-1.” Ava knelt beside them, resting a hand on Lana’s knee and Aidan’s stomach. “And H.”
The last words, quietly uttered between closed teeth, snapped Lana’s head up. She stared into Ava’s eyes. She had so many questions to ask, but was afraid to voice any of them. She’d been trusted with Dr. H’s secret. “Will he be okay with that?”
“He’ll be less fine if Aidan dies. H cares about the team more than they know.”
“Enough that he’s…” Lana trailed off, not wanting to directly ask if Dr. H had opened up about his abilities. Aidan may doubt her ability to hold back when it came to a story, but he didn’t know she’d sat on a story that could have won her major awards. Or that she didn’t regret a moment of it.
“No, but it’ll be out quick enough.” Ava squeezed Lana’s knee. “He’ll be fine with it.”
Aidan tapped her hand with a weak finger. She looked back to his questioning eyes and shook her head. She would let Dr. H tell him his secret in his own way. She however would do what she could to minimize his exposure when he did.
“Ava, help me get Aidan to the elevator. If we meet the EMTs in the lobby that’ll save time.”
“I’m not sure moving him is a good idea. It could make his reaction spread faster.”
“Not necessarily.” Lana looked back to Aidan and placed her thumb over a pressure point in his neck. “Nap time.”
With a little pressure, she put him to sleep. His unconsciousness would make him heavier to move, but it would also keep his vitals steady so he wasn’t straining to help them. That would hopefully keep the reaction from spreading too quickly.
“He’s not going to like that you did that.” Ava moved to his feet, but Breck returned before they could pick him up.
“Ava, tell the EMTs we’re on the way down.” Breck stooped down and effortlessly lifted Aidan in a fireman’s carry. A quick grin curled a corner of his mouth as Lana and Ava opened the doors for him. “Can’t believe you two thought you could move him downstairs on your own.”
Lana didn’t tell Breck that she could have carried Aidan exactly as he was, because she knew that though she could, she wouldn’t have been able to hold up as steadily for as long. And all she really cared about was getting Aidan taken care of quickly.
The EMTs met them in the lobby, right outside the elevator doors. They got Aidan on the stretcher and jammed an EpiPen in his thigh. One took vitals and rattled off numbers and information as they hustled to the waiting ambulance. As they reached the rear of the ambulance, the doors swung open and H gave a terse nod.
The EMTs lifted the stretcher and snapped it into place. One of them and Breck moved to the front for the drive. Ava and Lana piled in behind Dr. H and the other EMT. It was crowded, and they normally wouldn’t allow so many people in the back, but Ava needed to be there for H and Lana wasn’t leaving Aidan. That they were never questioned suggested that Dr. H had laid it out for the EMTs ahead of time using the doctor signifier most people knew him as.
“Can you help him?” Ava asked her fiancé.
“I’ll try.” Dr. H eased forward on the bench and placed his hands on Aidan’s neck and stared, unblinking, at the wounds. An electric blue light Lana had only heard about filled the back of the ambulance. He was looking beneath the surface of Aidan’s wounds like he’d supposedly done once for Ava.
Ava rested her hands on Dr. H—one on a wrist and the other cupping his neck. Then, whatever he did must have done something. His hands began to swell and bubble, though not to the extent of Aidan’s neck. Even unconscious, Aidan’s breathing began to level out. The EMT, clearly wanting to question what was happening, settled for monitoring Aidan’s vitals.
Month-long minutes passed before the EMT announced that Aidan’s breathing was returning to normal. Dr. H would likely have worked longer, pulling Aidan’s ailments into himself, but Ava pulled him away. The EMT shifted his attention to Dr. H while Lana stared at the man she loved. The man she’d almost lost.
Chapter Fourteen
“Seems like being a holistic allergist doesn’t pay well. Dr. Grayson wanted more money and saw that contract as his way out.” Liam caught Aidan up from his sprawled position in the chair he’d pulled to the edge of Aidan’s hospital bed. He’d abandoned his suit jacket, but even in slacks and a tie that remained perfectly knotted, his brother appeared perfectly comfortable.
“That it wasn’t his right to sign the contract was a minor issue as he saw it. He was convinced he could get Maria to give her formula over to the pharmaceutical company.” For a man who didn’t talk much, Liam hadn’t shut up since Aidan woke.
“Then Jayleen, who’d been treating herself, accidentally killed her foster mom when she’d gotten upset over Natasha’s illness. That it put the woman out of her misery faster didn’t matter.”
Aidan tried to focus on Liam’s story. He wanted to know what had happened and what had started the killing, but not as much as he wanted to know what Lana was up to. Though it wasn’t a stretch to think she was in a corner hammering out her story.
“Horribly upset, Jayleen turned to Dr. Grayson. He talked her into bringing her foster mom to him. She did and he realized the only thing Jayleen had been using was the cream.”
“And the death, if reported, would get the contract revoked,” Aidan slipped in.
“Exactly. Unless it was a one time, fluke thing.” Liam’s normally steady tone hitched with disgust. “He decided to test it out, so he started using the lotion and found himself some test patients.”
“Who were all connected to his office manager?”
“I actually feel sorry for her a little. Seems he decided that if the deaths were discovered he could put them off on Jayleen and still cash in.”
The announcement was another oddity from Liam. He’d locked himself away so long ago that only people closest to him could manage to get emotion out of him and even then it was strictly controlled. That a woman on a case evoked something in him suggested that hidden somewhere in the story was a hot button of Liam’s that no one had managed to press before.
“Then Lana visited Maria, which got her to questioning Dr. Grayson. She found out about the deaths, refused to hand over her formula and threatened to contact the FDA.”
“So he turned on her.”
“He would have turned on anyone who stood in his way.”
“Lana.” Aidan’s skin heated from the rush of his blood. The increased blood flow had the rash around his throat itching. The itch paled in comparison to the murderous rage surging through him.
Dr. Grayson had attacked Lana. His greed had landed her in a bed much like
this one and had her fighting for her life. Then he’d gone after her again in his office.
“If I had known…”
“You’d have killed him before he could raise a hand,” Liam stated simply.
“Fuck yeah, I would.”
“Because you love her.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Aidan glared at his brother, tempted to argue. Their whole life they’d fought with words until one or the other gave up and more often than not Liam would back down first. This time though, Aidan wondered if the fight was worth the entertainment value he might get.
Truthfully, he did care for Lana. The idea of her being hurt… He enjoyed her company. Her smart mouth and quick brain. She challenged him, and damn if that didn’t excite him. A touch of her hand could awaken his body as if she filled every fiber and blood cell with a burst of oxygen. She made him laugh.
“See.” Liam smirked. “You can’t argue because you know I’m right.”
“No.”
“Even if you don’t want to name it love, it’s what it is. She’s not safe and you like that.”
“She’s a reporter, always looking for the next story and how it can get her ahead in her career.”
“But not to the point she’ll walk over people to win.” Liam stood and grabbed his coat. “If you can’t see that by now, big brother, then you’re not the man I thought.”
Aidan stared at the ceiling for a long time after Liam left. Everything his brother said was true. He didn’t want to be in love, and Lana wasn’t safe. Everything about her was dangerous to who and what he was.
He couldn’t be with a woman who made him wonder if talking about work was going to become a story for her. That would always have him wondering if she was with him for him or for the career boost he could provide. Maybe Liam was right, and Lana wouldn’t be that way. But the possibility remained that she would. As this case had proven, no one could really ever know another person.
Maria and Dr. Grayson had known each other and worked together for years. They’d been involved in an intimate relationship and still Maria had been double-crossed. She’d been used and then abandoned when she was no longer beneficial.