by Cecy Robson
I was less than a quarter mile from the house when I caught the scent of the wereraccoon who had rifled through our garbage a few weeks back. What the hell was he doing here? I roared. He jumped before changing and leaped through the trees like a flying squirrel.
Yeah. That’s right. Don’t piss off the angry tigress who wants to mount a wolf who knocked up someone else.
I slowed when I reached our back lawn. My sisters waited on the rear porch. Taran paced, rubbing blue and white flames between her palms. Shayna stood on one of the patio chairs with her new bow out and an arrow ready to fire. Emme remained tucked beneath the crook of Liam’s big shoulder. His amber eyes narrowed when he saw me. “Did you get her?” I nodded and leaped onto our wooden deck. “Are Koda and Aric behind you?”
I didn’t have to answer; Aric and Koda jetted across the lawn. Taran extinguished her fire and opened the back door for me. Emme followed behind me as I barreled up the stairs. As soon as she finished healing me, I rinsed the ash from my skin and rushed us downstairs. “Come on, Emme. I need to talk to Aric.”
All the wolves donned sweatpants. Aric and Koda stood at separate sinks wiping off the bloodlust goop with old towels.
“It was Judge Sofia.”
Aric stopped midwipe. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “I recognized her scent first, then her face.”
Koda swore.
Taran moved over to Emme. “I can see that.” She drummed her nails nervously against the granite counter. “She wanted Emme back in vamp court; of course her hunger would make her want her even more now.”
Liam pulled Emme closer and growled. “They can’t have her.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Aric folded his arms. “Bloodlusters seek large clusters of humans to feed their hunger. She could have targeted any of the bigger communities in the area instead. Why come here specifically for Emme?”
“Magical beings emit a stronger, more attractive aroma—infected vampires prefer mystical blood.” Liam’s hand swept around the kitchen. “There are seven us gathered here. She could have fixed on our collective scent and just spotted Emme first.”
Aric shook his head. “Her condition was advanced enough to leave a death trail on her way here. Any attacks would have been reported to me by now.” He double-checked his cell phone before focusing back on Liam. “What happened upstairs?”
Liam rubbed Emme’s arm. “We were about to take a shower. I scented the vamp just as Emme passed the window. She dug her nails into me when I hauled Emme out of the way.”
Koda’s fury filled the room. “Aric, you came from the outside. She should have sensed you and gone after you first. Why wait to eat? Patience is a foreign concept to a famished bloodluster. I think she specifically targeted our girls.” The thick muscles of his forearm wrapped around Shayna’s slender waist. She trailed her fingertips along his wrist until her small hand covered his at her hip.
I hopped up on the counter. “Someone has to be controlling the vampires. It’s the only possible explanation.”
Aric moved next to me. Unlike my sisters, who welcomed the closeness of their wolves, I squirmed away from mine. Aric dropped his head and sighed. Guilt stabbed my chest like one of Shayna’s daggers. The dagger twisted deeper as I took in the disapproving faces of the other wolves.
Aric ignored them. “No one has ever been able to control an infected vampire.”
My fingers knitted together. “I know that’s the theory. But none of this has followed the normal path of bloodlust—even the method of infection.”
“I’m not saying it’s not possible,” Aric snarled.
The tension between Aric and me exploded in the kitchen like a barrage of firecrackers. My tigress snapped to attention and so did his wolf. We locked gazes, but the anger that riled our beasts slowly disappeared as those brown eyes softened beneath my stare.
Koda cleared his throat. “I want to stay here, Aric. Just in case something else shows.”
“Fine.” Aric didn’t look away. “You and Liam can both stay. I’ll call Gem and the rest of the pack. We’ll search the surrounding area and see what we can find.”
Taran tapped an irate foot. “You need to go after the other judge.” She glanced in my direction. “And Misha’s master.”
Koda scoffed. “We can’t. The treaty between our kind and those leeches prevents us from interrogating the masters unless we witness a direct violation. Our Elders will have to speak with their grand masters. It will take some time before we can seek them out.”
Time we don’t have. I twisted around and disconnected my phone from the charger plugged into the wall, finally breaking my eye contact with Aric. “I’d better call Misha and tell him what’s happening.”
“Why are you calling him?”
Aric’s growl kept me from dialing. I jumped off the counter. “He has a right to know. This is the third judge. It affects him, too.” Aric’s eyes narrowed further, like I’d somehow betrayed him. “God, why does everything have to be a fight with you? I know you hate him, but…” I stopped. His piercing gaze went right into my core, stirring more emotions I couldn’t bear to hold on to and keeping me from gathering a single breath. I stomped up the stairs to my room, taking my phone with me.
Liam’s words slowed my steps as I reached the landing. “Damn, Aric. What is up with you and Celia?”
I hurried into the solace of my room and fell against my closed door. I hated fighting with Aric. And I had the feeling he hated it, too. Worse yet were the final words he spoke before leaving our house: “Keep Celia safe.”
The touch screen on my phone locked out twice before I finally dialed.
“Hey, Misha,” I said when I heard his voice.
There was a brief pause. “What troubles you? Are you hurt?”
It bothered me that my voice shook so hard, but Aric—God—Aric had taken my feelings for him on an emotional loop-the-loop. I tried to relax as I explained to Misha what happened.
At first I believed Misha would erupt like an earthquake and the floor beneath me would tremble. I could almost smell his seething anger on the other end. A very long and very tense minute passed as I paced around my bedroom, waiting for him to respond. But the outburst I expected never came. “You have to investigate the remaining judge, Misha.”
“I. Can’t.”
“Why?”
“My master, Uri, fears I am too invested and my anger will cloud my judgment. He has ordered me to stay on my premises. His plan is to return to the Americas in three days’ time. At that point he will decide how best to proceed.”
“Three days? A lot can happen in three days.” I wanted to flop onto my bed, but decided against smearing it with the bloodlust. “Do you think…do you think he’s behind this?”
He paused. “It remains a possibility I cannot ignore.”
The pain in Misha’s heart resonated through the harshness of his voice. Someone he loved likely wanted him dead. “If it is Uri, is there any way you can stop him?”
“No. He gathers his strength from all in his keep. My power fuels his.”
I groaned. “And now you have more because I gave you back your soul.”
Misha’s tone softened. “Do not ever apologize for granting me such a gift.”
“Yeah, but I bet you’re wishing I’d kept the receipt.” I welcomed his laughter, but it also saddened me. “Misha, what can I do? I want to help.”
“Nothing, my love. Continue to keep me informed at all costs, but do nothing. I will not have you risk your life for me again.”
I stared at my phone when he disconnected. Crap. Now what?
CHAPTER 28
“My wife wants to have a natural birth. No medications. No IV. We are refusing any and all interventions. Western medicine is destroying our nation.”
I nodded at the first-time father-to-be as I finished my internal exam of his wife. I smiled at the woman as best I could. “You’re one centimeter dilated and your cervix is about seventy percent e
ffaced.”
Her eyes widened as she looked to her beloved for support. “What does that mean, exactly?” he asked for her.
I removed my gloves and washed my hands. “Well, it means it’s not quite time for the baby to be born.” I smiled at the wife. “Your bag of water is still intact, the baby is moving well, the heart tones look fantastic, and you’re not showing signs of infection. I’ll call the doctor and let her know the facts. Most likely she’ll be sending you home. You can take Tylenol for pain and a warm bath for any further discomfort. Call us for strong, painful contractions occurring every five minutes, or if your water breaks, you develop a fever or bleeding, or your baby stops moving regularly.”
The father blinked back at me like I’d informed him he was having gremlins and that he shouldn’t feed them after midnight. “But…but…she’s contracting.”
I skimmed the fetal heart rate tracing on the computer. “Yes. About every twenty-two minutes now.”
“But they hurt her…a lot when they come.”
I sat on a rolling stool and scurried over to where the father sat in a chair next to his wife’s bed. “Let’s talk.” I smiled once more. “Labor—true labor—occurs when contractions come at strong, regular intervals and the pain is such that you can’t walk or talk through them.” I looked at the wife. “You updated your Facebook status during the last contraction. During labor your cervix will also open up and thin out.” I shook my head. “I’m afraid that hasn’t happened yet.”
The woman tilted her head. I was pretty sure she understood, especially when she started texting all three thousand of her closest friends. Her beloved remained unconvinced. “So she’ll continue to experience the same amount of pain, but the contractions will occur more frequently—every three to five minutes?”
“No, the pain will continue to increase and become more severe.” Until it feels like Godzilla is reaching up inside her and tearing out her intestines.
“You don’t understand,” he said, like I was the stupid one. “She’s in pain when they come. More pain than I’ve ever seen her in.” He frowned and pointed a stern finger at me. “What you mean is, the pain will stay the same and the contractions will just come more frequently.”
It was getting harder to keep smiling. He was lucky I didn’t bite off his damn finger. “Sir, there is a human being trying to come out of your wife’s body. Trust me when I say the pain will get much worse.”
Panic spread across his features. “Oh…”
I stepped from behind the triage curtain to where Shayna was doubled over trying to suppress her giggles. The doctor sitting at the desk next to her smirked.
“Hi, Dr. Summers. I was just about to call you.”
“No need. Heard the whole thing.” She handed me a slip of paper. “Here’s your discharge order.” She rose and walked around the desk to the patient’s triage bed. “I’ll just say hi.”
I leaned over the counter. “What are you doing?”
“Just finished a nonstress test. Everything is fine; she’s going home, too.”
Amy, our charge nurse, poked her head into the triage room. “Celia, can you go down to the emergency department? A woman was brought in. She’s about twenty weeks pregnant and they need to make sure the baby’s okay before they treat her.”
“Sure. Can Shayna come, too? Both our patients are going home.”
Amy thought about it. “Yeah. That might be a good idea. The ED called in a panic. They always freak when someone shows up pregnant.” She rolled her eyes. “Remember the last pregnant woman who came in? Two IVs running in her arms, covered in EKG leads, and no one bothered to check her vagina.”
Shayna and I left as soon as we discharged our patients. Our hospital, like most of the area hotels and restaurants, resembled a beautiful mountain resort, complete with Native American tapestries and wood carvings of totem poles and animals. Every visitors’ lounge had beautiful mosaic tile patterns depicting various forest animals. My favorite, of course, was the one near the main entrance portraying a wolf baying at the moon.
“Thinking about Aric?”
We had only just stepped into the elevator. “Why do you ask?”
Shayna shrugged as she adjusted her long ponytail. “You’ve been so sad. Especially after Aric left yesterday.”
My foot traced a circle on the floor as images of his anger flashed through my mind. “I didn’t like how we ended things; you know, he seemed so angry.” I shoved my stethoscope deeper into my pocket. “I can’t stand having him hate me, but in a way I guess it’s better. Maybe he’ll stop coming around.”
The doors opened. We stepped into the large foyer and walked across the beautiful wolf made of brown, black, and rust-colored tiles. The gloss to the wolf shone bright against the sunlight peeking through the tall windows of the front entrance.
Shayna draped her arm around me. “Aric doesn’t hate you, Celia. And I don’t think he was mad. If anything he’s jealous.”
“What could he possibly be jealous of? He’s the one with a pack of gorgeous, half-naked weres chasing him, ready to rip his clothes off at the first howl from his lips.”
Shayna laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. That hot hunk of fangs who vonts to drink your blad…among other things.”
“There’s nothing between me and Misha. Besides, even if those other girls weren’t around he has a baby to think about.” I scoffed. “If he’s any kind of man, that is.” I told her about our conversation.
Shayna smiled weakly. “Aric doesn’t strike me as deadbeat-dad material.”
I thought back to his sexy grin and how he’d fought to protect me. “I didn’t think so either.”
“Don’t give up on him so easily, Celia. There’s something special between you. I see it every time he looks at you…and every time you see him.” Shayna’s eager hand tugged on my arm. “Will you let me ask Koda about it, please?”
I groaned. “No. I don’t want—”
An agonized howl from the ED pierced right through my sensitive ears, sending every one of my senses into “oh, shit” mode.
“Celia, what’s wrong?”
“We’ve got trouble. Call Emme and Taran to the ED.” I took off at a dead run. The howls turned threatening, deadlier. “Get the wolves!”
Preternaturals stayed away from hospitals. They relied on their families, packs, and clans when injured. The fact that one was here meant trouble.
I shoved through the automatic doors. A doctor in a bloody white coat flew through one of the glass partitions that made up the ED. A panicked tech punched numbers into the phone, but he continued to misdial. The snarls turned into roars.
“What’s happening?”
The tech jumped when he saw me. He shook horribly. “A-a-a couple were attacked by b-b-bears in the woods. The husband just died.” His trembling worsened when he gawked at the demolished doorway. “I think she knows.”
A second doctor soared through the window, along with a nurse and two security guards. They fell limp near unconscious doctor number one. I raced inside and gasped at what I saw. A she-wolf thrashed on the bed; blood—her blood—saturated her shredded T-shirt and jeans. Both her legs and an arm were bound in leather restraints. She’d chewed through the restraints on one hand and she was working on the other. Syringes filled with the pungent odor of sedatives remained lodged in her thighs, while the one piercing her jugular flapped against her neck as she thrashed. The meds likely kept her from changing, but despite the extent of her injuries her metabolism would soon burn through them.
I threw my body on top of hers, trying to keep her still, knowing her thrashing would worsen her injuries. Her carotid artery had already been severed and both femoral veins damaged. Her clammy gray skin told me her blood loss exceeded the amount that would allow her to heal completely. Sweet Jesus. The couple hadn’t been attacked by bears; they’d been mauled by infected vampires. I shuddered at the extent of her injuries, confused as to how she’d survived.
The wolf buckled beneat
h me, growling and trying to wrench her arm away. When she realized she couldn’t toss me like the others, she growled and snapped at my shoulder.
“Listen to me; I’m trying to help you—”
“Give me my mate!”
“What?”
“I’m going with my mate. I’m going with him now!”
She yanked my nursing scissors out of my chest pocket and tried to stab herself through the heart.
Shayna muffled a scream. “Oh, my God.”
I twisted the she-wolf’s wrist and forced her to drop them.
The wolf broke through the other restraint, punching me hard in the head and knocking me into a metal table full of instruments. I rebounded and grabbed her in a full nelson. “Shackle her arms!”
Shayna manipulated the metal bars of the stretcher and snaked them along the wolf’s arms. The wolf lashed out violently, vengeance and heartbreak fueling her strength, twisting the metal. Taran flew into the room as a slew of reinforcements pounded into the ED. “Son of a bitch!”
“Taran, knock everyone out; wipe their memories. Do it now!”
Taran paused briefly before the scent of her magic filled the room. A storm cloud of blue and white shot from her core, expanding as it seeped out into the hall, engulfing the entire ED. Screams faded into yawns until only silence remained.
Silence except for the increasing snarls from the she-wolf and Taran’s cursing. “For shit’s sake, I knocked out Emme!”
The wolf kicked her legs out, freeing her feet and further damaging the bleeding veins at her hips. “Get Emme up. We’re losing the wolf!”
Tires screeched near the front entrance. My heart pounded. I left Shayna to continue to strengthen the shackles she’d fashioned around the wolf’s arms as I dove on her legs. She kneed me hard in the stomach. I couldn’t control her flailing limbs.
But then I was no longer alone.
Aric and Gemini grabbed onto her legs while Koda and Liam locked onto her arms. Aric growled. “What happened?”