by Cecy Robson
I fell back to search the cabinets for packing and tape while Shayna retracted the metal bars away from the she-wolf’s arms like slithering serpents. I grabbed another metal tray and poured my supplies on top of it. “She and her partner were brought in. The staff thought they’d been attacked by bears.” I paused to look at Aric. “Her husband didn’t make it.”
The collective fury of the wolves filled the room like a heat wave. The she-wolf thrashed harder, snarling through clenched teeth. “They took my Paul! They took my Paul from me!”
Aric’s head snapped up. “Liam, go find him.”
Gemini and Koda took over flailing-limb duty as Aric and Liam released their hold. Aric stroked back the she-wolf’s blood- and sweat-soaked hair. “Leya, calm,” he whispered before murmuring sounds that resonated more animal than human. Aric took slow, deliberate breaths. Within moments, Leya began to mimic his breathing. “That’s it. Breathe with me, Leya.”
Liam returned. “Paul’s dead. His neck was in pieces and his heart was torn out.”
Leya stopped breathing. A wet sob tore out of her as she wept like a small, hurt child.
“Shhh…we’re going to take care of you, Leya.” Aric’s voice stayed soft and reassuring. “I need you to trust me.”
Leya’s eyes rolled back into her head with Aric’s very next stroke. Her arched back relaxed until she lay flat on the gurney. “Don’t let go of her,” Aric instructed the wolves. “Her grief is such that she could easily break my hold.” The wolves nodded, relaxing their grips enough so her limbs weren’t twisted against theirs. He motioned for me to get started. Emme stumbled in behind Taran, frazzled like she’d been startled awake by an obnoxious alarm.
“Seal her wounds,” I whispered. “She’s bleeding out.”
Emme staggered toward her, dazed by all the blood saturating Leya’s body. She touched Leya’s ankle. As her soft yellow light encased her, Leya’s eyes shot open and she bucked her off.
Aric’s voice grew more stern. “Leya, stop. These are friends of the pack. Let them help you.”
Leya stopped struggling, but this time wouldn’t fall back into a relaxed state; her breathing bordered on the verge of hysteria. I grabbed her wrist and felt her pulse.
Taran leaned in. “How is it, Celia?”
“Weak and thready. She’s lost a lot of blood. We need to transfuse her or she’ll code soon.”
I could sense Aric’s worry, yet his voice remained smooth as silk. “Tell me what happened, Leya.”
“We were out with the pack, hunting the infected vampires. Paul didn’t want me out because…because of our baby.” Her choked sobs barely kept her words audible. “He was walking me back to the car when a cluster of them attacked. They took me down. Paul tried to protect me but…there were too many, Aric.” A whine broke through her core, thick and heavy with misery. “I watched them feast on my m-m-mate, Aric. I watched them eat him alive.”
My sisters covered their mouths as tears slid down their faces. The wolves growled, demand for vengeance squelching Leya’s cries of hysteria. Emme released Leya. Her wounds were sealed, but she still needed care.
I shoved away my sadness and examined Leya closely. With all the volume she’d lost, her veins had collapsed. “She needs blood. And she needs it fast.” I glanced at Taran, who’d turned away, not wanting anyone to see her cry. “Taran, can you start an IV in her femoral vein? I think that’s the only option we have to transfuse her.”
Taran wiped her eyes and nodded. “Shayna, go to the blood bank and get some platelets. We’ll need a few units.”
Gemini shook his head. “Human blood is not compatible. It will cause an allergic and potentially fatal reaction. Take ours instead.”
“Mine first,” Aric insisted. “As a pureblood and her Leader, my blood will stabilize her faster.”
Shayna’s panicked face met mine. “But how will we transfer it?” Her eyes danced to Koda’s. “Your blood clots quicker, doesn’t it?”
Taran grabbed a set of scissors and cut through the side of Leya’s jeans. “I’ll get the catheter into her vein. You draw her blood in a syringe and pass it to me right away.”
Shayna gripped the side of the stretcher. “But if the blood clots too fast, we can send an embolus into her heart.”
Koda placed his arm on Shayna’s shoulder. “It’s okay, baby. Blood clots don’t kill us.” He skimmed Leya’s graying tone. “Usually.”
Shayna and I set up the catheters Taran needed. Taran shrugged off her jacket and directed the wolves on how to hold Leya’s legs. Emme wiped the blood from Leya’s face with a warm washcloth.
Aric spoke to Leya as we rushed to get things started. “How did you get away?”
Leya’s glassy eyes blinked back at Aric. “They let us go. In the middle of feeding on us, they turned toward the mountains like something had called them. And just like that, they were gone.” Her pale lips pursed together. “I picked up Paul and carried him to the road. Some humans stopped and brought us here. They kept trying to take Paul from me…but I didn’t want to let him go.” Leya’s voice trailed into an echo before her lids closed.
Aric and his wolves exchanged glances. I groaned. Someone is controlling the infected vamps.
“We need to hurry,” Taran muttered.
Aric sat in a chair Emme placed in front of him. He rolled up the sleeve of his thick navy sweater. I brought the tray with me and stared at his muscular arm. Were veins didn’t rise to the surface like human veins. They were embedded deep beneath the muscle, where other preternaturals couldn’t easily reach them. I showed him the tourniquet. “I’m going to have to make this tight.” They were the first words I’d spoken to him since our fight. And while I recognized the need, I wished I’d said more.
Aric’s eyes met mine, his voice gruff. “Don’t worry about me. Do what you have to.”
I screwed the eighteen-gauge needle onto a fifty-milliliter syringe. “Taran’s in the vein,” Emme whispered behind me.
“Okay.” I applied the tourniquet on Aric’s upper arm. And although Aric’s were blood prevented infection, I wiped the bend in his arm with alcohol.
“It’s not necess—”
I cut Aric off, clenching my jaw tight enough to grind my fangs. “Give me a break. I’m a creature of habit.” My voice shook as I spoke. I’d started IVs and drawn blood more times than I could count. Yet I was scared senseless to pierce Aric’s vein, knowing it would cause him pain. I would have turned him over to Emme and Shayna…but I didn’t want them touching him. My fingers swept over the crook in his arm, trying to find that thick, juicy vein all humans had. The warmth of Aric’s skin sizzled beneath my touch. He turned his head, groaning softly. Our skin hadn’t connected as much as I would have wanted. And although I’d longed to touch him, I’d never imagined the next time would involve a needle the size of a dart. I cleared my throat. “Your veins are buried in deep. I’m going to have to dig around to find one.”
Aric kept his head turned. “Go ahead.”
I stuck the needle far in, guessing where his vein might be hiding. I drew back on the plunger slowly, not wanting to collapse his vein. When I didn’t get a return, I swore and pushed further in, only to jerk the needle almost immediately back out.
Emme hurried next to me. “What’s wrong, Celia?” She muffled a scream.
“Damn it, Celia, hurry…”
Taran’s voice trailed off as she caught a gander at the bent needle. I bumped Emme blindly with my elbow. “I’m going to need a sixteen-gauge or bigger.”
Emme tottered backward before I heard her little feet racing down the hall.
Liam held out his arm to me. “Try mine. I’m not of pure blood, but I can still help Leya.”
I switched syringes and started working on Liam. His vein was hard to find, but I managed with the same-size needle I’d tried on Aric. My hands also didn’t shake with Liam, and I couldn’t help but notice the lack of heat between us. I tried to reason that weres—pureblood weres—ran n
aturally hotter. And all that rising heat Aric and I shared was nothing more than a physiological response between two extremely warm-bodied creatures with superhigh metabolisms who had gotten too close to each other.
Yeah. Right.
I passed the filled syringe to Taran as Shayna handed me another. Taran flushed the catheter in Leya’s vein, fast. We paused, each of us likely expecting her to go into cardiac arrest. When she didn’t, Taran stretched out her hand. “I think she’s okay; give me another.”
I made ten more passes with Liam, then stopped. “It’s okay,” he said. “You can take more.”
I was about to, but then Emme returned with something that resembled a meat thermometer. My eyes widened as I looked back at Aric.
His expression of calm drank me in. “Celia, I’m next. Liam’s blood will help stabilize her. Mine will stimulate her body to begin to repair itself.” I didn’t move. “Leya needs me, Celia. And I need you to do this for me.”
I nodded and absentmindedly took the clip out of my hair, looking to release some of the throbbing in my head. My waves fell against my shoulders, granting me some tension relief, yet not enough. I bent in front of Aric, tied the tourniquet again, and took the interrogation device Emme handed me. Aric flinched when I stabbed him through the arm. Every part of me wanted to scream for him—to take some of his pain. “God, I’m so sorry.”
Aric’s opposite hand massaged my left shoulder before smoothing over the nape of my neck. “Don’t be. I’m fine. Keep going.”
My breath came out in a shudder. Keep going. Keep going. Keep…
I didn’t know about Aric, but I would have given up a secret formula. Nausea dribbled my stomach like a basketball as I continued my torture session. My God, it killed me to hurt him. Finally, I found the vein and began to hand off Aric’s blood like it scorched me.
He smiled as his thumb stroked my earlobe. “Good job, sweetness.”
I almost dropped the syringe. Despite the direness of Leya’s situation, Aric’s touch, his soothing tone, and his term of endearment melted my soul. Except I couldn’t allow him to. I needed to distance myself, and I needed to do it soon. My contact with him only made me hunger for more.
“Leya’s coming around.” Gem smiled softly. “It’s working. Your blood is motivating her body to regenerate, Aric.”
“We’ll use the others’ blood now.” I unsnapped the tourniquet and yanked out the needle, slapping a large piece of gauze on Aric’s arm like it had been naughty. “Here. Hold pressure.”
I avoided Aric’s gaze, but I could smell his shock at my rebuff. Emme moved toward him. “Um…here, Aric. Let me bandage that for you—”
“He’s fine, Emme. Don’t touch him.” I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms. Good thing I didn’t appear schizo or anything.
“Ah…Okay, Celia. I promise not to touch him.” Emme gathered the tourniquet and needles and smiled at Koda. “I’ll draw your blood. Don’t worry; I’ll be really gentle.”
Shayna swooped in like a falcon and yanked the supplies from Emme’s hands. “I got it, Emme.” Her ponytail flicked behind her as she marched to the big man-eating brute who couldn’t hide his smile.
I rubbed my face, grateful I didn’t stand as the sole Wird sister acting possessive…and crazy.
“Don’t even think about it,” Taran snapped when poor Emme approached Gemini.
Emme’s bottom lip went down to her toes. “I’m only trying to help Leya.”
Taran pointed a pissed-off finger toward the demolished door. “There is a shitload of staff who would be tickled pink to receive your lovely healing touch. Go to it, girl. Work that magic till it hurts.”
Emme wrinkled her brow. “Fine,” she said with all the menace of a Chihuahua.
Taran righted herself. “Celia, take over. Shayna and I will pass you Koda’s and Gemini’s blood.” She clamped the catheter and I switched places with her. Aric took over holding Leya down while my sisters gave their wolves a good leeching.
I worked robotically, well aware Aric watched my every move. As I pushed in the last syringe of blood, Leya stirred. “Let me up, please, Aric,” she asked.
The moment Aric eased up on her, Leya lunged at the scalpel resting across the opposite counter. Aric tackled her and clasped her wrist. She wrenched her arm in an arc, slicing across my chest before Aric twisted her wrist and forced her to drop the scalpel.
Aric pulled her back as Leya fought with everything she had. “Leya, stop.”
Aric’s words had no effect on her. She thrashed harder, strengthened by the wolves’ blood, forcing the others to jump her.
“I want to go with my mate. I want to go to him now!”
The wolves tried to wrangle Leya without harming her, an almost impossible task once she changed into an immense black-and-gray wolf.
Liam rushed in at the sound of Aric’s roars. Leya clamped down on his forearm, breaking through the bone. “Hold her,” Aric growled to the others. “She’s trying to get us to kill her.”
My first instinct was to grant her wish for hurting Aric. I forced the thought from my mind, scanning the room for tape to bind her jaws shut.
Leya bucked the wolves off. Immediately they hunkered back down around her. Aric’s growls turned ferocious. “Liam, get the girls out of here!”
Liam ushered my sisters out fast. When I ignored him, he encircled my waist and tried to haul me out. I broke out of his hold. “No. I’m not leaving him!” I meant to say “her,” but in my heart I knew I meant Aric.
Then it hit me. Leya needed a reason to live. “Shayna!” I called, keeping Liam and Leya in my sights. “Did you bring the Doppler?”
Shayna jetted back in, tossing me the minidevice as the wolves crashed toward her. I tore through the cabinets until I found a bottle of lotion. I poured the lotion on the transmitter. “Hold her,” I begged the wolves. “I need to reach her belly.”
Leya continued to resist, lashing out until the faint whisper of a baby’s heart rate wafted into her ears from the Doppler.
Whish-whish. Whish-whish. Whish-whish.
Leya’s wolf form abruptly fell still. I spoke quietly, trying my best to stay calm. “That’s your baby, Leya. That’s your baby’s heartbeat.” My brain searched for more to say—some words of wisdom and kindness that would reach into the ocean of torment her heart had become.
When nothing seemed right, Aric took the lead. “Your baby lives because you do, Leya. Give your child and Paul’s a chance at life.”
Aric’s gentle words didn’t appear to reach her at first. But then Leya released a wretched howl that turned into the tortured cries of an inconsolable woman. She changed back, slower than I’d ever seen. Koda took the warm blanket Emme handed him and covered her naked body. She curled into a ball as Aric leaned over her, murmuring in her ear once more. “Sleep, Leya. Sleep. You’re not alone. Your pack will care for you always. And in your child, Paul will continue to live.”
Leya’s eyes slowly shut as she fell into the sleep Aric’s pack magic bespelled on her.
“Oh, God…Celia.” Shayna’s eyes focused on my chest. Taran swore, but it wasn’t as loud as Aric.
A line of red traced the length of my upper chest. Leya’s slash had cut through my scrubs, inches from my throat.
Aric abandoned Leya and surged toward me. I shriveled away from him. “I’m fine. Don’t touch me.” I covered my bleeding chest with my hands and shot out of the room. My sisters chased me. It wasn’t until I reached the linen room that I slowed down, allowing Emme to heal me. I tore off my scrubs the moment she finished and used a towel to wipe off my blood. My hands shook as I yanked on fresh scrubs, pausing briefly to acknowledge the worried faces of my sisters.
Taran’s harsh tone hit me hard. “What’s wrong with you?”
My voice came out in a shaky rasp. “It’s Aric. His presence compels me to be with him. I have to stay away.”
CHAPTER 29
The way Aric carried Leya demonstrated the closenes
s he shared with his species, affirmation that he didn’t belong with me. He belonged with those of his kind. And that knowledge made my tigress weep on the inside—only on the inside. The tears that fell for Aric would not be ones I would permit him to witness. No matter how much the release banged against me like an avalanche.
As Aric placed Leya’s sleeping form in the backseat of Gemini’s car, I was certain this would be our last encounter.
He turned back to me. I hoped it was to say a peaceful good-bye and not to scream at me for my erratic behavior—no matter how much I’d deserved it. “Thank you for taking care of her.”
I nodded and stepped away. His kindness affected me more deeply than his harshness would have. Perhaps because it remained one of Aric’s strongest qualities.
Crap. Why does it have to be so hard to walk away?
“Wait, Celia. We want to escort you and your sisters back home. To make sure you’re safe,” he added when my stunned face blinked back at him.
“It’s not necessary, Aric.”
“I think it is,” Taran answered for me. She watched Gemini drive away in his sleek black Infiniti. “Liam can ride in our car with Emme and me after I’m done altering a few memories. You and Shayna go with Koda and Aric.” She turned on her heel and sashayed back into the entrance of the ED, where her crowd of swaying and hypnotized humans waited quietly in the corner.
“Come on, dude,” Shayna said softly. “It’s been a rough few hours.”
We waited in silence until Koda pulled his silver Yukon up to the curb. Shayna quickly scrambled into the passenger seat, leaving Aric holding the door open for me. I slipped in and shimmied across the seat, huddling in the corner and away from Aric. It was as far as I could get from him, but not far enough to keep his warmth from reaching me. I didn’t want to like it so much.
And I didn’t want to need it. Especially then.
My head spun from the tragic events of the day. We were only two miles from our house when my restlessness got the better of me. I asked Koda to pull over.
“Are you going to be sick, Celia?” Shayna asked when I jumped out.