“Let me see your shoulder.” She pulled on the back of his shirt, tugging it up. A reddened, angry, swollen area surrounded a barely scabbed-over wound. “You have an infection. What happened here?”
“An Underling claw caught me. Whatever is wrong, it’s causing me to shift.” He turned her way, and she could see that fangs were beginning to press into his lower lip. His dark eyes were tortured, almost wild. “It’s making me feel things that I can’t seem to control.”
She grabbed his arm, ignoring the mat of erupting hair. “Come with me. Maybe it’s just the fever causing this to happen. I can help.” She didn’t know what was causing the sudden onset of his symptoms. She’d been seated next to him for hours, and though she thought something was off, no hint of this crisis had shown.
He set his hand over hers. It was still smooth. “Your touch is already helping.” His voice sounded slightly less pained.
She took his hand firmly in hers. “Hurry.” Jared, Erin, Nick, and Sam came up as she led Aragon to the helicopter where her med kit was.
Nick’s eyes were wide with shock. Annette figured seeing Aragon suddenly half werewolf, half man had pretty much eliminated any lingering disbelief for him. She did note that thankfully his favorite expletive escaped him at the moment of his greatest need.
Jared took one look at Aragon and cursed. “By Logos, what’s wrong?”
“He has an infected wound on his shoulder. It’s from an Underling attack last night,” Annette said, then gave him a quick assessment. “His lymph nodes are swollen, too.” She snapped open the oversize tackle box that held an emergency kit worthy of a war zone. First she gave him a megadose of Tylenol to help fight the fever. Then she pulled out vials of an antibiotic and a steroid and popped out a syringe. Mixing the antibiotic, she drew up as much medication as she dared; then she remembered how little effect the painkiller had had on Aragon’s system before, and drew more antibiotic into the chamber. The hottest buns south of the Mason-Dixon line were about to get a shot.
“What can I do?” Erin asked.
Annette gave her a half-humorous, half-painful grimace. “You don’t suppose warriors faint when they get shots?”
“Get ready to find out,” Erin said.
Aragon shuddered. “I can’t seem to stop myself from shifting,” he gasped.
“You’ll have to stay here,” Jared said. “You can’t go if you can’t control yourself. It’s too dangerous. The moon’s rising, and its pull is probably not helping. It’s only going to get worse the closer it draws to its zenith.”
“No! I must go,” Aragon said harshly. “You and Sam cannot do it alone. You need my strength.”
“Not if we can’t count on what you’ll do. We’ll change plans. We’ll forget any thought of an attack. We’ll only find Stefanie and get her out, making as little disturbance as possible.”
“No. You said yourself that your were-talents aren’t as strong as they used to be. You might not be able to scent Stefanie at all, and we’ll not know if she is there or not. This whole trip will have been wasted. I can do it,” Aragon insisted, groaning. Even as he spoke, his legs shifted, ripping the seams of his jeans from the thighs down.
“We don’t have time to argue,” Annette said. “If I can get some medication in his system to fight the infection and fever, it might help.”
“What can you possibly do in forty-five minutes to help?” Jared asked.
“Watch me,” Annette said, snatching up a small bag of IV fluids. Since they were short on time, she’d go right to the vein with the medication. She injected the antibiotic into the IV bag and then set up an IV port into the back of Aragon’s hand, having to go mainly by feel to locate his vein because of the thickness of the hair erupting all over him. Then she started another line in his right hand, hooking up a bag with a steroid dose big enough to address his body’s inflammatory response.
“Check his vitals every five minutes and let me know if there are any major changes,” she told Erin. Annette knew she was taking a risk by giving Aragon the medications without knowing how a werewolf’s cell structure differed from a human’s. But her instinct told her there wasn’t that much difference—that what happened to shift Aragon from man to beast was more in the realm of unexplained magic than logical science.
Then she set up a small surgical table. “Brace yourself,” she told Aragon. “I’m going to let the poison from the wound.” She applied a liberal amount of a topical anesthetic to the area.
Jared looked over at the exposed wound. “Underlings are not supposed to be poisonous. And this is not like a Tsara infection, either. I’ve never seen such a problem before. All of the Guardian Forces heal quickly from nonlethal injuries.”
Annette frowned, worrying her tongue over her teeth as she thought. “Your experiences are from the spirit realm. There, you might not even have germs, but here on earth we do. Maybe Underling scratches on earth cause fevers and infections. Or maybe your immune system can’t fight pathogens that we have here.” She prayed that the latter wasn’t true. It would cause a lot of serious problems for Aragon.
“Instead of cat scratch fever, we now have Underling fever,” Erin said.
“Good way to put it,” Annette replied.
Nick managed to recover enough to join the conversation. “So there really is such a thing as cat scratch fever? I thought it was just a Ted Nugent song about sex.”
“Men make everything about sex,” Erin said, rolling her eyes.
That got Aragon’s attention. Jared’s too.
“They do not,” Nick said.
“Is that a bad thing?” Aragon asked.
“Name something they haven’t,” Erin shot back at Nick. Then she frowned at Aragon. “There are more important things than sex.”
The look Aragon and Jared exchanged was comical. Erin had a fight on her hands if she was going to bring them around to her point of view. Realizing Erin was very adeptly distracting her patient, Annette ignored the talk and worked on easing any infection from Aragon’s wound. He didn’t even flinch under her ministrations, though she knew it had to hurt. Using her skills to help someone in need eased some of the pain inside her, made her feel as if there was something that could be done to stop the craziness of killing one so good and noble.
Within thirty minutes, she’d infused the medications and cleaned and bandaged his wound. Aragon’s temperature was down, and between the medication and her touch, he’d brought his were-being back under control.
“You should have said something earlier about your wound, and we might have avoided all this,” Annette said, giving Aragon a stern look.
He lifted a brow, one that managed to push every hot button she possessed.
“I had more important things to attend to at the time,” Aragon said softly, melting her anger. Oh, God, she loved him.
Ignoring the hot flush of her cheeks, she met Aragon’s gaze head-on. “I’m going with you to the compound.”
“No!” Aragon and Jared spoke simultaneously.
“Hear me out! It’s what I do. Who I am,” Annette shouted back. “You need Aragon, and I can give him additional medication if the need arises. Not necessarily IV, but an injection, which would be better than nothing. If there is any delay in the plan and the medication in his system wears off, we could be facing another crisis. There would be the added benefit of my touch in helping him maintain control as well. I think this must have happened to him last night in some way, and all he had was me.”
“She’s right, Jared,” Erin said. “And you know it. There isn’t any reason for her to stay here other than male ego. We’re all adults in this, and with what we’re fighting, there’s just as much risk sitting here in the middle of the jungle as in going to the compound. She should go.”
Aragon grunted as if he wasn’t happy about what had just been said, but he didn’t have an argument against it either.
Jared opened his mouth to say something, then shut it and slowly nodded his head in agreement.
“She is right about the danger. Unless they’re under the kind of magic Emerald is wielding near the Sacred Stones, we can’t predict or stop an attack, not without Guardian Forces hovering over us at all times. It’s as I mentioned before—they may be safer with us than apart.”
“I don’t believe this!” Sam said with disgust. “Let’s just all march up to the gates of Corazon and have a party! They aren’t trained to react in combat. She’ll only slow us down.”
“I didn’t get to be a surgeon without learning early to follow instructions and to react fast in situations. Sam, neither of us can move as fast as Aragon and Jared can, but I’ll keep up.” And she would, or die trying. “And I don’t have to go inside the compound. Just be close enough to do some good if I’m needed.”
“I say she comes,” Jared said. “Aragon? Sam?”
“She comes,” Aragon’s gaze centered on hers. “It’s what she does and who she is. I understand that now.” She could see that he still warred with his concern, but that he was willing to let her go. The burden of his words washed back over her. This is who I am, what I do, and what I must be. I failed once. I won’t fail again. If you really loved me, then you would understand.
She hadn’t. And now there wasn’t time.
“You’ve less than two minutes to gather what supplies you need,” Sam said.
Annette didn’t waste a second. She grabbed up her field bag and dumped saline, syringes, and one vial each of all the emergency meds into a small pack. She didn’t voice her inner fears that prompted her to have every medical solution at her fingertips. But more than being there for Aragon drove her. If Stefanie was in bad shape, Annette would never forgive herself for failing her sister twice. Annette had to do everything she could do the very moment she could do it. “I’m ready,” she said a minute later. The men stood near, weapons in hand.
“Wait a second,” Nick said. “I don’t scare easy, but you all can’t just take off leaving me in the dark. Just exactly what do I need to be on guard against from this spirit realm, and what do I fight them with?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring you up to speed,” Erin said, from where she stood at Jared’s side, having just given him a kiss he wasn’t likely to ever forget.
Jared slipped his amulet off and hung it on Erin’s neck. “When I get back, I’m going to finish what you started.”
“I can’t wait,” Erin said, then brought Jared’s amulet to her lips.
Jared faced them, looking as if he was ready to conquer the world. “Let’s go, then.”
Annette turned away, tears in her eyes as she clutched Aragon’s amulet to her breasts. Her gaze met Aragon’s, and a stab of pain went through her at the smoky desire and pain in his dark eyes. She knew he wanted to do and say more about a future with her, but couldn’t.
“Fire works well on demons because, despite information to the contrary, hell is really a very cold place,” Annette told them and turned away, thinking that unless she thought of a way to save Aragon from his fate, her life on earth was about to become a very cold place indeed.
Chapter Twenty-two
“I ’M READY.” Aragon turned from the stark pain and the fruitless hope in Annette’s sad gaze, wishing that she could hold him as tightly as she held his amulet, for it seemed neither heaven nor earth could separate her from it. He’d heard and felt every cry that her heart made and had no answer to comfort her, so he’d kept silent as he picked up the weapon Sam had given him and joined Jared. He felt extremely unsettled inside, and preferring the feel of his spirit sword to that of the mortal gun wasn’t why.
Walking away from Annette with her last thoughts being so sad was what worried him. The magic of her medicine still coursed through him, making him more amazed at her gifts. His first instincts had been to protect her from all harm and put her someplace safe. But he now realized there was a greater place for her to be—a place at his side, where she could use her skills and he his, for there was just as much worth in what she could contribute to the battle as in what he could.
I was right, he said into her mind. You make a good warrior woman, especially with a blowtorch.
You’re with me? She swung around, clearly surprised to find him in her mind.
I am always with you.
I have to tell you. I understand, okay? Even if I can’t accept it. I understand.
Thank you, he said, feeling her spirit back with his.
“We’ll meet you at the north checkpoint in thirty minutes,” Sam said. “It won’t hurt for me to plant a charge on a bridge leading to the east. It’s the main road from the compound to civilization, and we may want them to think we’re escaping in that direction.”
“Good. There’s nothing left to do but go.” Jared turned, walking into the dark forest.
Aragon paused before following. I am always with you, no matter what, remember that, he whispered to Annette’s mind. Only then did he feel ready to join Jared. They were to travel ahead to the compound, search the perimeter for Stefanie’s scent, and be positioned for the next step by the time Annette and Sam reached them. He had Stefanie’s sketchbook in his pack, so there would be no question as to her scent.
Though he could feel the fever inside him, hungering to be unleashed, the medicine kept a tight hold on it. And the denseness of the trees overhead blocked much of the moon’s direct light, thus easing its pull.
“So what are you going to do about her, about your future?” Jared asked softly as they moved toward their target.
Aragon sighed, his heart heavy. “There is nothing to be done.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that my fate has been set. Tomorrow will see its end.”
“The council has called for your execution, haven’t they?”
“A punishment is a punishment, be it that of a faded warrior or nonexistence,” Aragon said with a stoicism he was far from feeling.
Jared cursed. “No, it isn’t, and you know it. At least with existence there can be a hope of change.”
“What has been done is done.”
“Then Logos has agreed with the council?”
“I won’t know until I return. Hopefully Sven will have failed.”
“You spoke to him when you returned? Why would you wish Sven failure?”
He’d said too much, and now he had to tell Jared everything that had happened, and about Navarre’s possible death in protecting him. Aragon gritted his teeth, feeling the bite scrape against the insides of his cheeks. He was the father of so much harm. He told Jared the full story. “I have no recourse. Honor and courage demand that I face the council’s decree. I couldn’t stop Navarre, and I pray to Logos that he will survive, but I can see that Sven doesn’t fall. No warrior will sacrifice his life for mine.”
“You chose well for the Blood Hunters’ leader.”
“Why?”
“For he is doing no less than you or I would. Will you deprive him of his duty?”
Just as Aragon was trying to twist his mind enough to even comprehend Jared’s logic, his friend threw another wild element into the mix. “There is something else you are forgetting.”
“What?”
“It isn’t final until Logos speaks. Don’t you remember the twelve Guardians whom the council demanded be executed for their failure to protect Logos’s own?”
Aragon shook his head. “That was over two millennia ago.” Though Aragon wanted to reach out and take that glimmer of hope and breathe fire into it with his very soul, he didn’t, for he realized that there was a flaw in Jared’s reasoning that had never been there before. Jared was thinking like a mortal now, and though the spirit and mortal world blended together within the twilit shadows of the outer circles, that’s where their similarities ended. The logic that ultimately ruled the laws of the spirit realm differed greatly from the mortal.
Aragon? Are you all right? I felt pain. His warrior woman had found her way to him without him opening the channel.
I am fine. Would be muc
h better were we… He sent a lusty image of the two of them.
In return she pictured a strawberry placed strategically on her body, and Aragon tripped on a large stone in his path. Jared grabbed his arm to keep him from falling.
“Don’t ask,” Aragon muttered to Jared. “I’m fine, and no, I don’t need any medication. I’m in complete control of my were-form.” It was something else that he was having a problem with.
“We’re almost there,” Jared said a short time later.
“Let me shift and fix upon Stefanie’s scent before we get closer.”
“No. Considering your situation with the Underling fever, I wouldn’t shift unless there’s trouble and we need your extra strength. The pull of the moon should heighten your were-senses enough to detect Stefanie in your warrior form.”
“It will.” He pulled her sketchbook from his pack, breathed deeply of it, and then gave it to Jared. When Jared had fixed the scent, Aragon replaced the book, and they went directly for the compound, moving so fast that they appeared only as a dark blur.
The moment he left the canopy of the trees, Aragon felt a light, misty rain falling. His stomach knotted as he wondered if he’d be able to detect Stefanie’s scent. If the rain fell harder, he wouldn’t be able to. Hurrying, he carefully slid to the wall and began moving around it. Situated in the middle of dense jungle, only the red-tiled rooftops of Corazon de Rojo’s buildings could be seen above the high red clay walls. Hexagonal guard towers rose at each corner. The center north tower climbed to a point well above the canopy of the forest. Each tower was manned with armed guards, but nobody was located at ground level all around the outside of the wall. There were only four exits, situated at the exact north, south, east, west coordinates. Their steel doors were locked tight with no visible guards present.
Circling the perimeter of the compound left Aragon very disturbed. “By Logos, the evil and the decay are overpowering. I hear so many moans of misery that even I can hardly distinguish one voice from another.”
“Sam said if there was a hell on earth, this would be it.”
The Lure of the Wolf Page 29