by Moxie North
Ritch shook his head and walked out of the room without responding to his son’s challenge.
Beau turned to Eden. “Can you really keep an eye on him? I don’t trust some of my Clan. They’re angry and are blinded by their loyalty.”
“No one comes in that isn’t family, you two, and your father,” she assured.
“Harlow, we can go,” Beau said, holding out his hand to his sister. She looked hesitant, her eyes on Kellan but they seemed to be drawn to Zion before returning to the man in the bed. Eden had to wonder if there was something more lingering in those glances.
Noticing his sister’s reluctance to leave, Beau squeezed her hand and tugged her towards the door. “He’ll be fine. He’s got good people watching him now. I know how much he means to you, but we have other things to focus on right now.”
Harlow’s eyes snapped from Kellan and for the first time Eden saw a little fire in her. “Yeah, sure,” she said through gritted teeth. Those fiery eyes settled on Zion as she walked out of the room. Eden watched Zion raise an eyebrow at the small woman as she walked out.
Beau nodded to her and Zion as they left the room.
When Beau left, Eden stepped toward the end of the bed. “Is he cute for a human?”
Zion grunted. “How the fuck should I know?”
“Grow up, is he attractive?”
“I wasn’t joking, Eden, I really don’t have an opinion on that.”
Eden tilted her head and looked at the man that was Clan Odal’s worst nightmare come to life. He had dark hair that looked thick though it was smoothed down now as if it hadn’t been washed in a few days. There was a tube in his mouth and one in his nose. IVs were attached to his arm along with a blood pressure cuff and a pulse oximeter on his finger. Aside from that, he looked like he was sleeping.
Eden breathed in the antiseptic smell in the room. Her bear didn’t like it; it was harsh and covered up normal scents.
“Do you smell that?” she asked, looking at Zion. There was something she couldn’t identify. It was metallic and harsh-smelling even against the overwhelming jumble that was already present in a normal hospital room.
Zion took in a breath and frowned. “What is that?”
Eden shook her head and tried to memorize the scent. This might be the most boring bodyguard duty she had ever been assigned to.
She’d decided that he qualified as handsome, so at least she’d have something attractive to look at while she was doing her job. Whether or not he was a criminal wasn’t really her problem. Maybe he was some mastermind and had plotted to make himself sick to cover his tracks. When he recovered he could disappear with the money. She really hoped he’d stolen enough to make it worth nearly dying for.
Chapter 3
Eden sat in the chair next to Kellan Huntley’s hospital bed listening to the soft beep of the heart monitor. She pulled up his file on her phone as she watched the comatose man. Not that she needed to watch him. She’d never had a client that didn’t move before. She’d taken first shift because she was positive she’d fall asleep in the hospital at night and not provide any security at all.
She also needed to text her family about not seeing them on her way to New York from Seattle. Being on duty kept them from calling her and she was being a chicken.
They knew she was in ‘text only reach’ when she was working. It didn’t help that she was still worried about Bliss. There hadn’t been any news about her, and no updates from Luca who should have arrived the day before to take over security. Eden had a dozen tabloid apps on her phone just to keep track of what was happening with Bliss, and she checked them obsessively, but so far no topless shots had shown up, so that was a small victory.
Her mother was sending supportive words, but Eden could feel that she was sad Eden hadn’t come to see the new baby. Her brother Gabe had a new little girl he’d named Zelda. Eden was pretty sure he won a bet with his wife to end up with that name.
After she’d sent her messages she stared at the man in the bed. Under the hospital scents and the weird smell she’d detected when she first came in, was the scent of the man in the bed. She could smell the cologne he’d put on a few days ago. He smelled good. She wondered what he would smell like outside the hospital without all the conflicting aromas. Was he always a cologne guy for special occasions? Or just a fresh daily bodywash kind of man? Kindred tended to go with natural scents that didn’t interfere with their shifter senses. Humans thought slapping on chemicals made them smell clean. They were usually wrong and smelled slightly toxic.
Why she wondered or cared about something so trivial was an obvious sign that she was bored. He did have a nice face, warm ivory-colored skin, and a strong jaw, though. There was the shortest of beards along his jawline. He probably shaved regularly and kept a smooth face. She was surrounded by hairy men. It wasn’t just a shifter thing; she’d always just figured it was a ‘badass’ thing. They liked their facial hair because it hid their emotions.
Kellan Huntley appeared to have a lot to hide, but he didn’t look like a criminal. Eden almost laughed at herself. For all the criminals she’d ever met, they didn’t have a standard look.
Months ago, she’d been assigned to a serial break-in job in Seattle. They did stakeouts and installed top of the line security. When they’d finally caught the criminals, they discovered that the whole gang was run by a ninety-year-old granny that would stab you in the eye before she’d bake you cookies.
“How’s he doing?”
Eden broke out of her reverie when the door opened. A nurse named Cara that she’d met earlier came in.
“Still there,” Eden said, pointing to the bed.
“That’s actually not a terrible thing. They’ve been known to get up and walk away when you didn’t think they could,” Cara said with a smile.
She was a younger woman, human, and had very kind eyes. Eden’s instincts and her bear had decided after the first meeting that this person was not of interest as far as their duties were concerned.
“Have you been his nurse the last few days?” Eden asked.
Cara started checking the drips as she answered. “I’m on night shifts. Denise is here during the mornings and either Adam or Brenda will be here in the afternoon.”
“Has he been the same the whole time?”
“When he first came in, it was touch and go. I know the ER couldn’t figure out what was going on with him, but they were able to stabilize him and sent him up to us.”
“So, no idea how this happened?”
Cara hesitated and it piqued Eden’s interest. “Actually, the first test results came back a little strange. Nothing for certain, no obvious illnesses or signs of drug use, but his body was in overdrive. All of his numbers were off. That’s why they’re running the tests now to figure out if there was something we missed.”
“Can you tell me what was ‘off’? I’m not just asking to be nosy, but I smelled something when I came in today. It wasn’t natural and I couldn’t place it.”
Cara looked out to the hallway then back to Eden. “I can’t share that information,” she said in a hushed tone. “I know Dr. Wilson said you could hear about his care, but actual details… I don’t want to get in trouble.” The worry in her voice indicated both her urge to care for her patient but at the same time keep her job.
“No, I understand. I wouldn’t want you to have any issues.”
Cara glanced out to the hallway again and then turned to the computer station in the room to update Kellan’s vitals. When she finished, she pushed the keyboard back onto the tray that held the computer.
“I’ll be back in a half an hour,” she announced rather loudly for a sick room.
Eden watched her leave then looked back to the computer. Cara had left his patient chart open. With her eyes on the door, Eden got out of her chair and walked around the other side of the bed and blocked the computer with her body. She took Kellan’s hand in hers like she was a concerned friend and let her gaze slip to the screen.
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Reading through the toxicologist’s report, she saw they were confused by the results. There were trace amounts of metabolites in his system. After each round of testing they would disappear. Almost as if they were a timed substance.
The toxicologist speculated that once those tests reached a normal level that the patient might wake from the coma.
Hearing chatter from the hallway, she slipped her phone out of her pocket and took a picture of the screen. She made it back to her seat before a man in a lab coat came into the room. He stopped short when he saw her, clearly surprised to see her there.
He nodded to her and she nodded back. He was a little scruffy for a doctor, Eden noted. He was wearing a scrub top that was too tight across his chest, and the hospital ID was turned around backwards so she couldn’t see his name.
Eden was about to say something, but the doctor smiled awkwardly as though he’d realized he was in the wrong room, and then turned and left without a word. Suspicious. Obviously suspicious. She shot off a text message to Zion with a description of the man and told him to keep an eye out on his shift.
Then she messaged the screenshot of the test results to King. She asked him to see if AJ, their computer guru, knew anyone at the University of Washington that could give them some information on the results. AJ had to know someone at the medical school, he seemed to know everyone.
Eden managed to keep awake for the remainder of the shift. Deciding it wouldn’t do any harm, she started quietly calling Kellan’s name. A small part of her wondering if he was faking.
Then she started talking about Bliss, what it was like on tour, and the screaming fans that would do anything to meet Bliss Hartley. She told his comatose body about the time that she’d tackled a grown man in the hallway of a hotel. He had made a full-size pillow with Bliss’s face on it and said he was just bringing her a gift, but the creepy factor was off the charts.
Eden didn’t know why she was talking to him. He couldn’t hear her. But then she rarely shared her life with anyone. It was nice having a captive party that couldn’t talk back or remember what she said.
Cara came and went. Kellan lay in the bed, not moving as the machines breathed for him. She had to wonder if the other guys at KSI knew what she and Zion were up to. ‘Babysitting a corpse,’ they’d call it.
Zion came in early in the morning to start his shift. He stopped at the end of the bed. “I can barely smell it,” he remarked.
“It’s fading,” Eden agreed.
Zion grunted.
“I sent some info into King. I’ll be back after I sleep and eat.”
“I’m good for a while,” Zion said, leaning against the wall as Eden stood and stretched. She knew he wouldn’t take her seat. When Zion was on duty, he was on duty.
Eden felt the tenseness of her muscles as she moved around the room. The thought of shifting and tearing through some woods made her bear rear up in anticipation, but she doubted there was anywhere in New York she could get away with doing that.
As she went to leave, she turned back to the man in the bed. Her animal didn’t want her to leave. She knew he wasn’t safe. Then again, there was that small chance that he was a criminal and deserved to wake up to the wrath of a very pissed off Kindred Clan.
Or, he was an innocent that had been sacrificed to cover up a theft. Eden didn’t like either of those possibilities, or their outcomes.
She took another hard look.
“You need a break before I leave?” she asked, her eyes not straying from the man.
“Yeah, actually give me a second.” Zion walked out of the room and Eden reached out to touch the blanket-covered foot at the end of the bed. Something made her do that. A desire that came over her too fast for her to stop herself. She had no right to touch this human. He was unconscious and vulnerable. That made her want to stay exactly where she was. For a split second, she almost offered to stay, but that wasn’t rational. Zion was just as good as she was. There was some comfort knowing she’d see him soon.
Zion returned and took up his position against the wall, and she left the room with nothing more than a nod. Her feet moved her down the hallway robotically, but her thoughts stayed with the comatose human in the hospital room.
Chapter 4
Green. Home was green. The trees were shades of brown, light to dark. Seafoam green moss clinging to the branches. She was walking, and then trotting on all four paws. Her bear snout tilted into the breeze to catch the scent. It was a warm scent that made her happy. A crunch of a twig and her gaze turned to the man walking next to her. His hand reached out to rest on the fur of her neck. He was there, he wasn’t afraid, but she couldn’t make out his face. It was like a light shone out, replacing his features. She was content, he was happy.
The faraway ringing of her phone woke her out of a deep sleep. A sleep where she was dreaming of walking through the woods with a faceless man. She rubbed her face, trying to shake off the remnants of her dream before picking up her phone. The hotel room was dark, the blackout shades pulled against the daylight so she could get some rest.
“Yeah?” she answered, knowing it was King calling by the ringtone.
“Did I wake you?” he asked, his voice rough and tinged with a hint of humor.
“Yes, but I needed to get up.”
“Good, AJ struck out on the test results you sent. I’m going to keep giving him shit for that.”
Eden didn’t doubt that he would.
“I called in a favor to an old military buddy. He still does civilian research for the Army. One of the metabolites, Psytriptophan, has been used in the testing of a new drug. It’s all being done very quietly, but my friend says that it has mind-control possibilities. It can make people… suggestible to influence.”
“Suggestible?”
“Exactly. They’ll carry out orders with very little memory of completing the acts they’ve been instructed to do. He called the compound X141 and said they had stopped testing it because the metabolites are slow to break down. Long-term use could be fatal to humans. They think it could even be fatal to Kindred in a large enough dose. They haven’t tested it on Kindred, but the human trials were a failure so they didn’t continue.
“They’ve started working on a different variation of the original formula, X142 that is supposed to be more effective. But a large quantity of the original X141 went missing. It seemed there was some sloppy paperwork involved. Too many hands touching the pie, so to speak. This highly classified, incredibly dangerous product was left to low-level staff to manage. Needless to say, they didn’t manage it well. The government, not wanting a scandal, assumed it had been destroyed at the end of the testing.”
“That seems reasonable. Why investigate when something goes missing? Just cover it up,” Eden scoffed.
“Well, nobody would want to take the blame for it, plus they’d have to admit they were trying to create a mind-control drug in the first place. All of it would be bad PR.”
“There was a scent that Zion and I detected in the room. Like a metallic chemical scent, not unlike natural iron levels in a body and that’s why it didn’t seem like it was foreign. If it was this metabolite you mentioned, it wouldn’t be an abnormal smell, but at those levels would show up in his testing.”
“So?”
Eden sighed. “I know it’s not my job to find out if this guy is innocent, but my gut is telling me he’s just the cover for something bigger.”
“What do you want to do about it?”
Eden started a mental list of possibilities. “Is there an antidote to this shit?”
“He said no, you just have to let it wear off. Assuming that the person doesn’t come in contact with the substance anymore.”
That didn’t bode well. Who created a drug that couldn’t be reversed? Then she remembered… every pharmaceutical company. “Hmm…”
“Hmm?” King’s voice was terse. He didn’t like non-verbal responses. Eden knew he liked concrete facts and clear communication.
&n
bsp; “There was a doctor that came in last night who seemed surprised I was there. He didn’t say anything, and he left in a hurry. It was all kinds of strange. Made my radar go off.”
“I’d trust your intuition, Eden. You’re rarely wrong.”
“Rarely?”
“I could come up with something,” King laughed. “Do you and Zion need backup?”
“No way. Our assignment is asleep. The rest of the guys would never let us live it down.”
“I’ll deal with them, but if you do need help…”
“No, we’ve got it covered. You know Zion is a machine.”
King grunted. “I saw him stand at attention for over eight hours once. Made my knees hurt watching him.”
“I really should go relieve him. He probably hasn’t even used the bathroom.”
King paused before saying, “I have a theory about that…”
“No! Nope, thanks. Don’t need to hear it or visualize it,” she said quickly.
King laughed and then the line went dead.
Eden got up and stretched. It wasn’t a good stretch, the kind that flexed all your muscles and released all the tension in your body. It was like pulling rope, no give and no relief. She needed to let her bear out and the feeling was riding her so hard it was distracting.
Getting herself under control, she hit the shower and dressed in her usual jeans, trim ankle boots and a long-sleeved shirt. Grabbing her black leather jacket, she got into her rental car and found the closest coffee shop to fuel up.
When she entered the ICU, she found Zion standing outside the room.
“Something wrong?” she asked, handing him a cup of coffee; double cream, extra sugar, the way she knew he liked it.
“They’re doing something personal and I didn’t feel the need to observe that,” Zion grunted then took a sip of his coffee.