“No… I… uh… I can’t move,” she said.
She knew how ridiculous that sounded as she continued to put one foot in front of the other, but the idea of being lifted off her feet and jarred in any way made her cringe.
“We’re almost there,” he said. “Keep your head down.”
She bowed her head as he held her closer. The doors swished open, and they stepped into the well-lit interior of the hospital. The rush of heat washing over her did little to warm her. She kept her head down in the hopes of avoiding some of the cameras, but she knew it was impossible.
She glanced around the pale pink chairs of the waiting room and spotted a couple of people sitting in them. One of them held an ice pack on his ankle, and the other was staggering around like a drunk searching for the bathroom. And that was exactly what he was doing as he crashed into the restroom door. The woman with him dropped her head into her hands.
“Can I help you?” the woman behind the desk asked.
She had to look up, or she’d appear even sketchier. “Yes,” she said as she met the woman’s kind blue eyes. “I broke my arm.”
“Okay,” the woman said as she turned to her computer. “I need your name, insurance information, and—”
“Oh, I don’t have insurance,” Elyse blurted. How could she have forgotten that pertinent detail?
“Well, then we have some paperwork….”
The woman’s voice trailed off as Saxon leaned over the counter and smiled at her. Her eyes widened before her gaze ran appraisingly over him. Then, her eyes shot back up, and a blush crept into her cheeks as she turned back to her computer.
Elyse gritted her teeth while she resisted kicking him in the leg, but he was speaking. “I’m sure we don’t have to go through all of that.”
Elyse had never heard him use that rhythmic, soothing tone of voice before, but she felt the power behind his words. The woman’s fingers slowed on the keyboard, and her blush faded as she lifted her gaze to him. The blank look in the woman’s eyes made Elyse’s skin crawl as she recalled those zombie-like people standing on the porch of the bar.
Despite her impulse to shrink away from the desk, she found herself riveted to Saxon’s words and the woman’s reaction to them.
“You don’t have to put her in the computer, do you?” he asked.
“No,” the woman replied.
“And you don’t require all her information.”
“I don’t.”
“Now, please go on back there and find a doctor who can take care of her. Also, find someone who can shut down the cameras and bring that person to me.”
The woman rose in a fluid motion. Elyse watched her walk through a door and into the back. “That’s so creepy,” she murmured.
“But it works,” Saxon said as his fingers ran across her hip.
Chapter Thirty
She never would have believed it possible, but with Saxon working his creepy magic, she found herself heading to X-rays less than five minutes later. The security guard Saxon had spoken with walked ahead of them in the hallway. He was going to shut the cameras down for a little while.
Saxon stayed by her side while they took X-rays of her arm before leading her to a room and settling her onto a hospital bed where the nurse took her vitals. When she was ten, she broke her foot rollerblading and had to go to the ER for X-rays, so she knew it was all going backward and far faster than usual.
“Your blood pressure is a little high,” the nurse told her.
“Ms. White,” a doctor in a white lab coat greeted as he breezed into the room. Saxon had given them a fake name to use. The doctor already had her X-rays in hand, and he placed them into whatever the thing was they used to show the results to the patients. He flicked a switch, and a light lit up to reveal her X-rays. “As I’m sure you can see, it’s a bad break.”
He pointed to where both bones in her arms were in pieces. Around those two broken parts, smaller pieces of her bones had also broken off and were floating around. Elyse’s stomach turned over as she stared at the X-ray; no one should see their bones doing that.
The doctor glanced at Saxon before focusing on her again. “How did it happen?”
Though the sight of it made her ill, she couldn’t take her eyes off the X-ray. “I fell.”
The doctor smiled at her. “I have some questions to ask you.”
“Sure,” she muttered.
“Some of them are rather personal; I think you’d prefer to answer them alone.”
“Oh, ah….” She glanced at Saxon.
He rested his hand on her shoulder and bent to kiss her head. “I’ll be in the hall.”
When he walked out of the room, a strange sense of loss filled her as the nurse closed the door behind him.
“Do you feel safe?” the doctor asked.
She’d been expecting questions about her medical history and period, so he completely threw her off with this one. “Excuse me?”
He glanced at the closed door. “Do you feel safe at home?”
Elyse almost asked him what home, but she bit back the words when she saw he was dead serious. “Yes.”
The doctor and nurse both stared at her until she squirmed on the bed.
“We can get you help if you need it, but you have to tell us if you feel threatened,” the doctor said.
He’d run from here if he learned how threatened she’d been for months, but she decided it was probably best not to reveal that. “Saxon would never hurt me.”
The second the words were out of her mouth, she realized how mad she was at this man for thinking such a thing. Of course, she understood why he was asking these questions, and he meant well, but she refused to let anyone think Saxon was like the monster who snapped her arm in two. He deserved so much better, and she cared about him too much to allow it to continue.
“A fall didn't cause this break,” the doctor said. “The bruise on your temple—”
“Please let him back in.”
The doctor hesitated and glanced at the nurse. “Ms—”
“Saxon did not do this. Let him back in.”
The doctor’s shoulders slumped, and the nurse walked over to open the door. Elyse glared at them as she tried not to look at her X-ray again.
“You can come in,” the nurse said crisply to Saxon.
Saxon’s step slowed when he entered the room. Tension permeated the air, and the set of Elyse’s jaw alerted him something had happened. “What’s wrong?” he inquired.
Elyse thought maybe he’d heard their conversation, but she suspected he’d walked away or purposely tuned them out to give her privacy.
“They’re afraid I’m not in a safe environment.” The confusion on his face made it clear he didn’t understand what she meant. “They think you broke my arm.”
The doctor and nurse stared disapprovingly at her before glancing nervously at Saxon. They already considered him violent, and he was rather large, so they weren’t exactly thrilled she’d revealed this tidbit of information to him. If they knew the truth of what he was, they’d run screaming from here.
“Oh,” he said and then, as her words sank in, anger clouded his face and he turned toward the doctor and nurse. They fidgeted under the disapproving stare he gave them. “No more questions; fix her arm.”
The blank expressions that came over their faces alerted her Saxon was using his ability on them.
“We can schedule her for surgery for tomorrow,” the doctor said.
“Surgery?” Elyse croaked.
“Yes,” the doctor said. “That’s the only way to repair the break.”
“But….” But what? Had she really believed they could slap a cast on it and call it done? Her arm was in pieces. “How long will I have to stay in the hospital?”
“The surgery will probably take a few hours, but I see no reason why you can’t go home tomorrow afternoon, if everything goes well.”
She recalled the cameras at the front desk and shuddered at the idea of the Savages locat
ing them. She’d rather walk around with her arm in pieces than risk falling into the hands of the Savages again. “We can’t stay here that long.”
The doctor frowned at her, and if they weren’t under Saxon’s control, they probably would have called the police by now.
“The two of you go outside and wait by the door,” Saxon said.
He followed them to the door and closed it behind them before returning to her. He clasped her good hand in his while he brushed a strand of hair back from her face. Exhaustion etched her features as she stared at him from under the fringe of her thick, black lashes.
“I know you said no before, but if you take some of my blood, it will help you heal,” he said.
“No.”
“Elyse—”
“I’m not having this discussion again, Saxon. We’ll go, and maybe, when things settle down, I can get my arm fixed.” If she were still alive. “Until then, I’ll take some pain killers, and maybe they can splint it or cast it enough that it won’t hurt so much. I’m not taking your blood.”
His teeth ground together as his fangs slid free before retracting again. It took all he had not to punch the wall. Not only could he not take away her discomfort, but he couldn’t claim his mate.
And what if she continued to deny him? What if, in the end, she decided she didn’t want him as her mate?
After everything the Savages put her through, she might decide she couldn’t be a vampire, and he could do nothing more than step aside and let her go. No matter how much it would destroy him to watch her walk away, he could never force his life on her.
The more twisted part of his vampire nature whispered he could force it on her. Once she was a vampire, she would have to accept him and his life; as his mate, she’d have no other choice.
Saxon shook his head as self-loathing coiled through him. He could be ruthless and vicious, but he’d never considered himself malicious or selfish. If he did that to her, he would be no better than Joseph. No, he’d be worse; Joseph had owned what he was.
Elyse hated the despair Saxon emanated as he bowed his head and his shoulders hunched up. His emotional turbulence battered against her, and she recalled what he’d told her about a vampire needing to complete the mate bond or else they went insane. Was that what was happening to him?
“Saxon?” She cupped his cheek and lifted his head to look at her. Red shimmered in his eyes, and his extended fangs pressed against his upper lip. She’d never seen anyone look so tormented before. “Oh.”
She placed her good hand against the back of his head and drew him closer for a kiss. She should be terrified of the unraveling she sensed in him, but all she felt was a need to comfort him. At that moment, she realized how much she cared for him.
“I’m not saying no forever,” she said. “Just for now.”
“I can help you.”
“You can help me, and I can be used to hurt you.”
“Elyse,” he groaned.
His anguish-filled groan tore at her heart, but she couldn’t change her mind. She already had her father’s blood on her hands; she couldn’t have Saxon’s there too. When his red eyes met hers, she held his gaze while she kissed him.
“We should go,” she said. “We’ve been here for at least an hour.”
Saxon stopped her when she went to swing her legs out of bed. “You’re not leaving here with your arm like that.”
“We can’t stay.”
If she wouldn’t take his blood to heal, then he would at least make sure the humans took care of her. “I’ll handle it; stay in bed.”
Elyse bristled at his commanding tone, but she decided not to push the unstable vampire. She settled back in the bed as he opened the door and told the doctor and nurse to come in.
“Can you do the surgery now?” Saxon asked.
The doctor’s brow furrowed. “The surgeon isn’t here now.”
“Call him and get him here. I don’t care what it takes, and if he gives you any trouble, let me talk to him.”
“There’s a whole team of people to assemble.”
“Then go and assemble it. She’s to be in surgery in less than an hour.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Saxon stared into the operating room on the other side of the window. Usually, he wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the room he stood in, but he used his ability to get inside. He’d prefer to be in the operating room with her, but when the surgeon said it would be safer if Saxon weren’t there, he relented to staying here.
The stringent scent of chemicals burned his nose, and he’d turned off the lights in this room to cut down on their glare. He was too wound up to handle the assault on his senses as it took everything he had not to go in there, pull Elyse out, and give her his blood.
He glanced at the clock on the wall; it was already almost five in the morning. It had taken longer than an hour to get everyone they needed for Elyse’s surgery. They’d wheeled her into the room ten minutes ago, and she lay on the table with a sheet pulled up to her waist and a hospital gown on while the doctors and nurses worked around her.
“You should have made her take your blood,” Lucien muttered as he paced the room.
“Yes, because forcing a woman to do something always ends well,” Saxon retorted.
“It ends better than death.”
Saxon glowered at him.
“What’s done is done,” Declan said from where he leaned against the wall. “There is no changing it.”
“Does Ronan know about this?” Lucien asked.
“I called him,” Saxon said. “He’s not happy.”
“He’s not the only one,” Lucien muttered.
“You’ve made that clear, so why don’t you take the car and go. I’m not making you stay here,” Saxon said.
Lucien looked as if he’d never considered this possibility, and for all his surly assholishness, Saxon knew the idea of leaving had never occurred to him. He was a dick, but he was a loyal dick and a good friend… even if Saxon wanted to choke him.
“And where would I go?” Lucien asked.
“To meet Ronan,” Saxon said. “He’s still heading for Maine.”
“Hmm.” Lucien seemed to ponder this. “I’m not in the mood to drive.”
Despite his irritation with him, Saxon smiled when Lucien gave him the finger. “Hugs and kisses to you too,” Saxon said.
He focused on the room before him. Elyse was still and pale as she lay there; she was so vulnerable to these humans who were far from perfect. They were only going to fix her arm, but any number of things could go wrong. His hands clenched around the stainless-steel sink in front of him.
He didn’t hear Declan approach until he stood beside him. “She’ll be fine. This is what humans do.”
“And this is where humans sometimes die.”
“That is the mortal way of life. It’s also the immortal one.”
Saxon knew he had a point, but he didn’t respond as the surgeon cut into Elyse’s arm. A knock on the door sounded, but he didn’t look over until he heard Asher say, “We have a problem.”
Saxon glanced away from the surgery. “What is it?”
“I need all of you to come with me.”
“I’m not leaving,” Saxon said.
“Believe me,” Asher said, “you have to see this.”
It was the paleness of Asher’s face that caught Saxon’s attention. He glanced back into the operating room, but everything was calm in there as the doctors spoke in muffled tones and the machines continued their reassuring beeps. He kept his eye on Elyse as he followed Lucien and Declan out the door.
“This way,” Asher said.
He led them a few doors down the hall and into the waiting room full of cheery pink and green chairs. Because it was so early in the morning, no family members were waiting for their loved ones to get out of surgery. The room was quiet except for a news story about adopting shelter animals playing on the TV in the corner.
Once they realized they were going to be
staying longer than they hoped, Logan and Declan went to the security office to deal with the guards and to have the cameras facing outside turned back on. Logan remained in the room, watching the feeds for any sign of approaching Savages.
“What is so important?” Saxon demanded; his skin crawled with his compulsion to return to Elyse.
Asher waved a hand at the TV. “The news.”
They all glanced at the cute reporter holding a squiggling puppy in her arms.
“I’m all for saving animals, but I’m not driving over to the shelter to adopt them all,” Lucien said.
Asher shot him a look. “It’s coming after this story.”
Saxon stepped back to peer out the doorway. The hall remained empty, and if he strained to listen, he could hear the distant beep of Elyse’s heart monitor. The rhythm remained steady and strong.
“Now back to the developing story we’ve been covering all morning,” the female anchor said.
“Yes,” the male anchor said. Saxon turned to find the two reporters gazing solemnly at the TV. “Here to tell us more about the possible abduction of a young woman is reporter Skylar Jackson. Have you learned anything new, Skylar?”
The focus shifted to a pretty, young reporter standing on the side of the road. When the camera panned back, Saxon saw the motel where they’d stayed in New York. Flashing lights reflected off the building and spilled across the parking lot as three police cruisers came into view.
“Shit,” Lucien muttered.
“Police believe the woman disappeared from this motel,” Skylar said. “Witnesses say she was in the company of two men, but her parents believe she is not with them willingly.”
“What the fuck?” Saxon asked as he stepped closer to the TV. He wasn’t well-versed in human news, but he knew it was odd they were reporting on a possibly abducted woman and following the story all morning.
The female reporter strolled closer to the police cruisers. “Police are investigating this claim, but until they know more, they’re asking for the public’s help to locate Elyse Hughes.”
Bound by Passion: The Alliance Series, Book 4 Page 17
