I dropped my forehead to his shoulder while I wrapped my legs around his waist and clung to him. He held me tighter as he turned us toward the church. He was silent until he set his feet on the roof. I let my legs drop from his waist. His hands immediately ran over my arms and down to my waist, checking for injuries. Eventually, his hand dug into my hair and forced me to lift my face to his. His lips crushed mine as relief coursed through me. He dove into my mouth and made the sky disappear. It was a while before he eased up and lifted his head.
His furious gaze met mine. “From now on, where I go, ya go.”
“That’s not going to work, sexy,” I whispered.
He growled as he stepped back away from me. “This isn’t up for negotiation.”
“I took care of myself.”
“Ya could have been killed, or worse!” he snapped, stepping closer.
“I would have been fine if the fucker couldn’t grow shit back!” I shouted.
“That’s what high demons do!” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “That’s why we need at least four gargoyles to take care of one!”
I stepped closer, getting into his face. “I am not some delicate human,” I growled, my wolf’s energy running up my spine and over my skin. “I’m a fucking werewolf that can rip a steel beam apart.”
He growled deep in his chest.
“Stop your yelling.” Zahur’s voice cracked like a whip across the roof.
We turned to find him standing in the doorway to the church tower.
“Abaddon went after her.” Ranulf took a step away from me.
“My bar’s gone,” I added before turning to Ranulf. “And I’m fine.”
“Because I saved your arse.” He clenched his jaw.
“Enough,” Zahur bit out. “We have enough problems right now without you two trying to kill each other.”
I took another step back from Ranulf, needing the space to cool down.
“Is Evie all right?” I asked as I began to pace.
“She’s in the med wing.” Zahur suddenly had my complete attention. “It looks like she has an infection, though I’m waiting for some test results from the hospital.”
Ranulf turned at that. “Not the lab here?”
“No.” Zahur sent him a look. “The lab here is incomplete and ten years out of date.”
“How the hell did that happen?” Ranulf crossed his arms over his chest as he scowled.
“We’ll need to figure that out.” Zahur shook his head. “There’s also a witch missing, but I haven’t even had a chance to look into it. A vampire’s been killed, and I can’t get ahold of Falk.”
“We’re missing a wolf. It looks like hunters found him.” I turned to Zahur. “How’d it go with Lemora?”
“What happened?” Ranulf demanded.
“A vampire was found dead in an empty warehouse. It was definitely murder. Whoever did it took his blood with them,” Zahur supplied.
I cringed. That was…
“Why the hell would someone do that?” Ranulf snapped.
“What would they use it for? Conversion?” It was the only thing I could think of.
Zahur shook his head. “That won’t work unless it’s from the vein.”
“Then what the hell did they want it for?” Ranulf asked.
“We don’t know,” Zahur snapped. “Frankly, I’m more concerned about Evelyn at the moment.”
“What do you mean?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Evelyn has streaking in her veins and it’s not from turning to stone. There’s also some necrotic tissue,” Zahur announced. “Which could be the infection, or something worse.”
My heart stopped. “Something worse?”
Zahur met my gaze. “I won’t know until I get the culture back from Brian at the hospital.”
“We need to hunt down Abaddon,” Ranulf stated. “That demon went after Astrid.”
“I’m sorry about your business,” Zahur said to me before turning to Ranulf. “Right now, Atticus is a wreck. Evie is unconscious and getting worse. We have no idea where Falk or Rina are. We don’t have the strength to hunt down Abaddon. At the moment, we’re just trying to do Evie’s job and keep the different species from attacking each other.”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s a bit busy.”
“Everyone go get some rest.” Zahur rubbed both his eyes with one hand. “It won’t be long before we’re going to be called to get up and go out again.”
Zahur
I led the way down the stairs and into the church. Astrid and Ranulf snapped at each other under their breath as they headed toward the dormitories. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I headed for the med wing. Ranulf and Astrid were horrible at hiding their relationship. If they thought they were fooling anyone, they were both delusional. Beeping caught my ear, so I hurried through the doors.
Alarms were blaring. Atticus was at the side of the bed. Evie’s body was rigid and convulsing. Atticus held her just enough to keep her on the bed while the Templar stood with a look of utter terror on his face. I ran to the bed. Her breathing was rough, gasping through her teeth; saliva ran from her mouth as she continued to convulse.
Atticus’s face was desperate when he turned to me. “Help her.”
My heart ached; I remembered that soul-deep terror of my mate being sick and the hopelessness of not being able to help. “Almost all seizures are over in a few minutes.”
His face was tortured as he turned back and continued whispering to her. A heartbeat later, the convulsions grew less, then stopped. She was still gasping through her clenched jaw, her lips tinting blue.
“All right, Atticus,” I said in a calm voice. “We’re moving her onto her left side so we can keep her airway clear.”
He wrapped his arms around her upper body while I took care of her hips. “One, two, three.” We carefully rolled her to her side facing us. My hand touched hot liquid. I looked down and froze. The drain had filled and disconnected, probably during her seizure. Milky-green discharge had slowly dripped down the drain tube to her side and the bed. I cursed as I grabbed an oxygen mask, tore open the packaging, and hooked it up to the airline on the wall. I handed it to Atticus. “Put that on her and watch her lip color.” He obeyed immediately. I turned to the Templar.
“Get me a new drain, and enough gauze for a dressing change.” When the Templar kept gaping, I lost it. “Now!”
The Templar took off. I turned to Atticus, whose posture was rigid, his face deadly calm.
“What is wrong with my wife?” he growled low and deep in his chest.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I’ll figure it out.”
He looked like he was about to be sick.
“Stay with her,” I told him.
“I…” He swallowed hard. “She can’t die before I tell her…”
“She won’t.” My shoulders settled into knots. “Talk to her.”
I left her in his arms and went after the Templar in the lab. I slammed the door open and grabbed him by the shirt. “What medical experience do you have?”
His eyes grew wide. “I’m a lab tech, sir!”
I let him go. A lab tech. Templars were required to have a doctor on staff at all times. It was a rule. Having enough, I met his gaze. “Get the First Templar in here.”
He blinked and checked his watch. “Uh, he’s sleeping.”
I pointed at the lab door. “I have a female who’s dying, and I can’t figure out why because your fucking equipment is a disgrace!” My gums burned as both sets of my fangs slipped out. “Drag him down here.”
He nodded, handed me the new drain and gauze, then ran out the door. I went back into the ward and rifled through several unorganized carts before getting what I was looking for.
When I got back to the bed, Evie’s face was cleaned, as well as the linen and her clothes. I set everything down on the metal table and pulled on some gloves. I quickly changed the drain and the dressing, noting that there was more necrotic tissue before movin
g her shirt further out of the way. The black veins were almost up her ribs now. Carefully, I used a butterfly needle to draw a vial of blood. The culture was taking too long. It was obviously not a bacterial infection. I had to figure out what this was now.
“Her color is better,” I told Atticus as I cleaned up the contaminated gauze.
He watched her face as he nodded slowly.
“Watch her.” I got to my feet, taking the blood sample with me. “I’ll be in the lab.” I left him there and tried not to look like I was rushing.
I was preparing a slide when the door opened. A Templar around the age of forty walked in, still in his silk pajamas and with an attitude. “Why did you get me out of bed?”
I turned, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him down over the empty counter where the incubator should have been. “Why is the med wing this out of date and short-staffed?” Rage had my talons sliding out and creating indents in his skin.
“We’re underfunded,” he croaked out, his face turning red.
Anger had me tightening my grip. “You’ve been fully funded since the beginning.” I moved closer so he could see my fangs. “Try again.”
“I…I…” he stammered, his eyes beginning to bulge. “We started sending our people to the regular hospital. Our last doctor quit.”
“And you never hired another.” I shoved away from him. He fell off the counter and hit the floor. “You’re fired. Get. Out.”
He scowled up at me. “You can’t do that!”
“You’re lucky I’m not breaking your neck!” I snarled.
I turned to the other Templar lab tech standing in the doorway. “We are the ones who have been financing you. We gave you rules for a damn good reason. You follow them or get out.” The lab tech was gaping until he stepped forward, pulled their now fired leader to his feet and marched him toward the door. “Now. Get me a complete, up-to-date lab.” I sat back down and continued to prepare the slide as he ran off to do as I ordered.
When I finally looked through the microscope, I cursed long and hard. I didn’t recognize the strain, but I sure as hell recognized a neurotoxin in a blood smear.
It wasn’t long before I shoved away from the counter and ran into the med ward. I broke open cabinets, drawers, wherever the medication could be. I found everything I might need and rolled it all over to Evie’s bed.
Atticus’s jaw clenched. “What?”
“She’s been hit with a neurotoxin.” I made a point to keep my voice calm. “One I’ve never seen. So, we’re preparing.” I hurried to the bed beside hers to make room for the ventilator. I shoved it into position and plugged it in.
Quickly, I ran through her vitals and checked her oxygen and respiration. She was on the low side, but still in normal range.
“What does that mean?” Atticus snarled.
I met his gaze. “She might stop breathing.”
Atticus’s face grew icy as his left hand gripped the top of the bed.
I took her temperature while keeping track of him. “Atticus, stay calm.”
“Calm?”
“Yes. Calm.” I kept my voice smooth and even. “You can’t help her if you lose your mind.”
“But finding out what the toxin is will,” he countered.
My heart dropped. “You’re not…” He was out the door before I could finish my sentence. “Shit.”
I went to the landline and through the directory, I found Ranulf’s room number. “Ranulf, get Astrid and go round up Atticus. He’s gone demon hunting.”
8
Astrid
“Hurry it up!” I shouted as I ran full speed around the corner after Atticus. We had finally caught up to the male. The gargoyle had somehow found a pack of ghouls and torn through them as if they were tissue paper. That had been in the sewer twenty minutes ago. My wolf was so close to the surface that my skin was rippling. Shifting as I ran through the damn shopping district was a horrible idea.
“I can’t exactly drop on him here.” Ranulf’s sarcasm dripped in my ear through the earpiece of the old ham radio.
I growled as I dodged shoppers and spotted Atticus running out of the shopping center. “He’s leaving now!”
“I’m on him,” he snapped. “Too many people.”
“I can’t keep this up forever without shifting!” I barked as Atticus turned a corner ahead of me.
“He’s coming up on an alley, yell at him and he’ll turn,” Ranulf ordered. “Three, two, one—”
“Atticus!” I barked. Atticus turned left into an alley just as Ranulf said he would. “You’re up!”
Ranulf dove from above and disappeared to the left. I hauled ass around the corner and into the dark corridor. Ranulf fought to hold Atticus on the ground. Growling, Atticus bashed his head back and head-butted Ranulf.
Ranulf cursed in Gaelic as he shifted his grip. “Move yer arse!”
As I ran, I pulled the syringe from my pocket and pulled off the cap. Atticus tried to buck Ranulf off, but my mate’s mass kept the gargoyle down. I ran around them, skidded to a stop, jerked Atticus’s collar back and drove the needle into the meat to the left side of his neck. Atticus cursed as I depressed the plunger. Ranulf held tight until Atticus grew limp.
Ranulf lifted himself off Atticus and turned back to me. “And ye were saying?”
I shot him a look as we both reached down and pulled an unconscious Atticus to his feet. “It’s not like I have a lot of options,” I grunted. The damn gargoyle was heavy.
Ranulf took most of the weight as we started down the alley and away from the shopping center. “Ya marrying another male should nae be one of them.”
I dropped Atticus. Ranulf shifted to adjust. “I didn’t say it was!”
Ranulf cursed again, set Atticus down against the wall and turned back to me. “Why the hell didn’t ya mention it then? It was a marriage proposal!”
“It was not! I told David that I’d never marry that alpha, so he went and negotiated that requirement out!” I barked back, my blood starting to boil. My wolf was still too close to the surface. “The fact is, I’m not going to have a pack or we have to hide us. What do you want me to do?”
“Do you want to leave Chicago?”
“No!”
“Then fucking fight him on this!” His face turned red, the veins in his throat bulged. “Don’t just fucking roll over and accept his bullshit.”
I shook my head. Wow. He really had no clue how a pack worked. “I can’t. I’m not a—” Then it hit me. I actually could…there wasn’t a law against it…
“Not a what?” he snapped.
“A male,” I muttered, thinking out loud. “But there isn’t a law that says I can’t challenge the alpha male.”
“Then fucking do that.”
I shook my head. “You don’t know what it would do. It could destroy our pack structure completely—”
“Who the hell cares? You’ll still have yer pack and you’ll still be here.”
“I’d have to be willing to kill him,” I stated. “That’s what a challenge is. To the death.”
Ranulf growled as he walked further down the alley. “And you don’t want to.” He turned back to me. “It’s going to be a choice between you or him, Astrid. Pick ye.”
“That’s not how it works!” I shoved my hair out of my face. “I can’t put myself before my pack!”
“I gave up me home for ya!” he countered.
“I didn’t ask you to!” I screamed.
“You dinnae have to!” he shot back. Fire and shadows filled his face. “I dinnae even think twice, Astrid. But ya do. All the time.”
Fury burned in my chest as I stepped up to him. “You don’t think twice? Why won’t you come inside me?”
His walls went up with an almost audible clank. His face was hard as he stepped away and dragged Atticus to his feet. “We’d better get back.”
The walk back towards the church was filled with a painful silence that hung between us.
Zahur
&nbs
p; I rubbed the bridge of my nose and sighed. I had given Evie everything I thought might work. Poultices, anti-venoms, anything I could think of. And nothing had helped. But at least now, she was comfortable. I think…
Several Templars were still coming in and out of the room while I sat with Evelyn. The lab was almost set up. I should be able to get better results soon.
Ranulf walked in carrying a limp Atticus over his shoulder. Astrid was several steps behind him, her face hard.
Ranulf dropped him onto the bed next to Evelyn’s. I winced as Atticus’s head hit the plastic headboard.
“Anything else?” Ranulf bit out.
I eyed the two of them. Both of them were tense, both angry. Great, they’re fighting. “No, that’s it. Thanks.”
Ranulf nodded silently, turned, and headed back out the door. Astrid stayed for several seconds.
“Astrid? Are you all right?” I asked.
She lifted her head. “Fine.” She turned on her boot and walked out of the med ward. Shit. That really wasn’t good. Being matched was never easy. It wasn’t supposed to be. Love, being mated…it all took work, understanding, and patience. I smiled to myself. Of course Ranulf would match with a woman that fit him in every way.
A Templar walked up. “There’s a messenger for you, sir.”
I raised an eyebrow. “For me?”
He nodded. “It’s in the chapel.”
Run Page 10
