He bent down and quietly felt for a latch, but came up empty. He unsheathed one of his daggers and gingerly slid it into the crack. Working it along the edge, he wrenched it open and slid through.
“SE! No! It’s a trap!” Ana screamed.
As SE landed on the floor and launched himself at the motherfucker who’d taken his female, there was only one thought in his mind. Death.
Ana caught only a glimpse of SE’s face when he slid through the hole in the ceiling. When he saw her strapped to the table, his eyes became golden suns, and his lips curled into a feral snarl, muscles straining against his clothing. With a roar he sprang at Blue Eyes. As Ana watched, SE took him down to the floor, nailing him with an uppercut to the jaw. The two males battered and beat one another, knocking the cart over, scattering needles and vials. Ana tried again and again to gleam, but it was no use. The silver IV was making it impossible. As SE backed up against the table, he used it for leverage and kicked Blue Eyes into metal shelving across the room. Turning, he loosened the straps around Ana’s hands. She sat up, yanked the IV out of her arm, and started working on the rest.
“SE, I can’t gleam. There’s no other way out. We have to go!” Ana yelled. It was a hell of a situation. Trying to get her mate off the male who tried to kill her was going to be next to impossible, but they had to get out of there. She searched the room and grabbed whatever knives and syringes she could find to arm herself. As she turned around, she saw SE run through her torturer with one of his own swords, impaling him right to the wall.
He turned and lifted Ana in a crushing embrace. She took in everything, his scent, the feel of his body against hers. There had been moments on the table when she had been afraid he would never hold her like this again. Her thoughts of him had sustained her.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” he said into her shoulder.
Then he let her down and appraised their situation.
“Can you make it out?”
She nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
He smiled, picked up the extra pistol and handed it to her. “Ready to kick some ass?”
“Always.” She forced herself to climb the steps, every muscle in her body on fire.
As they turned the corner and headed down the main hallway, they were met by three shifters who had their weapons drawn. Shit! There went the element of surprise. SE threw a shuriken at one shifter, hitting his neck. As he fell, he tripped another behind him. Ana dove on top of him and plunged a syringe into his shoulder, releasing the liquid silver into his body.
“Duck!” SE yelled.
Ana went flat to the ground as SE pulled his Glock and put a bullet in the last shifter’s gut. Then he grabbed her hand and they ran down the hallway. As they turned the corner to Bastian’s shop, another Toltec shifter opened fire with his rifle. Ana tried to keep running, but she felt SE’s weight fall to the floor behind her.
“I’m down, ihkweea. Run!”
Fuck that.
Ana shot the shifter in the shoulder and leg, then turned, grabbed her mate by the arms, and pulled. She had to get him into Bastian’s shop. SE pushed with his legs, helping her move him along the tile. After an eternity, she opened the door to the shop and pulled SE inside. Slamming the door shut, she looked around the room for the heaviest thing she could find.
Please work.
She focused on Bastian’s desk and gleamed it up against the door.
“SE, I need your cell. Where is it? I can’t find it.”
“Coat,” he whispered.
She pulled it out of his inside coat pocket. “What’s the number?”
“Hit three.”
“X! We’re at Bastian’s shop. SE’s been shot! He can’t gleam! Hurry!”
A moment later, Diesel materialized and dropped to his knees. “Okay, I’m going to need you to let go of him.”
The protection instinct flared up within her and she hissed at the warrior.
“It’s okay, Ana. Just let me have a look at him.”
She managed to back off shakily, but not more than a couple of feet. She watched as he tried to stop the bleeding. Finally, X and Dimitri materialized.
“SUV’s right outside. What’s his status?” X asked.
“He’s been shot in the chest. I think there’s just one bullet. There’s a lot of penetration. We need to get him back to the compound before he bleeds out.”
X and Diesel carefully held SE and gleamed him to the SUV. Ana and Dimitri each took one of James’s hands and followed. Everyone climbed in and they took off for the mansion. Ana sat on the floor just below her mate, who was lying across the back seat.
“Keep that pressure up, Ana,” Diesel said.
“Ihkweea,” SE said in whisper.
“I’m here, my male.”
“Ihkweea?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m right here, SE. Why can’t he hear me?”
“He’s in shock, Ana. Take his hand,” Diesel answered as he picked up his cell and called ahead. “Pax, SE’s been shot. Rifle to the chest. Tell Helen to start prepping for surgery. If there’s anything she can’t find, tell her I’ll be there in five.”
“Ten,” X said.
“X, we don’t have ten.”
As X turned off the Navigator’s outer lights and hit the gas, Ana took her mate’s hand, leaned over, and laid her head on his shoulder. “I love you, my male,” she whispered. “Yoohi netai.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Richard sat by his mate’s bedside, watching her as she slept so deeply, she appeared to be comatose.
Thanks be to the Goddess she wasn’t. His beautiful Adri was safe, and so was their baby. Thanks to Ana. Thanks to Ana. Now there was a phrase he never thought would cross his mind. Jesus, and to think they had tortured the female. Even now SE was fighting for his life on the operating table, and all the while Ana never left his side for a minute. She had to be in pain. Christ. He’d never been so wrong about someone in his whole life. He looked out the open door from time to time to see if anyone could find out any news about SE’s condition, but they were all still waiting. He quietly said a prayer to the Goddess.
“Richard?”
“You’re awake.”
“I can’t believe I dozed off. Is SE out of surgery yet?”
He kissed her forehead. “Not for another hour or so.”
“Is Ana still with him?”
“As far as I know, she hasn’t left the room.”
“How much longer till I can get out of this bed? If they give me any more fluids, I’m going to burst. Besides, I’m the only other mated female here. Ana might need me.”
Richard smiled. “You are quite a female, you know?”
She smiled a heavenly smile. “Just go find Diesel and find out when I can get the hell out of this bed.”
“He’s in surgery, helping Helen.”
She sighed. “Look, let’s just move me to the hall. We can cart this damn IV with us.”
Richard helped Adriana with her slippers, and once they got the IV cord settled, they headed for the hallway.
Pax was the first to notice them. “Whoa, hey, Adriana,” Pax said. “Here, take my seat.” He helped her into the chair.
“Thanks, Pax. Any word yet?”
“Not yet. Should be any time now,” X said.
Richard noticed that all the warriors were gathered, even Troy, who was standing in his usual spot against the wall. He realized that the bond between the warriors of the Order was growing, day by day. It amazed and humbled him.
A moment later, Diesel came out of the surgery. “Okay, he made it through surgery in one piece. There was a lot of penetration from the bullet, so there’ll be some healing time. He won’t be doing much for a few days. But he’s a New Breed, so the healing will take days instead of a month. Adriana, we’re going to set him up in a recovery bed in the surgical area, so that you both have some privacy.”
There was a huge, collective sigh of relief from the brothers.
Pax clapped Diesel on the back. “Nice job, my brother.”
“Nah, honestly, it was all Helen. She was amazing.”
Adriana looked at Diesel. He had the oddest look on his face. “How’s Ana? Is she all right?”
“She’s tired and worried,” he said. “She’s still in some pain from the injections she was given, but it’s fading.”
“Just let me get my hands on the motherfucker that did this,” Troy grumbled.
“I think we’d all like to have a turn,” Reyn said. “It’ll take some time, but we’ll get them.”
“Damn straight we will,” Xavier said.
“When will we be able to see him?” Richard asked.
“It’ll be a while. He hasn’t come out of the anesthesia yet.”
“Oh, hey, how is James?” Pax asked.
“Other than a little dehydrated, he’s just fine,” Diesel answered. “I had Geoffrey feed him and put him in one of the upstairs rooms to get some sleep. From what I could tell, he’s another homeless teenage shifter those bastards kidnapped.”
Pax shook his head. “Jesus.”
Richard had almost forgotten about James. There was something off about him. He had a lot of k’ul for a civilian. In Richard’s experience, that meant extra abilities. He made a mental note to check in with the male later.
Just then, Helen poked her head out the door. “My advice to you all is to get some hot food and some rest. You’ve been out here all night. I’ll send Diesel when you can see SE.”
Helen and Diesel walked back to the surgical area.
“Do you want me to bring you something to eat, Adri?” Richard asked.
“That would be heavenly. I’m going to wait here and see if I can see Ana in case she needs something. She must be dead on her feet.”
As if on cue, Ana walked out into the hall.
“Hey, Ana!” X smiled at her.
“Hey, everyone. You guys have been so great, waiting out here like this. I’m sure you’re all exhausted. You can take a break. Now’s a good time. He’s just coming out of the anesthesia and he’s going to be pretty out of it for a while.”
“Forget us,” Adriana said. “How are you?”
“I’m holding up okay.”
Richard thought the female looked so tired. “Do you need anything? Something to eat?” he asked.
“Thanks, but I honestly don’t think I could eat a thing.”
“Well, do you need anything from your room?” Adriana noticed she was barefoot. “Like shoes?”
Ana managed a weak smile. “Actually, a change of clothes would be great.”
Richard nodded. “No problem. I’ll call Mary and have her bring you something comfortable. You can use the shower in one of the empty bedrooms down here. And maybe try and get some sleep, all right?”
Ana smiled. “Thanks. I’m gonna head back in now. I promise I’ll keep you guys posted.”
Soaring Eagle tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt like they weighed ten pounds each.
“Ihkweea?”
“Shh. I’m right here.”
He felt her take his hand and willed his eyes to open so he could look at her face.
“So…glad…you’re…safe.”
She brushed his hair off his forehead. “I’m fine, my male. Shh. Sleep now.”
His face relaxed and his eyes closed.
Ana sat back down in the chair next to his bed, but she did not let go of his hand. She was showered and in clean clothes now, but even that had been done in ten minutes tops. She fell asleep with her head resting on the end of the hospital bed a few times, but mostly she just watched her mate as he slept. She knew he was doing well, but the protection instinct was still curled up inside her like Cobra on the back of her neck.
Once he was asleep, she stood up and stretched.
“Silver still bothering you?” Helen asked as she came back in the room.
“Some, I guess.”
“Joints and muscles?”
“Yeah.”
“It’ll hide out in your tissues for a while, but it’ll clear your system soon.”
“I just can’t figure out why I feel so…”
“Tired? You’ve been through a lot. And you’re not sleeping. If you’d let Diesel bring a cot in so you could get some rest, you’d feel better.”
“I guess. You’ve been through a lot yourself. Thanks, Helen, for everything. Taking care of Adriana and SE—”
“It’s my job, sweetie.”
Ana shook her head. “This was just a tad above and beyond the call of duty.”
Helen laughed. “I’d say so. But I knew when I took on the first New Breed baby I was in for a run for my money.”
“Why did you? Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. I’m just curious.”
“Oh, partly medical curiosity and partly to help out. I know that Reyn gets mostly complaints, but that’s only because the civilians who are grateful for what the Order is doing just don’t let them know as much. There are a lot of shifters out there who are thankful these guys are putting themselves on the line to protect them, believe me. So, anyway, when the chance came around, I took it.”
Ana laid her head on the railing of SE’s bed again. The thing was, she hadn’t been about to say she felt tired. She was about to say she felt… strange. For the most part, she figured it was just the silver.
But there was a darker thought.
Something crept into her mind and made her worry that her mother could have done the unthinkable. Would Victrixa really be able to do that to her own daughter? The answer was a firm yes. They had barely stopped her from taking Adriana’s baby to experiment on, so why wouldn’t she be capable of turning her daughter into a hellion? Ana was sure her mother’s rage must have been unimaginable. She’d seen her lose it in her own quiet way many times, and what followed was always horrific. Maybe the torture wasn’t enough to satisfy her. Maybe there was more to those injections than liquid silver.
SE opened his eyes and looked down the bed. His female was fast asleep with her head on the mattress and her hand on top of his. As he watched her body rise and fall with each breath, he was so moved by her strength, beauty, and grace he actually that he teared up.
“Hey, you’re awake.” She smiled in that way she had that drove him crazy. He realized there was a part of him that hadn’t been shot off. Good news.
“Yeah,” he said. “I just woke up. Come here and let me put my arm around you, female.”
She stood up, took down the rail, and tucked herself under his arm.
“You know, ihkweea, there’s plenty of room up here for both of us.”
Just then, Helen came into the room. “Not on your life. It’s good to see you awake. How do you feel?”
“Pretty much like I got shot in the chest.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. The bullet went in quite a ways. How’s your pain?”
“Not too bad. As long as I don’t move.”
“Good. You won’t be moving for a while. You do have a few fans outside that would like to see you…if you’re up to it.”
SE smiled. “Sure, send them on in.”
Helen disappeared for a moment, and then the whole of the Order wandered in.
“Hey, guys!”
“It’s good to see you in one piece,” Richard said.
“You’re not kidding,” SE answered.
“How do you feel?”
“Okay, actually.”
“Aw,” said Pax, “he’ll be up and causing trouble in no time.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Reyn said. “What do you guys say to having SE’s initiation as soon as he’s up for it? It’s early, I know, but...”
Richard was the first to speak. “Well, he’s certainly earned it.”
As SE looked up at his friend, Richard smiled and suddenly things just felt like old times, as if there had never been any bad blood between them. As the rest of the brothers assented to Reyn’s proposal, SE understood for the first time that the males in f
ront of him would die for him in the same way he’d die for them. Blood bond yet or no, he was looking at family. He gave Ana a squeeze.
“Okay, everyone out. Enough for now,” Helen said, as she ushered everyone to the door.
“I’m so proud of you,” Ana said, putting her hand on his cheek and giving him a quick kiss.”
“Right back atcha, female.”
“Me? I screwed up the mission and you had to come in after me.”
“Hey, I put me in this bed. If I hadn’t taken off after you like the crazed mated male that I am, I would’ve had proper backup. Now, are you going to get up here?”
“You are incorrigible, you know that?”
He grinned at her. “I’ve been called a lot worse.”
He raised his arm and his mate crawled in beside him. Right where she belonged.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
James woke up to a knock on the door. For a moment, he wasn’t sure where he was, but as he took in the feel of the mattress under his body, and checked out the exquisite art on the wall, he realized he was safe. And, like, living in a palace or some shit. He got up and wandered to the door in his boxers. When he opened it, a huge New Breed with dark hair and gray eyes was standing in the hallway.
“I’m sorry. Looks like I woke you up. My name is Richard.”
“I’m James.”
“It’s good to meet you, James. Mind if I come in for a sec, son?”
James opened the door and stepped back. “Sure.”
The male came in, pulled out the desk chair, and sat down. Man, he’s huge. He’d heard that they were. When the male sat down in the delicate desk chair, James was afraid he was going to break the thing.
“I just wanted to make sure you have everything you need. Geoffrey runs the house. He’ll pick up some clothes for you tomorrow, so you can start coming to meals.”
James sat on the edge of the bed. “Start coming to meals?”
Richard smiled. “That is, if you’re staying. We’d be more than happy to take you back to the high school. That is where you’ve been living, correct?”
Forbidden Call (New Breed Novels, Book 1) Page 15
