“He needs blood,” I answer without looking up. “Wulf can give you blood for the woman.”
“But you can’t do that.” She gasps, horrified. “It’s unheard of.”
“Well, look at that . . .” I state. “Looks as if that drew a reaction out of him.” I feel Cassius’s energy strengthen and his breathing quicken. I guess she might be his mate, after all, if he doesn’t like the idea of someone else giving her blood.
“Will you listen to me?” Brielle bellows, her blood-covered hands on her hips as she glares at me. Her angry breaths stretch the T-shirt over her breasts, making me want to stride over there and take her mouth in a forceful kiss that will leave us both breathless. “This is unethical. You can’t give someone blood like that.” She points at Draco, who still has his wrist over Cassius’s mouth.
“I don’t have time for this now; this is how we do it,” I grunt in annoyance.
“But you can’t just give them blood” she states angrily, as if talking to a child.
“Trust me, you can give her anyone’s blood here and she will do better than having her own blood group,” I grumble. I see her throw her hands up in the air in annoyance and then look out at all of us. Wulf is already walking into the infirmary before she can call out. I feel sorry for her. I can see this is upsetting her. “There’s a transfusion kit in the drawer over there.”
Brielle huffs and then hurriedly moves towards the kit. Getting it out, she starts to prepare everything for the transfusion from Wulf to the woman. “And you couldn’t tell me that sooner why?” she grumbles.
Wulf is sitting with a needle in his arm and looking disgruntled as Brielle sits next to the woman with one hand on her chest and the other behind her head.
Cassius opens his eyes and stares at the woman until Draco leans down and promises him that we’re going to look after her and do everything we can to keep her alive. He nods and then closes his eyes, knowing that everything will be done as promised.
After sowing up his chest and bandaging it, I see that Brielle still has her hands over the woman. I can see the exhaustion on her face from the energy she’s exerting in trying to heal this woman. The transfusion has been set out, and Wulf is sitting next to the bed. Brielle has her eyes closed and her hands over the woman’s head when suddenly, her eyes pop open. “Her heart stopped,” she whispers as she hurriedly starts giving the woman CPR.
I hurriedly make my way towards the woman after telling Draco to put pressure on the dressing that I placed over Cassius’s wound. Brie and I work together, trying to bring the woman back. It feels like hours, but it can’t be more than a minute or two when her heart lurches to start beating again. Pulling my hands back, I look at Brie. “Can you help her?” I ask. We need this woman to survive or the worry we have all had for Cassius will come true. He will give up if he knows his mate has died.
Brielle looks down at her hands lying lightly on the woman’s chest. “I will try,” she murmurs, and then closes her eyes. A serene look comes over her face.
We continue monitoring and working on the two of them for hours until I’m sure Cassius is going to pull through. The woman isn’t out of danger yet, but at least she’s stable. Brielle is still next to the bed with her hands on the woman. Her complexion is pale, and she’s looking exhausted.
I’ve been trying not to say anything, hoping she would pull away of her own accord, but she doesn’t. “Enough. You need to go rest. I can’t have you sick too,” I growl, worried at the paleness of her complexion and the tiredness in her eyes as she opens them. “Brandr, take her to go rest.”
Brandr immediately enters the infirmary, approaching her, but she’s shaking her head in denial. “I can’t leave yet. She’s still not out of danger.”
I don’t care what the fool woman thinks, she’s had enough. I’m not going to let her drain herself. “Brandr,” I call as I incline my head towards her. I see the surprise on her face, and then she’s struggling, trying to get free.
“Put me down. I’m too heavy for you,” she grumbles, but Brandr just grunts and continues walking.
I really need to have a talk with her about this idea she has of not being beautiful, and now she’s worried she’s too heavy. What the fuck? I can pick her up with one arm.
BRIELLE 6
It has been three days since Cassius and his woman were brought in, and even though I go see them every day, Bion doesn’t let me stay long. Cassius has made a miraculous improvement and is now constantly sitting at the woman’s bedside. The only time he moves away is when Draco needs him for a job or when I sit next to her to try to heal, and even then, he doesn’t go far.
Bion insists I only sit with her for thirty minutes at a time, usually in the morning and then again at night. He’s aware it’s draining me, and he won’t have it. We haven’t had a chance to chat again since the other day, but I’m starting to believe what he said is true. Since our talk, he’s been acting very possessive of me.
This morning when I walked into the infirmary, Bion was asleep on the bed that Cassius had occupied when he was brought in. Cassius was again sitting next to the woman, his eyes haunted as he stared at her. When I entered, he looked up and then got up for me to take his place. I noticed that he never touched her but just sat there watching over her.
I asked him why he didn’t hold her hand, that she would feel comfort if he did. He looked at me questioningly and then answered that he couldn’t touch her yet. That, and with what Bion had said to me, made me think that maybe there was some truth to it. What will I do, though, if it is so? Can I commit to someone who is obviously so different from me? My heart says yes; I have never had this attraction to anyone before. But my mind says something else altogether.
Before I left the infirmary this morning, Bion woke up. He requested that I be ready, as we would be going to the bakery today without delay. When I confessed my worry about the woman having a relapse, he promised that she was stable and we wouldn’t be away too long.
Therefore, here I am sitting in the back of the SUV, with Bion and Caelius sitting in front. We are nearly there when Caelius’s phone rings.
“Hey, Brother,” he answers. “No, we’re about five minutes out.” He pauses. “What? Yeah, we will check it out.”
“What’s up?” Bion asks when Caelius disconnects the call.
“Apparently there’s been a fire at the bakery. The girl working in the kitchen has been hurt. Draco suggests we look around to see if anything suspicious pops up.”
“Fuck, Gabriela must be freaking,” Bion states. I know that Gabriela’s father was the original owner of the bakery before he died. That’s when she took it over.
We arrive at the bakery a few minutes later. There’s a fire brigade parked in front, alongside an ambulance. “Stay here,” Bion says as he looks over his shoulder at me.
“Why? I can help.” I wish he would lay off trying to dominate all the time.
“Just stay in the SUV. Let’s have a look around first.” He doesn’t give me a chance to argue, just opens the door and steps out. Looking out the window, I see Caelius and him approach a fireman who’s rolling up the fire hose. From where I’m sitting, the bakery still looks fine except for one wall at the rear that I notice through the windows.
I open the back window, straining to hear what people are saying, when suddenly, the front driver’s door is yanked open and a man gets in. From my right, I hear the door open and another man is jumping in. “What are you doing?” I shriek when I see a gun pointed at me. And then the man is starting the SUV and pulling away.
“Bion!” I scream. I see him turn, and then he starts to run after the SUV as the guy guns the engine and accelerates away. I turn in the seat and look out the back window, seeing him disappear in the distance. “Who are you?” I scream as the guy continues to point the gun at me.
“We won’t hurt you. We just want to ask you some questions,” the guy driving says. “James, put the gun down. You’re frightening the lady.” I can feel my
heart racing. What do they want with me? Why do they keep kidnapping me?
The guy in front takes his hand away from the steering wheel and pulls something out of his pocket. “We’re FBI, see.” He lifts his hand and shows me his badge.
“What do you want with me?” I feel slightly calmer now that James has lowered his gun. This must be the reason the guys wanted me to go to the bakery. I don’t think they were expecting them to grab me, though. Now that Bion has explained things to me and I can see what he said is the truth, I understand what he meant when he spoke about it having to be me.
With the sharing of blood between the couples, I’m guessing the other women’s blood has also changed and that’s the reason they don’t want them anywhere near the FBI. Therefore, I will have to convince these assholes that I’m legit.
“We just need to talk. Tell me, Brielle, who do you belong to?” James asks from next to me with a sneer in his voice.
“How do you know my name? And what do you mean who do I belong to? I belong to myself.” I don’t like him, so I’m going to make him sweat before I give him what he wants.
The other guy interrupts James, and I see him glare at him in the review mirror. “What he means is are you with any of the guys at the club?” I can see what he’s doing, trying to be all friendly and gentle so I can tell him anything he wants to know. Well, buster, you got the wrong girl. I’m only going to tell you what I want to.
“Why?” I ask.
“Oh, for fuck sake,” James grunts, and looks out the window in anger. If I wasn’t feeling so scared, I would laugh.
“We just need to know what your relationship with them is. Besides, you don’t want to prolong this, now do you? The faster you answer our questions, the faster we will let you go.”
“I’m with Bion,” I lie, or maybe not exactly a lie. After all, he did say I was it for him, and if I can believe that, well, then it means I am with him.
“Well now, that’s good to know.” I can practically picture the guy rubbing his hands together in happiness. “What gift do you have?” At his question, I gasp in surprise. How does he know I have a gift?
“I can heal people sometimes, depending on how wounded they are.” May as well keep to as much of the truth as I can, but I don’t have to tell him everything. Besides, if he knows I have a gift, he probably knows what I can do. I don’t have to tell him the whole truth, though. It isn’t only wounds I can heal.
“Wow, that’s a great gift. Would you mind showing us?”
“How do you expect me to heal if there’s no one wounded,” I state sarcastically, and then I see James pull out a sharp-looking blade from a holster around one of his legs. He holds out his hand before me, and then as he looks me in the eye, he cuts his hand open. Instantly, the blood starts to drip down onto my jeans and seat.
“Show us,” he sneers.
I take hold of his hand with one of mine, and then I place my other hand on top of his wound and close my eyes, imagining the skin knitting together and the blood clotting. A few minutes later, I pull my hands away and see a faint pink line, but otherwise, the wound is healed.
“Fantastic,” the guy says when James shows him his hand. “Thank you for your honesty, Brielle. Now we just need some of your blood. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Why do you need my blood?” I ask, making as if I don’t have any idea what they are trying to prove.
“Well, as FBI, we need to keep people who have such extraordinary gifts like you in our system just in case something happens. You do understand, don’t you?”
Asshole. He must really think I’m stupid. “I don’t understand why you had to abduct me for this. Why didn’t you just ask?” I ask sarcastically, wishing I could tell him what a liar he is.
“You know how possessive those Elementals are,” he says, and I hear James grunt beside me, making me scowl at him. “We didn’t want any unnecessary fighting.”
“Were you scared?” I couldn’t resist the quip just to see James’s face darken with anger, but then he pulls back his hand and slaps me. My head snaps back at the force of the slap, and I can feel blood pool in my mouth from my teeth cutting my lip.
“James,” the guy snaps.
“What? This bitch needs to learn how to hold her tongue,” he snarls angrily.
“Just get her blood,” the guy states exasperatedly. When James lifts the blade close to me, I panic and move back in the seat while kicking at his hand. He grunts when my shoe hits his knee, making the hand holding the knife dip and cut my leg. Looking down, I see a huge gash that’s already flowing with blood.
“Bitch, serves you right for bedding one of those animals.” With those words, he grabs me and slices my arm while he brings an empty vial closer to be able to collect the blood. I continue to fight, trying to get away from his blade, enticing him to greater violence.
“Sit still or you’re going to be sorry.” He grunts low in his throat as he straddles my hips while he tries to hold me still, and then I see his fist coming towards my face, and for a while, I’m sure I lost consciousness, as everything went black.
When I come to, he’s moving away from me and closing the vial. When he notices that I’m looking at him, a smirk covers his face. “What’s wrong, bitch? All the fight leave you?”
“Let her be, James. We still need her,” the other guy calls out as he pulls up somewhere. I try to look out the window, but my vision is blurry and my face is hurting like crazy. I wonder if he broke something. I don’t think he broke my nose, because I can still breathe properly.
“Have you gotten everything?” the guy asks as he opens the door to the SUV.
“Just need a strand of her hair and then we are cool to go.” At his words, I hold my breath. When I see the blade coming close to my face, I close my eyes in dejection, but this time, the only thing he does is pull a piece of my hair forcefully. I hear the door at the back open and then close. After a minute, when I hear no noises, I open my eyes and realize that I’m alone in the SUV.
Breathing in deeply, I feel the tears start to course down my cheeks. I need to heal myself, but I’m so tired that I don’t have the strength for it right now. I close my eyes, and the tears continue to flow. Now that I finally find a man who might really like me, I go and almost get myself killed. The image of his face when he realized I was being taken is engraved in my mind.
I could practically feel the fury and the pain. If I didn’t believe him before, I believe him now. Bion likes me, and if I see him again, I will tell him that I believe him. I can feel myself start to float, and I know that I’ve lost too much blood from the cut on my leg, but there’s nothing I can do right now.
I must have drifted off because the next thing I hear is the sound of bikes approaching. My heart constricts at the thought that maybe I’m going to see Bion again, after all, and then the door to the driver’s seat is yanked open. Looking through unfocused eyes, I see Ceric looking in.
“She’s here,” he calls as he disappears, and then the door by my head opens. “We’re here, sweetheart. Everything will be fine now.” Ceric strokes my hair back. “Celmund, we need to stop the bleeding on her leg. Give me your T-shirt.” Then, I hear the door open on the other side of the car, and Draco’s face comes into view.
“Hey, sugar, how you holding up?” he asks. I open my mouth to reply, but no sound comes out. I close my eyes again. “Look at me, sugar, and don’t close your eyes. Come on, we’re here now.” I feel him lift my injured leg. The pain is excruciating, and I can feel myself starting to slip into oblivion again, but then Ceric is shaking my arm urgently.
“Stay with me, sweetheart. You’ll be fine in no time,” Ceric murmurs. I’ve helped doctors numerous times with wounds, and I know that mine is critical. If they don’t stop the bleeding soon, I will bleed out.
“He’s going to flip his shit. Fuck,” I hear Burkhart call from next to Ceric.
“He’s here,” I hear Celmund call, and then there’s running feet. “Hold on, Bro
ther.”
“Get out of my fucking way.” Is that Bion’s voice? It sounds so deep and rough as if he’s having difficulty talking, and then his face is above me where Ceric’s was just a minute ago.
“Brie, oh, beauty, look what those sons of bitches did to you,” he murmurs, and then his finger is lightly stroking my face, and I feel a ripple of energy shooting through my body.
“Bion! Fucking bad timing to touch her,” I hear Draco grunt. “Get ready to give her blood. She’s lost too much as it is.” Then, I don’t hear anything else as everything goes black.
BION 7
“Bion!” At the frightened tone in her voice, my rage erupts before I even turn around and see the SUV taking off down the road with her. I start to sprint after the car before I can even think about what’s happening. My fury knows no bounds when I see the motherfucker with a gun to her head as she looks back at me with fright.
I pull out my gun to shoot out the tyres, but before I can, Caelius takes the gun. “What the fuck?” I roar.
“Think, Brother. You could have shot her or one of the bystanders,” he states as he slips my weapon into the waist of his jeans.
“They’ve taken her,” I roar in anguish, not caring that people are standing around looking at us. “I told her we wouldn’t let anything happen to her, Caelius.” I place my hands on my knees and bend at the waist, taking in deep breaths to try to regain a measure of calm or I won’t be able to think to be able to find my woman. She wanted to come with us, but I insisted on her staying behind. This is my fault. If anything happens to her, it’s all on me.
I hear Caelius talking on his phone. A minute later, he places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Come on, Bion, let’s find a car. Celmund will track the SUV and let us know where it is.” At his words, the black hole of pain that I felt myself sliding into dissipates slightly. Of course, the tracker. Why did I forget about the trackers we have on all our cars and bikes?
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