“What did she do?” Vivienne asked.
“One girl in our English AP class didn’t invite Louise to her birthday. They didn’t hang out in the same circles or anything, but Louise took it personally. She made sure to ruin this girl’s social life to the point that the poor girl tried to kill herself.” Max could still see the slumped figure swaying from the rope, the sound of the stool being kicked forever etched in his ears.
“Was the girl okay afterwards?” Vivienne asked.
Before Max could evade the question, Wilson answered, “Max saved our classmate. She is a mother of two and the chairman of Good Intentions, the association against cyber bullying that Max created.”
“I know that association. They have great programs for the local high schools. I didn’t know it was yours.” Vivienne’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Nobody knows,” Wilson said, again before Max could take the rein of the conversation. “He keeps his name off all his charitable endeavors.”
The sound of urgent steps silenced the conversation at once, filling the air with palpable dread. Doctor Kalisten appeared at the door. Her usually stern expression was tinged with dark shadows as she tilted her head to the side and said, “Seattle PD is here for you, Mr. Prize. I can’t stop them.”
“It’s okay. Thank you for the heads up.” Max had expected the police to arrive since he set foot at the hospital. “How’s my daughter?”
“You can see her for a few minutes,” the doctor said without answering his question. Her evasiveness fed Max’s worries with new fodder.
Vivienne touched his arm, pressing slightly in that way of hers he had come to look forward to.
“Come with me.” Doctor Kalisten tilted her chin over her shoulder and stepped back into the hallway. “Only you.”
Vivienne nodded and released her soft hold on him with an encouraging smile. “I’ll wait here.”
“Is Amber Rose still stable?” Max asked, following the doctor as she set a brisk pace through the maze of internal corridors.
“She is,” the doctor answered.
Max knew there was something else beneath the two-word answer, but they had stopped before a door, and Doctor Kalisten turned to face him as he tried to peek over her shoulder at the glass window.
“She is attached to several machines that are keeping her alive, but as I said, your daughter is stable. We’re waiting for the Blood Bank to respond, and there’s nothing else we can do at the moment,” she said. “I can’t let you inside.”
“I understand.” Max had gotten a glimpse of a transparent crib and small hands. “Let me see her, please.”
The doctor nodded and stepped aside, uncovering the rectangular window. Max took her place and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the cold surface. At the sight of his tiny daughter surrounded by beeping machinery, with so many probes and tubes latched to her arms and legs, he couldn’t help but gasp in dismay. The doctor had warned him, but it still was too much to bear.
“Goddess, please,” he whispered. “Don’t take her away from me.”
27
As soon as Max followed the doctor outside, Vivienne stood and began pacing the small room. Her wolf mirrored her nervousness, patrolling her mental cage with long strides and loud growls. Patience had never been Vivienne’s best quality, and she felt powerless when her only available choice was to wait for the universe to align in their favor.
“May I ask you something?” Wilson said when she finally stopped her mechanical stroll and slumped into a chair.
“Sure.” Vivienne realized she was drumming her fingernails against the wooden frame of her chair and pressed her palm against her thigh to stop the annoying gesture.
Wilson caressed his jaw with a pensive look on his face.
“Shoot.” Vivienne had an inkling of the nature of his question.
“Is there something going on between you and Max?” he asked.
It was the question Vivienne had expected, but hearing the words out loud gave Vivienne pause. Was there something between them?
“I couldn’t help but notice that there’s some chemistry between the two of you.” Wilson gave her a small smile.
Vivienne blushed.
Wilson raised his hands up in an apologetic gesture. “Sorry. I was out of line—”
“Max is a great guy,” Vivienne blurted. “Not sure if there’s something between us, but I’d be honored if he considered me his friend.” She would have liked to be much more to him, but Max Prize was way out of her league, and she wouldn’t delude herself with impossible dreams. The chemistry was there, but it might not be enough because they belonged to different worlds.
“Max’s life hasn’t been as easy as people think,” Wilson commented, his chin pointed at the blank TV screen.
“I’ve figured that out already.” Vivienne had the feeling that what she knew or thought she knew about Max was only the tip of the iceberg. What she was discovering intrigued her because it painted a picture of the charismatic dragon shifter that few people saw.
“Those jackals—” Wilson’s cell phone went off. “It’s a text from Max’s mom,” he said as he scanned the message. “Max’s parents are here.”
“Did you tell them about Amber Rose?”
Wilson nodded, his face growing pale as he looked back at Vivienne. “She said it’s a circus at the hospital’s entrance, reporters and cameras everywhere.”
“That must be Louise Dortmund’s work. Again.”
“Most assuredly. She wants to make sure the entire world sees the police leading Max out in handcuffs.” Wilson shot up. “I need to warn Max.” At the door, he turned. “Will you be okay?”
“Of course. Go, hurry.” Vivienne wished she could do something, anything, but she was as powerless now as she had been a few minutes earlier. She resumed her senseless pacing that only aggravated her nerves and her wolf’s anxiety.
The tic-tic of high heels cut through Vivienne’s errant thoughts. The now-familiar smell of Aurore and she-dragon reached her nostrils, making her roar even before Louise Dortmund appeared at the door.
“What do you want?” Vivienne asked.
Louise studied Vivienne for a long while. “You are as uncouth as only she-wolves can be.”
“If you’ve come to insult me, you can leave.” Vivienne didn’t even reach the other’s woman chest, but she wouldn’t be intimidated by the bully.
“What does he see in you?” Louise folded her arms across her chest and raised one hand to her mouth, tapping her bottom lip with her index finger. “You aren’t a lot to look at, honestly.”
Vivienne’s wolf had enough already and asked to be let out to teach the woman some manners.
“She growls, too.” Louise’s lips curled up in distaste. “I bet you smell like wet dog after the shower.”
Vivienne knew the woman was deliberately pushing buttons, and she would’ve suggested to anyone else in her position take the high road and let the woman stew in her malice. Knowing what the best course of action was didn’t equate to following it through, though. It was as if Vivienne’s dissatisfaction with life in general had finally reached the boiling point and biting Louise’s skinny ass was the cure.
“If you know what’s best for you, you’ll roll over and show me your belly like the good, little bitch you are.” Louise’s screeching voice hurt Vivienne’s sensitive ears, pumping adrenaline in her system.
Vivienne clung onto her common sense by a thin thread that was unraveling at a fast pace. Causing a brawl in the hospital wouldn’t help Max, though, and that consideration kept her from unleashing her wolf.
“All bark and no bite,” Louise taunted her. “You’ll never be woman enough for Maximus.” She stepped closer to Vivienne, the sound of her heels scraping the concrete floor like nails on a chalkboard.
Vivienne straightened her back and raised her chin. “You are pathetic, going after a man who doesn’t want you.”
“You think he wants you, instead.” The woman
’s laugh echoed in the small room, grating on Vivienne’s frail nerves. She leaned down, making a show to smell Vivienne. Her nostrils flared, and her mouth stretched into the caricature of a smile. “His scent is on you, but it’s already vanishing. He might’ve kissed you, even fondled you, but Maximus will never mark you as his. Only a she-dragon will do for him.” Her hand snuck out and grabbed Vivienne’s elbow in a tight vise.
“Let me go.” Vivienne’s voice was calm and controlled, but inside her, her wolf roared, and fur started spreading all over her skin.
“You are cute,” Louise sneered.
In moments like this, Vivienne would’ve loved to be a full-fledged werewolf and be able to shift faster. Her fingers stretched into claws, but the rest of her body didn’t immediately follow, giving her opponent ample notice of her intentions.
“When I’m done with you, you won’t recognize yourself in the mirror.” Louise gave her a vicious tug and shoved her away with more strength than she looked capable of.
In between forms, Vivienne’s still-human head slammed against a chair. White dots filled her vision, but she forced herself to remain conscious.
I’m not a victim, Vivienne told herself, pushing her shifting to its completion.
Louise’s hateful cackle sounded too high to her wolf’s sensitive ears.
“That’s all?” Louise mocked her. “So small and slow. You aren’t even a full-breed she-wolf, are you?”
Vivienne’s wolf growled hard and curled her mouth to show her fangs as she lunged at the woman.
Louise didn’t move from her spot. At the last moment, she extended her arms in front of her, transforming only her hands into talons that slashed at the small she-wolf’s chest.
Vivienne’s wolf howled in pain but landed on her feet and stood her ground. Blood seeped through her wounds, marring her tan hide.
“Why don’t you cower in the corner?” Louise stepped forward, brandishing her talons, making them clack against each other in time with her heels. “I will slash you to ribbons.”
Roaring, Vivienne’s wolf lunged again, going after the woman from the side and aiming at the forearms that hadn’t transformed and remained flesh and bone. Louise was caught by surprise. By the time she transformed the entire length of her arms into dragon limbs, the she-wolf had already struck, carving the soft meat twice. It only enraged Louise. The she-dragon’s wounds healed as soon as she partially shifted.
The she-wolf roared in triumph, nonetheless, and attacked again, using her small body to her advantage as she evaded the tall woman who didn’t have enough space to morph into her dragon.
“You think you can outsmart me,” Louise said, advancing with her talons forward. “The bitch I hired to ruin Maximus thought the same and look where she is now.” She slashed at the she-wolf, cleaving her shoulder and inhaling the scent of fresh-spilled blood with relish. “I paid her an obscene amount of money to get pregnant with Maximus’s baby. I paid her for that baby to be mine.”
The she-wolf could barely move, but she attacked again and again. Each new strike was slower than the previous one, the incoherence of her thoughts showing in her sluggish lunges. Still, she would not relent. Both Vivienne and her wolf would never play the victim again. She growled, running into the woman.
Louise’s malevolent laugh filled the room. “Once Maximus is in prison, I will obtain custody of his bastard, and if she survives, I will use her against him. He will know I have his daughter, and that will destroy him.” She kicked the she-wolf in her belly, her pointy heel piercing hide and flesh. “After I took care of Lauren for nine months, she grew a conscience and decided to keep the baby. She thought I wouldn’t find her—”
With a low hiss, Louise kicked the she-wolf a second time, sinking her heel deeper inside her stomach, forcing the animal to the floor. “You think you can defy me, too.” She twisted her heel. “Wrong.”
Vivienne’s wolf growled, refusing to accept defeat. She raised her heavy head and slashed at Louise’s calf but missed her mark by a hairbreadth. The woman moved before the she-wolf could close her jaws around her opponent’s leg.
The faint echo of steps resonated from the hallway.
Startled, Louise tilted her head to the side. “It was a pleasure to meet you.” She grabbed the she-wolf by the scruff of her neck, extended her talon backward and struck one last time.
Vivienne’s world went black.
28
Max couldn’t bear the sight of Amber Rose looking defenseless and still. Her chest barely moved, and if it weren’t for the machinery beeping at regular intervals, he would’ve screamed for the doctor to check her.
“I’m sorry, but I promised the police that I’d bring you back to them,” Doctor Kalisten said.
Max pushed off the glass, and after taking one last glance at his little daughter, he turned. “Thank you for giving me a few minutes with Amber Rose.”
“I always fight for the kids and their families’ rights. No matter what the press says about you, I saw what you did for your daughter. She’s only alive because of you.”
“Thank you.” Max pressed his hand against his chest as he gulped a lump that had lodged in this throat. “I won’t cause you any problem,” he said, “Lead the way.”
“I told the cops to wait outside the Pediatric Ward.” The doctor opened her hand to the side. “They are probably about to storm inside by now.”
“Max?” Wilson’s voice reached Max’s sensitive ears.
“In here,” Max answered as he and the doctor walked out of the small anteroom.
Wilson appeared at the mouth of the hallway, sprinting toward them. “The press is outside the hospital. You can’t go out from the main entrance,” he said all in one breath.
Wilson’s head swiveled toward a TV hanging from the wall, drawing Max’s eyes to the scene playing on the screen. One of his worst pictures, a candid taken by a paparazzi during a private party depicting Max as a lecherous drunk fondling a model, covered the right side of the screen. On the left, the word “Live” was juxtaposed to footage from the non-descriptive entrance to a hospital that only the supernatural community knew was Seattle Shifter Hospital.
The doctor patted Max’s arm. “Wait here. I’ll go talk to the police to convince them to escort you out from the back entrance instead of using the front.” She left at a brisk pace and reached for her cell phone when she rounded the corner.
Max felt like punching something but fisted his hands and let out a long breath instead.
“Your parents are outside,” Wilson said, and before Max could ask, he added, “I told them. They have the right to be here for you.” He passed his hand through his hair. “I’ve just called your lawyer. She’s en route to Seattle PD to make sure that you won’t stay downtown longer than it’s strictly necessary.”
Leaning against the wall, Max bumped his fists against each other. He forced his dragon to calm when all he wanted was to unleash his animal and vent his frustration. If he wasn’t allowed a good fight, riding the thermals was the next best thing, but tonight, he had no recourse but to bottle up his anger.
A low, keening sound followed by a growl came from the other end of the hallway, in the same direction of the waiting room.
“Vivienne?” Max looked at Wilson.
“I left her—” His friend’s eyes widened as he tilted his head to better listen to the faint noises.
Max sprinted at once, followed by Wilson.
From somewhere behind them, a door opened, and someone shouted, “Maximus Prize! Stop! You are under arrest for—”
Max didn’t hear the rest of the police’s warning because his blood thrummed hard against his ears, drowning any other sound. He ran as fast as he could, his long legs covering a five-minute walk in seconds.
His nostrils caught a whiff of blood mixed with the cloying scent of an expensive perfume he had come to hate. Louise had come back. Fear of what he would find made him run even faster. He burst into the waiting room and shouted in pain
. The mangled body of a small, tan wolf lay on the floor, resting in a puddle of blood.
“Is it Vivienne?” Wilson’s choked question came from the door.
Vivienne’s distinctive scent was all over the animal. Max could only nod before shouting, “Call the doctor!”
He knelt by the she-wolf, taking her paw in his hand. A feeble heartbeat pulsed against his touch.
Running steps filled the ominous silence.
“Doctor, there’s a wounded she-wolf. She needs medical assistance,” Wilson said, his voice loud as the steps became closer.
“What happened?” the doctor asked, running into the room.
Four cops entered with her, their guns aimed at Max. They were all shifters. Seattle Shifter PD had sent their men to keep the situation under control.
“Move aside and raise your hands,” one of the policemen ordered, stepping closer to Max. “What did you do to her?” He pointed his chin at Vivienne’s she-wolf.
“Nothing. Louise Dortmund attacked her.” Max raised his hands but had no intention of cooperating. He stood at once and towered over the officer, who stumbled back.
“Stop!” The man, a were-panther, aimed the gun at Max’s head. “Dragon-grade, silver bullets.”
“Shoot.” Max’s anger was a red, fiery ball growing inside his chest. “Or move out of my way,” he used his alpha voice. “Is she going to make it?” he asked the doctor, ignoring the rest of the room.
Raising her eyes to him, Doctor Kalisten shook her head. “Her wolf can’t heal her. Whoever attacked your friend almost severed her head. It would be too much to fix even for a full-breed shifter.”
A huge weight dropped on Max’s chest, making it hard for him to breathe. “There must be something you can do.” He couldn’t accept that sweet Vivienne wouldn’t wake up to scold him about diapers and cribs, and how to properly care for babies. He wanted a lifetime of that with her. He wanted a lifetime with Vivienne. “You must do something for her.”
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