by Zoe Forward
“How bad?” she asked softly as she started an exam. Gums pale pink. Respiratory rate elevated.
“There’s some burning,” he answered.
“Everywhere or just on your leg?”
“Everywhere.”
“Oh God. I’m so sorry. We shouldn’t have tried—”
“This isn’t your fault. It was already everywhere before you tried.” He held her gaze, silently demanding no guilt.
Julio demanded, “What the hell is going on?”
Eric answered, “He’s going into silver death.”
Vee clarified, “He got shot in the femoral with one of the new liquid silver bullets. I tried to flush it and remove what I could, but there was no x-ray to confirm it was all gone.”
“Can you do anything for him, Roman?” asked Ryder.
“My work with silver is in the experimental phases. I haven’t found anything that works predictably to clear it from the body. But I’m close.”
“What about complete phlebotomy and transfusion?” asked Vee.
Roman tapped a finger on his lip. “Never tried it. We don’t have time to get him to a facility.”
Vee said, “No, we don’t.”
“It might kill you. We’re not doing it,” Lexan said.
“It hasn’t so far.”
Lexan tucked errant hair behind her left ear. “Sips and cupfuls. This would be liters.”
“If it was going to kill me, it only takes a sip.” She turned to Roman. “Let me do it. I’ll get his blood out, and then you get new blood into him.”
“But our blood is toxic to vamps. Like he said, you’ll die and probably well before you got enough out to make a difference.” Roman shook his head in absolute rejection of her plan.
Vee watched Lexan, waiting for permission to reveal her genetic disaster.
He shook his head, almost imperceptibly. So, it was to secret.
Julio asked Lexan quietly, “Even if it will kill her to do it, how do you know she won’t just kill you? Drain you dry.”
Lexan looked around to all his guys. Their faces echoed that same concern.
They still didn’t trust her? She’d proven herself multiple times. Then again, he had been through hell and back with all of them. Each would probably give their life for his in a heartbeat. This was just their protective side showing. That she appreciated and understood.
“They deserve the truth.” Lexan pulled her sweater down to reveal her shoulder. His bite, the mark all would know signified her as his mate. “She won’t hurt me.”
Chapter Twenty
Silence.
Unexpected. Reveal he’d marked her as his mate and everyone lost the ability to speak. It was nice, actually. No one pressed personal agendas or gave an opinion.
Lexan hated he’d been pushed into a corner with no option but to reveal this. He’d wished it’d remained secret. She didn’t understand the significance of the mark, yet. But he might not need to broach the subject given he was on the road to death from silver toxicity.
Eric cleared his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “This is…the best news all week.” He bowed to Vee, “My lady, it will be my pleasure to protect you.” Then he addressed Lexan, “I assume this means we can finally get the hell out of this country.”
Vee’s wide-eyed terror met Eric’s declaration.
“But you’re the king, and she’s….” Julio stared at the now-covered mark on her shoulder, horror etched on his face.
“Can’t predict these things.” Lexan noticed Ryder looked shell-shocked.
Roman said, “Okay, so moving beyond this for a moment, we’ve got to act fast and do something. Don’t you have a healer in your group? Maybe if he focuses on the main entry site, instead of her bleeding you until she dies from blood toxicity we can just give you new blood and he can try to filter out what he can? Or we can just remove as much as possible. It’s a long shot, but what options do we have? I don’t think she could remove enough before she’d die and that’s not acceptable. For either of you.”
Lexan nodded to one of his boys. “He can heal by touch and do local silver. Just not in the blood.”
Vee inhaled sharply.
Oh shit.
She stood in front of him. “You didn’t really need my help the other day at the hospital, did you? Why didn’t your magical healer guy step forward an hour ago?”
“If you hadn’t come through at your place of work, I had backup. He can’t do much once silver spreads everywhere. No one can. The other day I didn’t mean to get shot, but I used it as a way to meet you. Yes.”
“I don’t like being played. I hate secrets. How do I know anything any of you guys have said or done is real? This could all be some sort of elaborate hoax to seek revenge on vampires.” She glanced around the room while saying, “If you want to kill me then just get on with it. I don’t respect mental torture. You’ve already made it impossible for me to return to my regular life at this point. If you don’t kill me, Dominic or Ambrose will.” She glanced at the exit.
Damn it, she was going to run. He needed to make sure she was safe before he died from silver toxicity.
“Everyone out!” Lexan thundered. Seconds later they were alone.
He caught Vee’s arm the second she tensed to move farther away from him.
“Let go of me.” She tried to pull out of his grasp.
“No one is playing you. There was no bigger plan other than helping you learn how to manage your wolf side and getting you to safety. I swear I am here at your father’s request.” He massaged his temple with the hand not holding her. “I’m not used to explaining myself.”
She sat down beside him.
He wiped a stray tear from her eye. “Don’t cry. Please. I can’t stand it. I pretended to need your help as a way to meet you. Yes, I have an Elite Guard wolf with the ability to heal by touch.”
“What’s real? Have you been using your woman-magic thing on me?”
“Woman magic? Those must be Eric’s words. It doesn’t work on you. Whatever you feel is real. What is between us, I didn’t see it coming.” He drew her into his arms and whispered, “Please stop crying. I’ve never marked a female before. I’ve never had the slightest interest in doing so until you. I’ve been alive hundreds of years longer than you and not once in that time had I been tempted. Even then, I barely knew you a day and…that’s how real this is.” He never rambled. This had to be the fever.
“What does the bite mean? Why me?”
He traced the lines of her face down to her chin with a finger. “You’re mine. What may sound demeaning to you is a great compliment from a wolf’s perspective. We belong together.”
“That’s impossible. I mean, really. Really? The logistics of this working are so far into the negatives that it’s absurd.” She pulled back to gaze at him and chewed on her lower lip. “Does this mean we’re married or something like that?”
“It could. The other wolves will respect it as such.”
“I wish you had asked me before…”
“If I could’ve been in control of my mind when I did it, then perhaps I would’ve. No woman has ever made me lose my mind like that.”
Her eyes went wide. “If you survive, you’ll have to take the bite back or something. Lick it away or whatever. It’s best for everyone.”
“It doesn’t work that way.” He flinched when a wave of pain hit his stomach and he swallowed hard against nausea.
“Oh God. I’m sorry for the selfish breakdown. This is a lot to take in. You’re hurting and… Crap, I’m so sorry.” She cleared her throat, and her tone changed. “You getting better has to be our top priority right now. You can’t die.”
“This is the doctor talking. You go to her when you’re upset. It’s cute.” He touched her face. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I’ve never seen a wolf survive this much silver in the blood, but if I die, I’ll regret losing what has happened between us and not seeing it through to the end.”
; “Me, too, I think.”
“We all die at some point. Perhaps this is my time.”
She gazed at him for a few seconds. What he wouldn’t give to know what was going on in her head. Her forehead furrowed. She lay her palm against the exposed skin above his eyebrows. “You’re burning up. It hurts a lot, doesn’t it?”
He shrugged. Physical pain he could handle, but the fear of her walking out that door and leaving him without her for whatever few minutes of his life remained equated to something he was pretty sure he couldn’t come to grips with. He needed her. Pride be damned. He was going to beg. If that didn’t work, he would force her to stay. “Stay with me…to the end.”
“I won’t leave.” She bit her lip. “But I don’t want to watch you die like this.”
He thought to her, “We could always go upstairs. I’m not dead yet.”
She bit her lip against a smile and shook her head. “I’d like to give the blood-drinking idea a try.”
“I want to be there to help you through the change, but if I do survive this, let me be clear about it. I can’t stop you from shifting. It’s inevitable. I don’t want you to attempt this blood drain because you think I can.”
“I have trouble wrapping my head around a reality where I can change into something with fur. I don’t want to do it alone…without you.”
“You’ll let Eric help you.”
“I don’t want his blood or to have him see me…turn into something else.” She swiped away more tears before wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in his chest. “Don’t leave me. Not yet.”
“I’m not sure we have much of a choice.” He hugged her tight. “All right. We’ll try this. Stop if you feel ill.”
…
As the others reentered the room, Roman stood above her. “I won’t do this. You’ll die, Vee. His blood is so ancient that you’ll probably die before you make even a dent in his total blood volume.”
“I can take more of his blood than you think.”
Roman shook his head. “Not happening.”
She stood and whispered into Roman’s ear, “I’m half wolf. A demisang. Lexan is here to deal with this…dilemma.”
“You’re kidding?”
“No.”
“Maybe that’s why you preferred to care for animals?”
Maybe that was why she felt more at home in a veterinary clinic than at a human hospital. True. She connected with pets, more so with dogs than cats or other small furry creatures.
“Maybe it will work.” Roman glanced around. “I need two to donate. Ryder, you’re probably as close a match as we’ve got for His Majesty. You in?”
“Of course.”
“Who else?” Roman looked at the others.
“I’ve given him blood before,” Eric said, “Use mine.”
Roman pointed at a young wolf. “Run to the truck and get my emergency bag.”
Vee bit her lip as chaos carried on around them. She gripped Lexan’s hand tight. “Hold on.”
He smiled weakly but didn’t open his eyes. “There’s dignity in a quick death during battle, but not this.”
Roman ordered, “We’re ready. Do your thing, Vee.”
Vee gazed at the jugular vein pounding in Lexan’s neck. Fifteen wolves stared at her with abject curiosity. She whispered to Lexan, “I can’t do this with them watching me like I’m a circus sideshow act. Plus, they think I’m about to die a horrific death. Several of them might enjoy watching. Who’s to say one of them won’t put it on YouTube?”
“Everyone other than Roman, my guys, and Ryder get out. TC, you’re in charge outside,” Lexan ordered.
“I’m not leaving,” Julio declared.
“Get. Out!” Lexan thundered.
Julio scurried out the door.
As soon as the room cleared, Vee leaned in. “Let me know if you want me to stop.” She licked his neck, felt him tense, and bit as gently as she could manage. After a short time, the euphoria of his blood was surpassed by a stomach cramp, but she forced herself to continue. Sweat dribbled down her back and forehead as the level of pain in her midsection increased. When she felt him get weak to the point passing out was imminent, she followed the steady thrum of his heart until it got faint. Then, she stopped. Within seconds, Roman had Ryder hooked up to one arm and Eric hooked up to the other, donating.
Her whole body went cold. The cramping spread everywhere. Had she ingested too much? She’d never taken in that much blood before. She leaned against the far wall, hoping the pain would pass.
“You doing okay?” Lexan asked. Worry was etched into his face.
Everything in her rebelled. She vomited. Then she hit the floor.
…
Lexan roared and thrashed to get to Vee.
Roman center-chested him and body-smashed him against the sofa. “Don’t move. They’ve got to finish refilling you. We just need another few minutes to get enough blood back into you. There were risks, even though she’s…special. No one really knows about these things.” He quickly disconnected Ryder from the catheter attaching his arm to Lexan’s left. “How you doing, Eric?”
“Let him have what he needs.” Eric shifted on the sofa next to him and cradled his head with his free hand. He’d given too much.
Damn it. His second was about to die for him, and his mate was dying.
Vee writhed. Her back arched as she started seizing.
Lexan yelled, “Vee talk to me. What’s going on?”
She didn’t answer as her body contorted. Her head whacked against the wall.
Lexan looked about the room wildly. “Show yourself, old man. I can feel you in here. Get over there and do something for her.”
Blay walked from behind him, probably releasing whatever mental lockdown he had on everyone else, which prevented them from seeing him. Damned unnerving skill. “What the hell were you thinking? I leave for ten minutes to take a call and you two try to kill yourselves? Have you gone completely daft? I told you to let her have a drink when she shifts, not drain you dry.”
The other wolves in the room started at Blay, frozen with shock.
Blay’s mouth twitched. “Surprise. I’m not dead.”
Vee’s body shook with convulsions. The sound of her head still hitting the floor had Lexan’s muscles swelling against the restraint Eric and Roman both now had him in.
“What’s wrong with her?” Lexan thundered. Don’t let her die. Jesus, let her live.
Blay rolled his eyes as he pulled a three-foot high vase away from Vee so she wouldn’t hit it during her seizure. “You’re a moron. That’s what’s wrong with her. You just encouraged her to ingest all the silver floating around in your body while conveniently forgetting she’s half wolf.”
“We discussed it. She didn’t think it’d hurt her. Oh, holy hell.” Lexan released a harsh breath as reality crashed in. Terror beat back fatigue and pain. He’d just killed her.
“His Highness has had an epiphany.” Blay pulled a small black pouch from his inner jacket pocket from which he extracted a syringe of brown fluid. “Roman, get over here. I need you to hold her arm. This has to go intravenous. Lexan, you keep your ass over there and let Eric finish.”
“What is that?” Roman asked, approaching.
“What are you about to give her?” Lexan demanded. “You will tell me.”
“The antidote.” Blay pushed a syringe of brown liquid into Vee’s arm vein and sat back. Within a few seconds, the seizure stopped and she lay still. “Now we have to pray she didn’t blow a fuse upstairs. She’ll be out for a while.”
“She’s alive?” Lexan asked.
Blay nodded.
Live through this, Vee. Live through it and I’ll figure out how to make us work.
“You kept a silver toxicity antidote secret?” Lexan asked Blay.
Blay glowered as he stalked to Lexan with another pre-loaded syringe. “I should make you suffer through whatever residual silver is stuck in your body for this act of insanity. But honestly, i
f you died because of it, I don’t think I could handle your spoiled runt taking the throne. Disconnect, Eric, and get out of my way.”
Eric unhooked and stepped away with his hand on his arm over the point he’d been hooked up. Blay pushed another syringe of brown fluid into Lexan’s vein through the catheter.
“How come you’re not dead? And how come you have an antidote to silver toxicity?” Eric demanded.
“Not answering the first one. To the second, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands. I own several treatment facilities around the world that focus on the incurable in our species—silver toxicity, rabies, things like that.”
Ryder declared, “I am not spoiled.” He massaged his arm where the catheter had been located.
Blay shook his head with a sigh. To Lexan he said, “Such a disgrace to let your son run around like an untrained numbnut.”
Lexan smiled. “Reminds me of you back when you were twenty-four hours away from execution by the master vamp due your rebellion. Will you take him on?”
Blay paused to stare at Ryder. “Are you asking me or ordering?”
“Asking. He’s doesn’t want to learn from me. Given the change in status of the world, that we’ll now be having open war, he needs training.”
Blay sucked his lower lip through his teeth. His eyes narrowed while evaluating Ryder, skepticism written all over his face. “I may owe you for a few times long ago, Lexan, but I won’t go easy on the kid just because he’s got golden blood flowing in his veins.”
“Great. He’s all yours.”
“Like hell you can just give me over to him into indentured servitude as if this is the Middle Ages. I’m not a post-trans juvie.” Ryder slapped his hand against the wall.
Blay pulled out a throwing blade and launched it at Ryder’s head.
Like a deer caught by headlights, Ryder stared, unmoving. The blade lodged itself deep into the drywall a few inches from his ear. A delayed scream detonated from Ryder.
The door slammed against the wall as Julio burst into the room. “What the hell?” He skidded to a halt, staring at Blay, stunned.
Blay shook his head, obviously disappointed. “You may be beyond your transition, kid, but you’re green.” He stalked to the blade and wiggled it until it dislodged from the wall. He waved the blade to accentuate his point. “Listen closely to rule number one: when there is a blade coming at your head, you duck.” Blay’s gaze shifted to Julio. “What kind of training have you been instilling in him all these years? I would feel damned naked with someone so inexperienced as my second.”
