by L. D. Rose
“Anything to save you from the joys of paperwork,” she replied and he let out a laugh. “I’ll see you then.”
“Looking forward to it.”
She hung up and turned to Veronica, who finished her phone call.
“I love you, too.” Veronica’s wide grin meant the voice on the other line could be no other than Kasen. “Bye.”
Valerie’s heart squeezed. Not because she was envious, but because she wanted to hear Blaze’s voice again.
“Kasen and Rome are on their way,” Veronica said. “Blaze is doing just fine and he should be out and about by nightfall. Kasen told me the first thing Blaze did when he woke up was ask for you.”
Smiling with relief, Valerie’s heart squeezed even harder. “Nightfall is a long time from now.”
Veronica laughed. “Knowing him, he’ll be up earlier.” She nodded toward the phone in Valerie’s hand. “Problem?”
“That was my partner. Apparently I have a package waiting for me at the precinct. Do you think I can hitch a ride from one of the guys?”
“I don’t see why not.” Veronica shrugged but her eyes narrowed. “Is everything all right?”
“Oh yeah, just fine.” Valerie waved it off, her stomach churning with anxiety. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Figured I’d get it out of the way now while I can.”
Veronica studied her for a beat longer, then nodded. “Sure. But you should stay for a while when Kasen gets here.” The corner of her mouth lifted, the gleam returning to her eyes. “You’ll want to see him work.”
Valerie smiled as a thrill of anticipation hummed through her. The chance to witness Kasen heal every last one of those innocent people, not to mention seeing the looks on their faces as he did so, was more than enough reason to stick around. Even if Rome erased their memories when all was said and done, Valerie would give her left kidney to see that kind of miracle.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Blaze struggled through the layers of consciousness, his sleep like a quicksand pit that wouldn’t let go. His body felt as alive as a lead pipe, and for a minute he wondered if he was on his way out. Someone shifted nearby, shuffling around quietly as the faint scent of sage tickled his nose. Cool manufactured air whispered over him, silently blowing from a vent above. The familiar sensation of satin sheets informed him that he was, in fact, in his bed and not in limbo somewhere.
His dry mouth tasted vaguely metallic and his throat ached. He strained to lift his hands toward his face in an attempt to rub the sleep from his eyes, but they felt like numb concrete blocks.
“Be careful.” Kasen’s smooth voice stroked his eardrums. “You have IVs in both hands.”
Blaze managed to peel his heavy eyelids open. Kasen carefully perched at the bedside, the weight of his big body denting the mattress. Wrapped in twilight, his eyes glowed in the tempered dark. He wore an open collar button-down shirt and shorts, his blond hair neatly styled. He looked like a Viking guardian angel, watching over Blaze’s half-comatose body.
Blaze focused on his hands, the backs of his palms hooked with tubing that traveled along both sides of the sleigh bed. Two IV poles stood on either side of the headboard like sentinels, a half-filled bag of saline hanging on each. The shards of Hector’s skull had been cleaned from his fists, the slash in his palm smooth and healed, his flesh no longer swollen and inflamed. His forearm was reset and functional and he clenched his hands once, twice, testing their flexibility.
“Must’ve been a hell of a fight,” Kasen mused lightly, but the intensity of his gaze said there was nothing casual about it.
Yeah. Hell of a fight.
“Your blood oxygen saturation levels were at sixty percent,” Kasen continued, frowning. “I had to intubate you and hook you up to a ventilator. You started breathing on your own again a little while ago and I just extubated you, so your throat might hurt for a bit. It’s a miracle you’re still alive, ‘cause you sure as hell didn’t come back like this five years ago. Makes me wonder if Cyrus had slipped you oxygen while you were down there.”
It wouldn’t be the only thing he slipped me.
On that note, the events of last night resurfaced. Dropping into the bowels of Grand Central, gunfire ripping through the dead air, fighting Hector with blade and fist. Popping his eye out and beating the bastard to death with his bare hands until JJ stopped him. Everything after that was a fog.
And Valerie had been waiting for him to return.
Panic suddenly cut into him, shedding his mind of its last few remnants of sleep. “Where’s Val?” he croaked, his vocal cords sounding as if they hadn’t been used for centuries.
“She’s with Veronica, safe and sound.”
Relief washed over him, relaxing the tension in his muscles. His body’s responses were delayed, sluggish, and he recognized the distinct groggy sensation. He’d been given Kasen’s anti-psychotic knock-you-the-fuck-out cocktail of Haldol, Congentin, and Ativan. “I vamped out, didn’t I?”
Kasen nodded solemnly as he took Blaze’s wrist, pressing his fingertips into his pulse. He checked his wristwatch, counting the beats silently for fifteen seconds before he spoke again. “That’s why I had to intubate you—the drugs worsened your respiratory drive.”
“When did it happen?”
“In the Jeep, when we were halfway home.”
Dread pooled in Blaze’s gut. “Was Val with us?”
“No.” Kasen released him and yanked up his sleeves. “Jon, in all of his wisdom, took her in the other Jeep. With great difficulty, apparently.”
Blaze’s lips twitched. He could just imagine.
Kasen drew back the sheet, exposing Blaze’s bare chest. Great, I’m naked. Maybe he’d been hurt worse than he thought. After all, Hector got a few good slices in him, so who knew where else he may have bled from?
As if reading his mind, Kasen said, “You lost a lot of blood. I had to give you three units. Of course, snapping bones, tendons, and arteries would do that, not to mention getting stabbed repeatedly. You’ll be weak and anemic for a few days so you need to take it easy.”
Blaze licked his dry, cracked lips anxiously, knowing what would come next. “Did I hurt anyone? You know, when I checked out?”
“Just me.” Kasen smiled a little as he placed a cool hand in the center of Blaze’s chest. “But I don’t count.”
As soon as it landed, Kasen’s hand warmed, pushing an electric heat into Blaze’s chest. It spread through his nerves like warm water, coursing through his veins, seeking out injuries and infection. He closed his eyes against the extraordinary sensation, the heat unlike anything he could describe or produce. It soothed everything it came into contact with, leaving behind a vague sense of pleasure—much like the afterglow of a really good massage.
Except this massage was from the inside out.
Blaze sighed deeply, opening his eyes as the curious heat dissipated. “Thank you,” he murmured, the gratitude running much deeper than a simple corporeal check-up.
Although his brother didn’t show it, Blaze knew Kasen suffered with every restoration, feeling the pain of each person he laid his hands on. In order to heal others, Kasen had to take the pain into himself, to experience the vic’s wounds before he could make them whole again.
And Blaze had always been a frequent cause of that suffering.
Kasen kept his hand where it was, his luminescent eyes penetrating right into Blaze’s soul. “You love her, don’t you?”
Blaze met his brother’s intense stare head-on. “Is that what you found in there?”
The corner of Kasen’s mouth lifted. “Yeah. That’s what I found.”
“Well,” Blaze’s heart kicked under his brother’s hand, “you found right.”
Kasen patted his chest and removed his hand. “Scary, isn’t it?”
>
“Very. I’ve never been more afraid in my entire life.”
“You? Afraid? Naw.”
Blaze shot him a playful glare. “Fuck you, man.”
Kasen grinned, his eyes glinting with humor. “Get used to it, bro. It won’t get any easier.”
“Yeah.” Blaze rubbed a hand over his chest. “But I think I can handle it.”
“If I can, you can,” Kasen reassured him, but he chuckled in amusement.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, you dick.”
“You know I’m here for you.” Kasen kept grinning, eating it up while he could. “In all seriousness.”
“You sure look serious.” Blaze let out a laugh. “With that shit-eating grin, you look fucking sinister.”
“What’s so funny?” Rome’s baritone resounded as he appeared at the bedroom archway. He still wore his gear, looking a bit disheveled, as if he’d just returned from the sweeps.
“What’s the matter, Miss Cleo, we’re not broadcasting loud enough for you?” Blaze jabbed at him, taking advantage of the rare opportunity.
Rome gave him a slow smile, relief shining in his goat-slit eyes. “I can see you’re doing much better.”
“Thanks to Jesus Christ over here.” Blaze jerked a thumb at Kasen and the healer heaved a sigh. “Did you expect anything less?”
“Not from you.” Rome chuckled. He leaned against the archway, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I’m glad you made it out.”
Blaze’s chest tightened as he idly thrummed his fingers against it. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for JJ.”
“Oh, he’s aware of that. And he takes full credit for it.”
Blaze laughed. “Prick. Where is he?”
“Unconscious. He crashed and burned after he dropped Valerie off at Veronica’s.”
“Think I should go wake him up?”
Rome grinned. “It’ll be your ass this time, not mine.”
“Uh-uh, I don’t think so,” Kasen cut in, going all paternal on Blaze. “First of all, you need some rest, and second,” he motioned to the IV poles, “no ass handing until those bags are empty.”
“All right, Dad.”
“I’m serious, Blaze,” Kasen warned as he stood. “Don’t go messing up my work now. I’m heading home. Any messages you want me to relay?”
Blaze sobered a bit but the humor wasn’t lost on him. “Yeah. Tell Val I’ll be there as soon as I finish sucking down my bags of saline.”
“You’re an asshole.” Kasen pointed at him, lips twitching. “Call me if anything comes up—”
“All right, Christ, I’m not an infant.” Blaze threw his hands up and let gravity drop them back down. “I think I can manage lying here and doing nothing.”
Rome laughed at the huff Kasen emitted. “The man’s cranky.”
Kasen pinned him with a stop-egging-him-on look. “He’s got every right to be,” he pointed out.
“You haven’t seen cranky yet. Now get out of here.” Blaze waved them off. “Both of you. Go heal somebody.”
With a few final chuckles they did just that, leaving Blaze in the air-conditioned silence of his bedroom. He pulled up the covers and rubbed his face wearily before staring up at the ceiling, wondering what Valerie was doing right now. She was just out of range for him to sense her, since he’d only marked her once. From what he understood, the more he marked her, the stronger the bond would become.
And he fully intended to strengthen that bond as soon as he got the chance.
He closed his eyes, thinking of her radiant smile, the way the bridge of her nose crinkled when she was angry, how she laughed out loud without reserve. He pictured her beautiful face in the throes of ecstasy, when she wrapped her body around him so tight, as if afraid he’d vanish. The way she traced his scars with her tongue and her fingertips, stirring up all kinds of emotions inside him and turning him into a royally besotted mess. How on earth had he managed to get such a strong, gorgeous woman in his bed and in his heart?
He remembered the look on her face when he’d left her, seeing his own fears reflected in her eyes.
As soon as he touched her face and held her again, he would tell her exactly how he felt.
And he foolishly hoped she felt the same.
EIGHTEEN
After witnessing Kasen heal over a dozen people, Valerie realized something.
Healing hurt him.
Kasen checked the vics’ vitals and examined them with a gentleness she’d never imagined in him. He comforted them, murmuring words of reassurance, relieving them of their fears much like his fiancée had. Veronica joined him at the bedside, providing a familiar face, while Rome stayed back, his eerie eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. He remained so silent that Valerie almost forgot he was there.
She hovered somewhere in between the three of them, unwilling to be intrusive, but anxious to see the magic in action.
And what incredible magic it was.
When Kasen placed his hands on the vics, Valerie swore an electric current of his power charged the air, as if she were standing inside a battery. Her heart somersaulted, goose bumps rising over her skin, the sensation like nothing she’d ever felt before. Seeing the vics’ eyes widen in both fear and wonder, she couldn’t begin to fathom their bodies’ reaction as Kasen pushed his power into them through those magnificent hands.
Holy shit.
Their wounds re-knitted, disappearing from sight as if someone hit the rewind button on time and reset their bodies to when they’d been safe and unharmed.
Her jaw dropped more than once. No other way to describe it—Kasen was an angel in disguise.
At first, Valerie didn’t notice the effects healing had on him, for she was too hypnotized by what he’d done and the responses he received. But as she began to study him, the burden became more obvious. With every person he restored, she saw the slight wince in his eyes, the lines of fatigue on his face, the clenching of a hidden fist at his side. On a quick exhalation, his body would tense and his jaw would tic as he gritted his teeth.
She couldn’t even begin to guess his capacity for pain, but as a hybrid, she assumed it was fairly high. And if it were, healing must’ve hurt like hell, because he struggled fiercely to keep the pain at bay.
Now, as Rome drove her home in silence, Valerie realized that yes, the hybrids had these amazing traits, but there were consequences to using them. While Kasen’s didn’t manifest itself as physically as Blaze’s did, it seemed no less damaging. And as she spared Rome a glance, she wondered what kind of price he had to pay for his power, whether he invaded unsuspecting minds or simply shielded those he cared for.
It couldn’t be good.
Deron leaned against his navy blue Dodge Charger in the parking lot out front, his legs crossed at the ankles and hands shoved in his pockets. He waited patiently as Rome pulled the black Aston Martin into the complex. Her partner wore his most hated detective apparel; a button-down shirt, a pair of slacks with his silver badge clipped to a leather belt, and dress shoes.
His dark eyes widened with pure male appreciation at the sight of the Vanquish, as if a supermodel had just strolled up beside him. Valerie smiled at his expression. Men and cars.
“Well, look who it is,” Rome said in amusement. “Detective Deron Williams.”
Valerie stabbed him with a glare. “Let’s not screw with his head any more than you already have.”
“I had no choice, Valerie.” He said her full name with that smooth baritone of his. “You understand, don’t you?”
“Yeah, well, no more mind tricks or else he ends up with early Alzheimer’s or something.” She grabbed her messenger bag and checked to make sure she had everything on her person.
“He’ll be fine, I assure you.”
Sh
e felt his gaze behind his sunglasses, making her acutely aware of the Beretta at her hip and the PPK at her back. “You may be Blaze’s brother but I don’t trust you. Regardless of how many people you saved last night.” And he’d sure saved many.
He smiled slowly. “You’ve made that perfectly clear without the mind tricks.”
She snorted as she opened the door, needing to get away from those hidden goat eyes ASAP. “Thanks for the ride.”
“You’re welcome. Tell your partner I said hi.”
“Right.” She climbed out and slammed the door harder than necessary. Even Deron winced as she approached him, the Aston sliding back out from behind her and rolling away like a shadow in the morning light.
“Who’s that and what the fuck are you doing in a Vanquish?” Deron asked, flabbergasted.
“A friend of a friend,” Valerie replied coolly, determined to drop the subject.
“A friend of who? You don’t know anyone that rich.”
She shot him a sour look. “That’s why he’s a friend of a friend. And that’s why I don’t care to talk about him.”
“Bad first impression?”
“Something like that.”
Deron appraised her bluntly. “Why are you dressed to kill?”
She glanced down at herself, having forgotten entirely about her hunting gear. Not to mention she must’ve looked like roadkill because she sure felt like it. “Ah, well, I headed out for a while last night.” She frantically searched her mind for something, anything, and grabbed onto the first thought that popped up. “I gave the hospital a hand.”
