“This might be our only option. None of the Lupreda have ever needed someone with medical knowledge.” Landon stood and retrieved his cell phone from his belt. Flipping open the cell, he reached into his jeans’ front pocket and held his hand toward Caine. “I’ll make the call to Jachin after you agree.”
Emma had started to bleed again. The warm blood seeped under his fingers, soaking the makeshift bandage. Jerking his gaze to Landon, Caine saw the lone silver chain curled innocuously in the palm of the Alpha’s hand.
Returning his line of sight to Emma, Caine couldn’t believe Landon would blackmail him like this. Anger and resentment boiled in his chest, building steam. He couldn’t lose her. Grinding his teeth, he snarled, “Just do it.”
Landon dropped the chain around Caine’s neck, then started dialing.
After a few seconds, Caine’s keen hearing picked up Jachin’s voice across the line. “Rourke. Haven’t heard from you in a while.”
“I’m calling in my marker for helping you take over leadership of the Sanguinas,” Landon said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Shocked, Caine jerked his gaze back to Landon.
Jachin remained silent for a second. “Must be pretty important for you to ask for a debt owed so soon.”
The Alpha returned Caine’s steady stare and continued in a calm tone. “It’s a matter of life and death.”
“Whose?”
“I’ll tell you everything when you get here. Can you bring your sister to the city? We need her medical expertise.”
While Jachin responded on the other end, Kaitlyn put her hand on Landon’s arm. Then Landon nodded and went on. “Fine. Meet us at my mate Kaitlyn’s house after dark.”
After Landon gave Jachin directions to the suburbs and hung up, Caine shook his head. He couldn’t believe Landon had just played the pack’s most important chess piece for his sake—a wolf no longer with the pack—yet his worry for Emma overrode the varied emotions of guilt, shock and deep appreciation tightening his chest. “We can’t risk moving her. She’s losing blood.”
Landon squatted next to Emma and put his hand on her head. “The last time I saw you, you were just a cub, so tiny you fit in the palm of my hand.” Glancing up at Caine, his green gaze hardened. “If you want her to live, we have to move her.”
Caine set his jaw, then pulled off his T-shirt to begin rebinding her wound.
The moment he heard a car pull into Kaitlyn’s driveway, Caine tensed. Kaitlyn had put him in a guest bedroom, and he’d sat there for two hours with his back against the headboard, holding Emma on the bed between his legs, her head propped on his thigh. While time had ticked past, Caine realized those two hours were far more agonizing than his own experience a few months ago, waiting to see if he’d shift back to human form from his Musk one. In comparison, that was nothing. He could not lose Emma.
As voices filtered up from the hall downstairs, he stroked her head and the soft fur down her neck for the thousandth time and whispered, “They’re here. Hold on just a little longer, Emma.”
Emma had stopped responding to his encouraging words fifteen minutes before, tearing him up inside. She was conscious but barely.
Landon and Kaitlyn appeared in the doorway, followed by a tall, dark-haired man, an equally tall and broad-chested blond man and a petite woman with fine features and long black hair. The woman immediately pushed her way past everyone and approached the bed, a look of concern in her blue eyes.
“She’s a shapeshifter, yes?” she asked Caine. Kneeling beside the bed, she ran her hand gingerly over Emma’s fur.
Caine tensed when her vampire scent slammed into him. It took every ounce of willpower in his body not to rip the woman’s hand away from Emma—his distrust in vampires was too ingrained. Gritting his teeth, he jerked his gaze to Landon’s.
As Landon nodded his permission, the woman spoke again. “I’m Mira, what’s her name?”
Caine’s grip on Emma tightened. “Her name is Emma and yes, she’s a shapeshifter. She’s lost a lot of blood. We’ve been unable to heal her wounds.”
“You said you’d explain when we got here.” The dark-haired man gave Landon a sharp look. “Now would be a good time.”
Mira spoke to the blond man. “Talek, please bring all my supplies from the car, quickly.” As Talek left the room, she cast her gaze to the dark-haired man who’d come in with her. “Take it into the hall if you want to talk, Jachin.”
“I believe the second part of the prophecy referred to the Lupreda,” Landon said as he and Jachin stepped outside the room.
Caine listened while he watched every move the female vampire made. Landon appeared to trust them, but damn, it was hard for him.
“The first part of the prophecy was fulfilled by Ariel and the second part is about us, but it—”
“Has something to do with that panther lying in there, doesn’t it?” Jachin cut off Landon in a grating tone.
Caine felt Landon’s Alpha anger rise and Kaitlyn must have, too, because she walked into the hall and stepped between the men. “No fighting or I’m kicking you both out of my house.”
Jachin glanced down at Kaitlyn, then met Landon’s gaze. “Only you would pick someone as stubborn as you for a mate.”
Landon laughed outright. “Hello, pot.”
“So glad I can help put you two back on common ground.” Kaitlyn snorted at them before she walked into the room and approached the bed. “I’m Kaitlyn. Can I get you anything, Mira?”
Mira twisted her hair up in a knot on her head. “Do you have something we can put under her? There’s going to be a lot of blood and fluids when I start to clean the wound.” Before Kaitlyn turned to get the items, Mira listed a few more things she needed.
Caine tuned in to Landon and Jachin as his Alpha spoke of the prophecy. “It’s not our proudest moment by far, but some of the Lupreda used the abandoned lab to create their own prey to hunt. The Velius.”
“While you were still under our rule?” The annoyance in Jachin’s tone made Caine smile.
Smugness laced Landon’s response. “We were far smarter and more stealthy than the Sanguinas ever gave us credit for.”
“And you condoned this?” Jachin challenged.
Landon’s testosterone levels elevated. “Hell no, I didn’t. When I found out, I destroyed the lab and set the few panthers free.” Snorting his annoyance, Landon continued. “I didn’t expect them to rally and try to start a war between the vampires and werewolves.”
“Ah, so the panthers are the ones who killed your zerkers.”
“Yes,” Landon ground out.
Jachin glanced through the doorway at Caine and Emma. “Yet, you’re trying to save this one. Why?”
Landon met Caine’s gaze briefly. “Because I think the panthers are part of the prophecy, as well.”
Kaitlyn walked up carrying blankets and what appeared to be plastic trash bags. As she passed the men, she addressed Jachin. “I’d like to hear this prophecy. Landon mentioned it to me but not in detail.”
Landon and Jachin followed Kaitlyn inside the room, and once Talek returned and handed Mira her supplies, Jachin told them the full prophecy.
A human will speak of our demise.
Her purity and intelligence will help us survive.
A mate she becomes to the leader of vampires
Joining our races, fulfilling our ultimate desire.
The hunted becomes the hunter, no longer the prey.
An enemy in your midst is less dark and more gray.
Examine your failures and there you will find
The answer to all your questions in time.
A leader is needed, you know this is true
Look not to one, but two.
A lesson was the goal you sought
You too must learn from what you taught
Layers of deception must be unveiled
For three to become one and peace to prevail.
“It fits,” Caine mused once Jachin finished relaying the full
prophecy. He’d heard it before, but now with all the context of what had happened in the past six months, his mind pieced it together. “The part about the human was obviously about Ariel writing her book about vampires and then Jachin and Ariel becoming mates. The ‘hunted becomes the hunter, no longer the prey’ part refers to the Lupreda creating the Velius to hunt. And ‘an enemy in your midst is less dark and more gray’…that would describe Emma, but I can’t say that’s true of the other panthers we’ve tangled with so far.”
“‘Examine your failures…’I made sure the Lupreda failed with their panthers project,” Landon finished.
“We’ll figure it all out eventually,” Mira murmured, her focus on the panther as she pulled out a scalpel.
Caine quickly dropped his ponderings about the rest of the prophecy when Mira moved close to Emma with the sharp instrument. Protective instincts flared and he grabbed the female vampire’s wrist, giving a low growl.
Talek was by Mira’s side and gripping Caine’s shoulder in a crushing hold. “Release her or I’ll break every bone in your body, wolf.”
Caine’s growl intensified. His fingers tightened around Mira’s arm as he met Talek’s angry gaze. The tension in the room spiked until Emma gave a low mewl and lifted her paw. Placing it over Caine’s hand on Mira’s wrist, she tugged.
Caine met Emma’s pained yellow gaze and sheer worry filled him. Letting his hand slip from Mira’s wrist, he grated out, “Don’t hurt her any more than she’s already been injured.”
Mira nodded to Talek and he released Caine with a grunt and a warning glare. As the healer began to cut away the T-shirts binding Emma’s wound, she spoke to her in a soothing voice. “Emma, I need you to shift back to your human form so I can see exactly how deep your wounds go.”
“She should’ve shifted back by now,” Landon said. “The drugs the Lupreda used to make them shift only lasted a couple hours.”
“They could’ve developed a longer sustaining drug,” Kaitlyn suggested.
Emma whimpered and her eyes fluttered open and closed as she shook her head. Caine’s heart seized with panic when Mira’s concerned blue gaze locked with his. “I can’t help her if she doesn’t shift. I’m not familiar with panther anatomy. Talk to her. See if it’s some kind of mental block.” Standing up, she backed away from the bed to give them privacy.
“They can’t control their shifting,” Landon said when Mira moved to stand beside her brother.
While Caine slid out from underneath Emma, Kaitlyn walked up with a lightweight blanket. Handing it to him, she said, “All you can do is try. We’ll be in the hall when you’re ready.”
Caine took the blanket and nodded his appreciation while everyone filed out. Once he spread the cover over Emma, he went down on his knees on the floor and ran his palm over her head and along her neck and shoulders in a rhythmic, soothing motion. “Emma…” Caine choked on his worry. He tried to act calm, even though his gut felt as if it were jamming up his throat. He couldn’t lose her nor could he let her know just how bad off she was.
Instead he spoke in her mind, giving them true privacy. I didn’t get to tell you how much you mean to me before Malac took you. I hope you felt it in my touch. His fingers shook as they traveled along her pelt and met bloodied, matted fur. Caine worked hard to focus. I don’t give a damn that you’re a panther and I’m a wolf. I want you…us very much. If I can overcome decades of hatred for the vampires, enough to let Mira help you, know that it’s only because I care very much what happens to you.
Emma released a heavy sigh and she instantly shifted back to human form. Caine blinked at the lightning speed of her shifting. He’d never seen anything like it. Even shifting to his full Musk form took at least thirty seconds.
“You really didn’t know I could control my shifting, did you?” she said in a tired voice.
Caine was surprised to see her smile slightly before her eyes fluttered closed as she lost consciousness.
Chapter 10
“M ira!” Caine yelled, his heart thumping in fear for Emma.
The vampire was by his side in an instant, saying in a commanding tone, “Go to the other side of the bed if you want to be near her.”
Caine swallowed the retort that came to his lips and did as the healer commanded. Emma looked so pale and the claw marks marring the soft skin across her neck, her shoulder and down her collarbone made him see red. His Musk form howled for vengeance just below the surface.
Clasping Emma’s limp hand, Caine laced his fingers with hers and held on tight, blinking back the moisture blurring his eyes. He refused to look at the gaping wound on her side or he’d lose it completely. Seeing the damage to her fragile human body tore him up even more inside, leaving him raw and shaken. He plotted the many ways he would repay the favor to Malac before he killed him.
Mira began pulling tubes out of her bag, then beckoned Jachin over and asked him to roll up his sleeve. Caine’s entire frame tightened with suspicion. “What are you doing?”
Her blue gaze met his. “Your friend has lost too much blood. We must replace it or she will die. While I’m sewing her wound closed, my brother’s blood will help her heal.”
Caine gritted his teeth and began to roll up his own sleeve. “I’ll give Emma the blood she needs.”
“Landon said you couldn’t heal her wounds,” Mira reminded him.
Caine’s jaw flexed. “My saliva couldn’t heal her wound, but if it’s blood she needs, I want her to have mine.”
Mira set her lips in a firm line, then nodded.
Jachin moved out of the way and Caine retrieved a chair, setting it next to the bed.
Caine heard Jachin speaking in a low tone to Landon while Mira connected Caine to Emma via the tubing. “Did you hear the panther before she passed out? She said she can shift at will.”
“She and the other panther were just cubs when they were released. Their abilities hadn’t been tested yet, but if it’s true that she can control her shifting, she’d be a valuable asset to the panthers.”
An asset worth fighting over, Caine realized, staring at Emma’s pale face. He stood at Mira’s urging to let gravity help the blood flow from his body to Emma’s. Caine stared at Emma’s wan features and mentally yelled for his blood to flow faster. Help her heal, damn you!
Mira began to sew Emma’s gaping wound closed, first on the inside and then moving to her outer skin with rapid speed and precision. Caine’s heart squeezed tighter and tighter as time crept by. It felt like an eternity. He watched his deep red blood flow to Emma and realized if it took every last drop of blood in his body to save this woman, he’d give it to her without a moment’s hesitation—the young panther had her whole life ahead of her, while his human life could end the next time he shifted to Musk form.
Mira smiled up at him from her seated position on the bed. Snipping the thread, she set down the scissors and held two fingers around Emma’s wrist, checking her pulse. “The wound is already healing ahead of my stitching and her heart rate is leveling off. Your blood was exactly what she needed.”
Caine’s gaze jerked to Emma’s wounds. They were closing and light pink scars were forming in their wake. Color had begun to spread across her cheeks.
Emotional relief tightened his chest. After Mira removed the needle and tubing from his and Emma’s arms, he helped her take the plastic out from underneath Emma. When they were done, he put his hand out. “I can’t thank you enough for your help.”
Holding up her bloodied hands, Mira’s smile was apologetic. “I’d shake your hand, but mine are a bit messy at the moment.” She nodded to Emma. “Sit with her. I have a feeling she’ll be waking up in a bit and she’ll want you with her.”
Caine watched the woman walk out of the room with a regal, assured bearing.
“Mira?” Talek jumped up from the sofa the moment she passed by the office.
Mira expelled an inward sigh. Somewhere along the way, Talek had assigned himself as her personal bodyguard, and her brother fu
lly supported such nonsense. Damn Jachin’s hide. She didn’t need a babysitter. “I’m fine, Talek,” Mira said. “Just need some air.”
“And Emma?” Kaitlyn asked once Talek zoomed past Mira to open the front door for her.
Mira smiled at the attractive redhead, liking the woman’s straightforward approach. “She hasn’t awoken yet, but her heartbeat’s strong. She’ll be okay.”
When Talek tried to follow her outside, Mira shook her head. “I’d like to be alone.”
Talek set his jaw and stubborn concern hardened his strong features.
“I’ll be fine,” Mira assured him.
His gaze dropped to her blood-covered hands. “Don’t you want to wash up first?”
She shook her head. “Back in a few minutes.”
With a look of doubt, Talek gave her a curt nod and slowly pulled the door shut, leaving her alone on the porch that spanned the entire front of the house.
Mira sighed and rolled her head from one shoulder to the other to relieve the tension that had built inside her as she dealt with suspicious Lupreda and operated on Emma. She moved to the edge of the porch and leaned over the railing to stare into the unusually clear night sky above her. No more snow was coming. Stars twinkled all around her, and one seemed suddenly brighter than the others until she realized it was moving.
A shooting star! Mira stared in wonder, wishing she believed in fanciful dreams enough to make a wish upon the star. But she didn’t. Glancing at her bloodstained hands, she stared at the signs of both life and death coating her palms and fingers and thought about how easily it would be to let herself slip away from this life, like she’d wanted to do while saving Ariel. All she had to do was stop taking blood from her clan members. Eventually she’d fade away.
A sound in the woods drew her attention. She glanced into the darkness and saw a tall, black-haired man standing on the edge of the woods. Stark naked, his broad-shouldered body formed a perfect muscular V down to his trim waist. Mira blinked and gripped the railing to remain calm. She knew he wasn’t human and she doubted he was Lupreda, either. Her gaze locked with his steady one at the same time she caught his earthy, primal scent on the light wind blowing around the house. He smelled like the blood on her hands.
Scions: Revelation Page 14
