If the transfusion failed, Mason would die with Suzanne. But he wasn't afraid. It was what he wanted. He would live with her, die with her. The moment he saved her from the fire, their fates were intertwined. He would fight this fight with her, with his blood, with his whole heart.
“Mason! Stop!”
He heard running, pounding footsteps and he recognized his brothers' voices.
He put up a hand and the nurses stepped away from his gurney for a moment to allow his family to come up and speak to him.
“Mason! You can't do this!” Tristan grabbed his hand and hissed fiercely.
“I can,” Mason said. “And I will.”
“No, I won't let you! I won't let you throw you life away, Mason!”
“I'm not throwing my life away. I'm...giving it to her,” Mason said softly. “To my mate.”
“Mason, please,” Jackson begged, touching his shoulder. “It's too dangerous. Don't, please...” Mason saw his baby brother blinking away his tears angrily. “Aidan is on his way. He's real mad at you too. I think he's coming to arrest you,” Jackson warned. “We'll help him. We'll help him lock you up so you can't do this stupid thing!”
Mason turned to see Alisa and Elle with their arms around Gramma and Ne-ma, supporting his two brave, stoic grandmothers. The females in the family were way stronger than his out-of-control, overreacting brothers. But they were reacting this way only because they loved him. His brothers were angry and scared for him. The brotherly love and bond between them was so powerful and so strong. He would draw on the strength of their love and he would survive.
“I'll live,” Mason said and managed a grin. “I promise. And you know I never break a promise to you guys.”
Tristan and Jackson gripped his hand tightly. The Gray brothers' rugged, calloused hands piled together to form a single, unbreakable pillar.
“We'll be right here,” Tristan said. “You go in there, do what you have to do, and walk out with your mate. We're going home together. You hear me?”
“I hear you, big brother.”
“If you lie to me, I'll kill you,” Jackson said.
“Of course. When have I ever lied to my baby brother?” Mason asked suavely.
“Well, there was that time when you told me that the birds and the bees were just...” Jackson began, counting with his fingers. Clearly the brat remembered every little lie that Mason had told him since they were cubs.
Mason chuckled. “All right, all right. But you were such a cute kid, Jackson. You believed everything we told you!”
Tristan joined in the laughter and ruffled Jackson's blond hair. “Yeah. You were adorable. Bright-eyed, busy-tailed, inquisitive little tyke.”
Jackson scowled at his elder brothers and punched Mason lightly on the arm. “Remember your promise.”
Alisa and Elle came to kiss Mason on the cheek. “I'll make you your favorite burger when you get home. Big and rich and juicy, just the way you like it,” Alisa promised.
“And you'll have a big chocolate fudge cake waiting for you. The whole cake is yours. I'll make sure the boys don't touch it,” Elle smiled at him.
“Thanks, you spoil me, you know?” Mason grinned at his sisters-in-law. They nodded when he whispered to them, “Take care of my brothers, and Gramma and Ne-ma, okay?”
Gramma and Ne-ma came up to hold him and kiss his forehead. “My brave little grandson,” Gramma whispered. “You just think of her when you're in there. Think of your lives, and your future.”
“We love you,” Ne-ma said. “So much. And we're proud of you, Mason.”
The nurses stepped up. “It's almost time. We have to get him into the operating room now,” they said gently.
As they wheeled him away from his family, Mason raised his head to take one last look at his brave, strong family.
Just before the door to the operating room swung shut, he glimpsed a police uniform.
Aidan almost mowed down some white coats as he hurtled down the corridor.
Mason could still hear the echo of his brother's angry, anguished shout as they pushed him into the cold, sterile operating room.
CHAPTER NINE
Mason turned his head to look at Suzanne as the needle slid into his arm. They were both hooked up to various machines and he glanced at the screen which monitored their heartbeats.
His heartbeat was strong and steady, and the peaks on the graph showed the strength of his powerful, healthy heartbeat. In contrast, Suzanne's line was almost a flat line, with only the occasional weak squiggle in her graph.
“Suzanne,” he whispered. “Hang on. You can make it. You heard my brothers. We're going home together. I promised them.”
Mason felt his eyelids begin to droop. He tried to keep his eyes open so he could look at Suzanne's beautiful, pale face for a while longer. But the darkness was already closing in on him, creeping in from the corners of his vision.
Mason felt as though he were falling into a swirling black pool. He fell deeper and deeper and finally landed on a soft, velvety surface.
He heard someone calling his name. It sounded like a child's voice, like Jackson when he was a toddler.
Then the voice changed and became a woman's voice.
“Gramma? Ne-ma?” He turned around and his dreamscape changed.
Mason was vaguely aware that he was dreaming. The drugs in his system were messing with his mind, making him see and hear things while his blood was being pumped into Suzanne's body.
But it felt so real. The world he was in now was strange and beautiful, but it felt real to him.
He was standing in the middle of a colorful forest and he saw weird and wonderful insects and creatures around him. The blue and purple leaves shimmered above him, and a rainbow-colored stream wound through the forest. An insect that resembled a butterfly fluttered past him. It was too big to be a butterfly and there were colors and patterns on its wings that he had never seen before.
Mason pivoted in a circle, taking in the fascinating, fantastical place. He was in another world. He was in...Suzanne's world.
He suddenly knew where he was. He was in the land of the fae.
Looking around in amazement, Mason stepped carefully over to the stream and peered into the water. The surface rippled and a scene unfolded before his eyes.
He saw Suzanne's life. He saw her memories of her childhood. He saw her isolation and her confusion and sorrow at her Aunt Delilah's cold treatment of her. He saw her fading memories of her mother and her regret at not knowing her father. Her father was fae, that much was clear. Her Aunt Delilah suspected that, and while Mason understood the woman's suspicion and fear, he found himself growing angry with her. She was ignorant and prejudiced, and she deprived her niece of love and warmth during her growing up years.
Mason swore that Suzanne would never ever feel unloved and unwanted again. She had a mate and a family who loved her dearly.
“Suzanne,” Mason breathed, straightening up from the stream. A stream of consciousness, he realized. Suzanne was sharing her dreams and memories with him as he shared his blood with her.
He was in the same surreal space as her.
“Suzanne,” he called out. “Suzanne, I know you're here with me. Don't be afraid. We'll get through this together.”
Mason stretched out his hand as the stream rose up and became a glittering mirrored surface in front of him. His fingertips touched the cool surface and he felt a hand on the other side.
Slowly, a pale, small hand reached tentatively through the shimmering mirror. Mason took the trembling hand gently in his and pulled her over to his side.
“Suzanne,” he smiled.
She looked up at him with a pair of mesmerizing violet eyes. “Thank you,” she said shyly. “Thank you for saving me.”
“Thank you for coming to me,” he said, holding both her hands. “Now, shall we get out of here? It's beautiful, but...boring.” He made a face. “There's a juicy burger and a big ch
ocolate cake waiting for us back home.”
Suzanne laughed and it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. “Then what are we waiting for?”
CHAPTER TEN
Suzanne opened her eyes very slowly. Everything looked fuzzy and blurry, and she felt so weak, so tried, like she had gone on a very long journey and hadn't slept in days. But even without looking at the clock or the calendar, she knew that she had been sleeping for a long, long while.
And she had been away, to a place she knew was the home of her father. She'd heard a voice whispering in the wind, guiding her through the woods. She wanted to think that it was her father's voice, but her father never came to see her or acknowledge her.
But she wasn't alone in her dream. Someone was in that magical world with her. He had held her hand and walked her back to this world. Her hero, the man of her dreams. The brave, handsome man who rescued her from the fire.
She had seen his thoughts and memories in a mirror in the middle of a strange, mystical forest. She saw how he risked his life to rescue her from her burning house. He had carried her out and shielded her, breaking his arm in the process. His name was Mason Gray, and he loved his brothers, his sisters-in-law, and his Gramma and Ne-ma. She saw how close the family was, and she saw his happy childhood memories. His parents had died when he was a cub, but his Gramma and Ne-ma had brought the four Gray brothers up with so much love, warmth and humor. She had laughed at the tricks and antics that the Gray boys got up to. They were a boisterous, mischievous bunch, but they were tight.
Mason had a beautiful family, and she wished she belonged to that joyful, loving family. She had reached out to touch those laughing faces in the mirror, and her hand had gone right through the mirror!
Someone had held her hand and guided her over to the other side. And when she stepped through the looking glass, she saw him.
Mason was there, waiting for her.
But it was just a dream. She had dreamed of her brave, handsome firefighter and she had imagined them walking hand in hand out of that dreamscape into reality. It was a wonderful dream, but still a dream nevertheless.
“Oh Mason,” she sighed, wincing at the sharp ache in her heart.
“Suzanne.”
She started and turned her head at his voice.
“Mason!” she gasped.
She wasn't dreaming. Mason was right here in the room with her.
He was lying in the bed next to hers, hooked up to various tubes and drips, but he was smiling broadly at her.
“I was going to introduce myself, but you already know my name,” Mason said, grinning.
“I saw you,” she said breathlessly.
“You did? You were unconscious when I carried you out of the fire.”
“No. I saw you, in my dream.”
Mason opened his mouth, then shut it. “Did you see trees with blue leaves and flowers the size of dinner plates?” he said at last.
“Yes! Yes, and there was a mirror...”
“...which you walked through...”
“You held my hand...”
“...and we walked out of that pretty but boring forest together,” Mason finished smugly.
Suzanne stared at him for a full minute. “We had the same dream. How...”
“I shared my blood with you. So I guess you shared your world and your memories with me,” he said softly.
“You saw...” She swallowed and closed her eyes.
“Yes. I saw everything. Your past, your fears and pain, your loss and your courage,” Mason said.
Suzanne gave him a small smile. “I'm not courageous.”
“You are. You fought so hard to live. You didn't give up. You are a survivor, Suzanne.”
“I survived...” She frowned and stared at the tubes in her arms. “How? That vampire drained me. He said my blood was...magical. But that's rubbish! He just wanted to drink me to death. How could my blood enable him to walk in the sun?”
“Because you are half fae. You have fae blood in you, Suzanne,” Mason said.
She blinked at him, staring at him for a long while. “And now...I have your blood in me,” she whispered. “How much of your blood did you give me, Mason?”
“Enough.” He shrugged his big, broad shoulders. “Enough to revive you, leaving enough to sustain me. The doctors did a fantastic job!”
The door to the hospital room opened, and three tall, well-built men rushed into the room. They were all blond like Mason, and had the same bright green eyes.
Suzanne gasped. She knew who they were. They were Mason's brothers. She had seen them in his memories. She even knew their names.
“Tristan...and Jackson,” she sputtered. She turned to the brother in the deputy sheriff's uniform. “And you're Aidan.”
When they turned and fixed her with identical quizzical expressions, she mumbled, “Don't ask me how I know. You won't believe me anyway.”
“Oh, try us. We believe you!” Gramma and Ne-ma chirped as they burst through the door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mason grinned as his brothers and sisters-in-law crowded into the room and fussed over him. Aidan came and mock-pummeled him in the chest, never mind that he had electrodes and wires all over his body.
“You! I don't even know what to say to you,” Aidan said in exasperation. “You scared the hell out of me. They told me that you'd signed up to bleed yourself to death...”
“That's not what I was going to do. I...” Mason frowned.
“You were going to give away every drop of blood in your body,” Jackson snapped. “You were going to let them bleed you dry!”
“No,” Mason protested. “They weren't going to do that. The doctors would only take as much as was needed to save Suzanne. The doctors aren't blood-thirsty, murderous vamps. Speaking of which...”
Mason turned to Aidan. “Did you find any clues at the scene?”
Aidan shook his head. “No. The fire destroyed everything. There's no trace, no scent...”
“Oh, but we know who he is,” Gramma spoke up.
The four brothers turned in synchronized motion to stare at Gramma and Ne-ma.
Gramma and Ne-ma were sitting on Suzanne's bed, and while his brothers grilled him and accused him of embarking on a suicide mission, Gramma and Ne-ma had been speaking quietly to Suzanne, comforting her and listening to her side of the story.
Mason saw Suzanne silently wiping away her tears as she turned away from them.
Ne-ma stood up and shook her finger at them. “You boys should be ashamed of yourselves,” Ne-ma scolded. “You made Suzanne feel horrible. Mason chose to give his blood to save his mate. It's what anyone would do. You were so worried about losing your brother, but Suzanne has no one to worry about her. She didn't ask him to do anything for her. You've made her feel terribly guilty and ashamed, for having Mason's blood in her, for surviving. Would you all rather she died?”
Tristan, Aidan and Jackson stared from Ne-ma to Suzanne and mumbled, “No.”
“We're sorry.”
“Sorry, Suzanne.”
“We didn't mean it like that. We were just so...”
“They speak without thinking sometimes, but they're good men,” Alisa said tactfully. She had simultaneously chastised and defended her mate and his younger brothers with that statement.
“Yeah. We're family. You can say anything to us,” Elle said, putting her arm around Suzanne. “I'm Elle, Aidan's...”
“I know,” Suzanne sniffed. “I know all of you. I share Mason's blood, so I share his memories as well.”
Eyes widened at her revelation.
The brothers fidgeted, shuffled their feet and gulped.
“Oh.”
“So you know about the time when I put honey in his pants...”
Suzanne nodded, hiding a smile.
“She knows everything,” Jackson whispered to his elder brothers. “She knows what we did.”
“Yep. She knows what
rascals you are.” Mason smirked. “You can't fool her. She knows you like I do.”
The Gray brothers eyed her curiously, then broke into grins.
“Welcome to the family, Suzanne!”
“You're coming to live with us, right?” Jackson asked. “I mean, your house is...gone.”
“We can help you catch that vamp,” Gramma repeated. “We know who he is.”
“Who?” Aidan narrowed his eyes at Gramma. “How do you know who attacked Suzanne?”
“We saw him,” Ne-ma said. “Having dinner with Suzanne. It's him, right?” She turned to Suzanne for confirmation.
“Y-yes,” Suzanne stammered. “Balestair followed me home and misted into my house. I was about to fall asleep when I sensed someone in my room. When I opened my eyes, I saw his face, just inches from mine. Then he sank his fangs into my neck.”
“Do you have his full name?” Aidan asked.
Suzanne shook her head. “Just Balestair. That's the name the agency gave me.”
“What agency?”
“Matchbox Inc. It's...a matchmaking agency.”
“We saw her, on her date with Balestair,” Gramma said helpfully.
Everyone stopped talking as a low growl erupted from Mason.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Suzanne stole a peek at Mason and saw that his claws were out. “What date?” he growled.
“It was a first date.” Suzanne grimaced. “And the last.”
“It was a terrible date. He was sleazy with a capital S,” Gramma said.
“Yeah, he kept asking me about my blood type,” Suzanne said, as Aidan scribbled into a notepad. “And...wait a minute.” Suzanne stared at Gramma and Ne-ma. “How did you know…? Did you see me? Were you at the restaurant…?”
Suzanne's eyes widened and she gasped suddenly. “Oh! I remember now. I remember the both of you. You told me to make a wish!”
All eyes swiveled to Gramma and Ne-ma.
“Gramma...” Tristan squinted at them.
Mating The Bear: BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (Gray Bears Book 3) Page 3
