by Zoe Forward
“Viktor keeps us stocked. The boys have acquired some ugly injuries recently. Surprisingly, they’ve done a fair job of caring for themselves without any proper medical training.”
“What did you give me within the past twelve hours? As in injections.”
Julie walked over to the end table and lifted up two bottles of injectable medication. “Looks like morphine and cefa-zo-lin. What’s the c-drug?”
“It’s an antibiotic. The morphine explains why I feel weird. Did Markus find Kane?”
“Who’s Markus? Kane didn’t say anything. When he arrived at the gate to get you after you no-showed on your meet with him, he was completely cheesed off to find out you were missing.”
“Can I see Kane?”
“He left. Said if you woke up to tell you he had to finish something and would be back tonight. He also left you that bag over there.”
“He left?” Who leaves an injured family member with unknowns?
“You should rest. Is there anything I can get for you?
“I’d like a phone to call Kane. And can you tell Ashor I’d like a word?”
Julie nodded. She returned about fifteen minutes later with cell phone and a cheese sandwich, but left without commenting on Ashor.
Kira’s stomach growled in anticipation of the food. As she reached for the sandwich, her stomach lurched. Morphine was a bitch.
She propped herself up with several pillows and sipped the water as she waited for Kane to answer his cell.
He picked up on the second ring. “Who’s this?”
“It’s me. Where’s Markus?”
“Glad you’re awake. Haven’t heard from him. How ya doing?” A car horn beeped in the background.
“I’m recovering. So, Markus got into the building right before the guys did. I helped him get out, but then I got tripped up.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. Where is he now?”
“I told him to call you. Since he didn’t, I bet they recaptured him. We’ve got to find him.”
“You’ve been through quite enough already. I think it best you stay put. I’ll figure this out.”
“No. I want out of this place. When are you coming back?”
“I’m not sure they’ll let you leave that easily. That Ashor fellow was violently concerned about you. Any comments on that?”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No, but let’s just say I’m not in any hurry to get on his bad side.”
“He’s their leader. So, naturally he’s probably the most concerned. We can chat more about this once I leave.”
“Can you get out without me coming inside?”
“I think so. This time I swear when I say meet me by the west wall that I’ll be there. Just give me a time.”
“I’m not very close and probably unable to get to you until…What time is it now? Uh, looks close to oh seven hundred. I can’t get to you until tomorrow morning. How about oh six hundred? That work?”
“I’ll see you outside the wall then, and we’ll search for Markus.” She hung up and felt better for having a plan. What was Kane doing so far away?
Kira waited. She dozed. Where was Ashor?
The morphine wore off.
She turned off the IV and pulled out the catheter. And stood. God, she was weak. She grabbed Kane’s bag and slow-limped to the adjoining bath.
In Kane’s bag she found a pair of jeans, a green knit sweater, and underwear in her size. She smiled when she spied her gun and several loaded magazines. Thank you, Kane.
She lay the gun on the edge of the beautifully tiled sunken tub and examined a basket of expensive soap items. She popped the top on an English bath gel and sighed happily. These couldn’t belong to Ashor unless he had a secret fetish for ginger lilies.
As she rested a hip on the bathtub’s edge, she listened to the water run. Her mind wandered. Ashor was close, but ignoring her. That stung.
****
“What happened?” Ashor asked.
Christian carried Ethan into the room at the back of the main house that served as the medical ward. Blood soaked them both.
“Daemon gut-swiped him. He’s seriously fucked.” Christian grunted as he lowered Ethan’s body onto the only bed in the room.
Ethan mumbled incoherently and thrashed. Reactively, Christian anchored Ethan’s shoulders. “Little help with his legs.”
Ashor leaned in and grabbed a flying ankle. “Is Eric okay?”
“Yeah, he went to Julie. Said he needed a little boost. Whatever that means.”
“You?” Ashor asked, eyeing the multiple bloody spots along Christian’s arms and torso.
“All superficial. I’ll live.”
“You got the daemon?”
“Of course.”
V clucked pessimistically while evaluating the Grand Canyon in Ethan’s stomach. After a few moments, he stepped away to draw some medication into a syringe and shot the drug into Ethan’s arm.
With his thick accent, he said, “I gave him a tranquilizer so we can work. He needs blood, but we used the last of the transfusion supplies the other day on the lady.”
“Have we got more?” Ashor asked. Ethan’s struggling ceased.
“Da, in my house. Storage fridge in the back.”
“You get started. I’ll get the blood.” Ashor ordered.
“What about the healer lady? Julie said she’s awake.”
“Leave her out of this.
****
Kira soaked. And never wanted to leave the warm bubbles. Heavy lidded, she floated beneath the caress of heavy humidity.
An aura in severe pain cut into her pleasure. The aura dulled as if the person masked his suffering or was drugged. And damn it all if that aura didn’t call her like a siren’s song. The healing power demanded she move.
With a resigned sigh, she eased out of the tub and toweled off. Dressing proceeded far slower than normal.
She traced the aura downstairs to the back of the house, walking into what had to be the medical ward. On the wall to her right, glass-front cabinets stretched to the ceiling. The hospital supply closet she’d raided for Eric’s scrubs didn’t have this much stuff. That had been…six days ago. Seemed like yesterday.
The far wall had a sink, top-of-the-line autoclave, and ultrasonic cleaner. Tucked into a corner was a portable x-ray and a gigantic state-of-the-art ultrasound. She’d love to have about an hour to play on that machine.
The prolifically pierced, shaved-bald, Russian magus directed Christian to hand him items. A jagged scar with an intricate tattoo trekked over each of his cheekbones.
For a better view Kira moved around to the opposite side of the bed. Ethan. And, yikes that yawning cavity into his abdomen...no one survived that. The Russian swabbed the area with gauze, which came away saturated with blood.
Ethan’s eyes opened and locked onto hers.
“Got in the way again, did you? Perhaps, you should try moving a little bit faster.” She touched his arm. His stats piled into her brain. She bit her lip to hide her distress. So much damage. Yet, he fought against sedation harder than he did the pain of his injuries.
The other two magi froze mid motion. They gaped, obviously unaware of her presence until that moment. A few seconds of tense silence ticked by.
“I’ll clear the drug, if that’s what you want, Ethan.”
He made an exaggerated jerk of his head that she assumed to be a yes.
She nodded in the Russian’s direction and said in her confident doctor tone, “Keep pressure on that bleeding. We haven’t met yet. I’m Kira Hardy.”
“Viktor. Call me V.” He inclined his head respectfully and resumed his attempt at hemostasis.
“Got into a little trouble too, Christian? You okay?” Christian’s shirt looked like a lion had taken a couple of good swipes across his chest. Blood soaked each tear, and based on the way he held himself stiffly, he was hurting.
All she got back from Christian was a shrug as he continued to stare at Ethan.
Vance scurried into the room and surveyed the disaster. His back went ramrod rigid. Like a doctor who’s used to being the super-shit in charge, he barked at V, “Get out of the way. Let me look. What did this?”
V refused to move. His massive form didn’t allow Vance any access to Ethan. V’s eyes remained fixed on Kira, waiting for her to give him orders. When Vance shoved harder, V grunted a threat.
Vance’s eyes went wide. He jumped away from V and skirted around to Kira’s side of the bed. “Move, Kira. Holding the patient’s hand when he needs work is asinine.” When Kira didn’t move, he hip-butted her out of his way.
Stumbling into the wall, Kira grabbed uselessly for purchase. Her injured leg gave out and she found herself hitting the hardwood floor with a resentful, “Ow!”
Acute pain brought the sting of tears to her eyes. She felt along her leg to see if the sutured wound was bleeding. No, but it hurt. What an asshole.
Ethan closed his eyes and moaned softly. He turned toward Kira with his hand out.
Vance paid no attention. Instead, he worked to remove the temporary bandages to get a better view of the wound beneath.
“Stop,” Ethan groaned as he tried to roll away from Vance’s probing hands.
V growled. In less than a second, he launched Vance airborne. His flight ended in an ear-splitting crash against a glass-front case of medical supplies. V stalked toward him, clearly intent on ripping him into oblivion.
Kira’s gaze met Christian’s startled oh-shit. “Get Vance out of here.” The veins in V’s neck pulsated. She could literally take his heart rate from across the room, if she’d wanted. “Now!”
Christian grabbed Vance roughly before V reached him. Vance struggled and kicked, but Christian was far stronger. He threw Vance over his shoulder and left.
In her doctor tone, Kira ordered, “V. Put that temper on ice. I need your help. Or we’re going to lose Ethan. He needs a blood transfusion. Do you have stored blood products?” She pulled herself up.
V breathed shallowly. His face and neck were now mottled dark red. He stared wildly at Kira, and then Ethan. After a few seconds, the madness receded from his face.
He took two deep breaths and replied, “Ashor went to get blood.”
“Ready him for that, please.”
V gathered the supplies needed to place a catheter.
Kira looked over Ethan’s injuries, gently prodding along his abdomen. She mumbled, “I don’t know how you’ve made it this long, Ethan. It’s a tribute to your strength. Simply amazing.”
Ethan whispered, “I know I’m up shit creek, Doc. But so long as you promise not to let go again…not to let the pain through, I’m okay with this being the end.”
“You think you can hold on a little longer before you give up? Maybe give me a chance to try?”
“Okay, but I don’t want you to be disappointed, if it doesn’t work out. I mean, I’ve lived a good life. I’ll come back. There’s no woman here that needs me in the world.”
God, he sounded so sad about that last part. “Then, maybe now isn’t your time. Sounds like you’ve still got some things to do in this world.”
“All right. Do your thing, Doc.”
Ethan had so much damage and far too much blood loss. Her mind logically catalogued through what she’d need to stop the hemorrhage and repair all his damage. She needed a surgery pack, anesthesia, suture, better light…What was she doing? These guys wouldn’t care if she used her healing ability on Ethan. In fact, they were used to it, or so Ashor claimed.
But this was way more damage than she’d ever attempted to repair. His damage made both Eric’s and Ashor’s wounds the other day seem no more significant than a scraped knee.
Ashor entered in a rush. Kira glanced up sharply. Relief and exhilaration filled her. She should shout at him for ignoring her.
His eyes flared when he spotted her. He stumbled, but caught himself with a grunt before he dropped the bags of blood. His cheeks colored.
Her chest tightened at that rare glimpse of vulnerability.
Ashor boomed in her mind. You shouldn’t be out of bed. What are you doing down here?
She jumped, still not used to that kind of communication. The room whirled eerily for a few seconds. She gripped the side of the bed hard.
In her authoritarian doctor tone, she replied telepathically, I’m here to help Ethan, of course.
His tone gentled. You sure you’re up to it? He’s…pretty bad.
Kira’s gaze locked with Ashor’s. I know. But I need to try. She didn’t know if she could help with her body so weak. But Ethan’s life-force flickered. Time to try.
Tension radiated from Ashor. He may be still as stone, but he was poised to pounce. Apparently, he wasn’t into her helping Ethan for some reason. Her gaze locked with his. Smokey heat darkened his eyes. As if he touched her, lust surged waves of electrical pulsations through her body until even her extremities were throbbing.
She snapped her lids closed. I want to do this, Ashor. Chill. She chanted to herself, must focus, must focus…
Finally, healing energy flowed into Ethan. Rapidly, she closed the slash that penetrated into Ethan’s abdomen and cut through his spleen, which was the source of most of the bleeding. After moving the gastrointestinal contents back into the intestines, she repaired the macerated bowel. A pneumothorax caused accumulated air to compress his lungs, making his breathing labored.
A surreal floating sensation warned her she’d expended as much as she could. The healing energy indicated Ethan would live, if they got him blood and fluids.
When she was done, Ethan met her gaze and opened his mouth.
Kira shook her head. “We can talk later. I’ve done what I can. V is going to give you a blood transfusion.”
To V she directed, “Give him the transfusion and then he should get at least a liter of balanced electrolyte solution at a moderate drip.”
V scrunched up his face and shrugged as if confused.
“That’s Ringer’s or something like that. Just IV fluids.”
He nodded.
“It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to give him pain relief and some antibiotics, which I’m sure you’ve got on that impressive shelf of supplies over there.” She nodded at the intact cabinet across the room.
V shook his head. “Drugs don’t work well on us. Our bodies process them too fast. I can give it to him, but he’ll need a dose three or four times what a human would get. In general, we don’t get bacterial infections. So, the antibiotic? Probably not needed.”
“Then at least give him the pain relief. I’d like him to sleep for a while.” Ethan’s eyes remained fixed on her. “I want you to accept the sedation this time. Sleep it off.”
Ethan nodded. “Thanks.”
Swaying in exertion, Kira threw a hand against the wall for balance. The ground was about to become her best friend.
Ashor materialized, lifting her into his arms.
She rolled into the safety of his heat and whispered, “So tired…”
When Ashor touched her, his body jolted as if someone hit the on switch. Desire punched through him like a shockwave. Her expressive blue-green eyes sucked him in as if she was seeing straight to his soul and judging. That made him nervous. He didn’t want her to know about his human hunt-and-kill problem, even if all his victims had been Hashishins.
Yet, he wanted to express how grateful he was for what she had done. How extraordinary he thought her skill. How everything about her made him crazy, and he would literally die for her, if she asked it of him. But he couldn’t vocalize anything. His mind and voice went on communication strike.
He cleared his throat. And just when he finally found his voice, she passed out.
Damn but he was far more distressed about her in this ultra vulnerable state than he expected to be. The exhaustion was normal after burning up such energy. But that didn’t make it right.
Possessive aggression exploded in his brain. Emotions he’d never experienced tore a
t his control. Jealousy. And fury at Ethan. Had he felt that euphoric high when Kira’s energy swept through him? He would pound the already half-dead magus to full-dead just for the possibility. Ethan had taken too much from her and stolen what was his.
Ashor shook his head. Ethan wasn’t the enemy. The kem-seki didn’t care as it ramped up his rage. Kill him.
Shit. He backed away from Ethan with Kira pressed against his chest. Once his back hit the wall, he reached for seichim, hoping for control.
Seconds later he sighed in relief as he shoved the kem-seki back into its box. He watched Ethan’s chest rise and fall. He didn’t try to delude himself into thinking anything he or V had been about to try would’ve helped. Ethan had a one-way ticket to dead until she’d stepped in. He was proud of her. Yet again, she’d saved another one of them.
The gods had dictated her destiny when they activated the mark on her wrist. And they’d chosen well. Her gift of healing was pretty goddamn incredible. And that was without the amulet. The bottom line was he could not be with her. Fuck. How could this insane lust-thing between them be wrong?
He had no clue how to stop the possessive craze that at the moment prevented him from being able to do something as simple as put her down.
The subtle scent of honey almond floated up his nose. With a lean-in, he discovered it came from her hair. Beautiful.
Looking over to V, Ashor said, “We need a group meeting. Let’s say at daybreak. Can you arrange this?”
With a grim look, V inclined his head in consent and said, “Da, I make it happen.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
His large hand stroked down her side coming to rest along her thigh. She snuggled into the heat of his body, as if she could melt into the rock-solid chest. Her senses zinged from the contact. Her body screamed for more.
Wait a sec. She was awake, not dreaming.
Pushing to a sit, Kira discovered she was on Ashor’s lap. His hand fell away from where it had been softly stroking her hip.
Dark brows were drawn low. His lashes hid his eyes, which remained fixed on her hip. And she didn’t miss the massive erection pushing the zipper of his dark jeans against her thigh.
