by Emma Shade
And then the anger in the room ballooned from Alistair. His rage saturated the air like a dense fog, intensifying my own irritation. Finally understanding he might have feelings for Paige, I blinked a few times in surprise.
“You can hear Jamison’s thoughts?” Alistair asked softly. Although his face was passive, his emotions were anything but.
Paige shrugged. “Yeah. It happened after he healed me at the masquerade ball.”
“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Alistair said, and removed himself from the room.
I watched my brother’s retreating back and felt his pain. If I were in his shoes with Liliana, there was no way I would’ve acted so calmly. I think I might have slaughtered everyone in my path. But Alistair prided himself on his cool, calm, and collected self-confidence. He was never going to admit to anything. Yet, he hadn’t always acted so indifferent in the past. Something had changed when he disappeared.
“What a weirdo,” Paige quipped.
I opened my mouth to tell Paige just what I thought, but the surgeon entered the waiting room.
I jumped to my feet and asked, “How’s she doing?”
“She’s doing great. We’ve gotten the bullet out and she’s healing, well, quite miraculously. They are moving her to a room now, but we’re going to run some more tests just to be safe. The police would like to have a word with you, if you don’t mind. Then you can see her,” the doctor announced and gave us the room number.
Blake sighed in relief, and muttered, “Thank God.
Shit. After the doctor left, I turned to Sam and Paige, and whispered, “We need to get Liliana out of here. I was too desperate to see that bringing her to the hospital was a bad idea. Even though I’m glad we did, just in case. Still, we need to move.
“Paige call Alistair, he’ll know what to do. Sam and Blake, try to delay the hospital staff from going into the room, well, except for the ones with Alistair. I’m sure they’ve done blood tests already, and I doubt they’ll show normal results. I’ll speak with the police and try to detain them.”
“Got it,” Sam answered.
“How are we going to get her out of a hospital, Ashton?” Blake asked, brows furrowed. “Don’t you think she should stay to heal?”
“The same way we got Sam out, Blake. Please don’t argue with me on this. You can have an all-out brawl with me once we are safely out of here and have her home.”
As Paige called Alistair, I pointed at Blake to make my point clear and headed down the hall to speak with the officer.
An older man dressed in a police uniform greeted me and shook my head. After our introductions, he asked the usual questions in succession, writing down my answers on a notepad. Except he used Liliana’s alias name, which caught me off guard at first. Did you see the suspect? Where were you when the shots took place? What were we doing at Mystique? Did we have any enemies? I answered them vaguely, just to appease the man.
Because they’d used her fake name, it would be that much easier to keep her hidden. All we had to accomplish was getting her original identification.
While the officer finished up my statement, Sam, Blake, and Paige progressed out of the waiting room in my peripheral vision. Alistair passed by me without a glance, as if he was a visitor heading towards a relative. Let the games begin.
*****
A vampire nurse, whose name tag said Kate, helped us cart Liliana onto a gurney. After covering her with a white sheet, we rolled her into the hallway towards the staff elevator.
Still asleep from her sedation, Liliana hadn’t moved, except for her body swaying from the movements as we made turns and spun the gurney into the elevator. I watched her prone body, praying for a miracle that she wasn’t going to hate me when she woke.
Down the elevator we went, all six of us including the nurse. How we weren’t spotted was a miracle in itself. But we weren’t clear just yet.
“So, what’s the plan once we get her home?” Sam asked, holding Liliana’s hand under the sheet.
“We hope for the best, but I think she’ll be just fine. My blood must have healed her in time,” I answered, snubbing the dirty look from Blake.
Alistair finally spoke up, and said, “I don’t know about you, but has anyone considered who would’ve shot her?”
“My guess? The Contingent did. Ward, the Contingent leader, said he was waiting on his partner. Whoever that was.” I shrugged, but the thought over who the partner was had crossed my mind a thousand times.
“Well, duh. Who else would want to hurt her?” Blake groused. “I vote that it was vamps too. After all, you both were meeting them for some unknown reason.”
Kate, the nurse, grunted at Blake’s reply. Blake’s opinion annoyed her, and her feelings of contempt floated around the enclosed space of the elevator, bouncing off the stainless steel walls.
“True,” I agreed. “But, yet, I’m not so sure. Ward mentioned an informant in our midst.”
“Who?” Blake growled.
I sneered, “I’d like to know who myself.”
As the elevator doors pinged open, Blake said, “Well, surely you know it wouldn’t be any of us, Ashton.”
Instead of a rebuttal of his statement, I focused on our surroundings. We exited the hospital without a problem and rolled the gurney to the closest ambulance.
“This is as far as I go,” Kate announced. “The ambulance driver will take it from here.”
And with that, the nurse was gone. Except, no ambulance driver greeted us or helped cart the gurney inside. The back doors were wide open and with the help of the guys in our group, we loaded Liliana inside and secured the bed in place by the locking mechanism and placed straps over her body.
Alistair sighed, and said, “I miss the days of horse and buggies. No straps, locks, or hospitals. It made sneaking people out so much easier.”
“Me too, Alistair,” I concurred. “Although today’s modern medicine can’t be beat. Plus no more horse feces infusing the air.”
Alistair chuckled. “True.”
The ambulance’s diesel engine turned over and we all jerked our attention to the front. An EMT, wearing sunglasses and uniform with matching hat, sat in the driver’s seat. Without a word to us from the man, the vehicle moved forward.
“What the hell?” Paige muttered.
I shrugged and folded the sheet down off of Liliana’s pale face. Brushing her hair off her face, I placed a kiss on her forehead and murmured, “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you.”
It broke my heart to see her like this. The excruciating pain must have been unbearable. Nonetheless, I wanted to see her wound. Unclicking the upper strap, I removed the sheet and reached under her body to untie the hospital gown.
“What are you doing?” Blake demanded, gripping my arm to stop my movements.
I glared at him. “I’m going to check her wound. I want to see if it’s healing and if we need to remove any stitches.”
“You can’t do this at home? In private?” he whispered through gritted teeth, tilting his head towards the driver.
“No.” I replied, and nudged his hand away. “I won’t be displaying anything that nobody should see. Give me some credit here, Blake.”
Leaning forward, I slowly pulled down her gown, being sure to keep her breasts covered to the best of my ability. The wound was no longer than a deck of cards, enough to extract the bullet just above her left breast. Stitches crisscrossed the incision site, and I debated on taking them out now, or giving her a day or two recuperation.
It wasn’t that I doubted the healing abilities of my blood, but I was unsure of how much she actually ingested before the paramedics arrived. And how much damage the bullet inflicted.
“Do you think I should give her more blood, Alistair?” I asked, poking at the stitches.
“What good would that do?” Blake snapped. “You’ve already done it once.”
“Blake,” I barked, “you’re very close to being tossed out of this moving vehicle. Put your stupid pride
aside and think about Liliana for a minute. Do you want her to have a long or short recovery?”
“Fine. But I’m not going to stand by this decision. I’m only going to allow it so Lily can heal faster. The less pain the better. Can you at least wait until you are in private so we don’t have to watch it?”
“A little queasy seeing blood, Blake?” Alistair quipped, tossing him a smile.
“No,” he stated, crossing his arms. “I just don’t want to watch the woman I love suck on Ashton’s wrist.”
“Hey,” Paige announced, “it’s better that his dick.”
“Good God, Paige,” I groaned. Her rude logic, although meant as a joke, was not going to help matters.
Blake glared at her, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
She shrugged, and began whispering and chuckling with Sam. God only knew what they talked about.
The ambulance finally made a turn, and when Revive came into view, I frowned. With the confusion and adrenaline as we moved Liliana out of the hospital, I hadn’t informed the driver where to go. I stiffened in awareness.
The vehicle parked in front of the door, and the driver swiveled in his seat for the first time. Removing his sunglasses, Ward’s yellow gaze met mine. I jumped across the ambulance, medical equipment, and the rest of our group, fangs bared.
Before I could rip his trachea from his throat, Wade said, “Here me out.”
I hadn’t wanted to give this lying asshole a chance. Holding eerily still, and in the perfect position to tear his throat out, I remained quiet.
Without moving a muscle, Ward muttered, “I wasn’t the shooter. It was an Enforcer. Trust me.”
“And why should I trust you?” I hissed. “If I remember correctly, you consider the woman stretched out on the gurney to be an abomination.”
“Yes, but I also think our informant is double dealing. How else would the Enforcers know where to find her?” Ward reasoned, close to my ear so nobody else heard his words.
I inhaled sharply. I wondered how each of the separate groups of assassins had located her. That’s if he wasn’t lying, but with the desperation coming off of him in waves, I doubted the man was.
Sighing, I released Ward and breathed, “If you’re lying, the fires of hell would be a pleasant escape after I’m done with you.”
He nodded in agreement, but yet, I hadn’t fully trusted the man. But I had believed somebody was ratting Lily out and I was determined to find the person involved.
My eyes moved to Alistair and Blake as they released the straps from the gurney, and they gave skeptical glances in my direction after attacking the driver. Never quite mistrusting them before, I doubted their full intentions now. If either of those two had anything to do with the death threats, or the assassins locating her, I’d rip them to shreds.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
LILY
The pain that radiated throughout my body was excruciating. Every nerve felt on fire. Along with the pain, a cooling sensation flowed through my blood and the muscles in my left chest rippled like a thousand tiny butterfly wings fluttered under the skin.
With the sound of rumbling wheels and the sensation of my limbs vibrating, I cracked my eyes open to the night sky of the Revive parking lot. The pole lights from the lot temporarily blinded me as we passed them, but not before I saw Ashton, Blake, Sam, Alistair, and Paige flanked around me. I wasn’t sure what happened, but whatever it was couldn’t be good.
My limbs felt heavy, my eyes blurred, and the world slightly tilted on its axis as if I was drugged. I closed my eyes in an attempt to stop the spinning sensation.
I don’t know who’s involved, but once I find them, I’m going to rip them limb from limb. Ashton’s voice boomed.
I tried to respond, but my throat was dry and scratchy so I tried to swallow instead. Squinting one eye open, I peeped at Ashton.
God, I hope Liliana’s going to be okay. She should be awake by now.
What in the hell? Ashton’s mouth hadn’t moved. Was I hallucinating? I tried to shake my head to clear it, but because of my incoherent state, it just lolled to the side.
“Liliana? Are you awake?” Ashton asked, and this time his lips moved as he spoke.
Voice scratchy and hoarse, I rasped, “Yeah. What happened?”
Should I tell her now or later? I’m going with later. That way I know she’s going to be okay before she kills me.
“What can’t you tell me?” I croaked, trying to sit up.
I clearly heard his voice, except his lips were immobile when he spoke plain as day. Whatever drug I was injected with must be unbelievable strong because I was delirious.
Ashton’s face paled for a minute, shock causing his mouth to gape open.
“No, Lily. You should stay down until we get you inside,” Sam instructed, placing his hand on my arm to thwart my progress from sitting up.
“Sam, what happened? Why are we at Revive and why was I unconscious?” I demanded. “Did I get injected with that stupid drug again?”
Sam glanced at Ashton and Blake, shaking his head. “We’ll tell you soon enough, babe.”
I glowered at him, hoping to wilt his resolve. Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked.
The cart rattled as it neared the dumpsters closest to the VIP entrance. Ashton’s arms swooped under me and lifted me and the sheet into his arms. I groaned in pain at my body moving so suddenly.
Blake’s protest was cut short, Alistair whispering a few short words in his ear. Blake huffed in resignation and made eye contact with me in Ashton’s arms. The persistence that he wanted to carry me inside was written all over his face.
Loud music assaulted my ears, ringing and bouncing inside my ear drums. I whimpered and covered my ears, but the music only pulsated through my body instead.
“We’re almost there,” Ashton crooned, loud enough to penetrate the music.
A second later, the music cut off as we climbed the stairs to Ashton’s club apartment. It felt so long ago that I stayed here, and besides the trepidation of the past breaking through, the familiar homey smell filled my lungs as a comfort. Ashton’s scent, leather and sandalwood, added to the level of wellbeing and I rested my head against his chest.
I could hold her in my arms for the rest of my life.
I started, taken aback that I could hear Ashton, even though his mouth remained still. Something wasn’t right...
Ashton kissed me on the forehead and softly positioned me on the leather couch. Sitting on the coffee table, he asked, “How are you feeling?”
I glanced around the room and found Blake’s eyes, anguish and concern raging behind his steel-colored gaze. Which had me questioning all the more what had happened and why he wasn’t fighting Ashton.
Sam and Paige plopped themselves on the other chairs in the room, watching me with unease.
“What’s going on?” I questioned, eyeing each individual in the room with distress.
“Guys,” Ashton said, “can I have a minute or two alone with Liliana?”
They agreed, except for Blake who’d yet to say a word. Sam kissed me on the cheek before heading down the stairs and back into VIP with Paige and Alistair.
Blake, narrowing his eyes at Ashton, snarled, “I’m sure I’ll be back up as soon as she doesn’t want anything to do with you.” His eyes found mine. “Lily, I’m here if you need me. You know that.”
I pulled a face, watching his retreating back until he was no longer visible.
Aiming my attention back at Ashton, I asked, “What in the hell is going on? Why do I feel like shit and my chest is twitching like I had an electric currently running through it?” I reached up to scratch above my left breast, and Ashton snatched my hand to stop me.
“You were shot at Mystique,” Ashton murmured. “We were leaving and I turned my head for a split second before the gunfire happened.” He gently touched the spot that felt unusual on my chest, and whispered, “Right here.”
I reached up and pulled down the hospital gown and sheet. Th
e scar wasn’t bad, not really, and I ran my fingers over the wound feeling the stitches poke my fingers. “Why am I not in the hospital? And most importantly, why can’t I remember it?”
“I don’t know why you can’t remember being shot. Maybe it was your body going into shock,” he suggested.
“Could’ve been. I remember the jerk of a Contingent member, and leaving the tables, but nothing after that until I woke up in the parking lot. However, you still didn’t answer why I’m not in a hospital undergoing surgery or recovering there.”
Ashton shrugged. “You were. That’s where the stitches came from and why you were under until we got back to the club.”
“And they let me go only hours after removing a bullet from,” I gestured at my wound, “my chest?”
“Actually, the bullet penetrated your lung and nicked an artery. Less than a half an inch to the right and it would’ve been your heart,” Ashton said softly, and swallowed hard.
I frowned and ran my fingers back over the wound. I almost lost my life. But how was I able to breath without the assistance of machines right now? How had I healed so quickly?
Ashton was hiding something. That’s why he kept hedging around my questions. My heartbeat increased from dread. “Ashton, what are you not telling me? Please tell me when I overheard your voice earlier that I was hallucinating.”
He took a deep breath, searching my face for something. Taking my hand in his, Ashton said, “I had no choice, Liliana. You were dying.”
I sat up, blinking away the dizziness. “What did you do, Ashton?”
“Please don’t hate me. Promise?”
“I can’t promise you anything. Not right now.”
He squeezed my hand, pulling it to his mouth to lay a kiss on the back. Playing with my fingers with his, he murmured, “The reason you aren’t in a hospital or dead is because I healed you. I wasn’t left with any other option and I was not going to let you bleed to death. I wasn’t sure if it worked until I heard your thought in the ambulance after the shooting.”
