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The tension from the immortals around him was starting to give him a headache. “Let’s go,” Garrett said.
Ronan’s hard face gave nothing away, but his eyes burned a deep aqua.
Family.
It was there in every angle and line. Garrett could see his father in Ronan’s jaw, his uncle in Ronan’s gaze, and even his niece in the arch of Ronan’s eyebrows. “I can do this,” he said.
“I know,” Ronan said, turning for the door. “If anything goes wrong, we share blood. I’ll be the one to bring you back, regardless of the cost.”
“Cost?” Garrett asked, striding behind him.
Nobody answered.
Logan fell into step.
Benny clapped Logan on the shoulder. “You can come down to the bottom level, but you can’t enter the chamber. The energy will kill you if you’re not part of the ritual. Stay close right outside. We’re going to need your blood.”
“You can have it.” Frustration crossed Logan’s face.
Ronan glanced back at Garrett. “Follow me in a second, and don’t worry if your skin feels like it’s boiling off.” Then he disappeared, followed by Ivar, Benny, and Adare.
The quiet of the kitchen ticked.
Garrett paused. “Lo—”
Logan held up a hand, his green eyes burning. “Let me do this first. See if we can survive it. Maybe this ritual won’t work like it did before.” He clapped a hand on Garrett’s shoulder. “My mama has three sons. Yours only has one. Let me do this.”
“I love you, man,” Garrett said, going for flip and completely missing it. He sobered. “You’re my best friend and my brother.” There wasn’t anything on earth Garrett wouldn’t do for Logan. Including risking his life first. “I won the toss.” A part of him, one that he probably got from his father, believed in fate. That things happened for a reason, and that he had a destiny to fulfill. This was the first step. He just knew it.
“G, we’re family. I can’t let you die,” Logan said, his lip twisting.
“I won’t die,” Garrett said, trying to sound sure. “But just in case—”
“Don’t say it.”
Garrett cleared his throat. “Take care of my family. Help my sister and my folks. My dad is tough, but he’ll be the one who needs you. Even more than my mom.” His throat burned. “And protect Hope.”
Logan’s eyes burned. “Don’t fucking die. If you do, I’m going to find that wolf shifter who dumped you last year and mate her. We’ll name every kid we create G-dog.”
Garrett coughed. “Fair enough.” He grabbed Logan and yanked him in for a hard hug. Logan clapped him on the back. Then they turned and all but jogged to the stone stairwell down into the earth. Garrett followed steps, winding around, and soon sweat soaked his shirt. Finally, they reached a small pocket with a crevice big enough to slide through sideways.
Logan paused right outside and put his back to the wall, sweat rolling down his face. “Stay tough, G,” he whispered.
Garrett nodded. Taking a moment for a quick prayer, he let power rush through his veins. Then he shoved through the opening, which quickly shut behind him. Torches lit the rough rock walls, and the air was so hot it blurred. The four males were positioned around an inner circle, their shirts off.
Garrett ripped his over his head without being asked. Then he moved past Ronan to the area in the middle of the circle.
Power and something ancient surrounded him. The air shimmered with the sense of foreign dimensions, shifting time. The very laws of physics were stretched, contorted. Yet the moment was real and on fire. His body chilled and then heated.
Going on pure instinct, he turned and faced Ronan directly.
“We share blood,” Ronan said, his voice echoing off the chamber walls. The words were apparently meant as a reassurance, so Garrett nodded. “When the bonding starts, send your mind elsewhere. You’ll see things—places—you never imagined. You’ll see the stream of time. Please look for my brother. Try to see if Quade’s shield has shattered yet.”
“I will.” Garrett set his feet, looking down to see the outline of his circle. The black demarcation began to lighten and then glow a fiery red. Looking closer, he could see it was actual fire. Lava? His boots began to bubble, the leather melting away.
A haze surrounded him, and the immortals wavered behind it.
A myriad of sights and sounds assaulted him. Unknown and unfamiliar. Was this a different dimension? One dimension crossing another? His skin pricked, and the cells inside his body began to pull apart with a feeling like sharp knives. What if the ritual couldn’t be performed in this time?
His vocal cords stretched inside his throat, snapping and then mending. He panicked and tried to escape the circle. His body refused to move. He remained completely in place. At the realization, he settled and calmed. There was no way out. He was Garrett fucking Kayrs, and he’d survive this. He could survive anything.
Silver glinted. He lowered his chin to focus. Ronan held a sharp blade in his hands. He sliced his palm, and the smell of blood wafted through the haze. Pain slashed through Garrett’s palm and he looked down, seeing an identical cut. Ronan stepped closer and held out his arm with the hand down, dripping blood onto the earth. Garrett’s arm moved on its own, and he held out his hand, catching Ronan’s blood.
Ronan said something, and clouds began to swirl throughout the rapidly-heating chamber. It had been hot before, but this was merciless. Ronan’s words were lost in the haze. Part of the ritual Garrett couldn’t hear. Then Ronan moved to the right.
An earthquake rocked the entire chamber, creating small fissures in the ground.
Adare came into view, a slightly different knife in his hand. He cut himself and pain again ripped across Garrett’s palm. He looked down to see the cut was diagonal to the first one. This time, he held out his hand before Adare offered the blood. Adare’s arm came through the mist, hand down, and he dropped blood onto Garrett’s already bloody hand.
Warmth flared.
Garrett performed the same acts with Ivar and Benny until he was facing Ronan again, blood from all four immortals mingling with his own on his left hand.
Going on instinct, he drank a full swallow. Agony burned down his throat.
The blood on his hand bubbled, turned black, and singed beneath his skin. He caught his breath, gasping, dropping to his knees. His ribs heated and glowed through his skin. Unimaginable pain, something too deep to even be pain, overtook him.
He screamed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Faith finished dressing after a relaxing shower and then went to check on her sister. She moved Grace around, stretching her limbs, marveling at her muscle tone. Grace hadn’t atrophied at all. It had to be the Key marking.
She leaned in, remembering when she and Grace had told each other everything after a date. Heck. They’d told each other everything before a date. She so missed those times. Her stomach growled. Faith pressed a hand to it. She was starving. “I’ve got to get some food. Oh, and I mated Ronan,” she whispered to Grace. “I’ll be back to explain later.”
Then the monitor caught her eye. Oh God. She ran forward and double-checked the cuff around Grace’s arm.
Then she took the blood pressure again.
Low. Definitely too low. This was terrible.
Panicking, she turned and ran down the hallway, yelling Ronan’s name. She had to find him. Reaching the computer room, she realized it was empty. Where were they? Time was running out for Grace. Right now.
Ivar’s phone caught her eye near the computer. She grabbed it and ran down to the other conference room. Where the hell was the entryway to go below the earth?
She couldn’t find it. Okay. She’d check on Grace.
Swallowing, she ran back to Grace’s room. Her sister had paled even more, and her vitals had all slowed.
Faith
bit back a sob. She glanced at the phone in her hand. Damn it. It was a long shot, but she scrolled through Ivar’s phone, looking for Ronan’s number. Oh yeah. He didn’t have a phone yet. So she pressed the speed dial for Adare and then Benny, only getting voice mail. They probably couldn’t get service so deep in the earth.
There was only one other person to call.
Okay. This was crazy. Faith’s hands trembled. Ronan was going to kill her for this.
She looked at the innocuous device. Biting her lip, she quickly dialed Dayne’s number before she could chicken out.
“Dayne,” he answered, his voice absentminded.
“Dayne? It’s Faith Cooper,” she whispered, sitting on the pale pink chair.
He was quiet for a moment. “Are you all right?” His voice quieted as well.
Was she? “I—I don’t know.” She looked at her motionless sister on the bed. “I mean, I am, but my sister is not.”
“I can come get you if you need protection,” Dayne said. “Just say the word. Drake and I will find you.”
She winced. Betraying Ronan really wasn’t an option. “Please tell me how you awoke Grace.” She swallowed, her body shaking. “Please.”
“Okay.” Movement sounded. “I don’t really understand the science, but I’ll put on somebody who does.” His footsteps echoed through the line and then there was the sound of a door opening. “Dr. Maple? Could you explain the procedure we used on Grace Cooper to her sister, who’s also a doctor? She should understand your mumbo jumbo.”
How dangerous could a guy be who used the term mumbo jumbo?
A click echoed, and a woman’s face came up on the screen. Long blond hair, intelligent green eyes, pointed chin, and very pale skin. “Yes. Hello?”
Faith pressed a button, engaging the camera. “Hello. I’m Dr. Cooper.”
“Oh. Hi. I’m Yvonne Maple, a surgeon with the Kurjan nation.” The woman smiled, her gaze intense.
A surgeon? “Are you a Kurjan?” Faith asked, her mind reeling.
“Yep.” The woman’s eyes changed from green to purple and then back. A couple of rather dainty-looking fangs slid down from her mouth and then retracted.
Holy crap on a cracker. A female Kurjan. A beautiful one, actually. Unless this was all staged, which was certainly possible.
The woman moved, and lab equipment showed behind her. She was wearing a blue blouse with a white lab coat over it. “Before we begin, do you mind taking your sister’s blood pressure for me?”
“I already did, and it’s incredibly low. Let me check again.” Grabbing the cuff and her stethoscope, she did so, her heart dropping. “Gracie, you have hypotension,” she whispered, her head reeling. “You’re eighty over twenty.” Much worse than just hours before. Whatever the reason, Grace’s condition was worsening. Without question.
She looked back at the phone. “She has hypotension.”
Yvonne frowned. “I was afraid of that. What’s your understanding of the H-cells?”
Faith blew out air. “Zero understanding.” What the heck was an H-cell?
Dr. Maple nodded. “Ah. Okay.” She turned to the side. “Why are we sharing intel with a human?”
“She needs help.” Dayne’s voice came easily over the line.
Dr. Maple focused on the phone again, her brows creased. “I don’t like this, but all right. H-cells are the healing cells that immortal species use to heal themselves. We’ve been working for decades on a way to use those cells to help humans, although we aren’t ready to share yet. We certainly aren’t prepared to go public with our existence.” The last was said as a warning.
Faith stood up, her blood pumping furiously. Could these people help her sister? “So you used them on Grace?”
“No.” Maple shook her head. “We just gave her a minute amount of Dayne’s blood. Any more without an HT injection would’ve killed her.” She winced. “In fact, has there been any uptick in her blood pressure?”
“No. It keeps decreasing.”
“How unfortunate.” Maple shook her head and blond wisps went flying. “I told them it was a bad idea. Even a small amount of Dayne’s powerful blood is too much for a human, especially a weakened one. Her heart is going to give out soon.”
Faith rushed over to her sister and placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “How soon?” The change in blood pressure was indicative that Maple was telling the truth.
“Just a few hours,” Maple said, her eyes soft. “But I can save her.”
“With an HT injection,” Faith said slowly. “What exactly is that?”
Maple turned to the side, apparently getting permission to continue. “It’s a serum that took me fifty years to develop. It mutates human antibodies in order to bind them to the immortal H-cells from Kurjan blood and lets them perform their job.”
“You can save humans?” Faith breathed, hope smashing into her.
Maple bit her lip. “Yes and no. We’ve had positive results in Enhanced females only—no regular humans. It’s a fast healing—within twenty-four hours.” She rubbed her chin. “Then the H-cells are absorbed into the body and just disappear. I haven’t been able to make the transfer long-term.” Her eyebrows lowered again.
“But during the active phase—they cure the Enhanced female?” Faith asked.
Maple nodded. “Yeah. But the goal is to increase longevity and quality of life. Not just heal an injury.”
“You can save my sister?” Faith asked.
“If we get an injection into her in time,” Maple said, drawing back from the camera. “Usually we would have performed the injection by now.” She glanced down at her watch. “You have a very short window, and then there’s nothing I can do.”
Oh, God. Faith’s mind reeled. “Why don’t the vampires know about this? Or the demons?”
Maple snorted, making her look like a cute little elf. “Vampires? Right. They’re interested in strategy and defense—not science. We have a horrible history of atrocities on both sides. Kurjans aren’t innocent by any means. But we’ve tried to improve and learn. The vampires…have not.”
Faith couldn’t possibly care less who knew the most about science or who was good or even bad. Her sister was what mattered. Period.
Grace’s systolic pressure dropped a couple more millimeters in HG on the monitor.
Faith stopped breathing. If she didn’t do something, her sister was going to die. “Would you give me the serum?” she asked.
Dr. Maple drew back from the camera. “No.” Her voice rose. “I need to administer the injection and monitor results. You don’t know anything about the process.” She leaned in closer to the camera. “I’m two hundred years old, Dr. Cooper. You don’t have near the experience I do.”
“Nevertheless, I’m a leading expert on comas,” Faith countered, her stomach tilting. “You seem legit and Dayne appears reasonable, but I’m not bringing my sister to you.” She trusted Ronan and definitely didn’t trust these folks. She couldn’t take that chance with Grace’s life. “Please tell me the ingredients of the serum, and I’ll keep you informed.”
Maple coughed, incredulousness crossing her face. “You can’t go out to Target and buy these ingredients. Some of it I created from Kurjan blood cells, and we don’t share Kurjan blood with humans. Ever.”
That made sense. Faith’s mind reeled.
Dayne suddenly appeared on the screen. “It’s my fault that your sister is dying. I shouldn’t have given her my blood, but I thought it was the only way to get your attention.” Lines fanned out from his odd greenish-purple eyes. “Tell me where to bring the serum, and I’ll come alone. I’ll give it to you and leave.”
Faith swallowed, watching Grace’s monitors. Her diastolic number dropped again. There just wasn’t time. “No. Dr. Maple comes alone. I’m in Wyoming and can meet you outside the town hall in Northtown.” There had to be a to
wn hall, right?
Dayne glanced down, probably at his watch. “She can be there in an hour and a half via helicopter.” His mouth firmed into a white line. “We’re having a bit of a…well, internal struggle here.”
“Oh. Because of the Cyst attacking the Seven?” Faith asked, sarcasm nearly burning her tongue.
His gaze hardened. “Yes. There are a couple members of the Cyst who’ve gone rogue. Apparently some long-standing feud between Omar and Ronan Kayrs.” Dayne exhaled heavily, his gaze earnest. “I’m taking care of it and removing Omar from his position. But I’m getting some backlash, so let’s just keep this conversation and plan to ourselves?”
Like she’d tell the Cyst. “I have to trust you, Dayne. But if you cross me, you’ll regret it.” Yeah, probably an empty threat when dealing with an immortal. And she was lying. No way did she trust any of these people.
Grace’s pressure dropped again.
Time was definitely running out.
There wasn’t a choice.
Dayne’s chin dropped. With his pale, angled features, he looked like a hero from a science fiction movie. “I won’t harm you, Faith Cooper. And I’d like to save your sister.”
She nodded. “I’ll meet Maple in an hour.”
The screen went blank. She wanted to see Maple in person. Dr. Maple was a female Kurjan. They actually existed.
Faith rushed into the hallway and ran to the control room, looking frantically around for the entrance to the chamber. She had to find Ronan. Going alone to meet any Kurjan was crazy.
Only smooth rock wall met her gaze. She pounded on the wall, but nothing happened.
Fine. Okay. She could handle this. Grabbing a piece of paper, she quickly scrawled out a note for Ronan.
Ronan,
Grace’s blood pressure is dropping dangerously low, and I’m meeting a Dr. Maple (Kurjan female) in Northtown for a serum of H-cells to save her. She says she has a cure. It’s probably a trap. Well, I’d say seventy percent trap. Maybe eighty. Hell. I don’t know. I’m purposefully walking into a trap, but it’s my only option right now. My hope is to grab the cure and run. I’m sorry.