Fated Healing [Kindred of Arcadia 5] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (7 page)

“Loving you,” Felix said quietly before adding another finger, but keeping up the same slow pace.

“Please, Felix, I need more, this teasing is killing me.” Claybourne thrashed but was careful not to

squeeze his thighs together.

“Soon,” Felix said and continued his measured assault. By the time his mate was easily taking three

fingers and bucking his upper body, Felix was sure that he was ready.

He removed his fingers and Claybourne let out a growl. Felix grinned to himself.

Pushy bottom
. Felix shook his head, grabbing the base of his leaking prick and easing the swollen head

into his mate’s tight hole. He pushed so that he was just inside the first ring of muscles and withdrew before

doing it again. He repeated this a few more times, watching his mate carefully to make sure he was enjoying

the slow torture. When Claybourne looked up at him with desperation in his eyes, he pulled back and

slammed forward. Claybourne went wild under him. He kept up the ruthless pace, never changing speeds,

just enjoying every second that he was buried in his mate to the hilt.

Felix felt himself getting close so he reached down and began stroking his mate in time to his thrusts. It

didn’t take long before Claybourne roared and came, lifting them both off the bed when he lifted his hips.

The sight and smell of his mate’s seed had him coming, and he buried himself as deeply as he could, filling

his mate so that the smell of their pleasure filled the room.

“After our claiming, I thought it would never get as good as that, but this, this was just as amazing,”

Claybourne gasped, trying to draw air into his lungs. Felix had collapsed to lie on his mate, still buried deep

in his body. He felt Claybourne roll their bodies so that they were on their sides. Slowly he pulled away

from Felix, causing both of them to moan in pleasure.

“I…told…you. Gingers are sex gods.” Felix stuck his tongue out. Claybourne chuckled and eased

himself off the bed before going to the bathroom. Felix closed his eyes and enjoyed a moment of total

relaxation. A minute later he felt himself being turned over and wiped clean. He opened one eye and smiled

down at his mate.

“I should be doing that, the fact that you can still move must mean I didn’t do as good of a job as I

thought.” Felix propped himself up on both elbows. He watched his mate handle his cock with care.

Claybourne kissed the head of his cock before throwing the washcloth into the bathroom and climbing

back into bed.

“I take that back, you just threw a dirty washcloth on the bathroom floor. I am back to god status.” Felix

relaxed and allowed Claybourne to pull him into his arms.

“Sleep. I’ll make you waffles when we get up,” Claybourne promised.

Felix congratulated himself on a job well done.

Chapter 4

It was still dark when he heard Claybourne’s cell phone ringing. He picked up the phone and looked at

the time. It was only eleven o’clock. He answered the phone before it woke up his mate.

“Hello?”

“Doctor, no wait, is this Felix?” A familiar female voice asked.

“Yes, this is Felix, who is this?”

“Oh I’m sorry dear, this is Ms. Tully. Can you please get the doctor? Ms. Brayburn is so much worse,”

she sounded panicked. Felix flipped over and began to shake his mate.

“Claybourne, Claybourne!” Felix shoved his shoulder.

“Go back to bed, waffles in the morning,” Claybourne muttered before pulling the sheet over his head.

“Your phone rang. Ms. Brayburn is worse,” Felix said. Claybourne immediately flipped the sheet off

and reached for the phone.

“Ms. Tully? Yes…yes. I understand. Take her to the clinic, we’ll be there in twenty minutes,”

Claybourne said and ended the call.

Felix reached for his wrinkled clothes and pulled them back on.

“Don’t you have any other clothes?” Claybourne sounded snarky. Felix knew it was because he was

worried, but he was going to nip this in the bud now.

“Yes I do, though not many since I was held against my will for over two years and have only been free

a couple weeks. The clothes that I do have were bought by my friends or donated by strangers. My entire

wardrobe, no matter how meager, however, is currently at the pride house. You haven’t really thought much

about me moving in have you?” Felix stood at the foot of the bed in his now three-day-old clothes.

Claybourne thumped his head against the bathroom doorjamb before dropping his clothes and walking

over to Felix, pulling him into his arms.

“Please forgive me. I’m worried about Ms. Brayburn, but that is no excuse to treat you like shit. Thank

you for calling me on it, and for pointing out what a terrible mate I have been, ignoring your needs like this.

As soon as I know Ms. Brayburn is doing better we’ll get your things from the pride house and go

shopping. I’ll do anything I can to make this your home too.” Claybourne held him tightly.

“Then let’s get moving, slowpoke,” Felix said, pushing him back and kissing him on the lips.

“I’ll be waiting by the door.”

“Okay, baby, be right there,” Claybourne promised.

Felix smiled all the way to the front door. His mate had called him baby.

* * * *

Ms. Tully was standing outside her car in front of the clinic when they pulled up. Claybourne parked

and jumped out of the car. He tossed his keys to Felix to unlock the doors and headed over to Ms. Tully’s

car to help Ms. Brayburn out of the passenger seat.

Felix held the door open as Claybourne rushed past him carrying Ms. Brayburn and heading to the

treatment area. Felix was shocked at the way the older woman looked. She was thinner than this morning,

her complexion now a waxy gray color. He quickly followed behind Claybourne.

“Felix, get an IV started, also an antipyretic,” Claybourne said as he started to examine his patient. Felix

went to the cabinets and pulled out the IV needles, a bag of fluid and some Tylenol.

“She hasn’t been awake for nearly two hours, I don’t think you’re going to get her to swallow those. I

tried to get her to shift but it’s like she can’t. She’s too weak,” Ms. Tully pointed out when he pulled out the

pills. He nodded before putting them back.

“Claybourne, I need your keys to the medicine storage, she’s going to need an injection for the Tylenol,”

Felix said, wrapping the rubber band around the frail arm to get the IV started.

He carefully felt around for a vein and gently inserted the needle. He got the bag started and stepped

away. Claybourne reached into his pocket and absently handed him the keys. Felix ran to the storage room

that held the drugs and unlocked the door. He quickly found the medical-grade antipyretic and raced back

into the examination room. He carefully measured out the dosage and walked back over to Ms. Brayburn.

He gently inserted the needle into the IV port and began to administer the Tylenol.

Thirty seconds later her body began to convulse.

“What in the hell did you give her?” Claybourne demanded.

“Fucking Tylenol, like you asked. Why is she having this reaction?” Felix said as both he and

Claybourne lay across the older woman in an effort to keep her from harming herself. Claybourne reached

behind him and grabbed a bite guard which he put between the older woman’s teeth to keep her from biting

her tongue.

After about a minute the convulsions stopped and her body was still.

“Is she?” Ms. Tully asked crying. Claybourne shook his head.

“She’s fine for now. We’ll let the fluids and Tylenol do their job. Hopefully her fever will break. I’ve

never heard of an illness that affected a person’s ability to shift. Ms. Tully, can you go over the past couple

days to see if we can figure out what led up to this?” Claybourne asked.

“Of course, Doctor. We went home just like you said to do. She changed into her pajamas and we

settled in front of the television. She dozed off and on for hours. I kept giving her water every time she was

awake. I helped her to bed, but then. Then about an hour ago, I heard her moaning in her sleep. I went into

her bedroom and she was burning with fever. That’s when I called. She hasn’t woken up at all, even when I

was calling her name.” Ms. Tully wiped her eyes.

“That’s strange, she wasn’t running a fever before,” Claybourne said, pacing the room.

“Let’s—” Felix began when Claybourne’s phone began to ring. He answered it immediately.

“Liam? Yes, actually I’m already at the clinic. Bring him in immediately.” Claybourne ended the call and

looked over to Felix.

“That was Liam, Damian is out of his mind with fever. They are bringing him in now.” Claybourne

looked around the room.

“Felix, get other beds ready. I want IVs and Tylenol ready at each station. Pull back the curtains, we

don’t need private examining areas, this will be triage,” Claybourne said, pulling the dividing curtains back.

“You’re acting like there will be more,” Felix whispered. Claybourne turned to him, fear in his eyes.

“Maybe if we’re prepared, nothing will happen.” Claybourne turned back to arranging the gurneys in

the room.

* * * *

Fifteen minutes later Liam came striding in carrying Damian in his arms. Immediately behind him were

Rian and Kent. Felix directed him to the back where they had a bed prepared. Liam put him down gently

and stepped back to stand beside the bed. Kent immediately moved to his side.

“What’s wrong with him, Doc? He’s so weak and can’t shift,” Liam asked as Kent wrapped an arm

around his mate. Rian moved to stand at Damian’s side. Felix looked around for Sebastian. Kent saw him

looking.

“We left him at home in our bed. We don’t know if it’s contagious, we couldn’t risk him getting sick,

not with him being pregnant,” Kent explained, shooting a look to Claybourne.

Felix nodded. “I told him about hybrid pregnancies already,” he confirmed. Kent breathed out a sigh of

relief.

“Doc, you have this room set up to receive more patients. Do you know something I don’t?” Liam

asked.

“No, I just have this horrible feeling that this will get worse before it gets better. Shifters don’t get sick.

Period. Now I have two shifters in here, dehydrated and running high fevers. Call me a pessimistic bastard,

but yeah, I have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Claybourne said.

Felix rolled up Damian’s sleeve and got the IV started. When he administered the Tylenol, Damian

bucked and convulsed the same way that Ms. Brayburn did. Felix and Claybourne immediately lay across

his body to hold him down to prevent him from injuring himself. When Damian calmed down Claybourne

and Felix backed away.

“Liam you need to call the other leaders, we need to see how many people are infected. I pray that this

is it, but I don’t think so,” Claybourne said. Liam nodded and reached for his phone when it started to ring.

Frowning, he answered.

“What! Bring her in. Claybourne is here already. Bran, she isn’t the only one, there are more. Okay see

you soon.” Liam stared at his phone.

“Liam? Liam! Snap out of it, what did Bran say?” Claybourne demanded.

“Kate is sick. She has passed out and won’t wake up,” Liam whispered.

“Get with Gabriel and Aleks, go door to door if you have to. We need to see how many people are

sick.” Claybourne ran to the cabinets. He tossed empty vials to Felix.

“Get blood samples. We need to figure out what in the hell is going on.” Claybourne was about to turn

to Liam when his cell phone began to ring. He fumbled, trying to answer it quickly.

“Hello? Fuck! Yes, bring her in. Aaron, we need you and your sons in town, it’s widespread. I need

help down here. Yes. Thanks.” Claybourne hung his head. Felix went to his mate and wrapped his arms

around him.

“Ma is sick. They’re bringing her to the clinic,” Claybourne whispered. He looked over to Liam.

“You need to hurry,” he said and Liam paled. The lion Alpha nodded and headed out the door with

Kent. Rian stayed next to Damian.

“Doc, I can go door to door in town. Everyone knows me,” Ms. Tully offered. Claybourne nodded.

“That would be appreciated, Ms. Tully.” Claybourne squeezed Felix’s hand and stepped away from the

embrace.

“I need those blood samples, Felix. We need to be sure they are labeled and kept organized as more

people come in,” Claybourne explained.

“It’s going to be a long night,” Claybourne whispered.

“Then it’s a good thing we got a nap then isn’t it.” Felix stood on tiptoe and kissed his mate.

“If you start to feel weak or tired you let me know right away,” Claybourne said intently. Felix nodded.

“You do the same.” Felix gave his mate one last hug and turned to get the blood sample he needed.

* * * *

Felix was storing the blood when he heard raised voices. Someone was yelling at his mate? Oh, hell no.

“We’re not leaving, Doc,” Caleb said, his feet spread wide. Claybourne shook his head, sympathy on his

face.

“I understand you’re a ménage mating, I respect that. But it’s one visitor per patient,” Claybourne said.