Gifted with Hydrangea (18 page)

Alphy
sighed heavily. He understood what
Maysa
was saying.
It sickened him to know that even though Gale wasn’t infected, that because he
was, if he died, she would still die, too.

“
All right,” he said, giving
Maysa
an understanding look before turning to Doctor Collins. “I think it would be
best to sedate me.”

Doctor Collins led
Alphy
over to one of the empty beds, and as
Alphy
lay down
on it, the doctor gathered the things he would need.
Alphy
turned over to look at the adjacent tent still housing Rye and the others. He
saw Rye’s distressed look.

“
Rye, call Gale for me? Will you tell her what’s going
on?” When Ryker nodded,
Alphy
added, “And call Enzo.
Tell him he’s got to lead the pack.”

Tears streamed down Ryker’s face, but he nodded his head
and pulled out his phone.
Alphy
saw Rye’s mate
standing next to him, comforting his mate as Rye spoke into the phone.
Alphy
closed his eyes and looked away. He hated not being
with his mate; he hated the ones responsible for all of this; he hated what was
done to the others before him; he hated not being able to fight this; he hated
having to be sedated—he hated all of it. He felt the prick of the needle in his
arm, and it wasn’t too long after that that he felt darkness blanket him. His
final thoughts were of hope that the cure would be found for all of their
sakes.

Epilogue

Enzo plunked his elbows down on his desk, resting his
face in his hands, and growled. He felt so brain-numbingly tired. With
Alphy
gone, he was in charge, and he had far more problems
to solve than he had answers. It had been fou
r days
since the raids in Philly and Oregon. Many from both
raids had chosen to join them. They had been trickling in since the
n,
along with many others who had petitioned and been
approved before the raids.

He heard and scented his mate before he entered his
office. Enzo sat back in his comfortable office chair, and held out his arms to
his mate as soon as he appeared. He didn’t stop the smile that spread across
his face when his mate didn’t even slow down as he entered, and confidently sat
down in his lap as if they’d been doing it for years. It made his wolf happily
give a whimper-groan sound of satisfaction. Enzo quickly wrapped his arms
around Heath and buried his nose in the crook of his neck, breathing his scent
in deeply.

Heath giggled, and wiggled. Enzo groaned as his mate’s
ass rubbed against his cock through his pants.

“
Hi, baby, how’d your morning go?” Enzo asked.

“
Great. It felt so good to get back under the hood of a
vehicle. Thank you for giving me a job, and the space to work.”

“
Will that be enough room in the shop for you?”

“
It’s plenty of space. Since
Rudo
returned once they were cleared
,
he has been out there working, and he and I get
along great. We don’t get in each other’s way at all. I actually like that
there’s someone else out there with me. It makes it less lonely. I even get
help from Paul, and good thing, too. After I serviced
Alphy’s
truck, like you asked, I had several other pack members asking me if I could
look at their vehicles, too.”

Heath suddenly had a look of unease. Enzo frowned.
“What’s wrong? You don’t have to help them if you don’t want to.”

“
It’s not that. I was just wondering, well, I was
wondering what my options were.”

“
How do you mean?” Enzo asked, as he rubbed his hands
up and down one of Heath’s arms.

“
Well, since I was fired from my j
ob,
I don’t have an income to contribute to this
relationship. The pack members had offered to pay, but I don’t know how that
would work. You said pack helps pack, so do I refuse the money?”

Enzo placed a kiss on his head before he answered.
“You are putting in work for them, so you have the right to ask for
compensation. You are also going to need to buy more tools and equipment, and
it sounds like paying for employees, and the cost of the parts that you’ll need
to get. If you want to help them, you can offer them a discount, or payment
plan, or something, or anything you like. It’s your choice. ‘Pack helps pack’
can be many different things. It could be like supporting a pack-member’s
business, instead of going to their rival, or helping them move, or taking them
something to eat if they’re sick, or unable to go to the store.”

Enzo hooked his finger under Heath’s chin and pulled
his face around to look at him. “And I already told you that I have enough
money for the both of us. I do get paid for being beta of the pack. We get free
room and board. Hell, the only bills we will incur are credit cards and the
like. So don’t feel like you have to earn money. You contribute enough to this relationship
by walking funny.”

“
Oh!” Heath shouted and swatted Enzo’s shoulder as he
laughed.

Enzo laughed with Heath. He reached up and pulled
Heath’s head closer, connecting their lips in a deep passionate kiss.

They were interrupted by Gale’s ringtone. Enzo sighed.
He really wanted to bend his mate over his desk and fuck him silly.
Now I know what
Alphy
has to deal with when he’s with Gale.

“
Sorry, love, I have to take this,” Enzo said as he
reached over, and grabbed his cell of his desk.

“
No
prob
,” Heath said as he
hopped up off his lap. “I’ll go get us some food, and bring it back here so we
can have lunch together.”

Enzo watched his mate’s ass move as he lifted the
phone to his ear. “I hope you’re calling with good news. And I will add,
seriously how
Alphy
 
handles
not killing
Kace
.
”

Gale’s sweet laugh sounded over the connection. “He
has his ways,” she answered.
 
“I called
to give you the best news! The antivirus from Sea, and the other vamps who were
infected, is working.
”

“Thank the moon, stars, and heavenly hosts.” Enzo
breathed out in relief.
 
How’re
Alphy
and Sea doing?”

Gale’s tone turned serious.
“I talked to the lead doctor for the
HazMat
team, Doctor Collins. He told me that because of how
strong
Alphy
is, and because of the meds they gave him
to slow down the virus, it prevented him from getting sicker than some of the
others, and he’s already almost fully recovered. The doc says we can probably
go home in a few days. They want to make sure there is no possible way that
they can spread the virus. Oh, and he said because of the antibodies, all of
them are now immune in case they are ever exposed again. As for Sea, even
though he is getting better, it’s a slow recovery for him and all of the other
vamps and for a few of the shifters, like
Maysa’s
brother, who were really sick, like near the final stages. Doctor Collins
guesses it might be another week, at the very least, before they can leave
medical care.
”

Enzo frowned. “It’s a freaking miracle none of you
where the triage was
, got sick.”

“That’s what
Alphy
says, and he says that from now on, things are going
to have to be run a little bit differently should we go on any more raids. I
don’t blame him. The part that was the worst was being kept apart.
”

Enzo smiled as he thought of Heath.
“Yeah, I hear you there.
I’m gl
ad
he’s going to be okay, as well as Sea. They’re both a
big part of our family,” Enzo said seriously. Needing to lighten things up, he
added, “Give
Alphy
a big
ol
’
smooch for me and tell him I can’t wait for him to take back his throne. It’s
okay for a few days, but if I ever get the idea of running my own pack, you
have my permission to shoot me.” He laughed along with Gale. It was good to
hear her laugh, and it felt good to know his friends were going to be okay.
“Thanks, Gale. I’ll let the rest of the pack know, especially Rye. More than
anything he hated leaving his brother there to come home, but what he does here
is important. Luckily his mate has been keeping him strong and upbeat.”

“
Yeah, a mate will do that to you. I couldn’t handle
life without
Alphy
, but I think I can handle anything
with him by my side.”

As soon as Enzo disconnected, he was surprised when
Havana, followed by her over-protective mate,
Dultyn
,
entered his office.

“
Hey, Enzo, we got news we think you’ll want to hear,”
Havana said as she flopped down in one of the office chairs without asking.
Dultyn
nodded his agreement, but stood behind her.

“
All right, what is it?” Enzo asked.

“
You know we were in town this morning, shopping.” Enzo
nodded, and she continued. “Well, that reporter chick is on to us, I think. Not
our paranormal ways, but that we had a part in the planes going down. She still
doesn’t have any proof, but she definitely suspects. But that’s not the worst
part.”

Havana looked up at
Dultyn
,
cueing him to take over, which he did. “News in town is there was a body that
turned up completely drained of blood.”

“
Fuck. Just what we need with a nosy reporter already
snooping closer to our ass then I’d like. Do you think it’s a rogue? Or just a
crazy human?”

“
We didn’t get much information, so I can’t tell for
now, but with the sudden surge in population, and the reporter sniffing around,
it could bring us too much unwanted interest.”

Enzo leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk.
He folded his fingers and rested his chin on his thumbs. He stared blankly down
at his desk as he thought about what they had told him.

“I hate to change this
cheery subject,” Havana said, “
but I couldn’t help but
overhear you on the phone with Gale. How’s
Alphy
?”

Enzo smiled at her as he leaned back and brought one
arm up to scratch an itch on his shoulder. “He’s doing great and should be back
later this week.” Enzo relaxingly crossed his arms over his chest. “I hate to
be handing him this mess when he first comes home. I’ll need to decide if I
should put this on
Alphy’s
shoulders now, or wait as
soon as he arrives, after such a long trip, and in spite of all they’ve been.”

“
My vote, you should wait.” Havana said. “They’ve been
through so much. He needs to focus on recovery.”

“
I think it would be a mistake if you wait,”
Dultyn
said.

“
How so?” Enzo asked.

“
To wait, even if it would be appreciated, it would
come across to
Alphy
that you don’t think it is a big
enough deal, and I think it is a big deal. I’ve lived with vampires for
decades, and I have learned that you should always err on the side of caution
with the possibility of a rogue vampire. You might want to call Raymond about
it. He can tell you just how serious it is. Also, with as strong of an alpha
Alphy
is, you don’t want him to think that you held back
because you thought he couldn’t handle the news. That might be misconstrued as
thinking him weak.”

Havana chuckled. “Yeah, my mate’s right. Besides,
you’ve seen how
Alphy
can’t sit still even when he’s
injured. He’s probably going nuts with boredom and needs something to keep his
mind busy.”

“
He’s probably being kept busy with Gale,” Enzo said.

“
Not in a room filled with other people who are either
other patients just as bored as him, or doctors and technicians who are watching
everything with the perception of one under a microscope.”

Enzo breathed out heavily. He couldn’t argue with
that. “All right. Head back into the house. Thank you for telling me.”

The couple left as Heath walked in, carrying two
trays. Enzo would have gotten up to help him, but
Dultyn
stopped and helped out, placing a tray on one side of Enzo’s desk.

After he left to catch up with Havana, Enzo picked up
his cell.

“Who are you calling?”
Heath asked.

“
Heath
. Come here, baby, I want to hold you. I have two
calls I need to make. One’s to Rye, and the other is to
Alphy
.”

Heath made himself comfortable in Enzo’s lap as he
held his cell up to his ear. It rang a couple of times before Ryker answered.

“Hey
wolfman
,
whatchya
need?” Ryker’s cheerful voice brought a
smile to Enzo’s face.

“Gale just called and said
Sea is recovering and should be home in about another week.” He paused as he
heard Ryker breathe out a relieved sigh.

“
Alphy
is also doing really good and will be home in a few days,” Enzo finished.

“Thanks, Enzo.”

After their call was ended,
Enzo called Gale back up.

“Hi, Enzo. What’s up?” Gale
asked. “I just talked to you like ten minutes ago.”

“I know, but something’s
come up. Is
Alphy
able to talk right now?”

“Sure, hold on and I’ll
have one of the techs take him the phone.”

After a minute, he heard
Alphy’s
voice come over the line. “Enzo, it’s good to hear
from you. You never call, never write…”

Enzo laughed and was joined
by
Alphy
.

“Gale told me the good
news. How’re you feeling?”

“Not bad. They moved me
beside the wall of the tent where Gale is on the other side. I heard your
conversation. I’ll tell you my secret … to handle
Kace
,
just threaten him with community service with Seamus. If that doesn’t work, get
creative.”

Enzo laughed out loud.
After a moment, he sobered up. “I hate to change this subject to one less
pleasant, but
I think you need to hear
something I just heard. It could be serious, and not to be taken lightly.”