Warrior Reborn (26 page)

Jason nodded and moved his face away from Briet’s to allow the man access to the pulse at her neck. He kept his gaze locked on the man’s face in case he shifted suddenly. True to his word, Grimm only pressed his fingers to Briet’s pulse and closed his eyes for several seconds. With a deep release of breath, he opened his eyes, withdrew his hand, and stood back.

“Her respiration is improved. Heart function is stronger. The virus strain is still in her system but her body is resisting.”

“I thought she couldn’t catch viruses?” At least he thought he remembered some such discussion. He’d discounted her comment as doctor’s assurance that they were indestructible.

“Human viruses would have no effect on her. This is specific, an engineered poison.” His expression clouded with distress and then he let out a frustrated sound. “There was little I could do. It moved too fast for me to get in front of the progression, much less understand how the toxin worked.”

“How is it that I can do this?”

Grimm gave him a thoughtful look. “Our mates provide a buffer for wounds and illness. You appear to have no reaction to the poison. I would equate the response to a sponge or a siphon, draining off the toxin, in a manner of speaking. I’m not quite sure how the physiological function of the mate connection works with you—though it is working.”

Jason nodded. He didn’t understand the details. Frankly, he’d had no time to absorb everything thrown at him. The exact why didn’t matter as long as she recovered. “How long do you expect it will take to rid the toxin from her body?”

“I can’t say. When she is more stable, we can move you both back to the bed. Your connection will produce the desired effect, for now. I’ll get you some fluids and food. You need to keep up your strength—the drain may hit you unexpectedly. She will need fluids when she can take them.”

“Thank you.”

Grimm turned away, walked past Ansgar, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You should take first watch with them. Make sure Briet’s mate has no problems. Her life depends on him.”

The two men, Turen and Kamau, gave Grimm a look, seeming to question the wisdom to release Ansgar. They reluctantly removed their hands from their compatriot.

Jason questioned the wisdom too, but Ansgar looked sucker punched and confused. He watched his sister like someone who’d missed the last lifeboat.

He understood how the man felt. It didn’t stop his hands from tensing on Briet’s body when her brother came forward, only to sit on the bed. One leg braced Ansgar’s body from the floor, the other lifted to the mattress. Silent, his hands hung awkwardly around one knee and his shoulders slumped, reminding Jason of a depressed lion. A total reversal of the anger and hostility riveting him minutes ago, the life sucked out of him.

“She cares for you,” he admitted with obvious reluctance.

Jason rubbed his thumb across Briet’s hand. “That’s good. I love her, too.”

Ansgar crossed his arms over his chest, hands tucked under his pits. His whole body radiated the need to close off his emotions, feelings too loosely bottled. “She’s my
baby
sister,” he said in a low voice.

Jason closed his eyes. He understood feelings of possession. While his were new, they were familiar at the same time. “She’s all I’ve got, too.” He opened his eyes again and met Ansgar’s gaze. “I’m not going to take her away.”

Ansgar gave him a sad look. “Maybe it is what she wants.”

Jason bit back a smile. “No. She’s not a runner. She pulls people into the middle of her world—one big sun.”

Ansgar gave a small laugh. “Yeah, that’s Briet. The irresistible force.” He looked down and rubbed his hands awkwardly. “Look, I’ll go get you something to eat and drink.” He headed for the door. “Don’t do anything embarrassing, like pass out while I’m gone.”

“Thanks for the concern.”

“No problem.”

Jason waited. For hours.

He drank when Grimm told him to. He ate what Grimm gave him and he held on to Briet as if his life depended on it.

Which it did. He’d been a fool to think she was anything but all the good things in his life. She was the peace over his past, the promise of his future and the light of every day of his life. She wasn’t easy. But he’d never known easy, didn’t want easy.

He would stay put until his arms fell off and he slithered into a molecular pool of crud.

Please, let it be so easy.

***

Jason rested his head against the padded headrest of the chair and moved his arms, shifting the one under Briet’s legs. The one cold and wet.

He blinked his eyes and stared at his arm in the dim grey light of dawn streaming through the window. A dark sheen covered his skin. He nudged the blanket aside more and squinted at the patch. A cold chill washed under his flesh as he glanced at Briet’s face.

Blood dripped from her nose, ran from her ears, oozed from beneath her eyelids. Blood, matching the dark red fluid seeping from between her legs, covered his arm. He felt her body begin to twitch, a low moan filtered from between her lips.

“Grimm. Grimm!” Jason yelled at the top of his lungs, afraid to get up in case he contributed to more loss of blood.

Ansgar stuck his head in the door.

“She’s bleeding—everywhere.”

Ansgar returned with Grimm in seconds. The healer’s hands skimmed Briet’s body, pausing at points as if listening through his fingers. Given his own experience with the DNA vision ability, Jason had little doubt it was exactly what Grimm was doing.

“Bring Quan, quickly,” Grimm ordered over his shoulder and turned back to Jason. “We’re going to move her to the bed. Give me one second to set up. Move your legs. Make sure you can stand up. Then I’ll take her legs and help you.”

Grimm went quickly to the closet, brought out syringes, gauze, and vials, and placed them on the bedside table. “Okay, we’ll do this quickly. Don’t let go of her afterwards.”

Jason nodded. In one swift movement, they laid Briet’s restless body on the bed, the drops and splashes of blood stark against the white sheets. Grimm covered her with another sheet and checked the bleeding from her nose and ears. “Try to hold her still.”

“What’s happening?”

Grimm didn’t respond but pressed a needle to Briet’s vein, took a sample of her blood, injected it into an empty sample tube, and pitched the syringe. He picked up a fresh syringe, withdrew the full amount of fluid from a sealed vial, and tapped it. Grimm gripped Briet’s arm and slid the needle beneath her skin.

He loaded a final syringe and passed it to Jason. “Put this next to you. It’s a coagulant. Once I start, I mustn’t stop. If I’m still working on her after thirty minutes give her this second dose.”

A tall, slender woman with long, blue-black hair, porcelain skin, and delicate almond shaped eyes entered the room.

“Quan, I need you to make sure she’s under and calm. I want her movements stopped. I don’t want her regaining consciousness until I’m done.”

The woman nodded and moved quickly around Grimm to the head of the bed to place her fingers at points along Briet’s face. The restless twitching slowed and finally ceased.

Grimm gestured to Ansgar over his shoulder. “Get him a chair.” He looked at Jason. “Hold onto her.”

Jason sat, Briet’s palm held to his face, and noted the time on his watch as Grimm closed his eyes to work his hands slowly across Briet’s body. Ansgar stood in the doorway, keeping watch. Quan waited in a chair on the far side.

No one spoke. Everyone’s worry hung heavy in the small room.

Jason waited, listened, and prayed.

His watch reached the twenty-nine minute mark and he reached for the syringe Grimm had prepared. Holding Briet’s hand to his heart, he pushed the needle into her arm and pressed the plunger. The syringe still gripped in his fingers, he waited for any hopeful sign. The pressure on his shoulder made him jerk until he realized Ansgar held the wastebasket beside him for the syringe.

Questions and theories ran through Jason’s mind. He kept his thoughts to himself, not letting his fear interrupt Grimm’s progress. He glanced from his watch to the side table for more of the coagulant. Grimm had brought out only one vial.

Could he trust that the man would be done in time? Trust wasn’t the question here. It was about preparedness. He looked to Ansgar. “Find another bottle of that stuff in the closet and another syringe.”

Ansgar pursed his lips. “Grimm will be done in time.”

Jason nodded, “Get it anyway. I’m not going to risk her life by waiting until the last minute. I won’t give it to her unless he reaches the next mark.”

At Ansgar’s hesitation, he lost his temper. “I have a fucking medical degree. I’m not going to hurt her.” He took a deep breath, tamped down the desperate anger raging with his command, and pressed her hand for calm before he looked back at Ansgar. “Please.”

Ansgar glanced from Briet’s body back to Jason and moved to the closet. A new syringe with another dose of coagulant appeared quietly on the side table.

Quan said nothing throughout the whole altercation. Evidently, Turen wasn’t the only person here with a stronghold on calm.

Just a minute shy of the second thirty minutes, Jason held the syringe in hand, calculating how quickly he could load it and dose her when Grimm took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The healer moved backward to sit in another of the chairs, resting his head in his hands.

It was only a moment. Jason gave him that much time. The man had spent an hour working over Briet. When Grimm’s head finally came back up and looked to Quan, relief filled Jason.

“How much longer will she be under, Quan?”

“Another hour or so. How much longer do you need?”

“Six hours would be good for now. That way she won’t move and rupture anything. Then I suspect she will need several more days for rejuvenation.” Grimm’s eyes glanced at the side table, taking in the spare coagulant and nodded to Jason. “It was close. I should have left a second one.”

Jason glanced to Ansgar. “We had it covered.”

Quan opened her eyes. “She’ll stay in dream sleep. I’ll remain here at the Sanctum and be in to check on her.”

“Thank you,” said Jason.

She smiled, rose, and left the room.

“So, what happened?” Jason had waited long enough.

Ansgar spoke before Grimm could answer. “Is this what happened to Maitea?”

Grimm looked pained. “Very similar. This drug had a time trigger, releasing a second strain, thinning the blood to attack the vital organs.”

Jason forced himself to gently stroke Briet’s hand instead of grabbing her to him. He didn’t know these people. He didn’t know the tragedy they spoke of. The implication, however, was all too clear, but he had to focus on the here and now. “Is there any permanent damage?”

“No injury to the heart. I cleared the lungs. The brain had not been touched. The kidney and liver, I’ve repaired, as well as minor tissue and organ function. I will check her again in an hour, just to make sure there are no secondary effects, but I believe I got everything.”

Jason looked along Briet’s body and the bed. The blood everywhere was garish.

“Was she—?” Ansgar stopped and looked at Jason, apparently uncomfortable to continue.

Grimm hesitated but didn’t look at Ansgar. “She wasn’t pregnant. Which turns out to be fortunate. So much bleeding and damage would have been fatal. She’s lost too much blood to have survived such level of trauma.”

Ansgar shifted uneasily by the bed, his arms still crossed over his chest, his hands fisted. “She loves children, Grimm.”

The healer turned and gave Briet’s brother a compassionate look, but swung back to Jason before he responded. “She is in good shape. This hasn’t affected her ability to carry a child safely to term, but—”

Jason looked away from all the blood and tried to shake the focus the healer had on Briet not being pregnant when the connection registered. He narrowed his eyes. “You think that was the purpose of the drug—of the attack? To kill them both?”

Grimm didn’t answer, but he rested his elbows on the bed and looked at Briet, his hands tented before his face, fingers on his lips in thought.

Ansgar swung away. “Salvatore. The bastard targeted her because he thought she was mated? Hoping she was pregnant? Son of a bitch. How did he find her?”

Jason waited, eager to learn everything about the man who could have orchestrated this horror as he stroked the hair from Briet’s face. Grimm gave no conjecture. At least she was still with him. “Can we move her enough to get her cleaned up? In case she wakes—I don’t want her to see this.”

“I think we can manage that.” Grimm’s voice was steady in contrast to Ansgar’s previous outburst.

The brother moved to stand at Briet’s head and brushed a hand over his sister’s face.

Jason looked from Grimm to Ansgar in confusion. Confusion morphed to wonder. Tiny mists of water sprayed along Briet’s skin from her brother’s fingertips, cleansing away the blood and dissipating into nothing. Jason waited as Ansgar patiently cleaned Briet’s face, then cupped her hair in his hand, cleaning that as well.

Jason looked away from the tight expression of pain on the man’s face and focused on toweling Briet’s skin. Whatever issues he might have with her brother, their mutual love for her wasn’t one of them.

Ansgar looked toward the blood painting the lower sheets of the bed. Grimm laid a hand to his arm with a shake of his head. “We will see to the rest. Would you ask Mia to find something comfortable for Briet to wear?”

With a glance between them, Ansgar nodded. Lines of worry cut creases around his eyes and mouth. Ansgar shook his head and let out a harsh breath. “You’re sure she’s going to be okay?”

Grimm gave him a weary smile. “I wasn’t sugar coating the situation. She will heal and she will be able to have children, if she wants them.”

Ansgar gave a stiff nod and left the room, hands in his pockets, his large shoulders hunched.

Grimm gathered supplies and closed the door on his return. “With any luck we can do this before anyone else shows up.”

He didn’t give Jason an option, moving to care for Briet’s lower body with the speed, efficiency, and detachment of a professional. In minutes, they had her cleaned and wrapped in a fresh sheet. Jason lifted her gently as Grimm removed the traces of the attack from the bed and then spread fresh linens.