Dr. Mahoney swiveled her pale eyes on Gabe, and if Kel hadn’t been so seriously concerned about the medical effects of his blooding her, she might have laughed. Gabe shifted his body to a more defensive pose under the microscopic scrutiny of Dr. Mahoney’s eyes. She could definitely sympathize with him. The doc could make the fiercest men squirm with the slice-you-up-to-see-how-you-tick look that sometimes crossed her face.
Pulling a penlight from the breast pocket of her white lab jacket she advanced on Gabe, reached up to flash the light in his eyes. Gabe jerked his head back but didn’t move. “We’ll need a blood sample. A muscle biopsy would more clearly identify your metabolic response to the introduction of Sanguen-Guardian blood.”
This time Gabe stepped back and darted a glance to Kel. She nearly did laugh that time. “I think a blood sample would be a good start, Doc. Won’t it take a while before it shows up in his muscles? We need to know now if it’s going to burn him out.”
Dr. Mahoney blinked. “Yes, of course.” She turned her frown back on Kel, her acute eyes assessing her. “But I think we need to address you first. How much blood loss has there been? You know the ramification of rapid blood loss, Agent Sheridan.” The doctor’s pale eyes appraised the fresh bite mark on Kel’s neck before fixing her eyes on Gabe as she continued. “Too much blood loss too quickly can cause death.”
Kel glanced back at Gabe to see his lips thin and a muscle tick in his firm jaw. Dr. Mahoney was making a not so subtle point. Excessive blood loss too quickly was a dangerous situation for any being, not just Guardians. Besides, she was also Sanguen, and female Sanguen produced blood at a rapid rate. She felt like death warmed over, but she wasn’t going to die in the time it took for the doctor to examine Gabe.
“Doc, I think I can –”
“We need to transfuse you right now.” The doctor talked right over her as though she hadn’t said anything. “Two units and your body’s natural reaction will take over from there.”
“No.”
Both women swiveled to glance at Gabe. He’d taken the words right out of Kel’s mouth, but she would have said them with a little less “or I’ll kill you” in her tone. It was only one word, one brief sound, but it brought every defensive instinct to the fore in readiness against the threat his voice promised.
Tension quivered through his muscled frame and his green eyes fixed on the doctor, the red writhing dangerously in the centers, seeming to flicker around his pupil. “No blood,” he bit out around the elongated fangs that pressed against the fullness of his bottom lip.
That quickly he became a danger to the doctor. Every line of his body screamed predator, and Dr. Mahoney stood between him and Kel. The doctor slowly sidestepped to maneuver her body from between them while speaking softly. “She needs blood or she will never heal.”
“My blood only.” He hissed as his eyes carefully watched the doctor. He reached out and jerked Kel to his side. Kel wanted to kick him but his grip on her was unbelievably strong. What the hell was going on here? What was up with Gabe’s sudden caveman routine?
“No,” Kel insisted stubbornly. “No. I just want to be transfused.” She didn’t want any more of his blood in her system. Right now, she still had hope they weren’t completely bonded. Using his blood would remove all questions. It would invariably make her his according to Arcane law.
“We do not have time for this,” Dr. Mahoney explained coolly as she retreated another step to give the Sanguen space. “She needs –”
“My blood only.” Gabe growled and his arm tightened around Kel.
Wincing at the pain in her injured side, she felt another surge of blood soak the bandage. “Well,
she
doesn’t want your blood,” Kel snapped, trying to jerk herself from his grasp, but she couldn’t break his hold and the effort sent a rush of cold coursing over her body. Her head spun and her legs felt so weak. She hated to admit it but she thought Gabe might be holding her up now.
Dr. Mahoney jerked in alarm, her eyes flashing strangely. “She will die.”
The harsh bite of the doctor’s voice struck Kel as odd. She didn’t think she had ever heard that particular tone. Dr. Mahoney sounded downright lethal. Who would have thought?
Stepping forward, the doctor reached for her wrist. Kel waved the woman away as she tried to pull away from Gabe. If the two got any more antagonistic toward one another, he would never let the doctor test him. Somebody had to take charge here. Shaking her head, she tried to dispel the ringing in her ears and make her world still a bit. Blood loss was a bitch.
“Let me treat her. She needs blood and she will resist yours,” Dr. Mahoney snapped icily as she reached toward Kel again.
“She is mine.” He growled and sent Dr. Mahoney up off her feet and sailing across the room with a flick of his wrist.
Suddenly the sliding steel doors jerked back, and Tag was standing between the buckled sheets of metal. His eyes fell on Dr. Mahoney, who was gasping on the floor, her glasses hanging from one ear and teetering on the tip of her nose. His eyes snapped back to them, flashing like a mirror catching the sun. Kel felt a shiver course down her spine.
Tag was their tech geek, although geek wasn’t a very accurate description of him. He was a massive, dark-haired man with a less than sunny disposition. And right now he looked absolutely primordial.
Terrific. This was just what they needed.
Gabe’s large hand wrapped around her wrist, and he spun her behind him to hold her there, his free hand going to the blade at his waist. Both men faced off, the animosity seething with a life of its own between them.
Tag inhaled, leaning forward, and from where Kel was anchored behind Gabe, she could see just enough to know with a sinking feeling that Tag was going to roar. Tag was Drachon. Their roars were soundless but they were so high frequency that they caused severe illness and sometimes death. Especially in their longtime enemies, the Sanguen.
This day was really starting to suck.
Pushing her glasses back on her face, Dr. Mahoney scrambled to her feet and ran in front of Tag, pressed both hands against his chest. “No, Taggart, stop. She’s suffered severe blood loss; you could put her into cardiac arrest.”
“Taggart?” Kel mumbled aloud.
Gripping Gabe’s belt with both hands she pulled herself up to peer around him again, her head spinning with the movement. The prim doctor called Tag “Taggart”? Interesting.
“Sorry, kid. How bad is it?”
“I’ve felt better,” Kel mumbled to the big, menacing Drachon, dropping her head against the burning heat of Gabe’s back. Tag still looked fierce, but the voice in her head had been concerned. Tag, like Raife, had worked for Incog for fifteen years. He’d been around when Kye Forestor had pulled her in off the streets, a nearly sixteen-year-old crossbreed with a major chip on her shoulder.
Gabe’s hand tightened on her arm. “Stay out of my woman’s mind, Drachon.”
Tag raised a brow and looked down at the doctor. “You got in between a Sanguen and his bloodmate, woman?”
“He bled her when she already had a serious wound. She is my patient,” Dr. Mahoney snapped.
Kel was still stuck on the familiarity between Tag and Dr. Mahoney. She distantly observed the exchange between the Drachon and the doctor, the ringing in her ears getting louder. Was there something going on there? The party evidently started in this place after everyone went home. Who would have thought?
The Drachon turned his eyes on Gabe, his lip curling in disgust. “Have you no appreciation for your mate? Does she mean so little? If you will not act in her best interest I certainly will.”
“You will not come near my mate,” Gabe warned, revealing his extended canines in an ill-concealed threat. Kel could feel him gathering himself.
“Oh shit,” she mumbled in resignation an instant before he disappeared. Without him supporting her she stumbled and caught herself against the wall with one hand, trying to breathe through the long moment when her consciousness narrowed to a small point of light. Only with sheer determination she managed to not pass out. But she was cold, and her heart stumbled, the beat sluggish. She was really going to need that blood now, after all.
Tag and Gabe slammed into each other and rolled into a cart, sending trays crashing to the ground.
But first someone needed to break up the two gorillas crashing up Dr. Mahoney’s lab. The doctor had already disappeared into the adjoining room that held all the medical supplies, most likely to retrieve what she would need for the transfusion. Dr. Mahoney really was single-minded. That left Kel to stop the men from pounding each other into the glossy floors. Men truly were morons.
Stumbling forward, she put out her hand, and her eyes fluttered shut as her head spun with the movement.
“Gabe.” Damn, was that her voice? It sounded so far away, all soft and gauzy. The crashing immediately stopped, and suddenly Gabe was in front of her, the intense heat of his body radiating warmth. His large, hot hand gripped hers, reeling her into his arms. He was so solid and real when everything around her felt so unsubstantial, like it was made from sand and was crumbling beneath her feet.
Forcing herself to open her eyes, she looked up into his face, seeking out the striking green of his eyes. He was starting to get a shiner, and there was a cut splitting the flesh of his lower lip. That red ring flickered with life around his pupils, his face drawn with fury and possession. Reaching up she cupped his cheek, touching her thumb to the split in his lip that was seeping blood.
“You’re acting like an ass,” she whispered weakly, feeling herself being pulled down and fighting the fall with everything in her.
“Damn, man.” Tag growled. “You can connect with her if you’ve taken her blood. Look into her. She’s fading.”
GABE WAS STRUGGLING against the bright haze that surrounded him. The fury was an impenetrable fog clouding all rationality. The thought that she would have the blood of another man within her, leaving his essence behind in the lovely little body that belonged to him drove him to the brink of insanity. It whipped up the beast in him until it was lathered and snarling. She belonged to him and if she needed blood it would be his. Every last drop if she needed it, but it would be
his
.
His breath moved deep in his chest, hissing out with the effort it was taking to control himself. Listening to the Drachon went against every instinct he had, but he allowed himself to push inside her through their bond. There was no resistance, not even her natural barriers. She was so far away that she didn’t even acknowledge his presence in her mind, his “burglarizing her brain,” as she put it. He could barely detect her heartbeat, it was so faint. When it stuttered, his own heart slammed hard against his ribs.
“Stop,” she said breathlessly. “Stop being a blockhead and…and let’s just get this” – she paused for a shallow breath – “over with.”
Fuck! What kind of mate was he? He was killing her with this insane possessiveness that he couldn’t seem to manage with any rationality. He needed to get it under control.
Sweeping her up in his arms, he shimmered with her to where Dr. Mahoney was setting up the IV pole with the bag of crimson liquid. He laid her down and swept one hand through his hair in agitation. Even though he knew she needed the blood or she would die, something ugly bucked his control as he watched the doctor slide the needle in her arm.
Kel’s eyes flickered open in response to his silent roar of protest echoing in her mind through their connection. He knew his turmoil was disturbing her, but he couldn’t make himself withdraw. He needed the connection to keep his sanity.
Kel rolled her eyes to where Dr. Mahoney was leaning over her with a stethoscope, listening intently to her heart. “Tell him,” she whispered.
Dr. Mahoney pulled the stethoscope from her ears and let it hang around her neck as she turned to appraise him. Her face was unreadable as she stared at him for a long moment. “The blood belongs to this really hunky Sanguen from down in the training room.”
A soft snort came from the cot where Kel lay with her eyes closed. He jerked his head down to spear her with a narrowed look. She was so pale that he could see the thin blue spider webbing of veins in her jaw. There was a soft smile on her lips. He frowned.
The redheaded doctor jerked her head around to look impassively back at the Drachon who looked like he wanted to throttle her.
“Fine, fine,” she told the telepathic giant before turning back to Gabe, assessing his eyes with clinical interest. He could feel the predator in him clawing at the surface, and he knew the blood aurora, the red ring, had probably reappeared in his eyes.
“The blood is hers,” Dr. Mahoney finally explained. “Because she is a crossbreed she has a completely unique blood type. I have yet to find a type that is compatible so we have to be careful to keep a supply of her own blood for emergencies, such as when a careless Sanguen bleeds her when she’s already bleeding from a knife wound.”
Gabe bared his fangs at the doctor in warning, but she only perused him with little interest and then turned to frown at the Drachon again. “What? I’m not baiting him. He made a foolish mistake and needs to understand the ramifications of his loss of control.” She rolled her pale blue eyes and turned back to Kel, peeled away the bandage with a small sound of approval. “Don’t you have some inane computer program to dawdle with, Taggart?”
The Drachon growled but silently left the lab.
Gabe watched the retreating figure of the Drachon and then turned back to the doctor. She once again had her stethoscope in her ears and was checking Kel’s blood pressure.
“Much better,” she murmured before turning those eerie, assessing eyes on him. There was something about the petite redheaded doctor that made him feel like a moth pinned to a middle school science project. “It does indeed look as though you are experiencing some side effects from the infusion of Kel’s blood.”
At Gabe’s confused frown she smiled sharply and lifted up a gleaming metal pan so he could see his reflection. “You’ve completely healed from your altercation with that interfering Neanderthal.”