Everet caught hold of his hand and made him stop trying to find an injection site. “You’re going to be fine.”
It had never occurred to Kane that he’d be anything else until Everet tried to reassure him. “What…going…on?” he managed to ask.
“You’re coming down off your high.”
“Hurts.”
“I know it does. But it will get easier soon.” Everet stroked Kane’s hair again. It felt nice.
Kane smiled. Everet sounded nice too. That was new.
Kane liked it.
“Are you hot or cold?” Everet asked.
Kane mentally checked in with various parts of his body. “Wet.”
“A hot kind of wet or a cold kind of wet?” Everet pushed.
Kane frowned. Men who just wanted him to bend over were so much easier to deal with than men who wanted him to think. “Hot.” He finally settled on.
“That’s fine,” Everet said. “You need to tell me if you start to feel cold. Can you do that?”
“’Kay,” Kane mumbled, sleepy now that some of the pain seemed to have faded away. He tried to turn over. His knee hit something hard. Everet’s arms tightened around him.
Kane frowned. He remembered they were in the bath, but he wasn’t sure why they were in there. He blinked open his eyes and peered at the bright white tiles.
“Shower sex?” Had they fallen down?
“Hush. Just relax. I’ll let you know if I want anything from you.”
Kane nodded. The darkness that crept up on him wasn’t nearly as soothing as the rainbow of clouds that he was used to seeing while on quicksilver, but that didn’t matter. There was no way he could stop the blackness rising around him and covering his head.
Chapter Four
Everet had never been so relieved to hear someone knock on his door in his life. “Come in!”
“Everet? Are you okay? You said you’d be at the meeting…”
Ambrose—thank God! “We’re in the bathroom,” Everet yelled.
“Damn, sorry, Ev, I didn’t realize you and Kane were, um… I’ll meet you down—”
“No! Get in here.” If Everet had been able to leap out of the tub, run out of the room and grab the other man, he would have. But, hell, if he could have done all that, he wouldn’t have needed his friend’s help.
Ambrose cautiously peeked around the door, confusion filling his expression. When he saw Everet in the tub fully dressed and supporting the unconscious magpie, he finally overcame his reservations. “What happened?”
“Do you know what effect it has on someone if he comes off quicksilver cold turkey?”
Ambrose shook his head. “I’ll try and find someone who does.” He took a step back.
“No. Help me out of here first.” It took all of Everet’s strength of will to keep his teeth from chattering as he gave the order.
Ambrose approached the side of the bath, only to hesitate.
“Just support him for a minute,” Everet commanded.
Ambrose was so wary, it would have been easy to think this was the first time he’d ever touched a naked man, but he finally did what he was told. With all the gentleness of a guy who knew he was too big and too strong to risk being careless, Ambrose slid his arm behind Kane’s back, letting Everet clamber to his feet in the cramped confines of the tub.
Everet’s knees sent symmetrical spikes of pain shooting up his legs. He made a mental note never to ask any submissive to kneel in a bathtub for more than two minutes. The bottom of the tub was bloody hard. All future showertime blowjobs he received would feature high quality kneepads.
Gingerly stretching out his limbs, Everet clumsily hauled himself onto the floor beside the bath. His clothes were sodden. Shivers racked his body.
“Does he still feel hot to you?” Everet demanded, grabbing a towel from the rail and rubbing it against his hair and face.
Ambrose placed the back of his fingers against Kane’s forehead. “He’s got one hell of a fever. How long have you had him under the cold water?”
Everet pulled off his T-shirt and dropped the sodden fabric in the sink. “How late am I for the meeting?”
“Bloody hell,” Ambrose muttered. His forehead furrowed with unease as he peered down at Kane. “The meeting’s already finished.”
Everet scrambled out of his jeans as quickly as his freezing legs would allow. Everything he took off followed his shirt into the sink. Rubbing roughly at his skin with a towel gradually coaxed a little bit of warm blood to reach his extremities.
“Can you keep an eye on him while I grab some dry clothes?”
Ambrose nodded, just as Everet knew he would, but the idea of letting Kane out of his sight still sent a barb of horror through Everet’s mind.
Kane was his responsibility. The idea of anything happening to him made it impossible for Everet to take a deep breath, let alone walk back into the bedroom and do anything as practical as get dressed.
Kane was his. The magpie should be at his side, tracking his every step. And, if Kane wasn’t well enough to follow him, then Everet shouldn’t leave him behind.
“I won’t let anything happen to him,” Ambrose promised.
The realization that he’d failed to keep his stupidity to himself finally kicked Everet into action. Rushing in his bedroom, he snatched clothes out of his wardrobe and wriggled into them, his skin still damp, his movements ham-fisted.
His fingers were numb. His whole body shook. Damn it, he didn’t have time for any of this bull. The moment his clothes were on, he raced back to the bathroom.
“I checked his pulse,” Ambrose informed him. “It’s strong and steady. If it wasn’t for his temperature, anyone would think he’s just asleep.”
Everet sat down heavily on the closed toilet lid, his mind racing so fast he couldn’t catch hold of any sensible thought.
“You said he was on quicksilver?” Ambrose asked, his tone wary, as if he was unsure how Everet would react.
Everet simply stared at Kane. “That was what he asked for when I found him this morning. He wouldn’t even admit he was on anything until,” he waved a hand at the sight before them. “Until this happened.”
Kane’s skin proved that magpies healed quickly, at least from simple, physical wounds. The bruises were already a little less vivid. As he lay naked in the bath, it was easy to believe that he might lift his head, open his eyes and, in all probability, come out with some smart arse remark.
But, the only thing keeping him upright was Ambrose’s arm behind his back.
“Can you think of anyone who might know what to do for him?” Everet asked.
Ambrose shook his head. “I’ll go ask around and see who I can find.”
Everet knelt down alongside the bath and took Ambrose’s place, sliding his arm behind Kane. When he straightened up, Ambrose was more than a little damp from the cold spray. He made no complaint. Everet couldn’t bring himself to take his attention away from Kane for long enough to mention it either.
The door closed softly in Ambrose’s wake.
“Everything’s going to be fine.” Everet wasn’t sure who he wanted to reassure. It had all seemed so bloody simple when he woke up that morning. He’d keep Kane under his protection for a few weeks. A little bit of discipline, some firm rules from someone who wouldn’t screw him.
If it worked, he’d release him back into the world and probably never set eyes on him again. If it didn’t, Kane would go down to the cages and Everet would at least know he’d done his best for the other man.
He stared down at the magpie. It wasn’t clear if he was sleeping, passed out or somewhere in between.
“Everything will be fine,” Everet repeated, just in case Kane could hear him. “All you need to do is push through this, and we’ll have you back on your feet in no time. We’ll have you back on your wings as well. I bet it’s been a hell of a long time since you flew, hasn’t it?”
Kane failed to answer, but it was impossible for Everet to let silence settle over them. That would have tantamount to facing the idea that Kane was too ill to speak.
Who the hell would have thought he’d be praying for a sarcastic word from the boy after only one day?
“You’ll enjoy spreading your wings again,” Everet babbled. “And you’ll enjoy living in the nest once you settle in. I’ll make sure everything goes fine for you. You just need to get through this. Okay? You can do it.”
From the doorway came the sound of someone politely clearing their throat.
Everet’s head snapped around. He glared over his shoulder. A small, delicate looking man with dark skin and black hair cropped close to his head stepped forward. “Your friend said you need a doctor-bird?” His accent hinted that he was the genuine thing, from a nest that actually originated in the West Indies, rather than someone who’d just been trained by a doctor-bird.
For a few seconds, Everet was too relieved to say anything. It didn’t matter. The guy didn’t wait for an answer to his question. He strode purposefully to the side of the bath and pressed his fingers against Kane’s throat, checking his pulse.
Everet automatically looked at the other man’s wrist. Yes. It was a hummingbird mark—specifically one that marked him out as a doctor-bird. Everet knew he should have breathed easier with that knowledge. Kane was in safe hands. So, why the hell was he feeling jealous, just because the doctor’s fingers rested against Kane’s skin.
“When did his fever strike?”
Everet lifted his gaze to Kane’s face in an effort to stop glaring at the doctor’s hand. “In the night. I’m not sure what time. I found him about six o’clock this morning.”
The doctor took a thermometer from his medical bag and placed it in Kane’s mouth.
“You did right, bringing down his temperature this way.”
Everet glanced up at the doctor. “He’s been taking quicksilver, I’m not sure how long for.”
The doctor frowned as he inspected the insides of Kane’s elbows. “At least a couple of years I should think.”
Everet gritted his teeth and kept his curses to himself.
“How long have you known him?” The doctor took the thermometer from Kane’s mouth, inspected it and returned it to his bag without sharing the reading.
“Since yesterday,” Everet admitted. “But I’m responsible for him now. He’s my submissive.”
The doctor nodded, as if that explained everything. For a few seconds, he stared down at Kane, as if considering his options.
Everet’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know how to treat someone coming off quicksilver or not?”
“Yes.” The doctor tapped one delicate fingertip against his chin. “It’s no rare thing. More and more cases are popping up all the time—especially in the magpies. Once humans realized how easy they are to control when they’re hooked…” There was no need for him to finish the sentence.
Everet tightened his hold on Kane, as if that would do the poor little sod any good now.
“Not that they’ve ever been that difficult for a man with money to manipulate…” the doctor murmured, apparently to himself.
Everet’s spine stiffened. A medical opinion was one thing. When it came to anything else, Kane was his and no one had the right to say anything against him.
The doctor seemed to notice the sudden change of atmosphere. He cleared his throat and took a notebook from his bag. “There are three stages in withdrawal from quicksilver,” he said, suddenly all professional once more.