PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (49 page)

********

Somewhere in Western Massachusetts

"This better work," Caine said, holding Danni's cold limp body tightly against his as he walked through the automated

double doors of the hospital's waiting room.

"Of course it will," Jax said, not sounding a hundred percent sure and for good reason.

"You'll have to relocate the pack after this," Caine pointed out as they headed for the triage desk.

"They're doing it as we speak," Jax said as they approached the triage desk manned by a young woman with a ready smile

that quickly disappeared as she caught sight of Danni.

"Oh my God......," she whispered before she could catch herself.

Not that he could really blame her since Danni appeared to be dead. That blue tint that colored her skin wasn't exactly

helping and if it wasn't for the fact that he knew that she was a transformed Pyte he would have lost it.....a few more times.

Danni was just in limbo as Jax said and as soon as they figured out how to fix it she would be fine, more than fine. He'd

take care of her, feed her and then he'd have to leave her. Even though he'd already decided that he wasn't going to be able to

part from her, he didn't have a choice. As long as the Master and Greg were alive she was in danger. He hoped that Jax would

allow Danni to stay with his pack while he went after the Master and Greg, but his pack was too skittish around her for that to

work, so he was going to have to find another way to keep her safe.

He opened his mouth to ask the woman to call a doctor, but she looked seconds away from fainting so he decided that

perhaps his best bet was to find the doctor on his own. He walked over to the double doors that led to the emergency room only

to find them locked. With a sigh, Jax grabbed the metal handle on one of the doors and pulled until an alarm went off and the

door bent backwards as the lock broke with a loud snap and the tip of the door was embedded in the wall.

Screams erupted in front of them and behind them as the humans ran. At least that took care of clearing out the emergency

room, he thought as he walked through the doorway and placed Danni on a recently vacated stretcher.

"Find a doctor," he said absently as he cupped Danni's cold face.

"You got it," Jax said as he took off after the fleeing humans, but he didn't have to go far.

"What the hell are you doing?" a man wearing a dull white lab coat demanded as he walked into the room.

He looked to be in his mid-thirties and pissed if the scowl on his face was any indication.

"You're going to fix my mate," he informed the man as he stepped away from Danni.

The scowl was immediately replaced by concern as he rushed over to Danni and looked her over. It didn't take long

before the man released a resigned sigh and stepped away from Danni.

"I'm sorry, sir, but she's gone. There's nothing I can do to save her," he said gently.

"Actually, there is," Jax said, looking around the now mostly empty emergency room. He ignored the nurses cowering near

the few patients who were unable to make their escape and focused on a machine sitting on a metal cart. "Excellent," Jax said

as he walked over to the cart and pushed it towards them. "Now we're going to need to take a little walk to the blood bank,"

Jax said with a pleasant smile.

"Look, I understand that you're upset, but there's nothing I can do for her. I'm very sorry for you loss, but....but.....
what the

hell
?"

"You'll be even sorrier if you don't move your ass," Caine said, allowing his eyes to burn and his fangs to slide down as

Jax shot the doctor a fanged, yet pleasant, smile.

*********

"Danni, it's time to wake up."

She ignored Caine's soothing tone as she struggled to continue with the most restful sleep she'd ever known. There was no

pain, no sorrow and nothing to fear here. There was only peace and she wasn't about to let it go so easily.

"Wake up, baby," Caine said a little more firmly this time as she tried to turn away from him and return to her peace only

to discover that dull throbbing pain was chasing away her peace until the beautiful peace was nothing but a distant memory and

it took everything not to scream.

What the hell was going on? she wondered as she curled up onto her side in an attempt to hide from the pain.

"It's okay, baby. I've got you," Caine said as she suddenly found herself scooped up and placed onto his lap. She greedily

took the comfort he offered by burying her face against his neck and grabbing onto his biceps and holding on for all she was

worth.

"It hurts," she mumbled pathetically against his warm skin as her mind registered something in her arms. She turned her

head to look only to wince and bury her face right back where it belonged when the bright light burned her eyes.

"Shhhh, I know, baby, but we're making it better," he said soothingly as the scent of shifter, Jax by the scent of him, and

human teased her nose. She inhaled a little more deeply to try and sort through the rest of the scents and immediately regretted

it as more pain shot through her head.

"Just relax," an unfamiliar masculine voice that reminded her of warm honey said softly as something cold and gooey was

pressed against her back, making her squirm and register the fact that she was completely naked in a room with three men. That

concern was quickly forgotten by the stranger's next words. "The cancer is still wrapped around her spine."

Cancer?

The cancer was gone, long gone, or at least it should be. Caine turned her into a Pyte. His blood should have fixed all the

damage and made it so that she would never die so why the hell was this man saying that she had cancer?

"Give her more of your blood, you cheap bastard!" Caine snapped.

"I am!" Jax snapped back, voice sounding a little slurred. "I'm trying to make it as fast as I can."

"Eat faster!" Caine hissed, probably realizing that she'd probably black out if he yelled right about now.

"I think we should add human blood to the mix," the human said, sounding intrigued when he probably should be nervous

right about now since it was more than obvious that the man knew that they were not human judging by the way he said "human

blood."

What was going on and where in the world were they? she wondered as she risked scenting the air and immediately

stopped when sharp pain stabbed behind her eyes.

"Just relax, baby," Caine said seconds before she felt him shift and heard him swallowing something. She didn't need to

look to know it was blood. Was he giving her blood, too? She moved her arms and yup, she definitely felt IVs in her arms.

"What's the quickest way to get this in her system?" the man asked.

"Probably a feeding tube," Jax said with an unmistakable slur to his voice this time.

"No," she said weakly, cringing into herself as pain exploded in her head. She didn't want a feeding tube down her throat

and there was no way that she was going to allow them to-

In seconds she found herself on her back and two pairs of hands holding her down as her mouth was pried open and a

slick tube was placed in her mouth. She tried to fight back, but she couldn't. She could barely move. Why was she so weak?

"Swallow," the honey rich voice said and when someone pinched her nose shut she was left with very little choice in the

matter. While it was guided down her throat she squeezed her eyes shut tighter as she tried to block out the bright light that

permeated past her lids.

"I'm sorry, baby," Caine whispered as he released her arm and covered her eyes with his hand, blocking out the light for

her. When she felt cold blood settle in her stomach seconds later it was joined by a wave of exhaustion.

"Just sleep, baby. When you wake up this will all be over," Caine promised and for the first time in years she gave her

trust over to another person.

Chapter 41

"What is she?" the doctor asked, again.

Caine ignored his question and asked one of his own. "Is the cancer gone yet?" They'd been locked up in the room for five

hours trying to feed Danni, stretch out their blood with human blood, and telling the fucking cops who wouldn't take a hint to get

lost.

Before the man could answer, the pounding at the door started up again. "Dr. Philips, this is the police! Open up!"

Instead of yelling for help, the man shot a glare at the door. "I already told you that I'm with a patient!" he snapped, not

sounding too happy with the interruption.

"Check quickly, doc," Jax said as he snapped the lock off the large bay window, that was probably meant to keep the

room sunny to distract the blood donors from thinking about the needle shoved in their arms, and slid it open.

With a frown the man did as he was asked. Caine scented the air and nearly groaned. There were about fifteen men on the

other side of that door and they needed to get out of here before things got any worse.

"The tissue appears to be gone," the doctor said as he gently moved the handheld device down between Danni's breasts,

leaving a trail of gel behind. "It's amazing," the man said and the only reason Caine didn't rip his throat out then and there was

because he knew the man was talking about Danni's recovery and not her breasts.

"Thanks for your help, Doc," he said, tossing the red cooler filled with bagged blood to Jax.

"Meet you outside," Jax said, shifting the cooler in his arms as he stepped up onto the windowsill.

"What the hell are you doing?" the doctor demanded, moving to stop Jax. "We're three floors up."

With a chuckle, Jax jumped.

Since the man hadn't pissed him off he decided to let him live. "Come on, beautiful," he said softly as he wrapped a thick

hospital blanket around his beautiful mate and picked her up.

"Where the hell is he?" the doctor asked as he peered out the window.

"Gone," Caine said as he hopped up onto the windowsill.

"Stop!" the doctor yelled, reaching out to stop him, but Caine was already moving to jump and the men outside the door

were done waiting. Before he reached the ground he heard the door slam open and the men run into the room.

He hit the small patch of grass, running and didn't stop until he spotted Jax's navy blue SUV. He'd barely managed to jump

in the backseat before Jax hit the gas.

"You're going to have to hide out with us for a little while," Jax said as the sounds of sirens drew closer.

As much as he would love to have a little help nursing Danni back to health he couldn't do that to Jax or his pack. They'd

helped him with his mate and were now relocating because of them. They'd done enough.

"Just get me to a motel and lend me some money and I'll owe you one," he said as he looked down at Danni just as she

curled into him and let out a little content sigh.

"Don't be stupid, Caine. You're going to need help."

He opened his mouth to argue, but Jax cut him off. "She's weak, really fucking weak and from what you've told me you've

got a shitload of trouble coming your way. My pack will be able to change tonight and tomorrow we're going to figure out what

to do. We can guard her and while I'm regaining my strength you can help protect my pack," Jax said, knowing just what to say

to make him fold.

Jax was weakened thanks to them and until he got a little rest and had a chance to shift he wouldn't be able to protect his

pack if they'd led trouble to Jax's doorstep. He also liked the idea of having extra help to protect Danni.

"In the morning you can feed off my pack and regain your strength and get Danni back to normal," Jax added, sealing the

deal.

"Fine. Two days should be more than enough," he agreed as he gently picked up Danni's hand and brought her finger to his

mouth. He gently pricked the finger with the tip of his fang before swiping the drop that formed up with his tongue. When the

flavor hit him he nearly gagged.

"Still there?"

"Yeah, but not as strong," he said, pressing a kiss to the tip of Danni's rapidly healing finger in apology for causing it harm

before he placed her hand back beneath the blanket.

"I guess we're going to have to help her along," Jax said with a resigned sigh.

"It's going to take all night and a hell of a lot of blood to wash this out of her system."

"Sounds like fun," Jax said with a groan.

He doubted that anything they did in the next twenty-four hours was going to be fun, but at least he'd have his mate back.

********

Ten more minutes and she'd get up, she thought sleepily as she rolled over on the rather firm mattress. Not even a minute

later she was fully awake, throwing the covers off of her and making a mad dash for what appeared to be a tent opening.

Thankfully it wasn't zipped closed because at that moment precious seconds counted. She stumbled out of the tent,

catching her knee in the oversized tee shirt someone dressed her in and nearly landed face first in the mud as the scents of sex

and shifter hit her hard. A quick look around to take in her surroundings had her frowning and then nearly gasping as the urge to

find a bathroom tripled.

Why the hell did she feel like she was about to burst? she wondered as she stumbled through the camp, trying to avert her

eyes away from the naked shifters making out or worse as she tried to get her ass to the cover of the nearby trees before she

embarrassed herself. An erotic moan and a familiar scent had her head whipping to the left and locking on the couple across the