Shadow Spirit: A Steamy Paranormal Romance (Shadow Sisters Book 1)

Chapter 3

Adriana didn’t run directly back to her room. Her first thought was to put distance between Decker and herself. Given that the captain of the guard was bigger and stronger, Adriana didn’t want to run in a straight line or to a destination that might be logical to him. Instead, she entered one of the towers and ran down the steps to get out into the bailey. She considered going up, but it would be too easy for Decker to trap her there.

Why was it the idea of Decker cornering her wasn’t so much frightening as it was arousing? What was it about the captain that made her pulse race and every erotic synapse in her body come alive? Why had she wanted to melt into his strength and surrender herself into his keeping? Wasn’t she all about living free of any male encumbrances and giving the same chance to other women?

Once she walked out into the fresh air of the abbey’s courtyard, it was easier to assess her physical status. The insistent buzzing in her head and dizziness were still there, as was a rising sense of nausea and a piercing migraine. Basically, she felt like shit. She hadn’t felt this bad when Eoghan had bitten her and her body had fought the virus that turned her from human to wolf-shifter.

Adriana stopped and leaned against the sturdy stone of the abbey’s walls. She really did feel awful. There was a part of her that wanted to just seek her room and curl up in a ball. She couldn’t recall ever feeling this bad before. It was as if there was a war of some sort raging inside her. She remembered the feeling of her body fighting against Eoghan’s claiming bite, but this was far worse. What the hell was going on?

“Adriana? Are you all right?” asked one of the members of the clan.

Adriana straightened up and smoothed the bottom of her robe, ensuring it was still covering everything. She became more aware of the abbey waking and people making their way to the dining hall or to their various duty stations.

“No; I’m fine. Just the aftereffects of a bad dream. I was going to breakfast, but I think I may go lie down instead.”

“I could help you to your room…”

“No. No; I’m fine, really, but thank you.”

She had to admit Colby’s clan was far more welcoming and kind than Eoghan’s pack had ever been. Being his mate had been a nightmare. Hunted and chased for sport as well as having to endure being pawed not just by Eoghan, but by his ranking pack members as well. The warriors here at St. Piran’s were not inclined to force a female to do anything. They might have those same urges, though—hadn’t Decker threatened to spank her? And why had that made the butterflies in her lower belly burst into flight to rival the bees buzzing in her head? For the most part the people of this clan were respectful. For one thing, Colby ruled with an iron hand. Oh, it might be enclosed in a velvet glove but there was no question as to who was in command. It didn’t hurt that his beta was his fated mate, Brie.

Adriana managed to give the man a smile and duck back into the main keep. Fearful of encountering Decker if she headed back to her room, she began to shuffle down the hall to one of the common rooms, hoping to find a quiet couch where she could collect herself and rest. The dizziness and pain were not abating. In fact, they seemed to be getting worse.

As a powerful wave of anguish washed over her, she stumbled and felt her knees begin to buckle. She was quite certain she would have fallen had it not been for the intervention of strong hands grasping her forearms, keeping her upright.

“Take it easy, Adriana.”

She looked up to see the eyes and sandy hair of the abbey’s new chief medical officer, Greg something or other. She remembered meeting him when they’d rescued her from Abraham Strode’s compound. It seemed to Adriana that ever since she’d had the misfortune to have Eoghan bite her, she kept needing to be rescued from one thing or another. She was tired of it.

“I don’t need to take it easy. I need to be left alone to get stronger,” she said with what she hoped was the right amount of grim determination. She felt herself weave until Greg steadied her.

“I don’t know that I believe that. I know that your coven banished you, and you’ve had a pretty rough go of it since you got turned, but wolf packs and Colby’s rag-tag band of merry shifters don’t operate that way. We take care of each other. When you’re weak, you can depend on others to be strong.”

The nausea and headache were increasing exponentially. “I’m not weak,” she snarled.

Greg chuckled. “We’ll have to agree to disagree about that, but my point was we help and support each other. If someone is not at their best, we step in and support them until they are. And down the line, they do the same for others.

It was getting more difficult to string cohesive thoughts together because of the pressure in her head. The buzzing had lessened a bit after leaving Decker kneeling and cupping his balls, but it was intensifying once again, she was pretty sure she was going to throw up on the doctor, and now her vision was starting to blur.

“I don’t like your color at all,” said Greg as he reached up to touch her forehead.

Adriana batted his hand away. “Don’t.”

Greg emitted a low growl that she could almost feel. “You’re starting to perspire and if I turned loose of you, I’m pretty sure you’d hit the ground. If Colby is anything like my old alpha, Oliver, he wouldn’t think much of his new chief medical officer letting the beta of the Shadow Sisters hit the ground. So how about you do a guy a favor and let me take you down to the medical facility. We’re still getting set up, but I’d really like to take a good look at you.”

“I don’t want…” she started as she began to slide down the wall,

“Okay, at this point what you want isn’t real high on my list.”

He reached down and scooped her up in his arms, cradling her against his chest as he began to make his way to the state-of-the-art medical facility Colby had created. One thing about her new alpha, he hadn’t spared any expense for what his clan needed. Greg shouldered his way into the waiting area and took her directly back to one of the exam rooms, setting her down on her feet. He started to remove her robe and stopped as he realized she was wearing nothing beneath it. He stared for a moment at the swell of her breast with something other than professional interest. He shook his head, refocusing on her as a patient and not as a woman. Adriana was suddenly not sure why that bothered her.

One of the nurses—a medic from Jackson Miller’s special ops units—followed Greg into the room. “Help me get her vitals.”

“I don’t want you to do that,” said Adriana.

“I know you don’t feel well, and I’m making an exception for that, but right now what you want or don’t want isn’t all that important to me. I can feel you burning up, but your skin is cold and clammy. Now behave yourself and let me get your vitals. Let’s get you up on the exam table.”

Greg set her down, but Adriana could see the strain in his muscles.

“Doc? You okay?” asked the medic.

“Yeah, just a little dizzy. I found Adriana outside on my way to the dining hall.”

Both her temperature and blood pressure were a little high. The doctor moved his hands over her in a detached, medical professional way. “Anything hurt?”

“No,” Adriana lied as she winced when he touched her belly, pressing lightly. “Don’t do that.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, but if you won’t tell me what hurts, I can’t help.”

“I have a blinding headache, my eyes really don’t want to work, I’m dizzy as hell, and I really think I’m going to throw up.”

“Let me give you something for the pain and nausea.”

He pulled out a syringe and then a vial of a clear liquid.

“I don’t like shots,” she said quietly. “I’m pretty sure if you inject me, I’ll puke.”

“Got it,” he said turning away before turning back with a small plastic container. “But I need to get the nausea and pain under control. I promise it’ll be just a little prick.”

Before she could object, he’d tied a small tourniquet around her arm, tapped the inside of her elbow to get a vein closer to the skin and injected her with the liquid, loosening the band around her arm as he did so. Adriana had to admit, it really had been a very mild pinch.

“Let’s get you comfortable on the table and sitting at a better angle.”

He spoke with a quiet authority that she found soothing. When he started to release her, Adriana grabbed for his arm. Greg smiled at her, holding her hand as whatever had been in that syringe began taking effect. When he leaned her back, she didn’t go down very far.

“I got her a cold cloth,” said the medic.

“Thanks,” said Greg taking it and placing it on her forehead. Adriana took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. “Better?”

She nodded. When he started to move away a second time, Adriana grabbed his hand. “Stay. Please?”

“Absolutely.” He turned to the medic. “Ask Colby if he can join us. And you’d better tell him Brie might want to be here.”

“It’s kind of weird having a woman as a beta, don’t you think?” asked the medic.

Greg chuckled. “I think you can get your ass kicked for saying things like that around here.”

“I wouldn’t go to that kind of trouble; I’d just turn him into something innocuous—toad, spider, mouse.”

The medic’s eyes grew wide as he hurried out to do as Greg had asked.

“Not nice, Adriana. I suspect Colby is going to want to restrict you from using your magic to harm or intimidate fellow members of our clan.”

“Our clan,” she said sleepily. “That has a nice ring to it. By the way, whatever was in that vial is good stuff.”

Greg chuckled. “Yes, and it works far better on you that it does a lot of people.”

In the short time it took for Colby to join them, Adriana found herself drifting in a lovely kind of soft-focus world. She’d never been one for drugs, but the feeling of languor and rightness of being here with Greg was stealing through her veins with a lovely, steady progression.

“Not what I was expecting,” said Colby. “Is she all right?”

“I’m not sure yet, but she was feeling dizzy, nauseous, and headachy. I was feeling fine, but I’m starting to feel the same way. I haven’t been here long. Have we had others with these symptoms before I came? Could we have a virus?”

Colby shrugged. “A virus of sorts. Why don’t you and I step out of the room?”

Adriana clutched Greg’s hand. “Anything you say to him, you can say to me.”

“I can do that, but my guess is, you aren’t going to like it.”

“I’m feeling marginally better. If it concerns me, I have a right to know.”

“I don’t necessarily disagree. I don’t think it’s a virus like Greg is asking about; what you are both describing are the classic symptoms of those of fated mates. When they come into close physical proximity with each other, a tentative bond snaps into place.”

“No,” Adriana said, shaking her head, sitting up, and regretting it almost immediately.

“Easy, Adriana,” said Greg, holding her hand and easing her back into the reclining position.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened her eyes slowly. “It can’t be the bonding link. Greg isn’t my mate.” She pulled down the collar of the robe, showing the angry bite from Eoghan’s claiming that had yet to heal completely. “I’ve already been claimed by an alpha. It doesn’t seem to matter that I never wanted that. The damn thing refuses to heal.”

Greg nodded to the weeping wound. “I noticed that. A claiming bite, even that of an alpha, usually heals in a week to ten days. It leaves one hell of a scar, but that one is angry and looks a lot fresher than it should.”

“And while I still feel like shit around Greg, it was even worse this morning with my run-in with Decker.”

“Decker?” Colby asked. “When did you run into Decker?”

“Earlier this morning out on the parapet. I was trying to commune with nature, and he decided to save me from myself.”

“What happened?” asked Greg.

“It isn’t important,” she answered, distractedly. “What is important is that’s when the feeling started and was far more intense.”

“And Decker just let you leave?” asked Colby, suspiciously. “That doesn’t sound like Decker.”

“I didn’t give him much choice. I put his nuts back up in his body cavity. When he took a knee, I decided that it was probably best to let him nurse his pride and his balls in private, but my point is the symptoms were worse, but were starting to abate when I ran into Greg. So see, it can’t be a mate bond.”

Greg shook his head, confused. “Wait. If she’s feeling that way around Decker and I’m feeling it around her, and her symptoms got worse around me, and she’s already been claimed—what the hell does all of that mean?”

Colby regarded both of them with a grim expression. “I haven’t a clue, but I think we’d better head down to the archives and see what we can find out. I can tell you that none of this is normal.”

Taking Adriana by the arm, Colby led her from the room, leaving Greg alone. The loss she felt when leaving him was palpable and disquieting.