Vivianna
There was no concept of time down in the lab, but I knew that I couldn’t keep letting Koit give blood.
His face was getting pale, and his eyes were drooping, letting me know he had lied to me when he said he was feeling fine.
Men had more blood than women did, but any dramatic loss of blood would give the same reaction.
I clamped the tube and pulled out the IV, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.
“Is it safe to stop?” Koit asked, panic in his eyes as his gaze bounced between Rik and me.
“You have given too much blood, Koit,” I said, smoothing back the hair that had fallen into his face. “I can’t risk anything happening to you too. Rik’s breathing is getting stronger, and his heart doesn’t sound like it’s struggling as much. We just have to hope his werewolf healing will kick in.”
Koit nodded his head absently, his eyelids lowering as he rested his head on my shoulder. I hugged him to my chest, letting the tears I’d been holding back trail down my cheeks. This was the first time that I’d had people in my life that I cared for this much.
Don’t lie, you love them. Even Darius, the bastard that he is.
How can I love them already? I’ve only known them a couple of weeks—if that.
Wolves know, we mate for life. We picked them, and they picked us.
I don’t know if I can do this. When I thought Rik was dead, the pain was worse than being tortured.
Look, we know what it’s like to be unloved, unwanted, and used for personal gain.
These men are the total opposite, and we aren’t used to that.
What I do know is that we trust them with our lives and would do anything for them, even if it puts us in danger.
Rik did that for all of us. We owe him everything.
I took a deep breath, knowing my wolf was right. I was scared because I was always waiting for them to turn on me, but these men didn’t deserve that. No matter what situation we were in, they always showed me how important I was. That I had value in more than what I could do for them.
The faint sound of footsteps approaching made me freeze.
I pulled my wolf forward to enhance my senses but relaxed once I caught their scent.
Tav was back with Darius and a few other people, one of whom was hopefully a doctor.
Tav entered the room first, his eyes finding me right away, and relief filled them as he saw me.
“Did you find a doctor?” I whispered, not wanting to wake Koit.
“Yes, he should be here shortly,” Tav said.
Darius quickly scanned the room, then made his way over to me. I shifted Koit so that he was slouched back into the office chair. It looked uncomfortable, but it was better than the concrete floor.
“What is this place?” Darius asked, his jaw clenched with anger.
“Our best guess is it’s where Dr. Faulk’s lab. Either that or someone took all of his research and brought it here,” I said as I kept glancing over Darius’s shoulder.
“The doctor is one of the mate prospects, he’s on his way from Rik’s pack.
Once he lands, they have instructions to get him down here right away.
” Darius grabbed my arms, drawing my focus back to him.
“I promise I will do whatever I can to make sure that Rik is okay. You’re a good doctor.
You’ve kept him alive; please don’t beat yourself up over this. ”
Having Darius be rational with me was exactly what I needed right now.
See, I told you that he wasn’t a lost cause. He just needs proper motivation.
Bullshit. You have not been saying that, I have. You’re the one who’s been telling me to kick him to the curb.
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
“Viv,” Darius said, giving me a slight shake.
Blinking at him and shaking my head, I got back to the matter at hand. “What?”
“I was asking you what happened,” Darius said, his brows creasing in worry.
“We went out on our run and came across the scent of wolfsbane. I decided that we needed to check out where it was coming from, being that it’s so dangerous.
That’s when we found the cabin, and Rik discovered the trap door.
We came down here and looked around, and one of the computers’ failsafe was triggered, and the poison was pumped into the room.
Rik saved our lives at the cost of his own.
” I sobbed, seeing his face as the door shut flash before my eyes. “Why the hell would he do that?”
Darius pulled me against his chest, holding my head so it rested in the crook of his neck. His scent calmed me as I wrapped my arms around him, clutching to his shirt. I was naked and plastered up against a man who wasn’t my mate, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care at the moment.
“Ahem, excuse me,” a voice said, trying to get our attention. “I was told there was an urgent patient needing my help.”
I moved to pull out of Darius’s hold but was stopped when he held me tighter. “Close your eyes while she gets dressed.”
I peeked over his shoulder to see a guard coming over with a tote bag full of clothes, but I was more distracted by the man who was standing with his eyes closed.
He was shorter than my mates, but that didn’t make him less impressive to look at.
His rich bronze skin tone was set off by the burgundy button-down he wore, complemented by black slacks.
This gave off the vibe that he came from money—not like Darius with his custom Italian suits, but comfortable living.
His hair was buzzed short, but I could tell it was thick and coarse.
His beard framed his jaw, making him appear older than I think he truly was.
I wanted him to open his eyes and look at me, more than anything, but I trusted Darius’s judgment enough to get dressed.
I pulled yoga pants and a loose T-shirt out of the bag and pulled them on before waking Koit up.
“Babe, you need to get up,” I said gently. “The doctor is here, and you might be able to answer some questions I don’t know about Rik.”
Koit pulled himself up, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. I slipped a shirt over his head, and Darius and Tav held him steady while he pulled on some sweats and then sat back down.
“Did you bring any food?” I asked the guards. “Koit gave too much blood, so he needs a pick-me-up.”
“I have some in my bag,” Tav answered, turning to grab it off the floor. “Here, this should help.”
I took the orange juice from him, opened it, and handed it to Koit. “Drink this slowly.”
“You know I would be able to help better if I could open my eyes,” the attractive doctor grumbled. “I didn’t get dragged out of the house by guards and shoved on a helicopter for nothing, did I?”
The fuck?
A snarl fell from my lips, and before I realized it, I was standing in front of the unsuspecting doctor. I let my alpha essence roll out of me, causing the doctor to snap his eyes open wide and gasp.
“That is my fucking mate lying on that floor, dying after he saved my life. The next words out of your mouth better be a way to save him, or I’m going to rip your heart out where you stand,” I growled. The panic that shot through his seafoam-green eyes told me we understood each other.
Damn right, you should be scared.
“Dama, I apologize for my callous comments. If you could tell me what happened, I will begin my examination immediately,” he said, dropping his gaze in submission.
“Wolfsbane was pumped into the room in a vaporized form. He was shut in the room for fifteen minutes with only a lab coat over his head to combat the fumes,” I said, switching into medical mode.
“Upon learning the effects of being poisoned with wolfsbane, I gave him a cocktail of blood thinners and did a blood transfusion from my mate Koit. As of right now, he is breathing better, and his heart is not being taxed by pumping thick blood through it.”
The doctor’s eyes grew wide in understanding. “You’re a doctor.”
“Yes, a human doctor. I don’t have the training to work on werewolves. I did what I could to keep him alive, but now I need you to make sure he stays that way,” I said, gesturing for him to attend to his patient.
He knelt by Rik and pulled a few things from his bag, checking Rik’s vitals before giving orders to the guards that had come in with him.
“Run back and grab the defibrillator and the bag of medicine and IV supplies,” the doctor barked out.
“Right away, Dr. Price,” one of the guards answered, jumping into motion.
I crouched down opposite where he was working, grabbing Rik’s hand as I watched him work.
“Why did you pick Koit to do the blood transfusion instead of yourself?” Dr. Price asked.
I looked at Koit, unwilling to answer until I knew he was going to be okay with everyone finding out this way. Koit took a deep breath and nodded for me to answer the question.
“Koit is Rik’s half-brother,” I whispered, knowing he would hear me but not wanting to broadcast it throughout the room.
“What the hell did you just say?” Darius demanded, his eyes full of surprise. Slowly, he turned to Koit, as if he were waiting for him to say it was a joke.
“Our fathers are the same. I don’t know the whole story—my mother would never tell me. I couldn’t ask Dad because I was his dirty secret even though he tried to be there for me in his own way,” Koit said, hanging his head, not wanting to look at anyone.
“Does Rik know?” Darius pushed.
Koit just shook his head, covering his face with his hands, hunching his shoulders like he was waiting for an attack.
Dr. Price ignored the whole situation, having received the supplies he’d asked for.
I watched him fill a saline bag full of meds after he put in an IV port.
“This medication should help void out the poison, but if it’s leached into his tissue from being airborne, it could have some adverse effects. ”
“Such as?” I questioned.
“Irregular heartbeat, seizures, and trouble breathing. Hence why I wanted the defibrillator just to make sure. Once we get this medication flowing, and if he doesn’t react in the first thirty minutes, we can get him out of here and back home,” he said, watching my face for a reaction of some kind.
I gave him a sharp, quick nod as I settled in to wait.
“There could be something else that will help speed this along,” Dr. Price said hesitantly.
My eyes flicked up to him. “I’m open to suggestions.”
“You are an alpha female, you’re stronger than everyone here. If we transfer some of your blood into him, it could help boost his self-healing. The fact that you are also his mate and close by is already improving his chances.”
“Do it,” I said without even batting a lash.
To my surprise, my mates and Darius started to protest.
“Viv, you have no idea what the poison exposure did to you. Taking blood away isn’t going to help matters,” Koit argued.
“Oh, so you can give half your life’s blood, but I can’t?” I snapped.
“We don’t even know what could happen if your blood is introduced to another wolf. Being genetically superior could do more harm than good,” Darius countered.
Just when I thought there was hope for him—sigh.
“Are you saying that I’m some kind of werewolf mutant and I might change Rik into one too? Glad to know how you feel,” I growled, my eyes narrowing on him.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Darius shot back.
I let out a sharp puff of air. “Oh, do I? One can never tell with you, you’re always so hot and cold about how you feel.” Turning my back to them, I held my arm out for Dr. Price. “Please take what you need. I am also O-negative,” I added so that he’d know I was a universal donor.
When the doctor took a syringe and pricked my skin, growls rose behind me, making him watch them warily.
“Don’t pay them any mind. If the time comes and it’s any of them dying, they will be glad I’d do whatever it takes to keep them alive,” I said, forcing myself not to glare at each one of them.
Dr. Price quickly injected my blood into the IV access port, and we watched as it was flushed into Rik’s body. No turning back now.