Chapter 12 Edgar
EDGAR
Edgar woke to the sensation of heat radiating against his side. It wasn't the comfortable warmth of Angelica's petite, curvy body pressed against his, but something that was concerning if not alarming.
Her face was flushed and damp with perspiration, confirming his suspicion that something was off.
"Angel?" He touched her shoulder. "Angelica?"
She mumbled something incoherent and shook her head as if she was arguing with someone in her dream.
He put his hand on her forehead and found it burning.
Edgar sat up, his heart hammering.
Was she transitioning?
They'd been together for over four months, and she'd never been sick.
He'd been careful, always using protection despite her loud protests about his paranoia. She'd wave her arms dramatically, her voice carrying through the thin walls of the house she shared with two of her cousins, insisting that she was on the pill and clean and that he was being ridiculous.
This wasn't supposed to be happening. "This can't be happening."
Angelica didn't know about her special genes because Edgar had chosen not to tell her, and Frankie hadn't told anyone in her family either.
There was no rush.
Well, not for Angelica or the other cousins who were Dormants but still young. Frankie's mother and her aunts were a different story.
Frankie didn't know how to approach the subject, and Edgar didn't have any words of wisdom to offer her either.
Frankie and Angelica's fathers were human, and no one had figured out yet how to solve the moral dilemma of one partner being a Dormant and the other not.
Breaking up marriages that had survived decades seemed wrong, but on the other hand, denying the Dormant partner immortality was wrong as well.
"Angelica, wake up." He shook her more forcefully. "Come on, Angel, talk to me."
Her eyelids fluttered. "Ed?" The word was barely a whisper. "I feel like a wreck... stock market better not tank while I'm sick..."
Even fever-addled, she was thinking about her investments, so she couldn't be in too bad of a state. Then again, his Angel could be dying and still worry about her portfolio.
Edgar grabbed his phone, then hesitated.
He should call Julian and ask him what to do, but he knew what Julian would say—that he should wait and see before bringing her in.
It could be just a regular human disease like the common cold or flu.
But in the months they'd been together, Angelica had never been sick, and even though he'd used protection, accidents happened.
Condoms were not a hundred percent fail-proof.
Besides, Angelica was a confirmed Dormant, so bringing her into the clinic shouldn't be a big deal. If he requested it, Kian would approve. Besides, Edgar was the type of male who would rather do first and apologize later.
Decision made, he got out of bed, grabbed his jeans and t-shirt from the floor, and put them on. Angelica was naked save for a pair of panties, but he didn't want to waste time dressing her. Her pink silk robe hung on the bathroom door, providing the solution.
The house was quiet; Angelica's cousins, both police officers, were working the night shift, so he didn't need to use stealth as he carried her out to his car.
The BMW waited at the curb, where he always parked in order not to block the access to the garage. He settled her in the passenger seat as gently as he could, her head lolling against the headrest.
"Edgar?" A moment of clarity flickered in her fever-bright eyes. "What's happening? Where are we going?"
"You're sick, Angel. I'm taking you to see a doctor."
"Did you take my purse? My insurance card—"
He'd forgotten to take it, and he wasn't going back in the house to get it. After living with Angelica and her cousins for so long, some of their superstitions had stuck, and one of the most important ones was never going back for something that had been forgotten.
It was bad luck.
"Don't worry about that." He kissed her forehead, tasting salt and fever. "The doctor is my cousin."
"Oh, that's good." She smiled at him. "Having a doctor in the family is important. My cousin Delia is a nurse practitioner." She kept mumbling about her many family members who were, in one way or another, healthcare providers. Even her cousin Vinny, the podiatrist, was mentioned.
Eventually she'd drifted again into a fevered sleep, and the drive to the keep passed in silence and a blur of traffic violations that would probably generate tickets he'd have to pay.
Twenty minutes of weaving through morning commuters while Angelica drifted in and out of consciousness, occasionally muttering in a fevered jumble about her numerous relatives, price-to-earnings ratios, and nail art supplies she needed to order.
He pulled into the clan's underground parking in the keep and killed the engine. Despite being a civilian, Edgar had access that most didn't and a security classification that even some of the Guardians didn't have.
He gathered Angelica into his arms, cradling her close to his chest. She was so small, her weight so slight, that it was hard to reconcile it with her larger-than-life persona.
Thankfully, the door marked as maintenance had a sensor that scanned his retina and opened automatically so he didn't have to perform acrobatics with the precious cargo in his arms.
He still remembered when it had a keypad lock, but technology was advancing fast, and even though he was a young immortal, the progress made him feel old.
The elevator required a thumbprint to operate, and he somehow managed it without shifting the sleeping Angelica.
The level the clinic was on was deathly quiet, but Edgar hoped Julian would be on the premises because of what was still going on in the dungeon.
He wasn't privy to all the details, but he knew that the clan was still keeping prisoners there.
There were also the paranormals that everyone was hoping would transition.
It was still early in the morning, though, so perhaps Julian hadn't arrived yet.
The clinic door responded when he pushed it with his foot, and as he entered, he saw the physician sitting in the doctor's office with the door open.
"I need help, Julian!" he said as he continued to one of the two patients' rooms with Angelica.
He laid her on the table and adjusted her robe that had fallen open to reveal her ample breasts.
"I awoke to find her burning up with a high fever," Edgar said as Julian followed him into the room. "I've been careful not to induce her, but I think she's transitioning."
Julian pulled out a thermometer from his pocket and aimed it at Angelica's forehead. "Temperature's 104.2." He pulled out a penlight, checking Angelica's pupils.
"You know that Angelica is a confirmed Dormant, right?" Edgar thought it was prudent to mention that. "She's Frankie's cousin on her mother's side."
Julian nodded. "Nevertheless, you should have called me instead of just bringing her in. I would have come to see her in her place."
"I didn't want to wait." Edgar slumped into a chair. "I was afraid she would slip into unconsciousness, and I wouldn't know what to do. She's safer under your care."
"Kian is not going to be happy about it," Julian murmured as he continued his examination.
"If I called him, he would have approved it," Edgar said. "I can call him right now if you want."
Julian shook his head. "Kian is in Safe Harbor, and it's night over there. I wouldn't want to wake him up for something like this."
Edgar spread his arms and lifted his brow in an expression that clearly communicated "I told you so."
Julian cast him an amused glance. "You have a problem with impulse control."
"I do not." Edgar crossed his arms over his chest. "Why would you say that?"
"I've seen you in action in Tibet."
Edgar straightened in the plastic chair. "What do you mean? I did an excellent job in Tibet."
"You did, but you also managed to insult the gods and Jasmine with your implied accusations."
That was as true as it was shameful.
He'd been consumed by jealousy, and his possessiveness and lack of trust had driven Jasmine away.
Then again, she'd always been meant for Ell-rom, and she'd used Edgar as a stand-in, someone to warm her bed while she'd waited for her prince.
It had hurt like a son-of-a-bitch when she'd ended things and moved on to Ell-rom, but she'd been right to point out that they both deserved a truelove mate. Jasmine had found hers right away, but Edgar wasn't sure that Angelica was his one and only.
She might be, but he'd thought that Jasmine was the one, and that hadn't turned out well, so he was being careful now.
"I assume that you didn't tell Angelica yet." Julian prepared several vials, and Edgar averted his gaze, not wanting to see the physician draw blood from the unconscious Angelica. It seemed wrong somehow.
"I didn't," he admitted. "I wanted to make sure that she was my truelove mate before I committed to her."
"Is she?" Julian asked.
"She might be."
The doctor shook his head. "Get over your insecurities, Edgar, and tell the girl. It's not like she won't transition. You know she will."
"I know, but she might move on to someone else after she's fully immortal."
Julian shrugged. "It might happen." He turned and walked out, stopping at the door. "Stay with her. I'll be back." He closed the door behind him.
Edgar pulled the chair closer to the hospital bed and took Angelica's hand in his. Her nails were perfect as always, with an intricate design that changed every few days. Today, they were black, with gold dollar signs on each.
The market was doing well, and Angelica was paying tribute to it with her nail design.
"I should have told you," he murmured. "I was a coward."
With Jasmine, it had been intense from the start.
That immediate attraction, the adventure in Tibet, the danger and excitement of searching for the Kra-ell pod.
He'd fallen for her hard and fast, but looking back, what had he really fallen for?
Her beauty? The thrill of competition with Max? The exotic locale?
Had he even known Jasmine?
Then he'd fancied the comatose princess for about two minutes, but that was because Jasmine chose Morelle's twin brother, and some petty part of Edgar had thought it would be poetic justice to pursue Morelle.
He'd never been really interested. She was beautiful, and something in her vulnerability had called to him, but they weren't meant for each other.
He was happy Morelle had found her true mate in Brandon.
Angelica was so different from both of them.
She was down to earth in ways that enchanted him, loud where Jasmine had been mysterious, funny in ways Morelle could never be.
She told him exactly what she thought, usually at volume, with elaborate hand gestures and the occasional colorful profanity.
After a successful trade, she would announce loudly that she was a fucking financial genius and offer to celebrate with champagne or sex or both.
She made him laugh hysterically at her mimicry of clients and entertained him with her running commentary on market fluctuations. She shared with him her dreams for the nail salon empire she was building while cooking the most mouthwatering Italian dishes straight from her mother's kitchen.
"I'm going to call it 'Nailed It,'" she'd told him last month in bed while wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts. "Get it? Because nails, of course, but also because I'm nailing the business plan."
He'd fallen for her slowly, steadily, in a way that snuck up on him. It wasn't the burning passion he'd felt for Jasmine, that jealous need to possess and be possessed. With Angelica, it was deeper and quieter even when she was being her loudest. It was comfortable and exciting at the same time.
With Angelica, he never felt like he needed space to breathe. He missed her when she wasn't with him, her energy, her warmth, the way she filled up a room, any room.
When she woke up, he'd tell her about immortals and Dormants, about her cousin Frankie's transition, and about the heritage that flowed through her mother's bloodline.
He would also tell her that he loved her.