Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” Rose screamed as she grabbed her mother’s arm, still clutching the knife, and shoved it up under River’s jaw, severing her carotid artery in the process.
While Lion was glad the woman was dead, or would be as soon as she bled out, his focus was on his girl.
Kate had been cut when the wheelchair tumbled to the floor. He knew she had, he’d seen the blood coating her skin as she, River, and Rose fell in a tangle of limbs that was hard to distinguish what belonged to whom.
“I got her,” Maya said softly from behind him, reaching for Ariella.
“We’ll take care of her, go to Kate,” Cassandra added.
A glance at Dragon confirmed the man would watch over his daughter, so Lion nodded and passed the little girl into Maya’s arms. Ariella went willingly, and he was eternally grateful that he’d kept the child’s face turned into his neck so she hadn't witnessed her mother’s neck getting slit.
Don’t be bleeding out on me, Katie-Bear.
The thought ran over and over in his head as he rushed forward. Steel had also moved toward the three women, grabbed Rose, and physically lifted her into his arms, his gaze scanning her in search of injuries.
“I'm okay,” Rose assured Steel as Lion dropped to his knees, shoved River’s dying body aside, and grabbed Kate, laying her out on the floor. Blue eyes stared up at him, and her hand pressed against her neck. She was breathing, her heart beating, not dead yet.
“Let me see, babe,” he murmured as he grasped her hand, pulled it down, and let out a deep breath as relief rushed through him.
The wound was deeper than he would have liked, although any mark on her delicate skin was too much for him, but it was further to the side, away from where her major arteries ran, delivering blood to her brain.
“Lion?” Voodoo asked as he knelt on Kate’s other side.
“She’s not bleeding out,” he answered. Two inches had stood between him losing the woman he loved and becoming a single father to a child who still might not make it, and getting the life he’d always dreamed of but thought he’d ruined beyond repair.
“You're going to be okay, Kate,” Voodoo assured her as he placed a hand on her neck, his palm pressing into the small wound.
Whether because of the man’s unnatural ability to heal others, or just simple pressure on the small cut, the blood flow eased, and Voodoo opened the medical kit that Kate still had slung over her shoulder and pulled out bandages.
“Leo, is Ariella okay? Where is she?” Kate asked, the movement of her neck as she spoke, restarting the bleeding in her wound.
“Don’t talk, Katie-Bear, just rest. Ariella is fine, she’s a little fighter, just like her mom.
She didn't see you get cut,” he told her, smoothing a hand down her tangled blonde locks.
They all needed showers, clean clothes, proper food, and rest, but for now at least, everyone was alive, and River and her people were all dead.
“She said she had labs, and kept the earlier versions of Whitney’s drugs, the ones that hadn't been tampered with by Ridge. There could be one there that will help Ariella,” Kate said.
“Shh, babe. We’ll go to the lab soon,” he promised.
“Not soon, now,” Kate insisted.
“Can I at least patch you up first?” Voodoo teased as he placed a bandage over the cut on her neck, making her wince.
“Ariella won't want to see you bleeding,” Lion reminded her, willing to play hardball to make sure Kate got the medical treatment she badly needed.
“As soon as we’re done, we’ll look for the lab?” Kate asked.
“As soon as you're done,” he agreed.
“I'm going to glue this,” Voodoo said, lifting the bandage after he’d mopped up most of the blood.
“Whatever you have to do. I just want to hug my baby and then find something that will help the bone marrow transplant work,” Kate murmured, letting her eyes flutter closed.
“Blade and I will go and look for the lab,” Whitney piped up. “I'm the only one who’ll know what to look for anyway.”
“Thunder can go, too, in case there are more guards left alive,” Steel said from where he stood watching the blood draining out of River Gardner, with Rose tucked against his side.
“See, we’ve got that taken care of, and Maya and Cassandra have Ariella. Dragon is watching over them. Everything is okay, just rest. Let Voodoo fix you up,” Lion said, his hand stroking down her arm to find her hand. Picking it up, he squeezed it between his as he watched Voodoo prepare the glue.
It didn't take long for their medic to apply the glue to close the cut.
It wouldn't do quite as good a job as stitches might, but it would keep the skin together while Kate healed and prevent infection from setting in.
Once he was done, Voodoo applied antibiotic cream and then taped a clean bandage over the top.
“All done,” Voodoo said as he picked up Kate’s free hand and pressed his fingertips to the inside of her wrist. “Your pulse is elevated, but nothing out of the ordinary considering the circumstances.
I'm going to give you some painkillers, since you need them for the broken ribs anyway, and then we can bring Ariella over.”
“Don’t even think of arguing with him,” Lion warned when Kate’s eyes popped open, and he knew she was going to say the painkillers should be kept for someone who needed them more. Only right now, nobody needed them more.
“Bossy,” Kate mumbled, but she didn't protest as Voodoo got out the pills and one of the bottles of water that had been in the medical bag.
“Always when it comes to your safety or your comfort.” Lion slipped an arm around Kate’s shoulders and lifted her, wincing as she did when the movement caused pain to her neck and ribs. She took the pills from Voodoo and placed them in her mouth, then took the uncapped bottle and washed them down.
“I'm ready to see Ariella now,” she said as soon as she’d swallowed and passed the bottle back.
“Cass, Maya, can you bring Ariella over?” he called out, shifting slightly so he had Kate propped up against his knee.
A second later, the little girl, teddy bear still gripped in her hand, flung herself into her mother’s arms.
“Careful,” he reminded the child, but Kate didn't seem to care. She’d wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter and pulled her close.
“Did anyone hurt you, sweetie-pie?” she asked.
“No, the man tried to pull me out of the wardrobe, but Daddy killed him,” Ariella said with a ferocity that surprised him.
His angelic-looking nine-year-old had a bloodthirsty streak, and he loved it.
She was a little warrior in the making, and no matter what path in life she chose, he intended to make sure she knew how to defend herself.
Kate’s gaze met his, and he saw satisfaction. “Good. I'm glad.”
“Did the bad lady hurt you, Mom?” Ariella asked, eyeing the bandage.
“A little scratch, but the bad lady is dead now,” Kate assured her daughter. “That means we can all go home.”
“Our home, or Daddy’s home?” Ariella asked, looking between them.
Once again, his girl met his gaze, and he saw absolute certainty shining in the blue depths. Whatever answer she gave, she was confident it was the right one. “If he’ll have us, then your dad’s home.”
“Yay,” Ariella squealed.
Moving so he was sitting on the floor, his legs on either side of Kate, her propped up against his chest, their daughter between Kate’s legs, Lion wrapped his arms around both of his girls.
“You two are always welcome to stay with me. I hope that it will become our home, not just mine.” And that his daughter spent many happy years growing up there.
They might all have survived this ordeal, and River Gardner might be dead, ending the threat against him and his teammates, but that didn't mean Ariella would be healed. He was a match, and hopefully Whitney would find something that would help, but there were no guarantees.
“I think I got it,” Whitney suddenly called out, rushing into the room, Blade and Thunder on her heels.
“Got what?” Kate asked, tentative hope in her tone.
“Exactly what I was looking for. River was right, she had every single version of the drug I ever worked on, and they’re all labeled, so I was able to find the one I thought would work the best,” Whitney explained.
“So you think you have something that will boost Ariella’s immune system and make it more likely that the bone marrow transplant will be a success?” Lion asked, that same tentative hope flickering to life inside him, but he needed it spelled out for him.
“That’s exactly what I think I have,” Whitney replied.
“What happens now?” Kate asked.
“I inject Ariella with this, then we harvest bone marrow from Lion, and do the transplant,” Whitney answered.
“Then we hope for a miracle,” Lion added.
March 20th
9:54 P.M.
“You need a distraction,” Leo announced as he stood, bent, and scooped her into his arms.
Kate squeaked in surprise at suddenly being lifted off the couch she’d been curled up on, her head on Leo’s shoulder, watching a movie with the others.
Well, watching was probably the wrong word.
There was a movie playing on the TV, sure.
But she’d forgotten what it was, couldn’t even give a genre, hadn't been paying attention to a single second of it. The others were all coupled up as well, and despite the mansion’s enormous size, the media room had a cozy feel to it that should have relaxed her.
But how could she relax when her nerves were all strung out?
Earlier today, Leo had donated bone marrow to Ariella. Now there was nothing left to do but sit back and wait to see if it was going to work. The boost to Ariella’s immune system from the drugs they’d found in River Gardner’s lab should help her, but it was no guarantee.
Like Leo had said to her when she was lying on the floor of River’s study, all they could do now was hope for a miracle.
And she was.