Chapter Thirty
Helios
Fucking Ares.
Striding out of the house, he aimed for the hot tub, and Feralyn lost it.
“Ares.” Taking one look at his face, her body went rigid. “What happened? You need ice.” She tried to shove me off.
Keeping her locked in my grip, I leveled Ares with a look he knew better than to fuck with. “He can get his own fucking ice.” I gave him one warning. “Leave.”
“No.” Feralyn pushed at my chest. Then she did something she’d never done. Glancing from me to Ares, she pushed back at both of us. “Stop this. Right now.”
Ares and I went stock fucking still.
“I mean it.” Sounding like she was about to cry, her voice broke. “Both of you, stop it.”
Ares, always the fucking hero, recovered first. “Helios.”
Feralyn pushed again at my hold on her. This time, I let her loose, but not because Ares had fucking warned me. I let her go because that was the power this woman had over me. So goddamn much power.
Except she acted like she didn’t have the first fucking clue about the sword she wielded, and no way in hell was I going to tell her. Not with words.
Glaring at my brother, I released her.
Pushing off me, she half stood, half swam a single stroke as she reached for the edge of the hot tub.
Then shit went FUBAR.
Her arm dropped, her legs gave out, and her head fucking lolled.
I watched that shit happen like it was slow fucking motion, but the rage that hit roared faster than a blast wave. “Goddamn it.”
“She’s going under.” Ares lunged, but I already had her.
Limp in my arms, her eyes rolled back. “Fuck.” FUCK. “Haven.” I shook her once. No response. “Ares,” I clipped.
“Right here.” Grabbing a towel, he squatted next to the hot tub. “Hand her to me.”
No fucking way. “Call Talerco. Right goddamn now.” Holding her against my chest, I stepped out of the hot tub.
“ER is quicker,” Ares argued.
“I’m not taking her to the goddamn hospital.” She hated them. Ares knew that. He also knew what they did if you brought someone in with anxiety, which Feralyn had a fuck-ton of. “Wrap the towel around her.”
“She’s unconscious. She needs the hospital.”
Taking my eyes off her to glare at my brother, I gave him the last fucking warning he was gonna get from me today. “Give me the goddamn towel and call Talerco, or get the fuck out of my way.”
Ares draped the towel over her.
Already feeling her skin cool, concerned as fuck she hadn’t come around yet, I jerked my chin toward the main part of the house. “My cell’s in the entryway. Grab it and get Talerco on the line. I’ll meet you in the living room.”
Ares took off, and I headed back to Feralyn’s bedroom.
Laying her on the bed, I scanned for injuries. “Come on, sweetheart.” My arms still under her, I gave her a quick shake. “Wake up.”
Nothing.
Fuck.
Sliding my arms out from under her, stepping out of my boots, I stripped off my T-shirt.
Then I reached for her wet tank top that was stuck to her tits, showing every-goddamn-thing, and had a beat of conscience. I paused with the hem in my hands.
I’d seen this woman naked—naked and beaten—but I’d never undressed her.
Now she was passed the fuck out, I’d told Ares to get Talerco, and her huge, wet tits were enough to make any dude fucking nut himself. Goddamn it.
I knew the drill.
I could wrap her in a towel or blanket, but Talerco was a SARC. Clinical when shit was serious, throwing out a laid-back pretense when it wasn’t—the motherfucker was first and foremost a combat trauma medic. He’d examine her.
Yeah. No fucking way was I going to let him see her like this.
“Haven,” I clipped.
Still no response.
Mission intent, I pulled the wet tank over her head, took off her shorts, then yanked the first fucking thing I could grab from her closet and put it on her.
The thin sundress wasn’t much better than the wet tank and shorts, but fuck me, it wasn’t stuck to her tits.
I yanked it down past her shaved cunt, and biology hit.
My cock got hard as hell, and I adjusted myself.
Ares’s judgment hit my six. “You changed her clothes.”
“Yeah, I fucking did.” I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Ares do it. “What’s Talerco’s ETA?”
“Fifteen minutes. You should’ve left her alone.”
I wasn’t in the mood for a fucking lecture, especially not from him.
“Don’t play fucking hero when you don’t have your own shit under control.
” I’d been watching his ass. Not the same as how I kept track of Feralyn, but I had my eye on Ares.
He was fucking spiraling over something.
Didn’t know what. Didn’t care right now.
Haven still hadn’t woken up, and this shit wasn’t normal.
Ignoring what I’d said, Ares flanked me and put two fingers to the side of her neck.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” I pulled the wet comforter out from under her. “You think I’d be standing here if she wasn’t breathing?” Grabbing the blanket underneath, I wrapped it around her.
Ignoring my shit, Ares stated the obvious. “Not coming to after fainting isn’t normal.”
“No shit, but she didn’t faint.” She was passed the fuck out.
“Look at her breathing.” Steady, unlabored.
My money was on Ghost’s mother, Raine. She probably gave Haven some fucked-up shit, not telling her it was weed or whatever the fuck that woman took these days.
Regardless, I wasn’t leaving Haven alone with Ares to grab dry clothes, and I wasn’t moving her any more than I had to in case I was wrong.
“Grab me a dry pair of jeans,” I ordered, already unbuttoning my fly.
Like I knew it would, me stripping down in front of a passed-out Feralyn lit a fire under Ares.
He was Oscar Mike, and I took the few seconds he was gone to give her another shake.
“Haven.” Goddamn it. “What the fuck did you take?”
No response.
A pair of my jeans was tossed onto the bed in front of me. “You think she took something?”
“Yeah.” I dropped my wet shit and stepped into the dry pants commando. “Best guess, Raine gave her some of her shit.”
Ares was already moving toward her dresser and opening the top drawer. “Pills? Medical marijuana?”
“Either.” Both. I made a mental note to call Cypher and have him dig into whatever the fuck Raine had going on.
“It’s not like Feralyn to take anything.” Ares finished searching the top drawer and moved on to the second.
“A bad fucking day makes people do all sorts of shit.” I buttoned my jeans, then grabbed all the wet shit and tossed it into the bathroom before reaching for her.
“I’m not finding anything.” Ares shut the third drawer.
“Leave it.” I double-checked that the blanket was secure around her. “Talerco will be here soon.” Lifting her, I carried her into the living room right as the front door opened.
Shouldering his med kit, Talerco grinned at me. “What up, Sun God Blondie? Lemme guess.” He tipped his chin toward Feralyn. “This is the famous step-sissy that’s got your panties all in a twist. What’d you do to her? Knock her out with your winnin’ personality?”
“Fuck off, fuck you, and I think she fucking took something.”
Talerco went all business. Dropping the Southern accent and his kit, he went from prick to SARC in no seconds flat. “Roger that. Lay her on the couch. LOC? Why’s her hair wet? Injuries, fall, water incident? Preexisting conditions?”
I didn’t lay her down. I fucking sat with her in my arms. “Negative to all except LOC.”
“She fainted in the hot tub,” Ares added.
“Copy.” Squatting in front of us, Talerco checked first her left eye, then her right before grabbing his bag and rooting through it. A second later, he had a stethoscope fitted in his ears, a cuff on her arm, and he was taking her blood pressure. “How long ago did she faint?”
“A minute or two before Ares called.”
Talerco tipped his chin, then listened as he took her BP.
“It’s low.” He ripped the Velcro cuff off her and checked her pulse before glancing at me.
“Syncope, bloodshot eyes, low blood pressure.” He leaned back on one knee.
“Does she use marijuana, medical or recreationally? Was she dizzy or unsteady before she passed out?”
“Not a user, don’t know about dizzy. Her legs gave out.” I glanced down at her. “Fucking Raine. I’m gonna throttle her for this shit.” I glanced at my brother. “Call her. Find out what the fuck she gave her.”
“Raine?” Talerco asked.
“Ghost’s mom. She’s a fucking pothead and, unfortunately, a surrogate mother figure for Feralyn.”
Talerco cracked half a grin.
“Don’t fucking start,” I warned.
He held up his hands, and the Southern accent came back.
“Nothin’ doin’, Sun God Blondie, nothin’ doin’.
Just processin’ is all. Between your love connection, Ghost’s mama, her recreational activities, and War God Brother hoverin’ like you ain’t the only one who’s got it bad, you’re runnin’ a three-ring circus.
Four, if you count Raine. Which, I think I need to meet the woman who brought Ghost into the world.
Because hot damn, I was not picturin’ a cannabis enthusiast.”
Ignoring Talerco, I cut my glare to my brother as he swiped across his cell, and for the first fucking time, I wondered.
Her and Ares.
My goddamn brother and Feralyn.
Did that motherfucker like her?
Giving me a blank fucking stare, he held the phone to his ear. “Raine, it’s Ares. It’s urgent. Please call me back as soon as you get this.” Ending the call, he pocketed his cell and focused on Talerco. “What’s the prognosis?”
“Now you’re fucking concerned?” Talerco’s hovering comment ricocheted through my head like live fire. “She was locked in her room for a goddamn hour before I kicked in the door.”
Talerco busted out laughing. “War God Brother, you better watch your six. Sun God Blondie’s glare is ’bout as Lima Charlie as it gets.” Still chuckling, he tossed his stethoscope into his bag. “And step-sissy is high. Real high. She’ll come ’round. Give her a few hours.”
I leveled Talerco with a warning glare. “You fucking sure it’s not something else?”
“Not without runnin’ labs,” Talerco answered before he pegged the situation. “But I’m guessin’ you don’t want to take her in for testin’?”
“No.” She’d lose her shit worse if she woke up in a hospital. She’d tried to make me promise to never take her to one again. I hadn’t fucking agreed, but I also hadn’t forgotten the last time she was hospitalized.
Ares’s phone rang, and he turned to walk out of the living room to take the call.
“Is that Raine?” I demanded.
“No.” Swiping to answer, he strode out the front door.
I looked at Talerco. “She has anxiety.”
His expression sobered. “I’m listenin’.”
I inhaled.
Then I broke Feralyn’s confidence and trust, but fuck, she’d never taken shit before, and she’d never passed the hell out.
“Eight years ago, she was taken. Traffickers. Ghost and I got her out, but not before she was worked over.” A flashback of finding her that night—naked, zip-tied, bones broken, face swollen—sent me into a fucking rage.
The same brand of rage crossed Talerco’s expression before he shut it down. “It’s not unusual for SA victims or someone with PTSD to self-medicate. She in any kind of program or counselin’?”
SA. Sexual assault. The weight of guilt hit my chest harder than it usually did. “No. My fault.” I should’ve ignored what she’d told me in that hospital eight years ago and done so much fucking more for her.
“You can lead a horse to water, brother, but you can’t make ’em drink.”
I stared down at her. “I need to fucking fix this.”
Talerco’s hand landed on my shoulder, same damn one he’d stitched up six months back. “Give her a few hours, then talk to her. If you’re not up to the task, I’ll give you a name. Female. Licensed. She works with vets and PTSD victims. She’s good.”
Ares walked back into the house. “Raine called. She said she didn’t remember giving Feralyn anything, but she told me what she’s using.” He rattled off a name and dosage that didn’t mean shit to me. I didn’t touch drugs. Rarely drank. My head was already fucked. I didn’t need to add to that shit.
Talerco let out a low whistle. “That is some heavy cannabis.”
Feralyn stirred in my arms.