Chapter 19
Nineteen
Bel pushed down the pain that sent daggers through his face and neck.
All his attention was on the man lying beneath him, his breathing far too shallow.
His face had taken on an almost gray pallor.
The scent of blood surrounded him, tormenting him, but the hunger and pain from the burns were nothing compared to the ache in his heart.
“Bel,” River whispered.
“I’m here, dearest heart. I’m here.” Using his uninjured hand to brace himself against the twists and turns of the car, Bel very carefully ran his burned hand over River’s forehead, pushing back sweaty hair.
He couldn’t feel River’s soft skin. Only pain.
But he kept up the gentle caress, praying it gave River some relief.
“We’re almost to my brother’s. He can fix you. I promise.”
“I love you, Bel. So much.”
“I know. I love you too. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Love Wyatt too,” River continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “Love you both so much. Was so happy with you.”
“River, you will hang on. Do you hear me? You will keep fighting!” Bel’s voice shook as he tried to infuse as much force and steel as he could into it.
His body throbbed with pain, and he was utterly exhausted.
He wasn’t sure if he could feed now even if the donor was pressed right to his fangs, but he would fight for River.
“So sorry…”
“River! No! I’m not losing you,” Bel screamed, tears choking his throat. He tried pressing his fingers to River’s throat, but they were so badly burned that he couldn’t feel a damn thing. He pressed his ear to his chest, but there was too much padding and the thunder of his own heart in his ears.
“River!” Wyatt shouted from the front seat. The car swerved violently and hit a bump hard. “We’re here, River! We’re here! You hang on!”
Bel let loose a sob of relief, tears stinging his wounded cheek, but he didn’t care. He had to believe that Aiden and Marcus could save their River. He didn’t care about himself. Didn’t care if he ever healed again. They just had to save their heart.
The car had barely come to a stop when endless darkness enveloped the car and Bel released a breath of relief.
“Bel!” Wyatt said in a shaky voice.
“It’s okay. It’s just Marcus. He’s protecting us from the sun. Unlock the doors and don’t move.”
There was a thunk of the locks around the car, and then doors were jerked open. Strong hands grabbed at Bel and he cried out as fingers bit into burned flesh. They eased him from the car and onto his feet.
“Bel?” Rafe said in a rough voice.
“I’ll be okay,” he said tightly against the pain. “River?”
“Marcus is getting him now. We need to move.”
Bel didn’t say anything as Rafe wrapped an arm around his waist and carefully guided him past the car and toward the house. Rafe was just as blind in the darkness as he was, but somehow his brother had become quite adept at moving around in their brother’s magically induced blackness.
They had just stumbled through the open doorway when the darkness receded into Marcus’s larger form. Bel blinked, adjusting his eyes to the light, to see Marcus carrying River’s limp form straight into the little-used dining room.
In there, a makeshift hospital had been pulled together with several bags of blood waiting at the ready. There were piles of gauze, tape, and more. And Aiden.
His father was there at the table, ready and waiting to save his wolf. Aiden had lived a long time, seen everything. He’d be able to think of something to pull River from the edge.
Philippe and Ethan hovered close by, waiting for orders.
Aiden spared him a quick glance, his mouth pulling into a hard line as his eyes passed over the burns.
“It’s just burns. I’ll live. Save River,” Bel bit out as he continued to lean on his twin.
Rafe gently set him into a chair close to River and stepped back while Wyatt moved to his uninjured side and picked up his hand.
They silently watched as two IVs were hooked up to River, pumping blood into the wolf as quickly as possible.
Aiden pulled away the now useless padding Bel had placed against River’s wounds and his father hissed.
“Bel—”
“No! You have to do something.”
Aiden stared at him for only a second before he went to work, trying to slow the bleeding so River’s natural shifter healing could take over. But the wounds were just too extensive. He was losing blood almost as fast as they could put it into him.
With a snarl, Aiden turned his gaze on Wyatt. “How would he take to becoming a vampire?”
“What?” Ethan shrieked, and Bel’s heart skipped. He would never have thought something like that was possible.
“You can change him to save him?” Wyatt asked.
“Maybe.” Aiden licked his lips and looked at River again.
His poor father looked so damn torn. “I’ve got one more trick to speed up his healing, but he’s lost a lot of blood.
Possibly too much for this to work. He could end up a vampire.
Or he could end up dead. Right now, death is a guarantee if we don’t try something.
But if he doesn’t want to be a vampire…”
“Yes.”
It was so soft that Bel wasn’t even sure he’d heard it. But it had come from River.
“Do it!” Wyatt shouted a second later.
Aiden nodded. “Ethan, hand me that syringe, and then I want you to step over to the far wall. Everyone else, grab River. You’re going to need to hold him.” When Bel started to push to his feet, Aiden shook his head. “Stay where you are. You’re too weak, Bel.”
“What’s going to happen?” Wyatt asked. He moved closer to River and gently placed his hands on his lover’s leg.
Aiden accepted the syringe from Ethan and nodded for the young man to move away before he inserted the needle into a vein on the inside of his own elbow.
He pulled back the plunger, filling the clear vial with his dark blood.
“I’m going to inject him with my blood. Seeing as I’m a vampire and quite a bit older, this should help speed up the healing process considerably. ”
“Why are we holding him?” Rafe asked as he took up position on the other side of Wyatt. Marcus and Philippe were at River’s shoulders, trying to hold him without causing him more pain.
“Is this going to hurt him?” Philippe inquired.
Aiden actually chuckled. “Oh, no. He’s going to feel great in about two seconds. It’s the blood lust that’s going to drive him to kill all of us.” Aiden paused, the needle less than an inch from River’s skin, his eyes moving from each of the men gathered around the table.
Aiden jabbed the needle into River’s arm and pushed the vampire blood into his system. Nothing happened for a heartbeat, and then a harsh gasp of air exploded from River.
The young wolf’s entire body jerked and thrashed on the table.
Five full-grown men struggled to hold River on the table as ugly growls and howls erupted from his throat.
Any worry about injuring him further evaporated in an instant.
It was all they could do to hold him in place.
The wood of the table creaked and groaned, threatening to collapse beneath their combined weight.
Ethan surged across the room, grabbing River’s arm and holding it as the wolf tried to scratch at Wyatt.
“Ethan!” Marcus barked. “Get out of here!”
“No! You need my help! I’m not leaving you or him!” Ethan shouted, his voice strained as he forced River’s arm down to the gleaming wood surface.
Gritting his teeth, Bel shoved to his feet and limped around the table toward River’s head. Yes, Aiden was right. He wasn’t nearly strong enough to help hold River, but he had to do something to help. River belonged to him. His lover needed him.
“Bel, get back!”
Bel ignored Aiden’s orders and came to stand next to River’s head. This hair was soaked with sweat, but the gray pallor in his cheeks was replaced with a bright flush. His lovely brown eyes were gone, replaced with a frightening sea of red. No pupil, iris, or sclera. Just blood.
Very carefully, Bel threaded the fingers of his uninjured hand through River’s hair and started to sing.
So softly at first, but his voice grew louder as the old French lullaby came back to him.
It was the same song his mother had sung to him when the thunder rattled the windows of their London town house.
It was the song she sang when he fought with Rafe, and he ran to her with tears streaking his cheeks.
It was the song she sang when the world was just too big and scary.
She sang the song for each of them.
And while he wasn’t sure if River could even hear him, Bel sang it for him now.
A second voice joined him almost immediately, and Bel looked up to find Rafe smirking at him as he sang.
Marcus’s beautiful baritone joined in on the next verse, followed by Philippe’s sweet voice.
It wasn’t a surprise that Philippe knew the song since he was French, but Bel was touched by the tears glistening in his green eyes.
Memories he’d likely share with Rafe later when they were alone.
Bel’s heart soared at their voices as they sang the little song over and over again.
He wished Winter could be there with them.
He wanted his younger brother beside him in this family moment, but travel during the daylight hours was tricky under the best of circumstances.
Winter might not have been in a position to safely reach them.
It didn’t matter. Bel had no doubt that Winter would appear at Marcus’s house the second the sun sank below the horizon.
Gradually, River’s thrashing and growls quieted. His eyes slid shut as if he were falling asleep, and his breathing slowed. Bel stopped singing, and the room fell quiet. Everyone continued to hold tight to River as if afraid it was all a trick.
“River? Can you hear me?” Bel asked softly. His eyes strayed to the gentle rise and fall of his chest. His color was better, though it was hard to tell under all the dried blood. “Open your eyes, dearest heart. I need you to look at me.”