Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Wheeler entered the break room of the clinic, wondering where everyone was at. He’d expected the twins to make lewd comments about what had gone on between him and Sammy in the other room. After all, any supernatural male in the building would have heard everything. Plus, it wasn’t as if he and Sammy had been quiet about the claiming.
Unable to stop himself, Wheeler smiled wide, elated at his newly changed relationship status. In truth, he was a little upset his friends weren’t anywhere to be found because he’d wanted to gloat and celebrate. It was an exciting time for him.
Yet no one was around to notice.
That was strange but so were the twins, and Auberi wasn’t known for playing by any set of rules. The vampire did as he wanted. Garth and Rurik were different. Even they were noticeably absent.
Maybe they’d all gone outside to afford him and Sammy some privacy. If so, that had been Garth’s idea. Rurik wouldn’t have bothered to care about the claiming one way or another, the twins would have wanted to press their ears to the door, and Auberi would have stood in the hall and listened.
That had to be it. They all had to be outside.
Wheeler could only imagine the hell Garth was going through trying to manage all the personalities, including Bill and Gus. He’d have to do something nice for the Viking, even if he had stolen some of Wheeler’s excited thunder. There would be plenty of time for celebrating later. After he hunted and killed Abel, he’d plan a get-together to share the news with the rest of his friends.
He was off the market and damn happy.
And his woman needed to be fed.
He went to the refrigerator and pulled out a sub sandwich. He wasn’t sure how many the twins had originally bought, but knowing the way they ate, and that Garth and Rurik could put away just as much food, they had to have bought a metric crap-ton. There were eight to pick from. They all smelled the same to him so he doubted it mattered which he grabbed.
He set the sub on a round table behind him before grabbing a bottle of water from the shelf to the side of the sink. The clinic’s break room was well lit, had a few plants set around it, and despite it being totally white, it didn’t feel sterile and cold.
There were four tables with high-back chairs sitting around each, giving plenty of seating. In addition, there were two brown leather sofas near a flat-screen television. A bookshelf stocked with a variety of books sat off in one corner. Most of the books looked to be either related to medicine or the supernatural. There were several books about vampires, shifters, and Fae, but only one about mythical creatures. He had to wonder if gargoyles were listed in there, and if it had a section about keeping them from turning to stone.
If so, it would be damn handy.
When he’d started returning to stone form, he’d panicked, wanting Sammy far from him. She didn’t need to see his fear and what was happening to him. When she’d cut herself, he’d nearly lost his mind. Had he been able to move at the time, he wasn’t sure what he’d have done. As it was, he’d been stuck in place, raving like a lunatic, only to realize she’d been right.
Her blood was the key to reversing the stone process in him.
Part of him worried that whatever Mirza had done to him would last forever, and that would mean he’d forever be dependent on her blood. But the other part of him was almost thankful for that extra bond between them. Knowing that his mate literally meant everything to him, emotionally and physically, moved him to his core.
My mate.
He grinned at the thought.
He was now a married man.
The idea of it all had scared the ever-loving crap out of him years ago. But in recent months that had changed. He’d seen what his friends who were mated had, and he’d wanted to have a piece of that happiness for himself.
Now he did.
He’d get Sammy situated and somewhere safe and then he’d hunt Abel down to the ends of the earth to make sure the bastard was no longer a threat. And he’d take on The Corporation all by himself if need be to keep his woman from harm.
He’d do anything to keep his family safe.
My family.
He smiled more. He’d mentioned the possibility of pregnancy to Sammy, and while she’d seemed less than enthused at the prospect, he had to admit he was ecstatic. He was ready to be a father. With time and a lot of open communication, he hoped Sammy would come around and want the same things out of life. It didn’t matter how the children would eventually come into their lives, just that they eventually did come.
Maybe he’d look at getting a dog too. He’d had pets before his time in the Immortal Ops Program. That had been decades ago but not much could have changed. He’d not bothered to have pets after becoming an Outcast because it wouldn’t have been fair to the animal to live a life on the run.
Now that he was officially with PSI, he had something stable once more.
Of course, he’d need to find out what Sammy thought of dogs. If she wasn’t a fan, then he’d not push the issue.
Basically, he’d do whatever his wife wanted.
Happy wife, happy life.
Wheeler looked around for napkins to take with him back to the exam room, and finally found them in a cupboard. He opened the package, took a few, and set the rest back where he’d found them. As he went to the trash can, he found it full of empty beer cans, several sub wrappers, and what he could only hope was mayonnaise smeared on the wall. The twins and Bill had clearly left their mark. It reminded Wheeler of his house, which had been pristine until it had been invaded by the twins, Bill, and Gus. Most of the time it had looked like they’d hosted a kegger when Wheeler wasn’t looking.
He dreaded going home to see what they’d done to his house over the course of the last three days. Without constant supervision, there was no telling what trouble they’d managed to get into. He had to wonder if his home was still standing. It wouldn’t have been out of the realm of reason for the twins and Bill to burn the place down.
He was looking forward to showing Sammy his home, and hoped she’d want to live there with him. If she didn’t like it, he’d find one she did like. That was, assuming she wanted to live with him at all. He sure in the hell hoped so but didn’t want to press his luck since he’d basically met her and claimed her all in the same evening.
He wasn’t sure who it was who had invented the whole mates thing, but he had to hand it to them. They knew what they were doing. They knew alpha males tended to be bullheaded jerks who needed a swift kick to the proverbial nuts when it came to love. That was what had happened to Wheeler. He’d felt as if he’d come out of the darkness and been sucker-punched by love.
And it was fucking awesome.
Never did he think getting turned to stone would lead to something amazing, but it had. It had put him directly in front of Sammy, and there was no looking back now.
“Least I didn’t waste another second,” he said to himself, thinking about how some of his friends had gone out of their way to deny what they felt when meeting their mates. Some knew them for years before claiming them. Others knew them only days. And some, like himself, mere hours.
Explaining how it felt to be near the person created for him wasn’t something he could do. All he knew was that he loved the woman. It didn’t matter how short of a time he’d known her. And he couldn’t wait to learn everything there was to learn about her.
First, he needed to get her fed. He’d taken more blood than he’d meant to and wanted to be sure she was tended to.
He sensed Gus entering the break room and turned to look at him. “Hey, sorry if Garth made y’all wait outside. Let me guess, the twins are outside arguing over something else while Auberi laughs, Rurik looks annoyed, and Garth looks tired.”
Gus wasn’t exactly what anyone would term responsive.
With a shrug, Wheeler glanced at the sub and wondered if the extras in the refrigerator meant Gus and Bill hadn’t yet eaten. “Did you eat? Want a sub?”
He wasn’t expecting an answer, so when Gus turned away from him and focused on a wall with a large painting of a flower on it, Wheeler didn’t take offense. Gus was simply like that. Wheeler didn’t think of it as being abnormal because what really was normal in his life?
Gargoyles certainly weren’t, yet he was one.
Mona was absent, which was odd. Gus didn’t go too far without a head of some sort under his arm, and he seemed particularly attached to the mannequin one.
That thought would have been a lot stranger a week ago, prior to Bill and Gus becoming something of a staple in his life. Now it was downright mundane. In fact, when the time came for the pair to move on to whoever it was they decided required their assistance next, he’d actually miss them.
Wheeler grabbed himself a bottle of water and opened it, sipping as he watched Gus blocking the doorway, shifting back and forth from one foot to another. “Gus? Did you need something? I can turn on the television in here for you if you want.”
He had a soft spot for the young man. It was hard not to.
Gus stopped moving and stared at the floor. He began to moan in a low-pitched manner.
Something was wrong. While Gus wasn’t the best communicator, he had tells. This was different, and that made Wheeler go on high alert.
He set aside his water bottle and stepped closer to Gus, worried he’d set him off. “Gus,” he said, lowering his voice, trying to be soothing. “Is something wrong?”
Nodding, Gus continued to focus on the floor, his moan’s pitch rising quickly.
“Listen, I would normally take more time with you, but I need to know if the something wrong is here and happening now, on its way, or going to happen at a later date?” he asked, concern for his mate filling him quickly.
Gus glanced in his direction, and Wheeler felt the brush of something in his mind a second before he heard Gus’s voice in his head.
The others got a call that backup was needed on the other side of the city. They didn’t want to bother you because they could hear and smell what was happening between you and your mate. Garth told Rurik to stay here to help keep an eye on the clinic while they were gone. But the bad man lured him outside and was waiting for him. It was a trap. Bill went out when Rurik didn’t return. He didn’t come back either.
Wheeler tipped his head, listening for the sounds of others in the clinic.
He heard it then, Sammy’s sweet voice filtering down the hallway.
“Wheeler? Auberi? Anyone?” she asked.
He shot around Gus and pointed to him in the process. “Stay here and wedge a chair back against the handle. Got it?”
Gus rocked in place.
Wheeler didn’t want to leave the man defenseless. “Shit. Follow me and stay close.”
Gus did as he was told.
Wheeler left the break room and moved to one side of the hall, walking slowly, partially crouched and ready to attack should the need arise. Gus followed behind him several feet back, making no sound as he walked. That wasn’t normal. Regular people made noise when they moved.
Gus did not.
And where was Sammy? He’d heard her clearly and her voice had come from down the hall. Yet there was no sign of her.
As the implications of that raced through his mind, Wheeler began to panic.