Chapter 9
nine
Fifteen minutes after rushing into the gym, Right Side shoved out the doors. He was already shaking his head as he ran toward us, confirming the gym was empty. He pointed to the side, where the jogger’s path began, and set out at a run. Left Side and I were left staring after him, wasting time.
Maybe two minutes later, as I was about to shrug off my escort and make a run for it, my phone rang.
“No one is answering,” Seamus said without preamble. “Trainees can lose the privilege if they can’t keep off their phones, but Pete ought to have his on him. His mate is in her third trimester. He would never leave her without a means of contacting him.”
Pete. I remembered that name. He was the first enforcer to volunteer for the mission after Seamus.
Heart pounding, I crushed the phone to my ear. “What are our next steps?”
“I’m sending over more enforcers.” Seamus kept his tone calm, but it didn’t help. “They’ll check the surrounding area, see if they can track the others by scent. You stay with your escorts. We’ll be there soon.”
After ending the call, I ran a mental tally of my options, not liking most of them.
“He said stay with my escorts, not stay put.” I rolled the tension from my shoulders. “That means you and I are going hunting. I’m familiar with Sloane’s scent, and I have a good nose. Do you know any of the others well enough to track them?”
“Pete.” He didn’t hesitate or push back, and I liked that about him. “I can find him.”
“Excellent.” I dialed into my sense of smell and set out in the direction Right Side had gone. “Let’s get started then. We’ll leave a fresh trail, so backup should have no trouble locating us.”
I kicked myself for not getting my guards’ names earlier, but it was a momentary twinge of conscience. I could always ask Seamus later so I could give them proper thanks.
As much time as Sloane and I spent together, and given the fact she slept with me, even my clothes often smelled like her. Hers was one signature I would have no trouble identifying. With that in mind, I tuned out Left Side, allowing him to sink into his own hunting patterns, and narrowed my focus.
I didn’t have to go far before I caught the first whiff of her, and others.
From the grunt beside me, Left Side had noticed the confluence of scent patterns too.
Neither of us spoke, our quiet growing deeper as we progressed without spotting Right Side either.
Just as my pulse kicked up a notch, he called out, “I found them.”
Right Side must have keener than average ears if he heard approaching steps and trusted it to be us.
“On our way.” I broke into a run. “Sloane?”
“She’s here.” Right Side stood in a clearing off the side of the path. “We need to get her to Burdock.”
Stumbling over my own feet, I spotted her curled in a ball in the grass, unconscious and twitching.
The others appeared dazed, but none of them shared her symptoms. I couldn’t say if that had to do with their species versus hers or other factors. Right now, I didn’t care. All that mattered was getting my best friend help fast.
“I’m getting her out of here.” I rolled my shoulders. “I want her in the first vehicle that arrives.”
Right Side stepped forward, but Left Side cut him off with an outstretched arm. “I’ll go with her.”
He meant to help. I knew that. I should have been grateful for it.
But when he stepped toward Sloane, intending to lift her, I snarled at him.
Left Side froze on the spot, raised his hands to shoulder height, and let me gather her in my arms.
The strength I had before, when I thought I was a latent, wasn’t nothing.
But I could have carried two of her in this moment.
I had yet to unlock my dragon fully, but her power rose in me, summoned by fear and desperation.
Bright flames licked along my skin in a sheen of fire that didn’t burn her or me.
A thrill zinged through me to finally have the means to make a difference, chased by fear that power in my hands would corrupt me as surely as it had Carmichael.
No.
I had no room for doubts. No time for dread. Sloane was my priority.
Purpose launched me down the path, my feet sure and lungs full.
We passed enforcers Left Side warned away from us.
They weren’t happy about it, but they continued on to where Right Side stood watch over the others.
I decided there and then I liked Left Side.
I would let Rían know if I required babysitting in the future, and Sloane wasn’t available, I wanted his name at the top of the list. As soon as I learned it.
Not only had he let me interpret Seamus’s orders to suit myself without comment, but he followed mine without hesitation.
He read my cues, defended my choices, and didn’t posture when I insisted on doing things for myself.
That kind of loyalty right out of the gate was as rare as finding the end of a rainbow.
As my feet hit blacktop, I spied a familiar silver truck and made a beeline for its driver, who had yet to exit his vehicle.
“Seamus,” I yelled as he swung open his door. “Can you give us a lift?”
His eyes widened when they landed on Sloane.
He slammed his door, cranked the engine, then leaned across the seat to shove open the passenger side door.
I hesitated only a second, debating how to climb in without relinquishing Sloane, but Left Side solved the problem for me.
He gripped my hips and sat me in the cab, Sloane and all, before leaping into the bed of the truck.
Wheels skidding on asphalt, I could finally breathe. “Any word on Liam?”
“He’s conscious.” He cut his eyes toward the bed of the truck. “If I know Dane, he’s already called Burdock and alerted him to the incoming situation.”
“That’s his name?” I committed it to memory. “He was a big help out there.”
“He’s one of Liam’s distant cousins.” He chuckled, foot on the gas. “Very distant.”
That must mean a cousin on his mother’s side to not be a direct relative of Rían’s too.
“He listens, and he doesn’t argue.” I stroked Sloane’s flushed cheek. “You’re sure they’re related by blood?”
“I’ve never had them tested, but Dane is the spitting image of Liam’s maternal grandfather.”
Part of me wondered how Liam had ended up in Fayne’s care if he had such a large network of extended family, but I was quick to remind myself that Fayne did not.
She had lost her mate and her sons, so it would have been a kindness to entrust Liam to her care and ease that throbbing wound for them both.
Thanks to Seamus’s driving, we arrived at the clinic within minutes.
The truck hadn’t fully stopped when Dane jumped out and slung open my door, allowing me to slide down with Sloane bundled in my arms. I smiled to myself when he waved off the enforcers pouring out like ants from an anthill, eager to lend a hand.
Maybe it was the link to the clan’s magnus and maguri, but they obeyed him without question.
“I’ve told you girls if you miss me this much, you can take me to lunch.” Burdock stood in the doorway, holding it open wide. “You don’t have to get yourselves almost killed for an excuse to visit.”
“I’ll let Sloane know to dial down the dramatics after you wake her.”
He would heal her. Of that, I had no doubt. Not only for her sake, or mine, but for Rían’s as well.
“Has she been unconscious since you found her?”
“Yes.” I hesitated. “The others appeared stunned, including Pete.”
“They’re incoming as well?”
“They should only be a few minutes behind us.”
“Good.” He led me to the room prepped for Sloane. “I can’t say what caused a reaction like that until I examine them and determine how the substance responsible was ingested.”
“You think this was dragonsbane too?”
“That does seem to be the theme, but I’m not sure why the person responsible would dose so many other shifters with an herb that only reacts predictably in dragons.”
“I figured Sloane was Liam’s point of exposure, probably from him stealing her food, but now I’m not so sure.
Could she have had a delayed reaction? Liam was mobile but dazed.
Pete would have sent her home if she showed up in that condition.
” I turned the timeline over in my mind.
“We don’t know how long it took for Becca to get sick, but Sloane is pure wolf.
Do you think that will help or hurt her recovery? ”
“Becca is a special case.” He gentled his tone. “Sloane is strong. She’ll bounce back from this. I promise.”
Sweet relief spiraled through me, clearing my mind enough for me to recall what he said earlier about a victim being easy to spot. “You said the reaction’s identical?”
“All infected dragons present the same way, yes.” He bustled around the end of the bed as I laid her down. “That’s the one blessing about dragonsbane poisoning. It’s easy to identify and simple to test for confirmation.”
Three nurses gave me a wide berth on their way to assist Burdock. I excused myself into the hall to give them room to work and ease their fears about their future magna ripping their heads off with her teeth.
Torn between waiting for news on Sloane and the urge to check on Liam, I cut the nurses a break.
Familiar with the layout of the emergency clinic, unfortunately, I didn’t have to ask for directions to find Liam. I got there without missing a turn and almost bumped into Rían as he exited the room, closing the door behind him. “How is he?”
“He’s still weak, but he’ll be released later today.
” He kissed my forehead. “I’m grateful you noticed the problem as soon as you did, or he might have gotten a concussion from the fall off his stool.
” He smiled. “Or not, considering his head is harder than the tiles and the concrete pad under them.”
That smile was a dead giveaway. “You haven’t heard.”
“No.” His expression sobered. “What is it?”
“I found Sloane.” My chin dropped to my chest. “She’s unconscious.” I exhaled. “It was like Becca all over again.”