“Just stay awake for me, babe. There’s something we have to talk about. You lost a lot of blood, and…”
Her mouth kept moving but I couldn’t hear anything except a loud rushing sound. I tried to adjust how I lay as an odd tension pulled on one side of my chest. The heart monitor ticked up and up and up until an alarm went off. A flood of people entered the room and then Deirdre was shoved back to the perimeter as they pushed my bed flat and started thumping on my chest and doing all sorts of things.
I exhaled and tried to tell her I loved Dodge, but nothing came out over the beeping. And then it was a struggle just to breathe.
Chapter 42
Dodge
Dodge had forgotten how fragile humans truly were. He donated as much blood as he could afford to lose to Persephone, and would have given her the rest if the doctors and Evershaw had allowed it. His plan to only give her two bags of blood went out the window when it became clear how quickly it ran through her.
The doctors thought that his blood helped slow the overall loss and started healing the many small wounds that had turned her into a sieve. The thought turned his stomach, but he knew that was why so much blood had hit the floor around the gurney.
They wheeled him out of the way, since Dodge couldn’t even stand up on his own after donating, and hooked Evershaw up. The rest of the pack gathered in a silent line outside the door, ready to help, and made Dodge even more grateful that he’d found them after so long alone.
When he finally stopped passing out every time he sat up, they let him wait in a chair next to her bed. The doctors thought they’d finally stabilized her. There were some internal issues still to be dealt with, but she needed rest and a chance for the shifter blood to work – if it was going to. Persephone still looked pale and slightly blue around the lips, and she didn’t move much even to breathe. She’d at least stopped bleeding.
Dodge meant to stay awake, to stay with her, until she woke up – so she’d know she wasn’t alone. He didn’t want her to wake up afraid. He didn’t want her to think that the bad guys still had her and had just taken her somewhere else.
The hours passed and he prayed for the first time in as long as he could remember. Even in the worst firefights and on the most dangerous missions, he hadn’t prayed. He hadn’t needed to – his training and his team carried him through. But saving Persephone was so far out of his control that he didn’t know what else to do.
He didn’t know how much time had passed before Evershaw reappeared in the doorway. Dodge tensed, his wolf already on guard since Persephone remained weak and vulnerable, but the alpha remained far enough away that Dodge didn’t feel the need to attack.
Evershaw’s expression was difficult to read. “You need to go back to the house, man. Shower, eat, sleep.”
Dodge shook his head and returned all of his attention to Persephone’s pale face. He touched her hand, careful of the IVs and various wires that attached to her. “No.”
“It’s been four days. You smell like shit, dude. I’m surprised she hasn’t woken up just to get away from you,” the alpha went on. His tone gained an edge. “And you haven’t eaten anything. You’ll be too weak to help her if she needs more blood. I’ll stay and guard her door for you from the hall, and Deirdre will be next to her here.”
Dodge knew the alpha was probably right; he needed food and rest. Even though he fully intended to do that at the hospital, the fact that he didn’t know what day it was or how much time had passed made it clear he wasn’t succeeding. Evershaw must have seen the hesitation, because he stepped aside to allow Deirdre in and gestured for Dodge to get up. From there, everything that happened was a blur.
He woke up in his bed back at the house with a pile of hamburger wrappers on the floor and no idea what day it was. His first thought was Persephone. After a shower and a fresh set of clothes, one of the youngsters drove him back to the hospital. The halls moved around him until he finally stood in front of her room once more. Evershaw remained in a chair outside the door, though he got up to open the door to let Dodge in. The alpha moved inside the door but no closer to Persephone.
Dodge couldn’t look away from her face. Did she look healthier? Were her cheeks pinker? Had some of the machines been removed? He couldn’t breathe as he eased closer and touched her hand.
Deirdre got up and patted his shoulder. “She woke up for just a bit and asked for you. She went back out before I could ask her about being turned. I’m sorry, Dodge. I tried to ask her. I think she’s out of the woods but the doctors want to continue monitoring her for a while.”
He tensed. “She woke up?”
And he hadn’t been there. He’d walked away to sleep and shower, and while he indulged himself, his mate woke up and he wasn’t by her side when she needed him. Dodge sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m not leaving again.”
“Dodge, surely...”
“I’m not leaving her again.”
The alpha and the witch lingered in the room, trying to reason with him, but Dodge ignored them. He didn’t have time or extra brain power for them. All of him belonged to Persephone. He held her hand and willed her to get better, to get stronger. He still had no idea if she’d changed from human to shifter, if enough of his blood had saved her and then turned her into a monster. His throat closed around the grief of knowing his time next to her was limited. The moment she found out what he’d done, Persephone would hate him. She’d leave. He would have to see her from a distance, keep an eye on things to make sure she was safe, but he would never be able to touch her again.
Dodge had to memorize every moment of the remaining time with her. He would hold the memories close when she left him and all those cold, lonely nights stretched out into eternity. He concentrated on breathing, on keeping his heart beating despite the misery that awaited him. As long as Persephone was okay, he would survive. He had to survive.
Chapter 43
Percy
The next time I woke up, it didn’t take me quite as long to figure out where I was. Bits and pieces of dreams and reality blended together until I wasn’t really sure what had happened and what I’d hallucinated. I couldn’t have said what day it was for a million dollars. I managed to lift my head just a bit, even though it felt like an over-inflated balloon on the end of a toothpick. A large body sprawled in a chair next to the bed where I lay.
His chest and shoulders were on the edge of the bed, his head against my thigh, and he’d completely passed out. A small snore escaped. I gazed at him and my heart cracked. Dodge was still alive.
I didn’t understand how. I thought I’d dreamed him earlier, but it must have been real. He survived the shooting and then managed to find me, and... I fought through the pudding in my brain. He’d been a wolf at the sanctuary, maybe. Him and the other wolf, the one who’d originally chased me at the Evershaw house. Silas. Dodge called him Silas.
