SAM
Ipaced Layla’s hospital room in our medical facility in Boston. It seemed pacing and hospital rooms were becoming the norm for me. My father was in the next room but still not awake. Ben was in the same situation as my father in the infirmary on the naval base. Alia Costner had been correct. Things did happen in threes.
I pulled on my hair, mumbling swear words and more swear words. I was ready to go on a murdering spree. If Layla’s life hadn’t been on the line, I would’ve slit Rianne’s, Noah’s, and the other cousin’s, whose name failed me, throats. Four fucking days since that shit show, and I was still seething and ready to sever heads.
I settled at her bedside, shoving both hands through my hair. Other than her ashen skin tone and chapped lips, she looked more beautiful than I’d ever seen her. Her auburn hair was down around her shoulders. Her freckles seemed to twinkle in the muted light of the room, and her long lashes curled slightly. For the first time since I’d met her, she seemed peaceful and free from her demons.
I trailed my fingers along one of her high cheekbones. “Come back to me, baby doll. We have a lot to do, you and me.” I closed my eyes, enjoying her scent of cherries that seemed to be a balm to my frayed nerves. I hadn’t slept. I couldn’t eat. I could barely keep down blood. But that didn’t matter. Layla was with me, and I prayed to the gods she would wake up soon.
Vanilla tickled my nostrils as Jordyn rested against the doorjamb. “Sam, can I come in?”
Aside from the medical staff, no one was allowed in, not even Jordyn. I didn’t care that she was Layla’s sister or that she was innocent in the plot to burn me alive. I didn’t trust her. Rianne had all but turned on a dime, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think that Jordyn couldn’t do the same.
Above all else, I wasn’t in the mood to deal with people unless Jo or Dr. Vieira had news about Ben or my dad, and even then, that news had to be good. That was the extent of what I could handle. I considered myself a badass motherfucker with a high threshold for pain, but when it came to someone I cared about, the steel walls around my heart crumbled. My insides felt like someone had shoved them into a food processor. My brain wasn’t thinking straight, and my heart literally hurt.
“Go away, Jordyn,” I snapped. Again, I didn’t blame her.
“Please, Sam,” Jordyn cried. “She might not wake up.”
I bared my fangs at the brown-haired human. “She’ll wake up.” I had to believe that, although she had been shot in the neck, and I worried that the drug had been too potent. But according to Jordyn, Noah had filled the darts with a lower dosage just for Layla. The fucker.
I scrubbed a hand down my face. I couldn’t lose her. We were just getting started. But Layla’s fate was in her own hands. The ER doctor at the Montana hospital suspected her head injury was the reason why she wasn’t waking up. She’d hit her head hard on a rock. Add in the drug, and she could be out for days.
I hadn’t told the ER doc about the drug. It was best to avoid the questions it would raise with the human authorities. Instead, I’d brought her to the medical facility as quickly as I could. Dr. Vieira and Dr. Greer would know what to do. I worried that the cobalt in the sedative would wreak havoc on her. But if she had been shot with a lower dose, maybe it wouldn’t be too much of an issue.
As soon as we’d gotten there, Dr. Vieira and Dr. Greer went to work. They flushed Layla’s system, did a CT scan on her head, and had been checking her blood for traces of cobalt and the drug. The good news—her CT scan was clear. Her test results showed barely any cobalt or drug in her, so it was up to Layla.
I’d prayed for days that maybe she wasn’t human. Perhaps she had vampire DNA. If she did, she had a chance. Humans who carried the vampire gene did have some supernatural abilities. Dr. Vieira speculated that might have been the reason Layla was still breathing.
“You’re pale, Sam, and you need to sleep.” Jordyn was on the verge of tears. “Let me stay with her for a while to give you a break.”
“I don’t need sleep,” I shot back.
She sniffled. “She’s my sister, and I’m on your side.”
I narrowed my eyes, and when I did, I saw nothing but profound sadness and felt nothing but heartache from her. She was right, though. I had to be white as a ghost. I hadn’t had any blood since the morning before. On top of that, I needed some sleep. And it wasn’t as if Jordyn could take Layla out of the medical facility. Guardians stood watch at every entrance and on every floor, and a human wouldn’t get by them.
“Iamhungry,” I said.
She inched in one step. “Thank you.”
I sauntered up to her, baring my fangs. “If anything happens to her, you know I’ll wipe your family off the face of this Earth.”
Tears clouded her eyes. “I will help you.” She skirted by me and went over to Layla. “Oh, Sam, any word on her DNA results?”
Dr. Vieira was also running a DNA test, since we knew Layla’s mom had vampires somewhere in her family lineage.
“Not yet,” I said before stalking out.
The minute I was in the hall, I sighed heavily and swayed.
Footsteps plodded toward me as my vision blurred. I needed a case of blood.
Jo rushed up and grabbed my arm. “I got you, brother.” She ushered me to the break room, where she helped me onto the couch. “I want you to get an hour of sleep at least. I’ll watch Layla for you.” She pulled two bottles of blood from the fridge, popped the top on one, handed it to me, and placed the other on the coffee table before she sat next to me.
I downed one in less than a second. The minute the blood exploded on my tongue, I felt instant relief as my vision sharpened.
She smiled as her silver eyes sparkled like diamonds in the rough. “Better?”
