I’ll admit, the thought of Skyla and me teaming up together, generally speaking, to save our people blows my ego and my heart up to the size of the solar system.
Downstairs, the lab is brightly lit just the way Ezrina demands it, but my tired eyes are used to the oppression Mother Nature insists on impinging on us.
“There he is.” Marshall Dudley stands at the round table where Gage Oliver’s primal apex acts as a decoration. Little Alice is coloring at the other end of the table, and Ezrina and Nev look busy in the back, running from boiling beaker to boiling beaker. “Roll out of bed so early? It’s not yet noon. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company at this ungodly hour?”
I scowl over at him. “The boys started preschool today. It was a tough morning for Skyla. She’s upstairs watching your favorite soap opera. Why don’t you join her and have a little girl time?”
He shoves his hand in my chest and stops me as I’m about to pass him. I can see Coop, Ellis, and Brody lying in those dental chairs Nev bought off eBay, waiting for the readout on their blood.
“All right. What gives? What has your celestial panties in a bunch?” I smack his hand away from me. “You do realize you were designed to land me in the position I’m in today.”
His jaw redefines itself with anger, and yet he looks simultaneously bored. “You do realize you were designed to perish and henceforth make room for my magnificent presence.”
“You’ll amount to nothing but a sperm donor.” Not that I plan on letting it happen.
The tips of his lips curl. “Your head has been removed once before. I can arrange for a reprisal of the blessed event. Shall I seek Ms. Bishop and ask if she’d like to do the honors?Rina?” he calls to her while rasping his knuckles against the table, causing Gage’s disembodied head to bobble as if he’s egging Dudley on—and knowing the new and unimproved version of my nephew, he is. “I want another glass box filled with keeping solution on the table tonight. I’m about to add to my collection of dead Olivers.”
Ezrina hustles over, her crimson locks blowing every which way. It’s amazing how she’s managed to take Chloe’s frame and turn it into her own.
“What seems to be the problem?” She cuts the air with her caustic curiosity.
“I’m ignoring him,” I say, moving past Ezrina as I speed over to the guys with their legs thrown over their seats. Both Ellis and Brody look up my way while Coop’s still lying back with his eyes closed.
And then I see it for what it really is.
“Crap.” I take a step back. Coop’s eyes are swollen shut, his lips have that bee-stung look to them, and his hands are puffy with fluid trapped underneath his skin.
Brody gives the back of his neck a quick scratch. “He’ll be fine.”
Ellis nods. “Ezrina is administering some counteractive shit. He’ll live.”
“Coop, can you hear me?” I say, leaning in. My stomach gets that weird feeling as if I were on a roller coaster that just bottomed out. I feel light-headed just looking at the poor guy.
A dull moan comes from him as Ezrina bustles back and shoves what looks to be a syringe minus the needle into his mouth and a thin line of pink fluid drips down his chin. She takes her blouse and mops it up for him.
“Two minutes.” She glances to the clock on the wall. “All will be well.”
Heathcliff comes in and makes a face at poor Coop. “This is what we’re up against. How many people will have adverse reactions to the serum?”
Dudley strolls in. “It’s hard to tell. But alas, this is a necessary evil. Unseating the enemy is of the utmost importance.” He sharpens his eyes over mine. “Send your people into hiding if you have to. We carry out the attack as planned. Eight weeks.”
“I’m not sending anyone into hiding. It’s not against the law to have an allergic reaction. Ezrina, can this kill?”
“Maybe.” She combs Coop’s hair back gently with her fingers. Becoming a mother has softened Ezrina and it’s heartwarming to see.
Cooper groans as his swelling visibly reduces.
Ellis lets out a hard breath. “I would not want that to happen to anyone. Dude, you’ve got balls of steel asking for it twice.”
Brody frowns over at me. “Coop may have balls of steel, but you can bet your supernatural dollars that as soon as people hear of deadly consequences, they’re going to shy away from it.”
Ellis shakes his head. “We may not need a serum. The government can’t test every person. It’s impossible.”
“They’ll find a way,” I mutter.
Brody looks to Ezrina. “What about old blood samples?”
“The markers don’t last. It needs to be fresh.”
