The steady beepof the machines in Laina’s room was almost hypnotic.Even though her surgery had gone as expected, for still-unknown reasons, she hadn’t woken up.All the human doctors were calling it a coma.Grateful quietly declared it a curse.
“She’s going to be all right,” Silas said to Kyle.“Grateful will figure out the nature of what’s doing this to Laina, and she’ll undo it.”
“I called Jason,” Kyle said.“He and Selene are flying back from Italy.They’ll be here tomorrow.”
“Good.Laina needs all the support she can get right now.”
The men sat in silence, Silas on Laina’s right, Kyle on her left.Laina looked small in the bed, small and thin.He thought of the way she’d packed away the burger at Valentine’s and wondered if it was because of the baby.Goddess, he was going to kill Alex for this.For this and for everything else the bastard had done to their family.
“Did Grateful tell you?”Kyle asked eventually.“About what they found when they tested her blood?”
What should he say?Congratulations seemed inappropriate given the circumstances.Silas decided a nod would be enough.
“They say the baby is about seven weeks along.We didn’t even know.”He took Laina’s hand in his, his thumb rubbing gently over the back of her hand.“I guess she still doesn’t know.”
“She’ll be so excited, Kyle.The entire pack will be.”
“I hope so.”
Silas rubbed the back of his head.His hair was too long and bushy and it caught in his fingers, but who had time for haircuts when you were hunting down your mortal enemy?
“We’ve got to find him,” Kyle said, his voice low and threatening.“Alex needs to pay for this.”
“I won’t stop until he does,” Silas said.
“What’s taking so long?Jason said Alex was so weak he could hardly use the amulet.That was weeks ago.”
“I know.Alex has to be working with a healer.Has to be.”Silas scratched the stubble on his jaw.“I’m getting closer.I’m staking out a new place tonight.”
Kyle rose from his wife’s side and paced the room.“Maybe.Maybe you got too close and that was why he targeted Laina.”
“Yeah.I was thinking the same thing.”
“So what are you going to do about it?”Kyle’s voice rose in pitch.“You have a Hecate on your side, a best friend who’s a caretaker.Fuck, we’ve got a fairy godmother in Gerty, for Pete’s sake.Do you need money?I can give you any amount you need.”
“It’s not money or power.”Silas sighed.He understood why Kyle was frustrated.He was frustrated too.
“You need something, Silas,” Kyle gritted out, pointing a finger over Laina’s body.“Fucking stop trying to do this on your own and get the help you need to get it done or so help me God, I’ll hunt and kill Alex myself.I’ll do it with my bare hands if I have to.”
Silas’s blood heated.He felt for Kyle, he did, but he’d had about enough of being indirectly blamed for what happened to Laina.He was pondering how to respond to the man without losing his shit when the door flew open and Meredith stumbled into the room, panting and doubled over.She looked like hell.Half her red hair spilled from her ponytail, her clothing was disheveled, and her eyes bulged.
She grabbed Silas by the collar and shook him.“You… you left me there.Why did you leave me there?”
“I… Uh…” Goddess, he felt like an asshole for leaving without her.But he’d had no choice.“I did text…”
“Do you know what cupping is?”Her voice was quiet but held a tinge of venom.
Slowly he shook his head.
“After you left, Dr.Lucky Charms decided the therapy I needed involved suctioning heated glass cups to my skin.”She pulled the neck of her blouse aside to reveal an angry red welt.“Not only did it hurt like hell, he charged me five hundred dollars!”
“We’ll submit that to the department for reimbursement,” Silas mumbled.
“And then… And then…” She shook him harder.“By the time I left, my invented condition was a real one.I feel like I’ve been hit by a frickin’ truck.You abandoned me.I had to call for an Uber.An Uber, Silas, covered in welts!I can barely sit down!”
He swallowed, not knowing what to say.“Did he do that to your butt too?”
Meredith bared her teeth.“My entire backside from neck to ankle looks like an infection of megasized adult acne.”
