~/~/~/~/~
Walking into the kitchen, Steel held up his hands, smiling. “Sorry I’m late. I got waylaid by two pirates, who threatened to make me walk the plank if anything happened to Remy and Carson, three wolf pups who thought it was a great idea to practice charging at their very harried nanny and one angel who stole my heart.”
Pausing, Hope smiled gently. “Rune…such a sweet baby. He reminds me of…” The memories of that awful night roared back, filling her with sadness so deep, it threatened to reduce her to a shadow as it had done before.
Seeing the grief in her face, Steel rushed to Hope, gathering her in his arms. “Hey there….”
Tears ran silently down her cheeks. In her mind, she was back there…that night…fire lighting up the dark sky…frozen in fear and unable to save her babies. It was a scene she would never forget.
Hearing the kitchen door slam open, Steel glanced over his shoulder, locking eyes with his brother, and then Mac, before noticing who else was with them.Oh shit!
Shaking off Slate’s arm around him, Dakota ran to his mother, pushing Steel aside. Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered, “Mama…mama…don’t…please don’t.”
Pushing Slate out of the way so he could see what was happening, Mac caught sight of his two patients, crying and hugging each other. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. “Slate, take Dakota downstairs now.”
“He won’t go,” Slate replied. “Not when Hope is upset.”
“Give me a second.” Opening the medical kit he’d brought with him, Mac withdrew a pre-loaded syringe and primed it. Approaching Hope, he injected a sedative into her left arm and, after seeing her eyes droop, he cautioned Steel not to let her fall.
When both his patients were back in their hospital rooms, Mac tended to Hope first, hooking her up to the monitors before asking Colton to stay with her. Then, he headed to his other patient and the one who now was going to fight his orders even more. Entering, he paused just inside the door, gauging how close Slate was to shifting into his Dire Wolf. Relief flooded him when he saw Steel’s hand on the back of Slate’s neck, calming his brother’s animal.
“What happened to Mom?” Dakota asked, his eyes flashing. “I thought you told me she was better.”
“Sheisbetter,” Mac insisted. “You know that.”
“Well, obviously she’s not,” Slate retorted.
“Look, I won’t know for sure until she wakes up and can tell me what triggered her reaction…”
“I know,” Steel said softly. “We were talking about Rune and Hope mentioned he reminded her of someone.”
“Did she mention who?” asked Mac.
“No…she just started to cry.”
“My youngest brother,” Dakota murmured, his face stricken with grief.
Shrugging off his brother’s hand, Slate sat on Dakota’s bed, pulling him to his chest. Tenderly rubbing his mate’s back, he comforted Dakota while flooding him with love.
“That explains her relapse,” Mac murmured, his forehead furrowed in concentration.
“What do you mean?” Dakota asked, softly.
“Even though Hope appears to have recovered from the trauma of the massacre, certain things can act as a trigger, taking her back to it. In this case it was Rune reminding her of one of her children she lost that night,” Mac explained.
“Does that mean every time she sees Rune, she’ll break down again?” asked Slate.
“No…no…not at all,” Mac said, shaking his head. “Seeing Rune hasn’t affected her before today so obviously there was something else in addition to her thought of Rune that triggered her reaction. I won’t know what it is until I can talk to Hope…and that will have to…”
“I know…wait until the sedative wears off,” growled Slate.”
“Sorry…that’s the best I can do for now,” Mac murmured.
Chapter 41
Kahn finally gave up after punching the elevator button several times without results, deciding instead to use the stairs. Briming with excitement, he was eager to share the news with his mother. She’d been his biggest supporter throughout his childhood and was overjoyed when he was accepted into one of the premier art schools in the country. Not surprisingly, his father had vehemently put his foot down, forbidding him to accept the full scholarship they’d offered him.
Heartbroken, he begged his cousin Jackson to speak to his father—who was Josiah’s brother—about intervening on his behalf. When that didn’t happen, he moped around the house for days. His father refused to change his mind and the deadline for accepting the scholarship passed.
