“I know exactly what kind of woman I married, and I’ll remind you that a doctor’s private life and relationships are exactly that.Private. Do you really think I would come to this town without a reason?” Donna’s cheeks flush and Julian points at me. “She is the reason I am here, she is the reason I’m helping any of you, do you hear me? This woman is the only thing redeeming this town and you’ll do well to remember that you swore an oath when you took on this vocation, Nurse Donna. This is not the lunchroom or the hallways of the high school youclearly peaked in.” Julian takes a step towards Donna and she stumbles back.
“I’m going to report you for hiding those files from me, and the board will be hearing about your treatment of Maris. By the time I’m done with you, they won’t even let you sell tongue dispensers at the drug store. Now see to the other patients in the ER while you still have the license to, and if one single thing happens to Maris from all of this I’ll sue you for every last penny you have. You’ll die in debt to me, do you understand?”
“Yes,” she whispers. Donna’s eyes are wide and she looks like she’s about to choke with how red she is. I don’t even see her breathing. She’s statue still and staring into Julian’s eyes. She’s like a puppet with her strings pulled too tight. It’s when Julian steps back from her and turns away that she takes in a gasping breath and has to catch the foot of my bed to keep herself upright. She lifts her head and I see the tears shining in her eyes before she hurries away and I realize what happened just now.
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
He glamoured her.
Thirty-Nine
JULIAN
The untold horrors that I’m going to rain down on Donna and every single nurse that helped her keep Maris from me is going to be unfathomable. So terrible there won’t be any hiding my power from the Varcolacus but it will be fucking worth it just to make them all pay.
But that’s for later, not now. I almost lost control too damn early and in a full ER too. I’ve never been this reckless before but it’s Maris. I look at her, she looks pale and shaky. The bleeding has stopped, mostly clotted and it’s just the one leg but she’s hurting.
I’m going to lose it if I don’t get out of here. I clench my fists and look around the ER. It’s busy, the nurses are doing their very best to avoid looking at me as they work.
Bunch of fucking animals.
I motion for Maris to put her arms around my neck and pick her up. She doesn’t need to hold on to me but I want her to. I like having my wife’s arms around me. One touch from Maris is enough to calm my soul. She gives me a confused look but drapes an arm over my shoulder and leans in close when I turn to leave her bloodied area. That stupid fucking clipboard fell to the floor earlier and I step on it when we walk past.
“Where are we going?”
“My office,” I tell her and kiss her forehead. “I’m going to get this glass out of you and take care of you.”
Maris nods and leans her head against my shoulder. “Everyone’s staring at us.”
She’s right. People are staring. Good. I want them to see Maris in my arms. There should be no mistaking exactly who I belong to. I start to walk through the ER and one of the more soft-spoken nurses, Janet, approaches me. She has medical supplies in her hand, forceps, antiseptic, sutures, ointment, an irrigation bottle with saline and gauze, all together in a procedure bowl.
“I thought you could use this,” Janet says and looks at Maris with a wince. “I didn’t know your wife was here. I’m so sorry, Doctor Vale.”
Donna might not be good for much but she is good for spreading the news that I’ve claimed Maris as mine. Maybe I won’t make her death as long and tortuous as I planned. I take the bowl with the hand I’ve got hooked under Maris’ thighs and nod my thanks to Janet.
“These things do happen,” I tell her quietly.
“I’ll sign off on the report. I mean, when you-when you report Donna. I’ll sign as a witness. What she did was unconscionable.”
“Thank you.”
Janet gives me a tight smile before she hurries off with her head down. No doubt trying to lay low from Donna’s wrath. I spot her in the corner with another nurse helping fit a sling on a boy with curly red hair. Donna looks equal part sick and furious. She glares at Janet’s back like she might go after her, and she might have until I step into her field of vision. Donna blanches when we lock eyes. She might not know why she’s scared of me all of a sudden but I do.
I stopped holding back my human facade for her earlier and I do it again now. That cunt sees me for the demon I am and backs away so fast that she trips. Donna goes down with a yelp. Good. She’ll get more than a fall when I pay her back for what she’s done to Maris.
I carry Maris out of the ER and up the flight of stairs to my office. The hospital is quiet now. I only see a couple of other patients and the janitor in the halls. I nudge the door open and bring Maris inside but not before she sees the door with my name on it and taps a finger on my chest.
“Doctor Julian Vale. Very fancy.”
“Not hardly,” I tell her and close the door with a kick of my foot. I lock it before I take Maris over to my desk and sit her down on it. There’s plenty of room to work on her here. I haven’t had time to move in, so the entire desk is bare save for a stack of drug reviews and referrals that I need to look over.
“I’m going to bring your leg up onto the desk and work on it, okay?” I tell her while I set up the supplies I have into a makeshift medical station.
“Okay,” Maris says and then she gives me a weak smile, “just don’t let me pass out again, okay? I’m good at passing out.”
I return her smile and reach for her leg. “I’ll do my best.” I settle her leg on the desk and manage to hold it together when she gasps in pain from the movement. “How are you doing?”
“Never better. Peachy.”
