I back away, I can’t help it. The monster in the bed is terrifying me. Where is the medical team? “Help!” I cry. “Help me!”
Machines are beeping, shrieking, and Kaiser is bellowing like he’s being electrocuted.
The attendants come running. “What’s happening?” one asks me.
“I don’t know. He just woke up—and you have to help him!”
“Hold him down.” They move to pin his arms, and he shoves them away, sending them flying.
“We need reinforcements?—”
“No, you’re hurting him.” I hover where I stand, unable to move closer but unable to leave. I don’t know what to do. “Don’t touch him.”
“Bella?” Atticus appears. He’s alert, but he must have been sleeping. He’s shirtless, only wearing black baseball shorts and fuzzy brown slippers.
“He’s having a bad dream,” I say.
“His temperature is too high,” an attendant says.
“His body is fighting the poison, but it’s not working,” Atticus says. “We need to try your blood.”
“Do it,” I say. “But don’t hold him down,” I say. “He can’t stand it.”
“She’s right,” Atticus says to his team.
“But he’ll fight if we try to inject him,” one attendant protests.
“We don’t have time for this.” Desperate, I head back to Kaiser’s side. I feel like I’m entering the lion’s den. “I’m here, Kaiser. Please. You’re safe. You don’t have to fight.”
He moans but quiets.
Atticus readies the shot and nods to me.
I put my hands close to Kaiser’s arm. “I’m going to touch you now. It’s just me. Bella. Your fiancée.”
“Now,” Atticus mouths to me.
I clamp my hands on Kaiser’s arm and Atticus injects him, quick as a bee sting.
Kaiser roars again, but he doesn’t fight me. I keep my hands clamped on his arm. I can feel the power in the muscles. He could rip it away and strike me, hurt me, but he doesn’t. “It burns,” he groans.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I didn’t think I had any more tears, but they come all the same and leave burning tracks down my cheeks. “Don’t leave me.”
Atticus dismisses the attendants. Once they leave, he starts to back away. “Where are you going?” I ask. “He needs you.”
“He’s not here. He’s back in his past. Dreaming.” Atticus motions with his hand. “He won’t want me to see him like this.”
“I don’t fucking care. Everybody gets sick. No one is strong all the time, for fuck’s sake.”
Atticus still looks unsure.
“He doesn’t need a doctor. He needs a friend. You’re his friend, right?”
“His oldest one.” He paces forward. “Kaiser, I’m here.”
Kaiser turns his head. There are bloody tracks down his cheeks.
“You’re free, brother. Maestro is dead. You killed him. And we won’t let anyone cage you anymore.”
