“Well, what about it? You have a good point about hiding your dragon.”
Surprised at his mate’s response to it, Fionn shook his head, “I don’t know. It was just a thought.”
“But a good one, pet. Why don’t we talk about it later?” asked Hunter.
“Okay,” Fionn said, turning his head to the window again as they sped towards their destination.
~/~/~/~/~
His hands on his mate’s back, Logan watched Kieran’s aura grow blacker with Hope’s sorrow. Several times, he was going to call an end to the session, but after Ian’s assurances that all was fine with Kieran and their pup, Logan backed down; Still, that didn’t keep him from counting the minutes until it ended. Fifteen minutes a session—that’s what he and Ian had agreed on. But each minute felt like a lifetime. He’d never forget seeing his mate’s body, still as death, Mac frantically performing CPR on him. Frozen in fear, it was their spirit who’d pushed Logan forward and told him what to do, until finally, Ian announced Kieran’s heart was beating again. So lost was he in that memory, he didn’t hear Ian call ‘time’. Only when Kieran turned around and grasped his hands did Logan breathe easily again.
“Doc, what do you think?” asked Kieran, after climbing into his mate’s lap, knowing the more contact he had with Logan the faster the dark aura would dissipate.
After checking Hope’s vitals and her responses to stimuli, Ian said, “There’s some improvement, but not enough to bring her out of the coma.”
“You don’t sound very hopeful, Ian,” Logan said.
“Sorry, but in cases like this, hope is something in very short supply. Don’t misunderstand me…what Kieran’s doing is helping but she needs…”
“She needs Dakota, Doc,” Kieran said. “Right now, she won’t let me into her mind. Removing the darkness in her soul is only part of what I can do. If you remember, when I was helping Fionn…”
“He said he woke up just so he could shut you up,” Logan said.
Kieran nodded. “Fionn wanted to die, but he hadn’t blocked his mind, so I was able to get in there and talk to him, tell him what was waiting for him if he lived. I can’t do that with Hope, but Dakota can. His Shadow Voice can penetrate the block and connect with her on a level I can’t right now.”
“I don’t know, Kieran,” Ian said. “My first priority is for Dakota’s health and the health of his pup. Giving birth to a Dire Wolf pup is risky enough without adding more stress. My concern is how will it affect Dakota…first reliving the horror she saw, and second, how will he feel if he gets through to her but she still doesn’t wake up?”
“True,” agreed Logan, “but have you considered how my brother will feel if he finds out he might have helped his mother but wasn’t allowed to?”
“Dakota wouldn’t be doing it alone, Doc,” Kieran said. “We’d work together…me removing the blackness in her soul while Kota reaches her mind. Hope needs a reason to live or it won’t matter how much darkness I remove.”
“Ian, is there something Slate can do to assist Dakota…like I do for Kieran?” asked Logan.
“I’m not sure,” Ian replied.
“It’s worth asking about,” Logan said. “As much as I hate the thought of anything happening to my brother or his pup, I think this is a decision Dakota and Slate should make themselves.”
“I can’t give any guarantees that even if Dakota does it, Hope will wake up,” Ian said. “We are dealing with the mind and there’s much that medicine doesn’t know about it.”
“Kota’s gift can do more than just read thoughts,” Kieran said.
“What do you mean?” asked Logan.
“Shadow Voice can also be used to talk to the person, not just read their thoughts,” Kieran said.
“I don’t think so,” Ian said. “As far as I know, Dakota can only hear thoughts.”
“Normally, that’d be true,” Kieran said, “but not in this case. Slate and Dakota share one life force. Because of that, Dakota’s Shadow Voice is much more powerful than you think. It allowed him to boost Slate’s resistance to pain and remind him there was a reason for him to fight and come back.”
“But I thought it only worked between them because they were mates,” Logan said.
“That’s part of it,” said Kieran, “but Dakota can also use it with other people he cares about.”
“Does he know this?” asked Ian.
“I think he knows it, but doesn’t know it…if you catch my drift,” Kieran said, smiling at his mate.
“Oh,” said Logan, “like he doesn’twantto know it.”
