* * *
Alistaire sat up in bed,rubbing the blurriness from his eyes, not sure what had woken him up from his nap. He couldn’t wait to leave the hospital tomorrow so he could have some proper sleep. Between the nurses, doctors, and family coming in to check on him, Alistaire could count on one hand how much sleep he was getting. The only ones who weren’t bothering him were Crevan and Genesis, who Alistaire was waiting for them to get back. Alistaire had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days to ensure all of the poison was out of his system.
Sirius had gotten the lab to run some tests to try and find out the poison’s components. Sadly, they couldn’t figure it out, so Sirius asked Bedwyr and Nicholas for help to see if it was a potion and how to develop an antidote if Euan tried the same thing again.
Bedwyr and Nicholas were still working on it, but they’d found nightshade root was one of the poison components. According to Sirius, the poison’s side effects were to keep him knocked out for quite some time. Alistaire shuddered at the thought of what Euan Gillies would have done to him in such a weakened state. Alistaire had a feeling the other immortal enjoyed their little cat and mouse game and wasn’t ready to kill him yet.
Alistaire roughly scrubbed his face and was about to get out of bed when he stopped, noticing a stranger was sitting on the couch. The stranger was seductively handsome with blond hair that looked like gold and blue eyes so bright they almost looked as if they were glowing even in broad daylight.
Why does he look familiar?
He took in the man’s appearance once more, hoping things would come to him, but the longer he stared, the more annoyed he became that a stranger was in his room.
“Who are you?”
“I’m glad you finally noticed me. Do you know how long I’ve been sitting here waiting for you to wake up?”
“I should be bothered by that?” Alistaire leaned back in the bed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m awake, so say what you have to say or get the hell out of my room.”
The stranger snorted. “You are a piece of work, Alistaire McBain.”
Alistaire was out of bed quicker than anyone could blink, grabbing the stranger by his shirt collar and slamming him against the wall. They were the same height but Alistaire was bulkier than the other man. “How the hell do you know my name?” Other than his family, no one knew he used McBain, the residents in Vale Valley called him Vale.
“I know everything about you.” The stranger didn’t seem bothered or afraid that Alistaire had him up against the wall, growling in his face.
“Who the hell are you?” Alistaire asked again, slamming the man more forcefully into the wall.
“I’m going to forgive you for this one incident. But do that once more, and I will kill you.”
“Try it,” Alistaire challenged.
They stared at each other with killing intent, neither seeming ready to bend to the other.
“You will do, Alistaire McBain.”
“Do with what?”
“As my police commissioner,” the stranger said.
“What?”
“Let me introduce myself.”
You should have done that in the first damn place.
“I’m Loki Boroson. Your grandmother is marrying my f…Odin.”
Alistaire caught the slip but didn’t comment on it. If there was drama within the Boroson family, it wasn’t for him to care as long as it didn’t spill over into the Vales side. He released Boroson and stepped back. However, in Boroson’s presence, he felt the need to keep his defenses up. He walked back to his bed and sat down.
“You can continue,” Alistaire ordered.
“No need to swing your dick. I can tell it’s big enough, McBain.”
“Then don’t look at it.”
“Hard not to,” Boroson smirked as his eyes traveled up and down Alistaire’s body.
“I already have a mate, so keep your thoughts elsewhere.”
