“This is normal, Mark. Quit beating yourself up.”
Mark looked up as Carl entered the hospital room. He was looking tired, but in a good way. As if the statesmanship of being their alpha was easier somehow. Becca’s doing, obviously, and Mark was happy for the man, but that didn’t ease his worry about Julie.
“How are you feeling?” Carl asked.
“Fine.”
“Have you slept?”
“Sure.” There was a cushioned chair to the side, and Mark had caught some Zs when Julie’s mother and sister had been with her. Right now they were picking up the professor from the cabin so he could visit as well, which gave Mark a chance to sit on the edge of her bed and hold her hand. Her still, too hot hand.
Did she have a fever?
He glanced at the monitor and saw that her temperature was 99.4, aka shifter normal. But she wasn’t a shifter. Four days ago she’d been 100 percent human with a 98.6 degree body temperature. He knew because he’d touched every inch of her body. He’d slept with her tucked up beside him. And he had wrapped her against him every moment he could. He knew what her temperature was, and this was hot for her. Unless it was the new norm. Unless she had been permanently changed in an amazing way.
But he didn’t dare hope for that. Not the way his luck usually ran.
“Come on, Jules. Wake up,” he said as he squeezed her fingers.
Nothing.
Meanwhile, Carl refused to be ignored. He came around the bed to look steadily at Mark. “You’re sure you feel okay?”
Mark glared at the Max, but didn’t comment beyond that. He’d already answered these questions. He was better than ever before. The reasons were complicated. First off, his time with his grizzly asleep had given him a new appreciation of exactly what his bear did for him. The creature gave the human focus and a grounding he’d never appreciated before. Second, the grizzly had his mate now, if she ever woke up. The bond between him and Julie was set in granite. Whether that was chemical or magic or simple luck, he didn’t know, but it steadied him in ways he couldn’t even express. He’d thought they were connected before, but this was deeper, more permanent and way more profound than he’d ever imagined was possible.
The two of them were joined at the soul. But that didn’t make a damn bit of difference if Julie never woke up. He’d been ready to give up his life to save hers. The fact that it might have worked out the other way was killing him.
“She’s my mate. I can’t live without her.”
Carl blew out a breath. Fortunately, he knew better than to argue. Grizzlies mated for life, and when one died, there was a fifty-fifty chance the other would go as well. Mark already knew which side of that equation he would go on merely because the thought of life without her was squeezing his chest to the point that he couldn’t breathe.
“One step at a time,” Carl said.
Mark didn’t speak. He just watched Julie’s chest and measured the steady rise and fall, aching for a change. A hitch. A deeper movement. Something that would indicate that she was coming back to him.
“Evil Einstein is talking,” Carl said. “He’s cut a deal with the DA in return for explanations about his research. His real name is Morris Holland and he’s a grade-A nutjob from the Upper Peninsula. Parents were cross-species shifters. A wolf and a bear. God knows how that happened and nobody noticed, but he’s apparently dedicated his life to activating his shifter DNA.”
Mark shook his head. It was a well-known fact that cross-species parents produced non-shifting children. The idea that this Morris had somehow managed to activate latent DNA was both a miracle and a tragedy of psychotic proportions. Just what did he think would happen if he took his own drug? He’d become some bizarre mix of wolf and bear that would look like…
Oh, hell.
“The freaks who attacked Julie’s cabin.”
Carl nodded. “They were all of mixed heritage that had been activated.”
“So shoot him up with his own shit and let him study what it feels like. And don’t kill him until he’s too weak to scream anymore.”
“I’ve considered it.”
Mark nodded. Fucker ought to die in his own science experiment. But logic told him that if something went south with Julie, they’d need Evil Einstein alive and competent. “How’s Alan?”
Carl’s voice was even as he spoke, but Mark understood the bite of tension beneath the words. “His fever’s down. Vitals are stabilized. He’s been in and out of consciousness, but the docs are keeping him quiet. His bear DNA has been switched on somehow, but it’s beating the shit out of his body.”
“So…better?”
Carl nodded, stark relief on his face. “Yeah. Better. And getting stronger every day.”
“Good.” Now if only Julie would wake, too, Mark might believe they were getting out of this disaster.
