Escaping Death

Ace

Last night I dreamt of Sol.

I dreamed that she was happy.

She was dancing without a care in the world, letting go of her doubts and inhibitions. Then like ink in water my mind clouded, obscuring my view of her. When the water finally cleared there she was on the brink of orgasm, being satisfied by Tate and Dean.

Tate handled her gently, far more gently than he’s ever handled any woman — physically or emotionally. He made her feel good. He made her feel safe. My chest tightened watching them, but not from jealousy. I loved watching her, I loved watching him take care of her. Dare I say, I appreciated Tate even more for the way he cared for my mate.

How many alphas can say they trust anyone but themselves with their mate? I could. There in that dream I felt it. He’d do anything for me and he’d do anything for her in kind.

Tate wasn’t the only one treating her well. Dean was there. But he couldn’t move, he couldn’t get to her and he eventually broke down and begged for help. Our resident caretaker practically sobbed with need, and Solana didn’t hesitate to reverse roles on him, assuming the role of caretaker and taking care of him.

Then, at the end of my dream, my beautiful mate turned to me and fit herself easily into my arms. She let me soothe her in the bath we took together and then allowed me to lay her down in bed. She rested between me and Hunter as Eli slept on the other side of Hunter and Dean on the other side of me.

Tate slept on the couch on his own, but it felt like even he was coming around to the realization that he’d rather be half in than half out.

I’m floating around in between sleep and consciousness, eyes still closed, patting around the mattress for my mate but instead of a handful of Solana, I end up bumping up against Hunter.

What is Hunter doing here in bed? I wonder to myself trying to think back to last night for any clues on how this happened. That’s when realization sets in, a potent mixture between concern and elation that has my heart thundering against my ribs. That wasn’t a dream.

I pry one tentative eye open and tuck my chin to my chest looking around the bedroom for other signs of life. Particularly Solana. But the only person in the room with me appears to be Hunter.

Sitting up in bed and sliding my hands down my face in an attempt to brush the sleep from my eyes I prod at Hunter’s back with my elbow. “Did you see the guys leave this morning?”

Hunter swats at my arm with a groan before rolling away just out of my reach. “They said they were going to eat and stretch their wings, but I have no idea what time that was.”

Rising off the bed, I pad over to the couch where I left my phone in my pant’s pocket and text the group. On the coffee table is a generous breakfast spread with pitchers of water and coffee that I’ll no doubt dig into once I figure out where my pack and my mate have gone.

And then I hear her.

“Sol? Are you okay?” I dash to the bathroom door through which I can hear her gagging and dry heaving.

I kick open the door more forcefully than necessary, finding her bent over the toilet bowl holding her hair back away from her face. She straightens up, dabs the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, and flushes. Like getting rid of the evidence would give her plausible deniability for what I’ve heard and seen.

“The door was closed for a reason, you caveman.” She mutters at me with no heat as she begins brushing her teeth feverishly.

“Caves are –by definition– doorless, Princess.” By now, between me kicking in the door and hearing Solana getting sick, Hunter has joined me at the threshold of the bathroom. “Everything okay?” He asks, looking apprehensively between me and Sol.

Sol gives her mouth a final rinse with mouthwash before turning to us and dazzling us with a wide, forced smile. “Never better. Just nursing a hangover one dry-heave at a time.”

“Bullshit,” Hunter scoffs with amusement, “I watched you all night. You were stone cold sober.”

Solana rolls her eyes and pushes the two of us against the door frame like she’s parting the Nile and walks back towards bed.

Hunter meets my gaze with thinly disguised excitement and mindlinks me. You know what this means, right?

I nod my head, schooling my expression to not give away the hundred emotions between awe and terror running through me. Yes. We’ll need to confirm it, of course.

And convince her to stay with us – I mean… with you. Hunter searches my face looking for a clue as to how I feel about this whole situation. The truth is I’m still figuring it all out. If I were to ask the pack today if they wanted to keep her I don’t know how many would say ‘yes’ and mean it.

Hunter can’t see past his love for her, so he can’t think clearly about how her being my mate will affect him — or her. If I claim her our mate bond will inevitably get stronger. It’s impossible to know how either of them will feel when that happens.

And then there’s Eli. He was devastated when his mate already had a family, not unlike Sol and Hunter’s relationship prior to her and I meeting. But where Eli had to sever his bond with her and walk away, I’d be able to have my mate despite her feelings for her first love. In theory no one would have to give up anyone. But this isn’t some college experiment, this is our life. Would Eli really be able to look at me and Sol and Hunter and not flare with resentment that we have the life he couldn’t?

One step at a time. I link back to him. He nods in agreement, his teeth sink into his bottom lip trying to rein in his smile but it’s no use. His smile illuminates his face like the light of dawn over the Grove and he runs after Sol, scooping her up into his arms and diving into bed.

Careful, I growl through the link.

They’re laying down facing one another and if it’s possible Hunter’s smile grows all the more wider. “You’re pregnant,” he breathes against her lips before capturing them for a taste.

“No I’m not,” Sol rolls her eyes, hissing between her teeth as she pushes away from him so she can sit up.

“Yes, you are! Your breasts are tender —“

“Because you guys can’t keep your hands to yourself,” she mutters sheepishly.

“And you’re more tired than usual.”

“Maybe Eli’s snoring keeps me up all night.”

“And you just got sick… in the morning.” He grins at her triumphantly when she doesn’t immediately have an explanation for that.

Her eyes drop to her lap where her hands are nervously wringing against one another. “Don’t get your hopes up,” she says but her body language is suggesting that she doesn’t want to get her hopes up.

“Sunflower, it’s okay. We’ll take care of you,” he smooths his hand over her stomach, “both of you.”

“Here, you need to stay hydrated,” I offer her a glass of water from the pitcher on the coffee table. She drinks it appreciatively, downing the entire glass in one go. I crouch down in front of her so I’m eye-level with her as she sits on the edge of the bed. I slip my hand along her cheek and purr involuntarily when she leans into my touch. “He’s right, Solana. We will take care of you.”

She nods reluctantly, like she wants to want to believe it but she’s still grappling with the reality of it. The mug slips from her hands onto the carpet by my feet and when I look down to pick it up there’s a little red spot on the otherwise immaculate white carpet. Then another blooms open like a rose against the snow. Then more and more until I realize I’m not hallucinating, it’s Solana.

Blood is pouring from her nose and beginning to drain from her ears. “Solana? Solana!,” I press my palms to either side of her head trying to get her eyes to focus on me so I know she’s still alert but they just roll back in her head leaving me with a very foreign feeling. Helplessness.

It’s not like she’s been wounded, so I can’t patch her up. It’s not like she’s sick, so I can’t just let her rest. She’s just…bleeding out. For no reason at all.

“Shit, Sunflower! No, no, no, Sol, look at me,” Hunter’s voice cracks with restrained emotion as her head lolls against him in his arms.

“Infirmary, you have to take her,” he shouts.

“I don’t know where I’m going!”

“I do,” he says resolutely. “You drive, I’ll navigate,” he says in reference to my ability to teleport. I do the teleporting, but I let him select the destination.

I’m not going to fight him. If he’s recognized we will deal with that fall out later, right now the most important thing is getting Solana to a doctor.

I scoop her into my arms and teleport us. Hunter has landed us directly in front of a busy nurses station. “Help, someone please! It’s Solana!” I beg of the nurses in front of me. They immediately come around the counter and usher us into the nearest room with a bed. They’re all shouting orders at one another, hooking her up to various devices, testing her reflexes and trying to get her to respond.

A lifetime later, more accurately a few seconds, Xander arrives with the whole fucking family. Sol’s parents, her siblings, and another woman I haven’t met but that I recognize from dinner. She practically has fire for hair, warm, golden eyes, and the nurses address her as Doctor Ember.

“It can’t be,” Dr. Ember says beneath her breath with wide, horrified, terrified eyes, before snapping around to look at Magnolia.

“Sanguine Death,” Magnolia whispers.

Dr. Ember blasts Solana’s chest with brilliant, golden light then she squares her shoulders with her hands over Sol’s chest, the light never wavering, and assumes total control. “Mags, out. Everyone else I need antihemorrdexal, now! It’s in the back of the safe. You, push another bag of fluids. As soon as she gets the antihemorrdexal we need to transfuse.”

One of the nurses lunges for the door to the hallway, presumably in search of the safe. I graze her arm with barely enough contact to teleport her to her destination. She is momentarily disoriented when we land immediately in front of the safe but quickly recovers and retrieves a small vial from deep in the back of the safe. With a nod to me I teleport us back within seconds of Ember’s order, medicine in hand.

The nurse draws up the clear liquid into a syringe with steady hands despite her racing heart. She plunges the needle into the first vein she can find and the room itself holds its breath.

What the hell went wrong? She was fine just minutes ago. What did I miss? What didn’t I see? The last thing she heard me say was that we were going to take care of her and I’ve failed her on that promise within five seconds of making it.

“Come on, Sol. Fight it,” Ember growls, her eyes darting between the various monitors and Sol’s face.

Slowly, distressingly slowly, the blood from her nose ebbs until her nose stops bleeding altogether. My feet carry me to her bedside. I need to be near her, I need to touch her. The other people in the room fade into the background and I’m tunnel-visioned on Sol.

Ember’s golden, healing light recedes as soon as Sol’s eyes begin to flutter open. Thank the Gods, I think to myself, brushing my thumb over her cheek and nearly recoiling from how frigid her skin is.

I make room for myself in her little hospital bed, holding her to me with her head tucked under my chin. “Sir, you shouldn’t do that. Please, Sir, let us do our jobs.”

“Like hell I can’t,” I bite back and hold her tighter. Solana purrs happily and curls into the warmth of my body forcing the nurses and doctors to work around us, hooking her up to the blood transfusion equipment.

From across the room I can feel the heavy glare of her fathers’ eyes on me, the crushing weight of their aura, and the oppressive heat they’re exuding.

The nurses and doctors file out of the room quietly now that Sol’s vitals have stabilized

“What the hell happened? We hired you to protect her,”Varian hisses at me.

“I am – we are. And If I remember correctly, you were the ones who said she didn’t need protecting in the Grove. Maybe I should be asking you ‘what the hell happened’?”

The two Alphas ignite in flames and take an initial step towards me, but Magnolia raises her hand to stop them.

“No one in this room is at fault,” Magnolia says with conviction and authority.

“Mags is right,” Ember says wistfully. “Solana was poisoned.”