Kai (A Dark Assassins Novel Book One) (22 page)

“You’ve worked with the immortals before, right?” Kai asked.

They both nodded.

“Could I turn her now?” he asked.

They both shook their heads, but the older one spoke.
 
“Right now she’s too weak.
 
The spread of the venom is very painful and there is no guarantee that your venom would take.”

“Have you seen injuries like this before?
 
Will you be able…to heal her?”

“I…don’t know,” the older paramedic said.
 
“We’ll know more when we get her back.
 
But her eyes were slow to respond, which leads us to believe that there might be some brain swelling.
 
Her breaks will be set, and they will heal, but damage to the brain is what we have to worry about.
 
I’m sorry we don’t have more answers.”

At his words, desperation clawed within Kai’s chest.
 
For the first time in his existence, he prayed.

Chapter Eighteen

Kai

The beep coming from Liv’s medical equipment had been a constant rhythm in his ear for the past four days.
 
Instead of becoming annoyed by it, he took comfort in what it represented.
 
Her broken bones had been set, her fingers had been splinted, her cuts sewn and bandaged, but she had yet to wake.
 
The doctors had worried that the stab wound on her side had caused severe internal injuries, but the main concern was the concussion she received after repeated blows to her head during the few hours she spent with Dr. Ames.
 
Her brain had swollen, and until she regained consciousness, there was no telling whether she would have full administration of her faculties, at least that is what the many doctors had said.

He knew that his Liv had strength; she’d survived living with her parents who treated her as though she didn’t exist and losing her sister at such a young age.
 
But she’d come through it all stronger and with a determination that he’d rarely seen.
 
This time, the reason his Liv was in this position had been entirely his fault.

She had trusted him even before she’d spoken to him, and although he shared his home and his family with her, he wouldn’t allow himself to trust her when it mattered most.
 
If he had told her about his nightmare, she wouldn’t have allowed herself to leave with a vampire who had been sent to kill her.
 
She could’ve screamed for him or one of the assassins.

Even as he thought about it, time and time again, he knew that she would’ve never allowed Seth to be harmed.
 
The vampire who he’d come to know as Kane had mentioned that he used her feelings for the kid, and she hadn’t hesitated one second to take his place.

Kane had explained to Ghost and the team that Dr. Ames had lost everything the night Liv had discovered his dirty little secret, and as time grew, his mind had grown unstable as well.
 
Kane’s human mate, Allison, had been taken the day after Liv had disappeared.
 
Kane had gone in for several interviews over the previous few months with Dr. Ames, who had represented himself as CEO of Dark Company and learned of his connection to the human when he had listed her as his spouse.
 
The anguish in the other vampire’s eyes was reflected in his own, but for now, he still had Liv in his life.
 
Despite his rage at the situation, he couldn’t blame anyone but himself for her kidnapping and suffering.
 
Kane had been desperate to get his wife back, and Kai couldn’t fault him for it.

As soon as they arrived at the warehouse, Kane knew that Dr. Ames had other plans for Liv.
 
Kane admitted to breaking her finger the first time, but he couldn’t stomach any more and retreated.
 
But the doctor hadn’t cared; he wanted his revenge and quickly forgot about him.
 
The vampire watched in horror as the doctor twisted her right arm, breaking the bone easily.
 
The doctor wasn’t satisfied with breaking her bones, and that was when the blows to her head started.
 
The doctor pretended to ask questions, knowing that she wouldn’t answer him, yet still became frustrated when she refused to speak, and that is when he plunged a knife in her side.
 
Kane had stepped forward then, wanting to prevent her from dying, and that was the moment Liv drugged him, plunging the needle into his thigh and pressing down.
 
He’d woken up in the hospital, handcuffed to the bed, with armed guards standing over him.

Kai had seen Kane after he’d been told that his mate had been found, deceased, and as he looked at him, he became aware that grief and loss could manifest as physical pain.
 
Each time he spoke with Kane, the vampire’s eyes were dull, lifeless.
 
The last time, Kane had come to visit Liv; he sat across the bed and locked eyes with Kai.

“I asked her if she was your mate, and she told me that she didn’t know.
 
Is she?” Kane asked.

His question left him with a feeling of desperation that he couldn’t shake.
 
“Yes,” he choked out.

Kai knew then he couldn’t lose Liv, couldn’t watch her die.
 
As he sat alone, he flinched as he brushed his fingers gently over her face, careful to avoid the sutures and swelling that had recently started to lessen.
 
He began to talk randomly.

“I miss you, love.
 
I didn’t realize how much I missed our conversations, our fights, until you had been taken from me.
 
I almost lost my mind when you’d disappeared, and I had to depend on my team to get me to the warehouse.
 
I couldn’t think straight, and for moments at a time, I thought that I might have lost my sanity.
 
When we reached you, instead of waiting for a signal from the team, I breached first after watching him strike you.
 
The moment I spotted you on the chair, I would have sacrificed my life to save yours.
 
I never wanted this.
 
I should have protected you, watched over you more, helped you when you asked.
 
I hate myself for what I said to you, how I made you cry.”

Silence met his confession, and for several moments, he listened to her steady heartbeat in the quiet room.
 
He hadn’t heard Ghost walk in the room, but when the man put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, he tensed at the shifter’s demeanor.

“I’ve spoken to her team of doctors.
 
Her wounds are healing as expected, including her broken bones and the piercing wound on her side, but she’s not responding to any stimuli.
 
Her brain waves are strong, and she’s physically responding, but because she hasn’t woken, it leads them to believe that she’s given up,” Ghost said.

Instead of listening to the meaning of Ghost’s words, Kai recalled asking Kane about what it felt when he first met his mate, and noticed the vampire’s face relaxed for the first time since they’d met.

“She’d become an obsession from the moment I spotted her.
 
We had been together for two years, and she wanted me to change her, but I thought it would cause her too much pain, so I kept putting it off.
 
I don’t really understand why, but I did.
 
She could have taken care of herself if I turned her, and I regret not listening to her, not trusting her enough to turn her.
 
She’s dead because of me, and I will forever live with that fact,” Kane had said.

His mind snapped back to the present and he glanced at his boss.
 
“I can’t allow her to die.
 
I’ve been thinking about changing her, and because she’s in a coma and gaining strength every day, she’ll be able to convert without the pain.”

“Is that what she wants?” Ghost asked.

Again, guilt swamped Kai because he’d never asked her, or even contemplated what would happen in the extreme case that she could be captured and hurt.
 
His ego wouldn’t allow him to think that anyone would get past him to kidnap her.
 
And yet she lay there in the hospital bed, unconscious, while her life slipped from her, as he tried to figure out what he thought was best for her.

“I don’t know, but I can’t let her die.”
 
His voice cracked on the last word.

“Have you really thought it through?
 
What if she is angry that you changed her, without allowing her to wake up and make the decision for herself?
 
I’ve heard from Reaper and Hunter what happened in the hours before she was kidnapped.
 
What if she wakes up and remembers what transpired?
 
She thought that you rejected her because she had completed her research, and your actions didn’t reinforce that you wanted her in your life.
 
If you don’t want her, whether she’s changed or not, then it would be best to wait and see,” Ghost finished.

While Kai grasped her hand in his, he turned toward his boss and friend, and admitted the truth.

“I can’t live without her.
 
It’s not only because she’s my mate.
 
It’s because she’s a part of me.
 
When I found her missing, something inside me ceased to exist because I allowed her to be taken from me.
 
I haven’t been able to breathe since the moment I opened the basement door to find her missing, and I know, in my soul, that I exist because of her.”
 
Kai paused as he gathered his strength for his next words.
 
“And if I change her and she doesn’t want me any longer, then, I’ll do what’s right for her and let her…go.”

Chapter Nineteen

Olivia

Muted sounds and voices that drifted rhythmically in and out of her mind gave way to pure consciousness.
 
When Liv blinked open her eyes, she thought she was completely alone in a hospital room, and she couldn’t remember how she arrived here.
 

Closing her eyes for a moment, she thought back to what she last remembered, and the memories flowed over her all at once.
 
They had used Seth to get to her, but the vampire didn’t want to hurt her.
 
The doctor did.
 
He enjoyed each strike, slap, and punch, as if hurting her brought him happiness, but she shut down her mind, allowing frequent thoughts of Kai to intercede, the hurt of his rejection sometimes more painful than the blows to her already weakened body.

Reaper, Jade, and the others warned her that vampires were loners.
 
The few that they’d known had never found a mate, human or otherwise.
 
She hadn’t given much thought to whether Kai would choose her to be his mate, but she thought that she might have meant something to him.
 
As she replayed their last conversation over and over, there was a finality about it that stuck with her.
 
His anger had taken her by surprise, but it allowed her to understand that in his way, Kai cared for her.
 

But not enough to continue a relationship with her.
 
He hadn’t been lying when he told her that his mark, along with their relationship, was temporary.
 

And because they had figured out who wanted to kill her and why, she had no reason to continue her affiliation with the assassins or Kai.

She thought that she might be arrested for killing Dr. Ames, and although the action she’d taken was to protect those she had come to care for, it had also left her confused and disgusted with herself.
 

The man had killed the acknowledged mate of the vampire and rage had overwhelmed her, giving her the adrenaline she needed to plunge the fatal liquid into his veins.
 
Whatever happened couldn’t bring back the woman who had been killed, but logic flew out the window as pain and heartbreak led her to act; whatever her consequences, she would deal with them.

In the time she had gotten to know Kai, she had come to see him as a large part of her happiness.
 
Out of place in most situations and not fitting in because of her intelligence and really her choice, she had forgotten that she was more comfortable alone than with people.
 
But for the first time she had found herself in a place where she knew what happiness and contentment felt like.
 

She had held onto it with all her strength because her emotions had become involved.
 
Not only for Kai, but for the shifters and vampires she could call friends.
 
Disregarding her need to analyze every movement or word, she allowed herself to relax and enjoy the time she had spent with them.
 

In her former life, she would have considered herself stupid for falling in love with Kai, but because of this experience, she could only say she was grateful for even knowing him.
 
For the rest of her life, she would remember this small stretch of time in her existence as the best of her life.

Her pinging thoughts disturbed her, and she had forgotten about her injuries, so when she sucked in a deep breath, she had expected the pain to be overwhelming, but nothing came.
 
In the next moment, soft lips brushed against hers, drawing a startled gasp from her.
 
When she opened her eyes, she found herself standing in the corner of the room with her back pressed against the wall.
 

Her eyes scanned the room, noting and quickly dismissing the fact that she happened to be stronger and faster than even a few days before.
 
Her gaze landed on Kai near the bed and her heart beat hard in her chest.
 

He looked different from the last time she had seen him.
 
His skin had paled, indicating that he hadn’t been drinking enough blood, but his eyes captured and held her attention.
 
The silver sparked a few times before they dulled into a gray color.
 
Guilt assailed her at his appearance and his obvious wariness to be around her.
 
Her heart had beat faster when she first spotted him, but it broke into a million pieces when the silence stretched between them.