Revealed (37 page)

“Baird!” Even though they’d been together for a good while now, his direct way of saying how much he desired her still made her blush a little.

“Come on,
Lilenta,”
he murmured, still holding her eyes with his. “I want to lay you on the bed, spread your legs and lick your pussy until you come for me.”

“You’re such a pervert,” she accused him, half laughing, half blushing. “Wanting to have sex with a pregnant lady.”

“I can’t help it,” Baird protested. “That pregnant lady just happens to be my incredibly sexy mate. Besides…” He pulled her even closer. “How can I help wanting you now? You’re so beautiful like this—all rounded and glowing. I swear if I’d know how damn gorgeous you’d be carrying our son, I would have made you pregnant sooner.”

“Well it wasn’t for lack of trying,” Liv murmured, smiling. “You’ve certainly done your duty in that regard.”

“Not nearly as much as I should.” Baird kissed her cheek and stroked one hand over her full belly to cup her sensitive mound. “Let me taste you tonight,
Lilenta.
The book I was reading says a pregnant female should have lots of orgasms to be healthy.”

“What?” Liv gave him a look. “You’re making that up.”

“No, I’m not,” Baird promised. “I’ll show you the exact page—as soon as we finish.”

“Well…” Liv drew it out, making him wait. It wasn’t likes she was going to turn him down and they both knew it. His mating scent and the warm, familiar way he caressed her body made her eager to spread her legs for him. It was fun to tease him, though. Fun to—

“Excuse me, Commander Baird?” A voice from the holo-unit interrupted them, much to Liv’s surprise and annoyance.

“Who can it be at this hour?” she demanded. But as soon as the words left her lips, she had a new thought. “Is it Sophia? Are she and Sylvan all right? Do you think they had trouble on
First World
?’

“Only one way to find out.” Reaching down, Baird snapped on the holo and a tiny blue dot hovering above the base quickly expanded to show the head of a Blood Kindred Liv recognized. He was one of the other nurses who worked in the med station with her and Sylvan on a regular basis.

“Glevan,” she said, surprised. “What’s going on? Is there a problem?”

“I’m sorry, Olivia,” he said, nodding at her respectfully. “But Elise Darden is showing signs of waking up. The staff knows what to do, of course, but I thought you’d like to be informed. And…” He hesitated for a moment. “Commander Sylvan’s, er, friend is growing agitated. I thought maybe if you spoke to him…”

“I’ll be right there,” Liv promised, glad she hadn’t taken off her clothes yet. “Tell him to take it easy—everything is going to be all right.”

“I hope so.” Glevan looked worried. “Please hurry.” He nodded again and the blue holo of his head winked out of existence.

Liv sighed and reached for her lab jacket. “Well, I guess your midnight snack will have to wait until later. Sorry, hon.”

“Sorry, nothing.” Baird was already pulling on a shirt. “I’m coming with you.”

* * * * *

Hands clasped behind his back and a scowl on his face,
Merrick
paced beside the cot containing the stasis chamber. Not that there was much room to pace for legs as long as his—still he did his best. He had an idea that his restless movements, or possibly the look on his face was upsetting the med station staff, but he couldn’t help it. As strange as it seemed, he literally could not sit still.

Will she be all right? Will she recognize me?
he thought, staring down at the delicate features which were now contorted, as though in pain.
Or will she forget our first meeting and scream when she sees me?
Merrick
pushed the thought away. After all, what did he care if the human girl didn’t remember him from their brief first encounter? Why should it matter to him if his appearance frightened her or not?

It doesn’t matter,
he told himself fiercely.
Why should I care? I don’t even know her. I don’t give a damn what she thinks. Just need to be sure she’s okay for the sake of my honor.
Once she was awake and ready to be claimed by her kin, his obligation was done.
And then
 
I’m out of here,
he promised himself.

The lights on the side of the stasis chamber were glowing fiercely, and inside it Elise Darden was thrashing as though in slow motion. The opaque top of the chamber had melted away again, revealing her frail beauty and Merrick thought it was like watching someone move underwater—the stasis field was letting her go but slowly, oh so slowly.

He had an urge to touch her, to hold her again as he had when he first found her—but he had been forbidden from doing so. According to Sylvan and the rest of the med station staff, touching Elise while she came out of the enforced hibernation of stasis could be dangerous—both to her and to himself. He wished Sylvan would have explained
why
before he left, but his friend had been understandably distracted by other matters. All
Merrick
knew was that he must not touch her. So instead of taking action he watched, his huge hands curled into fists at his sides as she thrashed and moaned.

“
Merrick
, is she all right? I got here as soon as I could.” Olivia was suddenly there behind him, a worried frown on her face. “What’s going on? How long as she been like this?”

“Only the past quarter of an hour,”
Merrick
gritted out. “She was moaning some before that but nothing like this.”

As if on cue, Elise moaned and moved her head from side to side. Her long, black hair swirled around her pale face like a dark cloud.

“Oh dear.” Olivia frowned and checked the lights on the side of the stasis chamber. “I wish Sylvan was here but everything seems to be normal. He
did
say there might be some agitation when she came out of it.”

“Agitation?”
Merrick
snapped. “Look at her—she’s fucking upset!
Do
something for her.”

“She’s doing everything she can, buddy.” The low growl came from Baird, Olivia’s Beast Kindred mate. “So why don’t you calm down and—”

“Her vitals are dropping.” Olivia sounded close to panic. “Baird,
 
get Glevan and tell him I need a crash kit STAT.”

The Beast Kindred left without a word and Olivia continued to work on the stasis chamber while being careful not to touch the thrashing girl inside.
Merrick
watched, every muscle in his big body tight. Was she dying? What was happening? And why the hell should he care so much?

Again he had the urge to reach for her—the feeling that if he could just touch her, skin-to-skin, everything would be all right. Instinctively he put out a hand but Olivia slapped it away.

“You know what Sylvan said—no touching,” she said curtly.

“She needs me,”
Merrick
grated out. He didn’t know how he knew this but he did. The little Earth female’s life was hanging by a threat but if he could just touch her—

“She needs you to leave her alone, you mean.” Olivia’s silvery grey eyes flashed. “Don’t make me kick you out of here,
Merrick
. I don’t care how big you are, the patient’s safety comes first.”

Merrick
nodded curtly and stepped to one side, giving her more room to work. He took deep breaths, trying to hold the cold rage at bay, to keep the curtain of anger from dropping over his vision. He normally only felt like this when he himself was threatened. In fact, the last time he’d felt the
rage
for any female was when he’d been defending his mother from…He clamped down on the thought.
No point thinking about that now. Got to concentrate on Elise. What’s happening to her? Why the fuck do I want to touch her so much?

Elise’s movements were weaker now but her moans had turned into words. “Please,” she begged, her voice so soft
Merrick
could barely hear it. “Please don’t hurt me anymore.”

Must be remembering the Scourge…what the AllFather did to her.
Merrick
ground his teeth together at the thought.
Sick bastard is fucking lucky he’s already dead.
Then Elise spoke again.

“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t…it
hurts
. I…I’ll tell Mom…”

Merrick
frowned. Mom? As in her mother? What the hell was
that
all about? He wondered what memory was surfacing in her confused brain. Was it somehow responsible for her rapid deterioration now that she was coming out of stasis?

Sylvan had said it might take her mind weeks, even months before it wanted to try and come forward to sort everything out. She’d been tortured and hurt so badly it was amazing that her body had decided to come out of the stasis now rather than taking more time to process the devastating experience. But maybe this memory, whatever it was, was too much to process.

Then Elise stopped talking and went still. The room was filled with a high, buzzing hum.

“Crap.” Olivia sounded panicked. “She’s flatlining. Where the hell is that crash kit?”

“Fuck this.”
Merrick
shouldered his way past her, and scooped Elise from the cot. Pulling open his shirt with one hand, he pressed her naked body against his chest and held her there, willing her to live. He didn’t know how he knew it, but he knew this was the right thing to do. The only thing that might save her.

“
Merrick
, no! Put her d—” Olivia stopped talking abruptly as the high buzzing hum, the alarm that warned of imminent death, cut off. “What the hell?” she whispered softly, staring up at
Merrick
. “What did you do?”

“Just touched her.”
Merrick
cradled her small frame close, trying to give her his warmth, willing her to hold on, to
live
. “I told you,” he growled. “It’s what she needed.”

A look of surprise and uncertainty crossed Olivia’s face. “I don’t understand it, but she
does
seem to be doing better.”

“She’s breathing, anyway,”
Merrick
muttered, feeling the soft rise and fall of Elise’s chest against his own. “That’s a fucking improvement right there.”

Just then, Baird and a Blood Kindred Merrick recognized as one of the nurses rushed into the small room. “Here’s the kit, Olivia,” the Blood Kindred said. “Is she—”

“She’s not flatlining anymore.” Olivia looked at
Merrick
with a mixture of wonder and worry on her face. “I don’t know why but she came back when he picked her up.”

“What the hell?” Baird demanded. “I thought you said Sylvan said nobody should touch her while she came out of stasis.”

Olivia nodded. “That’s what he said, all right.”

The Blood Kindred nurse frowned. “Could he have been mistaken somehow?”

“I don’t think so,” Olivia said. “Sylvan knows his stuff.”

“Then why—?”

“Shut up, the lot of you,”
Merrick
growled, glaring at them. “Can’t you see she’s coming to?”

Indeed, Elise’s big, brown eyes were open and she was staring up at him in awe.
 
She seemed to be trying to say something but
Merrick
couldn’t quite make it out.

“Tell me,” he said softly, leaning down to put his ear next to her lips. “Say it again, baby. It’s all right.”

“He’s coming,” she whispered, her voice barely a breath in his ear. “He’s coming back and this time he’ll bring others. We’ll all die. They’ll eat the stars…all the stars.”

“What?”
Merrick
frowned. “Who’s coming back?”

Her eyes widened with fear and she looked past him, as though seeing something he couldn’t. “Don’t let him touch me again. He hurt me. I tried to tell but she won’t believe me…She doesn’t care. Only…only Buck cares. He tries to keep me safe. But he can’t…not always.”

“What is she talking about?” Baird said.

Olivia shook her head. “She’s delirious—her mind is wandering.” She looked up at
Merrick
. “Any chance you’ll put her down so I can examine her?”

Grudgingly, he nodded. “All right but if she flatlines again, I’m picking her back up. Got it?”

“Sounds fine to me,” Olivia said. “Come on,
Merrick
, she’s out of stasis now so we’ll move the tube. You can put her on the cot.”

At her words, Baird and Glevan shifted the stasis tube out of the way, leaving a clear space on the small bed.

Slowly, carefully,
Merrick
laid her down. He couldn’t bear to stop touching her completely, though. Crouching by the head of the cot, he kept one of her small, cool hands clasped firmly in his much larger one.
Only because I’m her protector,
he told himself.
I’m responsible for her, that’s all. Just trying to do what’s best.
“Okay,” he told Olivia. “Examine her.”

Silently, Olivia did as he asked. When she was finished,
Merrick
looked at her expectantly.

“Well? What’s wrong?”

Olivia shook her head, a worried look on her face. “Nothing…nothing at all.”

“
What
the hell did you just say to me?” Rast demanded, staring at the High Priestess of the Empty Throne.