The Midwife's Moon (11 page)

“Lance, I’m sorry to do this to you, but will you drive? I need Elizabeth to hold the glasses, and I need to attend him.”

Lance took the proffered keys, walked around, and got in without saying anything. After he turned the car on, he asked, “Where to?”

“Head out to the rez. Harrah direction until you get to the gas station on Lateral A. Step on it.”

He knew the area she meant and hit the freeway. The pregnant woman sat beside him, tensely gripping the glasses. “Careful there,” he said in undertone. “Your werewolf strength still comes into play as a human. You don’t want to cut yourself on the glass and get whatever’s hurting your mate in your system. The baby. Think of the baby.”

God help me, I hope I’m saying the right thing. I know little about women and less about birth.
She still sat white-knuckling the glasses. The street light passed over, and the way she held her mouth warned him she was hanging on to more than glass. “What’s your name?”

He turned on to the interchange that led off the freeway and onto the reservation. When she didn’t answer, he risked another peek at her after he’d merged into the traffic. She gazed at him, her eyes big, empty holes in the dark. “Name?” he repeated and returned his gaze to the road.

“Elizabeth,” she replied, her voice sounding like wet metal scraped with a knife.

Good job getting her calmed down. Yeah, great job. Any more calm and she’d become TNT.
In the review mirror, he saw movements but couldn’t see what ministrations Lisa performed. The labored gasps assured him Marty still lived.

“I’m almost to the stop sign at the gas station. Which way?”

Chapter Nine

Lisa snapped out directions automatically as she frantically fed Marty air with the rescue breather she carried with her at all times. “Marty, listen to me. Breathe. I mean calm down and slowly breathe. Force yourself past the pain.” This had to work. It had to. It worked with some of her asthma patients.

Despair filled her when she saw the panic in Marty’s eyes. “With me, Marty. Ready? In two, three, out two, three. That’s it. See? I’m helping you.” The running commentary kept his eyes focused on her and gradually he quit fighting her when she used the rescue breather on him. He still struggled for air and anger pulsated in her blood. Someone was pulling out a full-on attack against the Wahpawhats and not only did it piss her off, it scared her witless.

Shit. Nolan.
She had to call him as soon as possible, but first, she needed her phone. After separating her purse out from Elizabeth’s, both of which she’d grabbed when Lance picked up Marty, she dug in it for her phone. Still using the breather with one hand, she speed-dialed Dr. Waverly.

“Tom? Lisa here. I’m on my way to your place with a wolf that’s been poisoned.” She grimaced at his reaction. “I have no idea with what, but can tell you it’s fast acting and affects the airway. I’m using a rescue breather, and it seems to be maintaining for the patient. His pulse is erratic; he’s conscious and aware. He’s getting darker around the lips. ETA in five to ten.”

After he hung up, she dialed Nolan.

A sleepy
hello
from his wife made her feel guilty for a moment. Doctor’s and cops don’t get enough sleep—she knew. Nor do ulfrics or their mates when there are problems in the pack.

“This is Lisa. Something’s wrong with Marty. I believe he’s been poisoned. We’re on our way to Waverly Mansion. Kamiakin’s been informed. Nolan will want to meet us there.”

She clicked off before Alex answered. Alex didn’t strike her as unfair, but Lisa couldn’t take the much-deserved recriminations right now. As an Elite Guard, it shamed her that someone had been poisoned on her watch. Ryan and his crew had needed watching in case of attack. However, that didn’t take away from her duties to the guests in their pack, Elizabeth and Marty and their protection from all aspects of danger, not only outright fighting.

She gritted her teeth and concentrated on giving even breaths with Marty. “You’re looking for gates that don’t look like they belong here on the rez. Stop at the security entrance, and let me speak.”

Lance murmured an answer she took for assent. Her patient’s breathing had measured out, and his eyes drooped. Werewolf physiology should have made the initial reactions impossible, yet here they were en route to the hospital. Hopefully, his calmness indicated that his body was making progress in healing.

They cleared the gates and made it to the front walk. Lance parked her SUV so that her door was closest to the entrance where the aide, Paul Smith, met them.

“What happened?” he asked as he began taking vitals.

“Some of the old Lupin pack came to start something with Lance. While we were focused on them, Marty had some trouble. We immediately left. At first, he had trouble breathing and was very agitated. Part way here, his breathing became more even, and he seemed to calm down.”

While she spoke, she kept pressing the rescue breather, helping Marty to force air into his lungs. Paul aided her and set Marty on the stretcher, then he began rolling it into the foyer and toward the elevators to the basement where the were hospital was.

“Any discoloration around the mouth?” Paul asked her.

“A little pale, then darkened, then he seemed to turn it around as his color appeared to return to one closer to normal. Despite his demeanor, I think he’s still struggling to force air in and out.”

The elevator quickly made it to the lower level where the hospital lay. Paul efficiently took over and Doctor Waverly was there peering through some notes. “Lisa. You suspect poisoning?”

“I don’t know what else could have such an effect on a were, and the poisons I know of shouldn’t have done this. The experimental ones Alex spoke of in the trial, well, he’s already recovering, so that doesn’t make sense either.”

“I’ll go see what I can find. He’s not a Wahpawhat?”

“No, he’s here under Nolan’s protection.”

“Ah.”

The doctor didn’t say anymore than that, but he didn’t have to. Lisa knew too well that as an Elite Guard, she could be held responsible for his injuries. In the were world that didn’t mean some money lawsuit.

“His wife is here. Her and Lance are moving the car then will need someone to show them down here.”

“Sherona can do it,” the doctor said before moving to Marty’s bedside where Paul had already inserted an IV into his arm and started fluids.

That startled her. “Sherona’s here?” Curiosity filled her. Why was the queen of the werejaguars at the hospital? “Trouble with the cats?”

“No.” The doctor didn’t elaborate, and his demeanor forced her to back off. She may have been relatively new to the were-world, but she wasn’t new to back-off signals.

Lisa paced the small waiting area, fighting the fear that threatened to swamp her mind and cause her to lose control. Her hands began to shake, for it affected not only her, but the entire pack. Marty’s pack ulfric technically had a right to know one of his own was injured, but Marty was seeking political asylum. She rubbed her forehead, wishing she could rub the thoughts out as well, then heard the elevator doors open and turned. Lance stepped out and walked toward her. His arms opened, and she flung herself into them.

“Thank you for driving us,” she said into his shirt, taking comfort in his scent as she spoke.

“Of course,” he replied and stepped back. Elizabeth wasn’t his only elevator companion. Sherona, Nolan, and Alex were there as well.

Lisa went before him, bowed her head, and held out her hand, the formal submissive pose when not being confronted. Tears threatened. She couldn’t bear the thought of being kicked out of the pack, or worse, but she’d failed at her duties.

“Lisa,” Alex said and touched her arm. Lisa looked up at her, but Alex’s face had turned to Nolan.

“Lisa,” Nolan echoed. “We will find out what has happened. You are not, nor will you be, banished for this.”

Sherona snorted, and Lisa wondered at her merriment. Lance stiffened next to her, and his grip on her shoulder was almost painful, but she welcomed it. It showed he cared.

“Ah, Ulfric, you might try a new tactic. She’s more scared now than before.”

Lisa jerked her face toward Sherona. How in the hell did the jaguar queen know that? For if she wasn’t being banished, that meant—her hands flew to her throat, and she didn’t even allow the thought to finish.

Nolan and Alex both stared at her then Alex enveloped her in a hug. “No, honey. We know something bad happened, and it wasn’t your fault. Nolan made some phone calls, and the security camera footage is being held for Kamiakin, whom we sent there instead of here. He’ll see what happened. You won’t be exiled, but neither will you be killed.”

Lisa began to shake then turned and clung to Lance in relief. He rubbed her back a few times before letting go. Sherona moved into the room with the doctor, and she spotted Elizabeth standing in the middle of the room holding the glasses as if she were a mannequin.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Elizabeth,” she said as she rushed over and took the glasses from the distraught woman.

To her surprise, both Doctor Waverly and Sherona popped out of the hospital room. Sherona first, the doctor right on her heels. Lisa just stood and stared at them, a little in awe as they barreled down on her. Lance stepped between her and them, and they both stopped in their tracks.

“Sorry, Lance,” Sherona’s amused tone danced in the air.

“We mean no harm to your mate,” Waverly said.

Behind Lance, Lisa scowled.
How in the hell does Waverly know? I’ve barely found out.

“She is holding the glasses Marty may have drank out of,” Nolan said calmly when Lance didn’t budge.

“I know,” Lance said. “But how do they?”

Silence dropped like a ton of bricks in the room. “I can’t explain it,” Waverly said. “However, the sooner you allow me to have the contents in those glasses, the sooner I can be sure we are giving the patient the proper treatment. Right now, I’m flooding his system with saline in an attempt to dilute whatever it is. Of course, Paul took a blood sample first.”

Lance turned to her, grabbed the glasses out of her hands, and handed them to the doctor. “Do what you must.”

Sherona gave him a smile, and the doctor nodded before they went back into the room. “So,” Lisa began to cut through the tension building in the room, “anyone know why Sherona is here?”

***

Lance didn’t know what to think. Something weird was happening, but the ulfric had trusted his mate to this doctor, and Lance had trusted his to the ulfric. Still, he felt defensive. His mate had been much too close to the poison. He told himself that’s all it was, even as the small space full of steel objects felt as if it were closing in on him.

“Lance?” Alex looked at him funny. Man, sometimes, she could be creepy. A smile flitted across her face, and it didn’t help his nerves.

“Lance!” Nolan’s sharp voice pierced the panic that had began to thread its way through his body like crabgrass roots through dirt now that the imminent threat to Lisa had lifted.

“What?” he said dully while forcing his body not to jump up and down in an attempt to get out of the room full of torture instruments.

“Get. Out. Take Lisa, get upstairs, and get some air. Now.”

Lance had begun to move to the elevators before Nolan finished giving his orders.
Panic?
Yes, that was part of it, he had to admit, but mostly it was the tone. You did not disobey an alpha when he or she used that tone. Lisa trotted beside him. Her hand snaked out to grab his and clenched it tight as the elevator doors closed.

As soon as they opened again, Lance swiftly strode through the oversized foyer to the double front doors. He barely noticed the out-of-place opulence as he pushed through them and into the fresh air of the night. Taking deep breaths, he calmed himself.

When would he ever get over Roxy’s damage? All those instruments, meant to heal and help, Roxy had turned into a playground of bloody delights for her, and a torture chamber of hellish design for him.

Lisa had somehow managed to not only keep up, but retain ahold of his hand. Not knowing where he headed, he started walking through the yard that seemed to have no end. Lisa never stopped gripping his hand. Using methods he’d perfected over the years, he calmed his breathing and his heart rate. His companion kept silent, yet he felt no pressure from her. He didn’t know how long they walked in silence. The cold night breeze brought the smell of snow off Mt. Adams and whispered of freedom to him.

“Lance,” Lisa said quietly.

He turned toward her. Silently, he watched the play of shadows from the waning moon and the lights from the house as they seemed to move like a living thing across her face. The hairs on his back bristled as he waited for her to speak but listened with more than his hearing.

“I’m a midwife, more than a general healer, and I’m definitely not a psychologist. My experience is that if you share what’s on your mind with someone you trust, it can help the healing process move faster. I feel your pain. It’s calling to me in a fashion I’ve yet to acclimatize to, and don’t know if I can or will.”

Her words pierced him. So long ago, when he’d carried her to Nolan’s, he’d yearned for a moment like this. Tenderly, he leaned down and stopped a breath away from her lips. “You, here with me, is calling to me.” He kissed her as if kissing her could eradicate all the demons of hell spawn yapping at his feet as he sought to free himself of Roxy’s curse.

Her hand guided his behind her back, and it humbled him. He put his other hand to the rear of her head and gently held her there as he continued his rapturous feast on her lips. Years of holding in, years of training himself to feel nothing, fell away for an instant. It gave him a brief glimpse of heaven. Bright, penetrating light slashed through the darkness in his soul.

The light waned, but it left behind a piece of itself. He slowly pulled back from the kiss and searched her eyes—no recriminations, no rebuke, just acceptance, hope, and love.

“Don’t look at me like that. Not if you don’t mean it,” he said, fighting the urge to run.