His expression of calm drank me in. “Celia, I’m next. Liam’s blood will help stabilize her. Mine will stimulate her body to begin to repair itself.” I didn’t move. “Leya needs me, Celia. And I need you to do this for me.”

I nodded and absentmindedly took the clip out of my hair, looking to release some of the throbbing in my head. My waves fell against my shoulders, granting me some tension relief, yet not enough. I bent in front of Aric, tied the tourniquet again, and took the interrogation device Emme handed me. Aric flinched when I stabbed him through the arm. Every part of me wanted to scream for him—to take some of his pain. “God, I’m so sorry.”

Aric’s opposite hand massaged my left shoulder before smoothing over the nape of my neck. “Don’t be. I’m fine. Keep going.”

My breath came out in a shudder. Keep going. Keep going. Keep…

I didn’t know about Aric, but I would have given up a secret formula. Nausea dribbled my stomach like a basketball as I continued my torture session. My God, it killed me to hurt him. Finally, I found the vein and began to hand off Aric’s blood like it scorched me.

He smiled as his thumb stroked my earlobe. “Good job, sweetness.”

I almost dropped the syringe. Despite the direness of Leya’s situation, Aric’s touch, his soothing tone, and his term of endearment melted my soul. Except I couldn’t allow him to. I needed to distance myself, and I needed to do it soon. My contact with him only made me hunger for more.

“Leya’s coming around.” Gem smiled softly. “It’s working. Your blood is motivating her body to regenerate, Aric.”

“We’ll use the others’ blood now.” I unsnapped the tourniquet and yanked out the needle, slapping a large piece of gauze on Aric’s arm like it had been naughty. “Here. Hold pressure.”

I avoided Aric’s gaze, but I could smell his shock at my rebuff. Emme moved toward him. “Um…here, Aric. Let me bandage that for you—”

“He’s fine, Emme. Don’t touch him.” I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms. Good thing I didn’t appear schizo or anything.

“Ah…Okay, Celia. I promise not to touch him.” Emme gathered the tourniquet and needles and smiled at Koda. “I’ll draw your blood. Don’t worry; I’ll be really gentle.”

Shayna swooped in like a falcon and yanked the supplies from Emme’s hands. “I got it, Emme.” Her ponytail flicked behind her as she marched to the big man-eating brute who couldn’t hide his smile.

I rubbed my face, grateful I didn’t stand as the sole Wird sister acting possessive…and crazy.

“Don’t even think about it,” Taran snapped when poor Emme approached Gemini.

Emme’s bottom lip went down to her toes. “I’m only trying to help Leya.”

Taran pointed a pissed-off finger toward the demolished door. “There is a shitload of staff who would be tickled pink to receive your lovely healing touch. Go to it, girl. Work that magic till it hurts.”

Emme wrinkled her brow. “Fine,” she said with all the menace of a Chihuahua.

Taran righted herself. “Celia, take over. Shayna and I will pass you Koda’s and Gemini’s blood.” She clamped the catheter and I switched places with her. Aric took over holding Leya down while my sisters gave their wolves a good leeching.

I worked robotically, well aware Aric watched my every move. As I pushed in the last syringe of blood, Leya stirred. “Let me up, please, Aric,” she asked.

The moment Aric eased up on her, Leya lunged at the scalpel resting across the opposite counter. Aric tackled her and clasped her wrist. She wrenched her arm in an arc, slicing across my chest before Aric twisted her wrist and forced her to drop the scalpel.

Aric pulled her back as Leya fought with everything she had. “Leya, stop.”

Aric’s words had no effect on her. She thrashed harder, strengthened by the wolves’ blood, forcing the others to jump her.

“I want to go with my mate. I want to go to him now!”

The wolves tried to wrangle Leya without harming her, an almost impossible task once she changed into an immense black-and-gray wolf.

Liam rushed in at the sound of Aric’s roars. Leya clamped down on his forearm, breaking through the bone. “Hold her,” Aric growled to the others. “She’s trying to get us to kill her.”

My first instinct was to grant her wish for hurting Aric. I forced the thought from my mind, scanning the room for tape to bind her jaws shut.

Leya bucked the wolves off. Immediately they hunkered back down around her. Aric’s growls turned ferocious. “Liam, get the girls out of here!”

Liam ushered my sisters out fast. When I ignored him, he encircled my waist and tried to haul me out. I broke out of his hold. “No. I’m not leaving him!” I meant to say “her,” but in my heart I knew I meant Aric.

Then it hit me. Leya needed a reason to live. “Shayna!” I called, keeping Liam and Leya in my sights. “Did you bring the Doppler?”

Shayna jetted back in, tossing me the minidevice as the wolves crashed toward her. I tore through the cabinets until I found a bottle of lotion. I poured the lotion on the transmitter. “Hold her,” I begged the wolves. “I need to reach her belly.”

Leya continued to resist, lashing out until the faint whisper of a baby’s heart rate wafted into her ears from the Doppler.

Whish-whish. Whish-whish. Whish-whish.

Leya’s wolf form abruptly fell still. I spoke quietly, trying my best to stay calm. “That’s your baby, Leya. That’s your baby’s heartbeat.” My brain searched for more to say—some words of wisdom and kindness that would reach into the ocean of torment her heart had become.

When nothing seemed right, Aric took the lead. “Your baby lives because you do, Leya. Give your child and Paul’s a chance at life.”

Aric’s gentle words didn’t appear to reach her at first. But then Leya released a wretched howl that turned into the tortured cries of an inconsolable woman. She changed back, slower than I’d ever seen. Koda took the warm blanket Emme handed him and covered her na**d body. She curled into a ball as Aric leaned over her, murmuring in her ear once more. “Sleep, Leya. Sleep. You’re not alone. Your pack will care for you always. And in your child, Paul will continue to live.”

Leya’s eyes slowly shut as she fell into the sleep Aric’s pack magic bespelled on her.

“Oh, God…Celia.” Shayna’s eyes focused on my chest. Taran swore, but it wasn’t as loud as Aric.

A line of red traced the length of my upper chest. Leya’s slash had cut through my scrubs, inches from my throat.

Aric abandoned Leya and surged toward me. I shriveled away from him. “I’m fine. Don’t touch me.” I covered my bleeding chest with my hands and shot out of the room. My sisters chased me. It wasn’t until I reached the linen room that I slowed down, allowing Emme to heal me. I tore off my scrubs the moment she finished and used a towel to wipe off my blood. My hands shook as I yanked on fresh scrubs, pausing briefly to acknowledge the worried faces of my sisters.

Taran’s harsh tone hit me hard. “What’s wrong with you?”

My voice came out in a shaky rasp. “It’s Aric. His presence compels me to be with him. I have to stay away.”

CHAPTER 29

The way Aric carried Leya demonstrated the closeness he shared with his species, affirmation that he didn’t belong with me. He belonged with those of his kind. And that knowledge made my tigress weep on the inside—only on the inside. The tears that fell for Aric would not be ones I would permit him to witness. No matter how much the release banged against me like an avalanche.

As Aric placed Leya’s sleeping form in the backseat of Gemini’s car, I was certain this would be our last encounter.

He turned back to me. I hoped it was to say a peaceful good-bye and not to scream at me for my erratic behavior—no matter how much I’d deserved it. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

I nodded and stepped away. His kindness affected me more deeply than his harshness would have. Perhaps because it remained one of Aric’s strongest qualities.

Crap. Why does it have to be so hard to walk away?

“Wait, Celia. We want to escort you and your sisters back home. To make sure you’re safe,” he added when my stunned face blinked back at him.

“It’s not necessary, Aric.”

“I think it is,” Taran answered for me. She watched Gemini drive away in his sleek black Infiniti. “Liam can ride in our car with Emme and me after I’m done altering a few memories. You and Shayna go with Koda and Aric.” She turned on her heel and sashayed back into the entrance of the ED, where her crowd of swaying and hypnotized humans waited quietly in the corner.

“Come on, dude,” Shayna said softly. “It’s been a rough few hours.”

We waited in silence until Koda pulled his silver Yukon up to the curb. Shayna quickly scrambled into the passenger seat, leaving Aric holding the door open for me. I slipped in and shimmied across the seat, huddling in the corner and away from Aric. It was as far as I could get from him, but not far enough to keep his warmth from reaching me. I didn’t want to like it so much.

And I didn’t want to need it. Especially then.

My head spun from the tragic events of the day. We were only two miles from our house when my restlessness got the better of me. I asked Koda to pull over.

“Are you going to be sick, Celia?” Shayna asked when I jumped out.

“No. My tigress is on edge. I need to walk off some tension.”

Aric leaped out, too. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”

“No, I—”

Koda’s menacing scowl was enough to take down the thick cluster of trees aligning the side of the road. “After all the shit that happened to Paul and Leya? Do you think this is wise?”

Aric’s stare hit harder than Koda’s, and his tone put any further arguments to rest. “I’m staying with Celia. You’ll hear my call if anything happens.”