B. Donna - Blood Pool

Ian’s thin fingers grasped his stethoscope. “What happened?” he asked, listening to her heart and respiration. “No, let me guess. She saw Kate, the goddess of the island.”

Tobias confirmed Ian’s suspicion. His voice was tinged with ire. “She certainly did.”

“You’d have done the same,” Ian snapped back. “Or worse.”

Jennifer looked wide-eyed at Ian. She read the chart again.

“She’s got a totally human heart rate,” Ian exclaimed in astonishment. “Do these tests over. It can’t be. I want a CAT scan of her chest area.”

Jennifer added, “And her temperature is ninety-eight point six. That’s not her normal temperature, and I took it twice.”

“Take it again,” Ian said.

“Yes, sir.”

He continued to check Raven’s vitals. “This would explain Bo’s miraculous recovery,” Ian stated. “It’s the only logical explanation, the only thing left for her to do. We did everything within our power medicinally.”

Through a haze of disbelief, Tobias tried to explain. “You’re correct. She made a deal with Hekate. She traded her Lamai immortality for Bo’s life.”

“That would mean she lost a lot of blood,” Jennifer surmised. She undressed Raven and cleaned her quickly. Ian inserted an IV with glucose.

“Her blood pressure is a little low,” Jennifer said as she removed the cuff of the sphygmomanometer, “by human standards.”

Maureen hurried into the room. “I heard Raven was admitted. Why is she unconscious and where’d the blood come from?”

“If you had seen what she went through… She’s exhausted,” Tobias said with a sigh.

“What did happen? She’s full of dried blood. I don’t understand.”

“Hekate,” Jennifer whispered to Maureen.

“Oh, you mean she…”

Jennifer nodded. “Yeah, she made a deal with Hekate to save Bo.”

The curtain separating the area where Raven was located from the rest of the ER flew open. Bo rushed to Raven’s side and gently gathered her into his strong embrace.

“My love, what happened?” he whispered in her ear. A tear escaped his soft brown eyes. “What did you do, Kagi Taka ?”

“She saved your life,” Tobias answered, watching a slow smile pull at his daughter’s lips.

Bo nestled his face in the crook of Raven’s neck. “I know, my grandfather told me, but how? How did she do it?”

Tobias rested a strong hand on Bo’s back. “She went to see Hekate and made a deal with her to save you.”

“Bo… You’re alive… B-bo…you’re here.” Raven tried to raise her arm to rub his back, as if wanting to make certain he was really there and not a dream, but she was too weak.

He kissed her cheeks and lips. “I’ll always be here.”

Remarkably, by the following morning, Ian Odin had discharged both Bo and Raven. The doctor had repeated all tests numerous times. With MRIs showing everything within the normal range, he saw no reason to keep the two apart another night.

At Bo’s unrelenting insistence, naturally.

Solaris drove them to Raven’s home and made sure her friend was snuggled into bed before heading off to the grocery store to fill Raven’s empty refrigerator. She checked Raven’s temperature four times before she left for the store. By that time, the sun had darted behind afternoon clouds.

The shades shut out the light in Raven’s bedroom. The only illumination in the house came from the hallway skylight and a few candles Solaris had lit. Raven’s canopy bed provided a safe cocoon as she laid under homemade quilts the colors of autumn. Outside, the October winds blew menacing clouds across the sky.

Bo hadn’t left Raven’s side since he’d charged into the ER the day before.

“Bo…”

The tough, strapping shape shifter looked up. “Tobias. How long have you been standing there?”

Tobias walked over to watch his daughter sleep. She looked as she had when she was four years old and still afraid of the dark. “Not long. I wanted you to know something.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about Raven. She is in more danger now than ever before.” The ancient vampire sounded desperate.

“What do you mean?” Bo absentmindedly stroked Raven’s hair while she slept. He was just grateful to have her alive and home with him again. He wanted to start his life with Raven. No more delays, no more setbacks-this was to be their time. Bo would be unwavering in his effort to do whatever it would take to keep his mate safe.

Tobias let out a long sigh before he answered. “You can be certain that Laroque will be back, and Raven is no longer protected by Lamai blood. In fact, if she is bitten in an attempt to change her back, she will die.”

Bo stood and strode toward the doorway, motioning for Tobias to follow. Other than losing a few pounds, Bo felt fine. The only thing that was abnormal was the evident fear in his wolf’s soul.

“She’ll need constant protection, and you know that’s not going to sit well with her. My daughter has a stubborn streak.” Tobias smiled slightly.

“I’m not leaving her side, whether she likes it or not.” Bo sat on the living room couch, leaning his head on his broad hands. “I feel so responsible. She gave up who she is to save me.”

Tobias shrugged his wide shoulders. “She loves you. You can’t be with her every minute of every day. You have a job to do, and so does she.” He tugged at his neatly trimmed beard nervously, as if he expected Laroque and his minions to swoop down upon them at any moment and steal Raven out from under their noses.

Bo looked hard at Tobias, knowing he was right. “I can take time off until…”

Tobias interrupted. “Time off isn’t going to solve anything, and you know it. The only way to ensure her safety is to stop Laroque permanently.”

Though it was a truth both knew, up until that point, neither had wanted to voice it. Going after a powerful bokur such as Laroque would not be an easy task, especially knowing he had an arsenal of deadly viruses at his disposal.

Resolutely, Bo replied, “Then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll get Laroque.”

“How? You’ll need my help.”

“No. Raven would never go for that.”

Tobias patted the young man’s back. “Then we won’t tell her.”

In the early morning light, Raven nuzzled closer to Bo, needing the heat of his body to keep the chill away. His arms enveloped her while he kissed her neck. Her soft flesh beckoned to him, no longer the pale white of a Lamai, but an olive complexion.

Her skin alone was a constant reminder that he must be gentle with her. She lifted her face to his and kissed him with a hunger that mingled with fear-fear from almost having lost him, fear that she was a vulnerable, mortal being.

The thrill of his touch on her flesh was like tiny flames, teasing her as his hands caressed every inch. There was no outward manifestation of the desire that screamed inside her-no ice-colored irises gazing back at him, no extended incisors ready to playfully bite his inner thigh. The sensations of her desire were all normal, for a human.

All mortal.

“I would die without you, my love…” he whispered. His hands continued their blazing dance across her skin. Her lips grazed his soft skin, igniting each touch with her unbridled passion while she yearned to feel him inside.

“I want you,” she whispered.

She waited for the familiar signals within her. The need for him was still there, the aching to feel his teeth tear at her skin and to take in her lustful blood.

But it was mortal blood.

A gentle heat began to radiate from every cell in her body. And as he entered her the heat became a raging inferno. She clung to him as he plunged deeper inside and she nipped at his neck. Only this time, there was no blood.