J.R. Ward - The Shadows

The two shook and Trez nodded at the vehicle. “So this happened, huh.”

“Come see inside.”

Trez shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and walked around to the back. Through the open double doors, he saw . . . a large center aisle with two gurneys, one after the other, surrounded by all kinds of medical equipment stored in glass-fronted, locked cabinets that lined the side walls like bookshelves on steroids.

“It’s like a miniature operating room,” Trez murmured.

Manny nodded and jumped back in. “That’s the plan. We want to be able to treat serious, potentially mortal field injuries quickly. Sometimes, getting patients back here or to Havers’s is too risky.”

The doctor started opening up those cupboards and cabinets, showing an array of sterile dressings, sterile operating tools, even a microscope on an extending arm that could pivot around to either of the beds.

He patted the thing like it was a pet. “This baby is also a portable X-ray machine, and we have ultrasound technology. Oh, and as a bonus, the RV is bulletproof.”

“That was my husband’s contribution,” Doc Jane added in.

“And V also did the computer systems in here.”

“As he would say, true that.” Doc Jane glanced at her partner. “So listen, Trez is taking Selena out for a date tonight.”

“That’s a great idea. Where you two headed?”

Trez made a circular motion with his forefinger. “The thing in the sky. That goes around and around.”

“Oh, yeah, I know the one,” the guy said. “At the hospital we called it Engagement Central, ’cuz that’s where the doctors took their girlfriends when they were ready to put a ring on it. Very romantic.”

“Yeah.”

Trez stared at the expanse of the mobile OR, trying to decide whether it made him feel relieved or depressed as shit. The good news, he supposed, was that with the flashing lights over the cab of the vehicle and Manny’s legendary lead foot, they could make it to downtown in about ten minutes. Especially with there being little traffic.

But what if that wasn’t enough time? What if Selena needed—

“Trez?” the male doctor said.

He shook himself out of his ambiant panic. “Yeah?”

“How ’bout I go with you—no, not as your chauffeur,” he cut in as Trez recoiled. “I’ll park in the rear of the building and just hang out in case you need us. This thing has counterfeit badges on the doors and the hood and the back, and I’ve got all kinds of forged papers. No one will bother me, and I’ll bring a Brother with me in case I need to scrub any humans.”

Trez blinked. “God, I can’t ask you to do that—”

“You didn’t. I volunteered.”

Trez stared into the state-of-the-art ambulance. He couldn’t believe the guy was prepared to—

“Trez?” Manny said. “Hey, Trez, look at me.”

Trez swung his eyes back to the human. Manny was well built for a non-vampire, with an athlete’s body that he continued to keep up after mating V’s sister, Payne. But the strongest thing about him? His confidence. Trained in the human world, the former Chair of the Department of Surgery at St. Francis Hospital downtown radiated the kind of my-way-or-the-highway attitude that meant he fit right in with the Brothers.

“I got you,” the guy said gravely. “I got you and her.”

Manny extended his palm, and for a moment, all Trez could do was blink. But then he clasped that which had been offered him.

Trez’s voice cracked. “I don’t how I can repay you.”

“You just go and enjoy your woman. That’s all I care about.”

As Doc Jane put her hand on his shoulder, Trez was humbled by the support. And hopeful, too, that maybe Rehvenge would come up with something from the symphath side of things.

After thanking both of them again, he went back into the training center, Doc Jane staying behind with her partner as if she knew he needed a minute to get his shit together.

God, his head was spinning.

And it was funny, he had no impulse to drink away the angst. At all. He didn’t feel the need to go out and bang a hundred random chicks, either. He also didn’t have any interest in checking in with Big Rob and Silent Tom about the club and its opening night, or following through about those packs of drugs they’d found on that lesser . He didn’t even want to go upstairs to the mansion’s third floor, wake up his brother, and give iAm an update.

He was curiously hollow. And that scared him.

Tonight was supposed to a special one for his queen.

Had to be.

THIRTY

It was around six in the evening when Selena stepped out of the shower in Trez’s bathroom. She had slept like a young all day long and into the night, aware only of Trez coming in and checking on her from time to time. As a result, she felt better than she had for . . .

Dearest Virgin Scribe, she didn’t know how long.

Toweling herself off, she wrapped up her hair and put on Trez’s black robe. The voluminous weight dwarfed her body, falling to the floor, the tie so long the ends nearly tangled in her feet. But it felt so good to have the thing on her, his scent wrapping around her as an embrace, the folds offering warmth.

Over at the double sinks, she picked up a hand towel and wiped free the condensation on the mirror. Under the lights, her skin was glowing, a flush to her cheeks and a blush to her mouth—all the result of the sex they’d shared.

And there would be more tonight. She knew that because every time Trez had entered the room, that dark spice of his had been an intense promise of what was to come.

Unraveling the towel on her head, she let her dark hair loose, the wet strands flopping down her back. She did the best she could to get the lengths pre-dried, rubbing the terry cloth over everything she could reach without straining too much. Then it was hair-dryer time—except . . .

No hair-dryer.

Looking around, she checked the cupboards under the sinks, but only found a whole load of backup toilet paper, soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Razors. Hand towels and bath towels. Moving over to the storage area on the wall, she found . . . more towels. Which smelled expensive and were as soft as fresh-baked bread, but would not get her where she needed to be.

Bone-dry was the ultimate goal. Ever so slightly damp was her second choice.

Okay, she could be in trouble here. The two of them were leaving at seven-thirty and her hair, unaided, took about eight hundred hours to dry—

A knock on the outside door brought her head up. “Hello?”

“Is that a ‘come in’?” a female voice asked from in the hall.

“Yes? Please?” Tucking Trez’s robe in tighter, she went out into the bedroom proper—then stopped as the heavy panels opened. “Oh, hello . . . ah . . .”

Beth, the Queen, walked into Trez’s room. And with her were Marissa . . . Autumn, Mary . . . Ehlena and Cormia. Bella. Payne. Also Xhex, who, with her short hair and her leathers, seemed a little out of place in the group.

Or maybe that was because of her awkward stance, as if she were unsure what she was doing with the pack of them.

“Is there something you needed?” she asked the Queen. The others.

Even though she had been aware of just Cormia and Layla coming to see her, it was a fair guess that everyone in the house had been told about her difficulties—she really hoped the females hadn’t made the trip to offer condolences before she actually died.

Fortunately, Beth smiled—as opposed to break out the tissues. “We need you to let us do you up.”

Selena popped her brows and looked at her feet. “I’m sorry. Am I down and don’t know it?”

“Well, we heard through the grapevine—”