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Then, burning pain and the darkness that followed.
"He's fine," Dr. Kelly insisted, gripping my shoulders. There were dark circles under his eyes, and it looked like he hadn't slept in a week. I was willing to bet I looked even worse. "God, you're a pair."
"What?" I looked around the room, still on high alert, until I saw Eddie sleeping on a cot on the other side of the clinic, a thick silver chain dangling from the collar around his neck.
I wrenched my arm out of the doctor’s grasp and leapt out of bed to rush over to my protégé, never more relieved than when I saw the steady rise and fall of his chest. He looked unharmed, save for the scratches that had already been bandaged beneath a new shirt. I reached out, stroking a few light strands of hair out of his face.
"I told you," Dr. Kelly said in a knowing tone. "Now get back in bed before I have to sedate you."
It was not an idle threat, and I knew that well. I reluctantly sat down on the nearest cot, memories of the night before still coming back to me in flashes. I touched my bandaged throat and frowned. "You exsanguinated me."
"Much to your guard dog's chagrin, I assure you," Dr. Kelly said in a dry tone. "There wasn't time to explain the procedure, and Father Marius had to knock him out so he didn't tear the whole damn clinic apart."
I looked over at Eddie, who was sleeping peacefully, but I wasn't surprised to hear that was a new development. "So I didn't turn?" I asked.
"No. It was touch and go for a while, but you’re still human. That's the good news."
I eyed him warily. "And what's the bad news?"
He sighed. "A guard killed one of our vampire donors last week, so we didn't have enough vampire blood on hand for the transfusion."
I looked up at him sharply. "No,” I said through my teeth. “Tell me you didn’t.”
"You wouldn't have survived without wolf blood, Castor," the doctor said, taking a step back, as if he anticipated an attack. And I couldn’t say he was wrong to.
"Then you should've let me die," I spat bitterly.
He frowned. "Even if I were willing to do that, it wasn't my decision to make."
I gritted my teeth, wanting to argue, but he was right. I was better off saving it for Father Marius, who was undoubtedly the one who'd made that call.
"Consider it an upgrade," said Dr. Kelly. "You'll heal faster, and you’ll be stronger. Besides, the hunters who've had regular transfusions of wolf’s blood have a much greater immunity to the venom.”
As furious as I still was, I had to admit, he was right. There were benefits to dual transfusion. Benefits I had been more than willing to abdicate in the interest of not owing my life to the things I hated. The knowledge that it must have been Eddie's blood made it a little easier to cope with, but not entirely.
"How much did you take from him?" I asked.
"A few pints," he answered. “He'll be fine, but he's going to be anemic for a while. No hunting or donations for at least a week. That goes for both of you."
We'll see," I muttered. "I guess I'm going to have to bring you more vampires."
"Baker and Logan are already on it," he answered. "There is something else, though.”
"What?" I demanded. "Are you going to tell me you spliced in some demon blood while you were at it?"
He snorted. "No. It's Eddie. I didn't have time to examine him when you came in, but I took his vitals while he was unconscious, before the start of the transfusion. His temperature was a hundred and ten degrees.”
I grimaced. "Yeah. I think I might know why that is. We split up when we were in the woods. It was supposed to be a routine hunt with three rogues, but two were alphas.”
“Alphas?” he echoed, raising an eyebrow.
“When I found Eddie, they had him—” I clenched my jaw, trailing off because I didn't know how to finish that sentence without spiraling into another rage. “Let’s just say I don’t think they were planning on just killing him.”
The confusion on the doctor's face soon turned to horror. "You think he was in rut?"
"Maybe," I answered. “It would explain the spike in his body temp. Or maybe it was a response to what happened. I don’t know.”
"That's not really a typical response to another alpha, though, is it?" he asked, frowning.
