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Gabriel turned away from the table where he’d been examining my most recent brain scans, crossing the room to stand before me.
Grace. Can you hear my thoughts right now?
A bolt shot down the center of me at the direct question inside my mind. Up until now, I’d been able to chalk the voices up to the tumor, but that was extremely hard to do when a vampire was staring me in the eyes and asking me questions without moving his lips.
Purple penguins.
Another laugh ripped through me. “Purple penguins?” I asked, and he gaped at me. “That’s pretty random, even for a vampire, I imagine.”
“Gods,” he whispered.
I swallowed hard, anxiety clawing up my throat and threatening to shut it. I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply to try and quell the panic. “So,” I said, opening my eyes again. “This is real then? All of it?” I glanced around the elaborate space we were in, and then pictured the rest of the estate beyond. Pictured Ajax, the way his fangs had sunk into my flesh and he’d drank from me, the way it’d made me feel—floaty and tingly and all kinds of hot. Thought about the mating mark that had appeared over my collar bone. If it was real, then that meant Ajax’s feelings were real, which actually made butterflies take flight in my stomach. If anything good came out of this entire mess, it was Ajax.
God, I wished I had more time with him.
“I suppose that depends on what you’re referring to,” he said in the most doctorish way ever.
I tried not to roll my eyes. “Vampires. Telepathy. The tumor that is killing me.” Not that I’d ever doubteditsauthenticity.
Awareness rippled along the edges of my body, a flash of heat skirting over my chest as Ajax moved closer to me.
“It’s all right,” I answered his silent gaze of concern as he smoothed a hand over my lower back. The breath in my lungs loosened with his touch. Even my rising panic at the realization that all of this was real dulled with him so close.
“It is real,” Gabriel answered my question. “And no, the tumor isn’t the cause of your gift.”
“Is it because of the quarter vampire in my bloodline?” I asked.
Gabriel nodded. “That is highly likely.” His eyes flashed to Ajax. “Her telepathy is far more advanced than Alek suggested.”
“The king suspected…” Ajax said slowly.
“He did,” Gabriel answered.
Ajax raised his brows at me, and I shrugged.
“That’s not his fault,” I said. “It’s not like I advertised this. I thought I was hallucinating half the time I was with Ajax.”
Ajax laughed. “No one could hallucinate all this perfection,” he teased, motioning to himself. It was hard not to agree, especially when the leather pants he wore hugged those massive thighs I liked to dig my nails into. “Not even your brilliant mind, Grace.” His features turned serious as he focused back on Gabriel.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he continued. “So I’ll ask you a different one. With you being you, could you remove the tumor more successfully than a human doctor?”
Gabriel sighed, then shook his head.
“What?” Ajax snapped, the intensity in his voice jolting me. “You’re the best healer Alek has ever had,” he said, exasperated. “You have skills no mortal doctor ever will. And I can pause time, I can give you what you need to fix this.”
A pang twisted my chest at the desperation in his tone, the pleading look in his eyes. Ajax was a powerful immortal who looked like the last creature on Earth who would beg for something, but here he was, begging a vampire doctor to save my life.
And for the first time since I’d gotten the diagnosis, I wasnot okaywith it. I wasn’t in my accepting this-is-going-to-happen mood. I’d found someone worth living for, someone who had the ability to make me laugh in the face of death and cry from loving life so much. And now, I was going to have to lose him.
“I’m sorry, Ajax,” Gabriel said. “You know if I thought we had a chance at successfully removing the mass, I wouldn’t hesitate. The risk is too great with its placement and size. It could kill her faster. Instantly even. We’ve never been able to cure human cancer.”
I cringed at that, and so did Ajax
“There has to be something we can do,” he said.
Gabriel arched a brow at him, looking between us. “And to answer your other question, about attempting to transition her…that would be incredibly risky.”
“How risky?” Ajax asked.
