Chosen by Sin (33 page)

After Dex left, Jes was appalled by her childish reaction to the news
he’d almost slept with Lucy again. Oh she knew her reaction was understandable
given how close she and Dex had become. What female wouldn’t be pissed to learn
the male she loved had thought about screwing another female after her, even if
it had been for a practical, medically-related reason?

Had things really changed? If Lucy asked to sleep with him tomorrow,
would he do it? Because if he would even considerate it, they were going to
have a serious discussion. Right now, however, all she wanted was to see him.
To discuss his meeting with the shape-shifters. To repair any damage that had
been committed as a result of her jealousy.

But at the same time, her thoughts were weighed down with a more
imminent and pressing concern. Bodin.

Days ago, he’d rallied. In a moment of lucidity, he’d asked abut Dex
again. About his work with the Para-Ops team. Jes had told Bodin about Dex’s
current mission. The fact that
diabols
were somehow involved. Upon hearing that, Bodin had arranged Dex’s meeting with
the
diregeants
.

Now that the meeting was taking place, however, Bodin had slipped into
unconsciousness and Jes didn’t know if he’d come out of it. She and Amanda sat
beside him, each fearing his next shuddering gasp for air might be his last.

Amanda sobbed. Jes placed a hand on the grieving werewolf’s shoulder.
Since Jes had kicked her out of the castle, Bodin’s granddaughter had visited
her grandfather everyday, always in Jes’s presence, but during those times, the
two females hadn’t spoken.

Amanda turned to Jes. “He’s going to die soon, isn’t he?”

“I—I don’t know, Amanda. I’m sorry. I’ve tried everything I can
think of, including injecting him with Dex’s blood and my own. Nothing has
helped.”

“But you collected your blood under normal circumstances, right?”

“I don’t understand.”

“You haven’t tried collecting your blood when your body is in duress.
You have the power of regeneration, Jes.”

Although it had never occurred to her before, it should have. She knew
immediately what Amanda was asking but said nothing.

“I know you think I’m horrible,” Amanda pressed on. “For what I did to
Ella. For what I’m asking of you. But I’d do the same thing. In fact, I will. I
won’t ask you to do what I’m not willing to do, as well.”

“No,” Jes began. Amanda’s desperation was causing the werewolf to grasp
at straws. Even so, she remembered all the times she’d allowed herself to be
experimented on when she was younger. Instinctively, she smoothed her fingers
over her scarred arm. She wasn’t willing to let herself be used like that
again. Was she?

“You haven’t done everything you can, Jes. You know you haven’t. Weres
can’t be killed in their wolf form.”

“We’ve taken your blood in that form. There was nothing—”

“You haven’t taken the blood while I’ve been in wolf form
and
regenerating. Perhaps there’s a special property
that comes out at that time. Something you can’t isolate otherwise.”

Jes steeled herself. She knew what Amanda was going to say next. And
she knew that eventually she was going to go along with it.

“I want you to wound me and collect samples as I’m regenerating,”
Amanda said. “And I want to do the same to you.”

***

“Find Jes,” Dex told Cy as soon as they returned to the castle grounds.
A quick glance confirmed the sun was moments from setting. “Bring her here to
me.”

“Where are you going?”

“I haven’t been able to get a damn signal to call my friends at the
FBI. I need to go to the gazebo where the reception is best. We’ve got another
agent investigating the shape-shifter murders in the U.S., but my boss can send
more men to the weres. They can ask the weres about the solstice gates.”

Cy looked like he wanted to argue with Dex, but he didn’t. “I’ll be
right back.” He ran in the direction of the castle.

When he reached the gazebo, Dex had to dial Mahone’s number several
times before the call went through.

“Where the hell have you been?” Mahone snarled.

“Out of touch,” was all Dex said. “I need you to do something.”

“I’m a little busy right now trying to—”

“Listen to me, Mahone. There’s a group of shape-shifters who are pissed
by the way the U.S. government has treated them. They plan on helping a bunch
of hell demons invade the living world. We only have a few days to try and stop
them.”

“How do you know this?”

“I finally got some high level shape-shifters to talk to me. You need
to send men to interrogate the werewolves. Even my grandfather,” he added,
surprising himself. “Tell them they’re being asked to do their duty. They need
to block demons from traveling through the solstice gates.”

“Solstice gates? What the hell does that mean?”

“Just do it, Mahone,” Dex snapped.

“Fine. But you should know, Lucy discovered most of this days ago. Just
not the part about the weres and the solstice gates. We’ve been working on a
solution but it’s still touch and go. It involves having to rely on Vanessa
Morrison.”

“The First Lady? The woman who is part of the Quorum? Are you crazy?”

“We didn’t have any choice,” Mahone said. “You’ve been off radar and we
went with the intel we had. I’ll send a team to the weres but in the meantime
we’ll keep the other plan in motion.”

“Fine. I need to go.”

“Dex. Wait!”

He brought the phone back up to ear. “What is it? I need to find Jes.”

“Look, who set up this meeting with the shape-shifters?”

“Jes. Why?”

“Does she know about this so-called were power to walk the solstice
gates?”

“I don’t think so. She wasn’t there.”

“Talk to her, Dex. I have a feeling she might know something about it.
Something about you.”

About me? What the hell did that mean? “Mahone, what are you—”
But the line was dead again. He didn’t know if Mahone had hung up or if they’d
just lost their signal again, but it didn’t matter. Where was Cy? What was
taking so long?

He waited two more minutes before he went looking for them. When he
rounded the corner of the castle, he saw Cy at the front entry. He was leaning
against the exterior wall, looking like he’d just been sick.

“What are you doing? Did you see, Jes?”

Cy raised his head and blinked at Dex. “Yes. But she’s in the middle of
a procedure right now.”

“In the surgery room? Who’s she working on?”

Cy shook his head. He looked like he was in shock. Unsure of what to
do.

Dex grabbed him and shook him hard. “Answer me. Is Jes okay? Cy, tell
me—fuck!”

Grimacing, Dex let go of Cy. His head was throbbing and from out of
nowhere he heard a whimper of pain. It sounded like it came from Jes.

“Did you hear that?” he asked Cy. “Did you hear her?”

“What? No.” Cy looked baffled.

Dex heard her whimper again and whirled. This time, she had seemed
closer. “I can hear her.” I can
feel
her, he realized. He was hearing Jes moaning in his head somehow. She was in
pain but she was stifling the sound, trying not to be heard. He hissed and
grabbed at his own arm when it inexplicably began to throb. What the hell?

“It’s okay,” Cy was saying. “You must be connected with her through the
baby somehow. She’s in pain because they don’t want to use anesthesia or pain
meds. They’re afraid it’ll compromise the results of the procedure, but she’ll
be okay.”

“What are you saying?” Dex demanded.

“Dex—”

“What’s going on? Why is she in pain? Never mind, I’ll go to her
myself.” He whirled around and headed for the surgery room he’d seen when he’d
arrived.

“It’s not that one,” Cy choked out. “She’s in a secondary surgery
room.”

“Where is it?”

Cy shook his head.

Dex almost couldn’t contain his panic. For Jes’s sake, he did. “Is she
hurting herself? Allowing herself to be hurt for some kind of experiment?” He
could tell by the guilty expression on Cy’s face that he’d guessed right.
“Don’t do this, Cy! I thought you cared about her.”

“Damn it, I do. That’s why I understand her. I know what’s driving her.
And she’s done it before. She was fine then and she’ll be fine now.”

“This is different,” Dex urged, his desperation rising with every
second and each stifled moan he heard. On some level, he knew she wasn’t in
agonizing pain. It was manageable, but the thought of her in any pain at all
was too much for him to stand. “Anything they’re doing to her they’re doing to
the baby, as well. Have you thought of that?”

“Jes wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the baby.” But Cy looked
unsure.

“Not intentionally. But remember how you didn’t want me to upset her?
This is upsetting her, whether she knows it or not. Now tell me where she is.”
He clasped Cy on the shoulder and stared into his eyes. “I’m begging you, Cy.
Let me help her.”

Cy nodded as if coming to a difficult decision. “This way.” He led Dex
downstairs until he came across the same door that Dex had, the one locked and
expressly denying them entry. The door was enormous and likely reinforced, but
Cy didn’t bother fiddling with the lock. He turned to Dex. “It’ll take me a
while to recover. Keep going.” As soon as Dex stepped away from him, Cy
shifted, turning himself into marble before bursting into flame. The fireball
he threw incinerated the door.

Dex didn’t hesitate to run through it. When he realized his clothes
were on fire, he simply slapped out the flames and kept running, letting his
instincts as well as the increasing volume of Jes’s moans guide him.

When he came to the doors marked
Surgery
, he barreled through them.

Jes was strapped down to a table, a piece of leather in her mouth. She
was biting down on it to stop from screaming while Amanda cut her arm.

He growled and lunged for the werewolf. “You bitch!”

Amanda dropped the scalpel and scrambled away, crashing into a tray of
surgical tools. “She agreed to do it! She did the same thing to me. It’s
painful, but she regenerates. It’s not like she’s going to die!”

“Get out of here before I kill you,” he gasped out, meaning every word.

After glancing at Jes, Amanda ran from the room.

Breathing like a locomotive, Dex turned to Jes. And he could tell she
wanted to run, too.

***

Thankfully, Jes didn’t fight Dex when he gathered her into his arms and
carried her to her bedroom. She knew better than to agitate him given the anger
that was thrumming through his veins. As soon as they were inside and he’d
placed her on her feet, she’d wobbled briefly, excused herself, went into her
bathroom, and shut the door.

They hadn’t said one word to each other.

Dex wasn’t sure if and when he’d be capable of speech.

He was too afraid that the minute he or she started talking, he would
finally lose it and say something he would regret.

When she turned on the shower, Dex took a deep breath and closed his
eyes, trying to calm down. He knew she was hiding, but he’d give her a few
minutes to herself. He figured he’d need that long just to get his anger under
control.

He was about to sit on the bed when he saw traces of blood smearing his
clothes. It wasn’t a lot. She hadn’t been bleeding enough for her blood to soak
through. But it was enough. Too much. He stripped off his shirt, balled it up,
and threw it across the room, his anger returning full force.

How dare she allow herself to be hurt? How dare she lay there and let
Amanda slice her open? It didn’t matter that the wounds couldn’t hurt the baby.
That the cuts had only been on her arm, the one unmarred by scars. The cuts had
been deep, some almost to the bone…

He agonized over her injuries for several minutes.

When she finally opened the door, steam billowed out of the bathroom.
She stepped out wearing a shell pink robe.

Lying on the bed, his hands tucked behind his head, Dex refused to look
at her.

She padded over and sat beside him.

Neither one of them spoke until . . .

“My wounds have already healed, Dex,” she said gently. “Unlike the ones
I sustained as a child, these wounds won’t even leave scars. See for yourself.”

“I don’t want to see,” he snapped as his gaze honed in on hers. “I
can’t forget the sight of Amanda cutting you while you laid there and let her
do it!”

“I know it looks bad, that it’s hard to understand, but we needed to
try it. Our bodies have healing properties. We never thought to take our blood
as we were regenerating. If I can harness that power to help others—”

He pushed himself to a sitting position and took her by the shoulders.
Although he wanted to shake some sense into her, he kept his touch gentle.
“Damn it, you have to stop! Your life isn’t all about helping others live
longer. You have your own life to live, too, and you need to do it!”

“I have an eternity for that, Dex.”

“And just when will your eternity start, Jes? You’re already almost one
hundred years old and believe it or not, you can be killed. Knox’s first wife
was a full vampire and she was murdered; when he found her, she had a gaping
hole in her chest, one that all the experiments in the world couldn’t heal.
Even now, with our baby inside you, you can’t let yourself be happy. Why?”

“That’s not true. This baby means so much to me. I have him. And now I
have…” She looked away. Despite their talk of a future, he realized, she didn’t
feel she could say it out loud. But he did.

“You have me. Me, Jes. You said you love me. Well, you know what? I
love you, too. I want to know I can fulfill you. Not every part of you, but a
part big enough and deep enough that you can let go of your damn guilt and be
happy!”