TheHealers (9 page)

I walked Cameron to a seat and went to the desk to check her in as my patient, but I explained we needed some assistance from the women’s center. I pulled out my badge to confirm my access. We waited while they worked us into the schedule. At least that’s what I thought was going on, but I started to get suspicious when it became obvious they whispered and did not move fast enough.

“Is there a problem?” The authoritative sound just started to peek out of my voice.

“We’re just checking your credentials. I’ll let you know as soon as everything is cleared.” The snippy tone in her voice led me to believe that she was the desk shark of this hospital. Cameron and I stepped off to the side a little to allow others to check in, but I kept a sharp eye on what was going on at the desk.

After close to fifteen minutes of our being ignored, the elevator next to the check in desk opened. Dark green eyes gazed at me before he stepped over to the desk to talk to the bitchy lady. It was Nicholas Carnegie. He was my doctor. Dr. Carnegie stepped over to take us onto the elevator with him. As soon as the doors closed, I met his stare. Whatever was going on, we would talk about it after Cameron was tended to.

I waited outside of the room while Cameron was checked on. He took her into a triage room, since all of the other rooms were filled. I wasn’t nervous for Cameron and the baby. I just felt certain that they would be okay. I, on the other hand, ached with need. Starved for Alexander. Where in the hell had that come from? Maybe I had started to sense it a little when he first left my house. But then it had turned into anger when I saw the extremely gorgeous woman on his doorstep.

A rumble sound began to create friction in my purse. Funny, it was just my phone.

I picked it up to see the text message indicator on. I clicked it and read the message from Leo. He was checking to see what happened with Cameron and he wanted to tell me he left again to head back to the spill site. More complications. I moved my fingers quickly over the key pad to tell him that all was well and I would be done shortly. I also mentioned I was sorry and that I missed him. Sort of true.

The sound of the door brought my eyes back to attention. Dr. Carnegie walked out. He stepped methodically across the hallway to sit with me in the outside chairs.

His words started to fill my ears, “Your friend and her baby are doing well. It looks like the fetus started to try and separate from the uterus wall, but then it seems to have patched itself back up.” Those green eyes questioned me.

“What happened downstairs?” The nervous words slipped out of my mouth.

“I’m not sure,” he replied.

“You don’t have to lie. I want to know why the hell I couldn’t admit a patient?” The words came out angry, but I could see in his face he knew the retaliation was not directed at him.

“It looks like someone tried to block you from the hospital. From what I was able to gather, there are complaints tying up your certification.” Honest words, without judgment.

The panic started to attack my body slowly. Maybe it was fast. I felt numb. Then, out of the corner of my eyes I could have sworn I saw a very smug Calvin Bennett getting on an elevator. It was so fast. I could have hallucinated. Then the depletion hit my body. The healing I had done on Cameron could have induced this, I just wasn’t sure.

“Dr. Carnegie,” I started.

“Please call me Nicholas, Layna.” Such a kind man, but, to be honest, he was the man that went up my skirt once a year, so there was no way I would call him Nicholas.

“I need to check on Cameron. Thank’s for allowing us to come up, even with concentrated efforts of others to keep me out.” I started to stand and although I thought I hid my fatigue it must have been apparent because Nicholas spoke.

“Layna, why don’t you rest for a bit? I can get you something to drink and you’ll probably feel better. You look as though you need calories. Did you eat today?” Those concerned eyes waited on me.

“I really need to get to something, but I appreciate the concern and all of your help.” This time I stood and left him sitting on the chair. Some thoughts started to form in my mind and I had questions. First things first though, check on Cameron.

I gently opened the door, even though it wasn’t a private room. I knew for a fact that no one else had been in the room. I had watched outside of it. I could hear her soft voice as I entered. It took me a moment to realize, but when I did it was so pure. She was whispering to her tiny unborn baby. The sharp twinges of tears threatened to spill over, but I took a deep breath and stepped in further.

“I hear you and the baby are going to be just great. Did you like Dr. Carnegie?” I thought if I filled the conversation with small talk it would hide the conversation we still had not had. And could not have.

“He was very kind. I’m so grateful,” Cameron started but could not finish her sentence because her face was overcome with tears. At least they were tears of joy this time.

“Shh. Everything is okay now.” I mumbled the words as I took her in my arms and petted those bouncy curls.

My heart pounded with all the love I felt for Cameron and the baby right now. But there was still a hunger and loss of energy on the cusp. I felt like I would pass out soon. I remembered what Dr. Carnegie said about food and realized I had not had anything to eat and that was probably it.

I stepped back but continued to keep my hand on Cameron’s.

“You must be starved after all this. Why don’t I hunt up some food?” The smile pasted on my face right now must have been at least semi believable because Cameron erupted into giggles.

“That is the worst fake smile I have ever seen on you. And I think I’ve seen some good ones before. Remember when we ran into one of your patients at that bar? That was almost as good as this one.” There was silence in the room and then she continued. ”You’re not ready to talk to me. It’s better for now, because I’m not really ready for anything else life altering. But, I will be. If you need me, I’m here. Go take care of whatever you need to do. I already talked to Jeff and he’s on his way.” She smacked a kiss on my hand and then she whispered again, “Thank you.”

I leaned over to hug her and then walked out of the door. I listened to hear it close behind me before I started towards the elevator. Thank goodness, I didn’t see any sign of Nicholas. There were no words for him yet.

As I pressed the unlock button in the parking lot, energy loss consumed me. This time it was worse. My mind seemed to lose coherence for a moment. It snapped back in place, but I could barely walk. Good thing I had driven. I needed to get home.

Focusing on driving the car was almost more than I could handle. A few times I heard vibrations come out of my purse, but there was no way I was going to be able to get to them. The thoughts in my head fought hard to keep my body together. I turned the car off of the main road and onto a smaller side road that would eventually get me home. The lush green of the trees on either side kept me from skating off of the road. The vibrations sounded out of my phone again.

“Shit. I cannot get to the phone right now!” The words came out of my mouth to echo through the car at no one but me. A quick swerve to the right and I entered my neighborhood. I would probably just get in the house before I passed out. The exhaustion was taking over. I barely tumbled out of the car and fell onto my driveway before everything went black.

Chapter Twelve

Clean
waterfalls and rugged mountains mixed with lots of man.
I must be dreaming that I’ve been abducted by Alexander.
My arms started to wrap around him when my mind snapped into place. I was really going to have to stop waking up like this. My body did notice, however, that I felt like my batteries had been charged up.

“It’s alright,” he whispered in my ear. “You need this touch, my energy feeds you.”

Whoa…Hold on a second, maybe I was dreaming this crap?

I pushed back from him and started to open my mouth but words just would not form. Instead, I decided to take in the scenery. We were in his house. Sunshine still glowed through the windows, so I had not blacked out for too long. Shades of gray stretched out over all of the walls visible to me. You would have thought it would induce depression, but brightness emanated through the gray. It occurred to me that I had not been in this house before, so it most likely looked this way when he bought it. I hadn’t seen any evidence of a painter since he had moved in.
Focus, Layna.
I knew I was diverting my mind to other topics to avoid thoughts about the
feeding me
crap that had just escaped his lips.

“Does that line work on other females? Maybe, just the uneducated ones. Let me assure you that I have no need for
anything
your body wants to feed me.” There, I had been real clear. I wasn’t going to be some hopeless needy girl. It did come to my attention that I was still curled up in his lap. Damn it.

“I know this all seems confusing, but I’m here for you. To protect you.” His face looked at me filled with both worry and calm. “I know about the magic, Layna.”

“Huh.” That was the most intelligible thing I could think to say. Considering how delusional I had been when I passed out, it was extremely likely that my mind was still in that unconscious state. His warm strong hands found their way to my shoulders. The heat in them was enough to make my heart start to beat in an erratic pattern. Oh! Did he know I felt this way? Then he began to wrap one hand around the sensitive part of my neck just under my hair. Sensations quietly rushed over my skin. This wasn’t real. Unfortunately, the painful ache in my breasts indicated they thought that it was. They begged to be let out. Maybe I would just press myself on him a little and they would calm.

No!

I pushed myself right out of his arms and onto the other side of the sofa. This wasn’t real. “What in the hell are you talking about?” My eyes continued to check around me for the snakes. They always appeared in my nightmares. If I could find the snakes, then I would know for sure this was the horror workings of my polluted head. I’d always known there were side effects to my job. I guess I was starting to break apart early. His body languidly scooted closer to me. I didn’t jump off of the couch. It just felt too good for me to run from him.

Alexander whispered, “I’m here to take care of you. Just let me.”

Now why on earth did he have to go off and sound reasonable? I was all kinds of ready to begin to argue, but how do you argue with that? I knew I should be scared. I never spoke to anyone about healing, the magic, but nothing in my senses would allow me to fear him. Although, I sure as hell would not meet in the middle right now. He was going to have to come all the way over

And he did.

My arms were wrapped around his waist and my fingers gingerly moved on his back. The soft silk strands in his head rubbed all over my cheek as he tucked his face just next to mine. The only thing that kept me upright was the arm of the sofa at my back. Every so often his fingers would slide across my shoulders. Even through my clothes I could feel the rough demand in them. And it made me want more. It was such an indulgent caress that my mouth opened in a soft moan when he did it.
Oh, yeah.
He fed me alright, but on more than just one level. With his body so close to me, I was unable to form coherent thoughts in my head. Which was why, I guess, my hands uncurled themselves from around his waist to indulge in his hair. His sexy hair. An erotic sound escaped from between his lips. With one hand still in his hair, stroking up and down, I brought my other hand to his lips, the place of that sound I had just heard. It was such a reflex. No thought. I slid my fingers across his lips. They were like fire, burning. And when I touched them, I felt the fire too. It burned me up from the inside out. How could I ever contain this? Or how would I ever get enough?

I felt it the moment my energy was restored, but I still didn’t want to let go.

“How is this possible? Why am I able to feel better when we touch?” The questions filled up in my head. I would not ask about the attraction I felt because I was pretty sure I understood that, but I wondered how he made me feel less depleted
—
like I had been when I first stumbled out of the car between our two houses. I had been so lucky he had found me.

His soft lips touched lightly over my ears and spoke, “We are the same. I know what you can do. There are others like us. Many more.”

I tried to stop my next words, but it was hopeless. “Is that what you did with the woman that was here earlier?” I sounded like a jealous girlfriend. I buried my face in his neck to hide the color in my cheeks. Oh help me, his smell weakened any defenses I had. I backed up to get some perspective. Maybe, a little too quickly.

With a soft happy look on his face he asked, “Do you care who she was?” Alexander’s hands were now tightly glued to my hips. There was possessiveness in that gesture that almost brought me down against my will. I would not give in that easily.

Now what was I supposed to say to that?
I might be obsessed with you…take me now!

I want to be your love slave…

Instead I smirked as I made direct contact with those pieces of dravite in his face.