Her eyes were closed, she told herself, but she was still awake so, in a way she was improving, she told herself. She had to fight the lethargy, she had to fight Lucian’s pull. He was like a poison, a toxin within her, a fever she had to sweat off. “I feel like I cannot think, like time is missing…”
“The effects of the blood bond. It will wear off, eventually, if you live.”
He pulled up abruptly and she opened her eyes in alarm.
She could see Raiden’s house through the driver’s window. They were at the gate of Wade and Diedre’s she realised with heavy relief as he wound down his window, reaching out to press a button. She heard the crackle of an intercom, Diedre’s voice broken by static.
“It is Elior,” he said obviously understanding her words. “I have a gift for Raiden.”
There was a clearer response through the intercom, an exclamation, and she heard the release a moment before the gate retracted and he wound the window back up. The car moved forwards again, but not for long. He parked, turning off the engine and opened his car door.
“Diedre,” he said as he closed the door, muffling the next words exchanged.
Lia closed her eyes. As great as her relief was, so was her dread. She felt contaminated by Lucian, by his blood, by his touch, and feared Raiden’s response. Would he still want her, toxic and poisoned, raped, and broken as she was? A tear tracked down her cheek.
The passenger side door opened, and she could smell lavender.
“Oh, dear child,” she heard Diedre’s voice, the tone breaking on grief. “What is wrong with her?”
“Blood loss and blood addiction,” Elior replied, for the first time with some empathy, though Lia wondered if it were feigned. “She may not survive. She is very weak. We do not often take blood slaves from their masters for that reason. If you have the facility to do a plasma transfusion, it may help. And she will need to be restrained. Lucian will summon her, and the blood addiction will mean that she will try to seek him for succour.”
She felt someone unbuckle her seat belt and lift her from the seat. “I have got you,” Wade murmured near her ear, his tone soothing. “There is nothing to her,” he added grimly, obviously deciding when she didn’t respond that she was out cold. “Skin and bones. Did he not feed her at all?”
“I don’t know. I must go. As the result of my action in freeing her, there will be a confrontation within my region, of those loyal to him, and those loyal to me,” Elior advised. “I will destroy him, of course, but not without effort.”
“Thank you Elior,” Wade said.
“I hope this balances the scales between us,” Elior replied. “One of mine stole her, but I have returned her.”
“We consider it settled,” Diedre acknowledged.
Lia heard the car start and withdraw. “Raiden,” she whispered without opening her eyes, not wanting to see the expressions on their faces, feeling safer in the darkness, hiding from her fears.
“Yes, sweetie,” Wade murmured. “We will take you to him. He will be much improved for having you.” He began to walk.
“I will get on the phone to William,” Diedre said, and opened a car door. Wade placed Lia onto the back seat, laying down. “And have him meet you there. Give Raiden my love and tell him that I miss him.” She paused. “I hope having her back helps him, even if she is so fragile. God, look at her,” she sounded on the verge of tears.
“It will. Of course, it will. She is his mate,” Wade kissed her, lingeringly. “And she is strong to have gotten this far. We will get them through this, and they will be making us grand-cubs before you know it. Keep the young safe. I will be back as soon as I can.”
“I love you,” she replied warmly.
Lia opened her eyes as Wade started the car. She could feel the drag of Lucian, as if he had claws in her bones, the subtle ache of his call building in pressure.
She watched the shadows slip through the cabin as Wade reversed out of the drive and made his way through the quiet suburban streets. She tried to focus on her breathing as her skin crawled as if Lucian’s hands were on it, and her heart throbbed as if the poison of him within her responded to his call.
As they paused at a stop light, she saw Wade’s eyes in the rearview mirror, checking on her, smelling her pain and fear and hearing her agonized breathing. “It is okay, Lia,” he said quietly, seeing that her eyes were open. “We are going to Raiden. Hold on for me, okay, sweetie?”
“Raiden,” she pleaded and moaned, arcing in pain as Lucian’s summons became more demanding.
“We are not far, sweetie,” Wade said with an edge of urgency to his voice. “Hold on, please.” She heard the ringing of a phone through the car speakers.
“Hello?” A woman’s voice answered. Tara, Lia thought, her voice distorted by the speakers.
“Tara, I have Lia,” Wade said.
“Oh, f-k, that’s awesome. He will be so relieved. God, I am so relieved, and she is not even my mate!”
“She is not in a good way,” Wade said quietly. “Your mother is calling William to meet us at there. I am bringing her now. Be ready for us, we will put her straight into the cage with him. It might help them both.”
“Oh, f-k. Shit. Is it… bad, dad?”
“Bad enough. We are not far.”
They disconnected.
Lucian’s pull increased in urgency, feeling as if he reached into her chest and squeeze her heart in his hard. Lia shrieked, clawing at the leather car seat, feeling the fabric pucker under her nails.
“Hold on Lia,” Wade increased speed as he hit the freeway.
Something happened, and it was if the tension released from Lia.
She fell limp onto the car seat, panting. “He has stopped,” she whispered.
“Thank f-k for that,” he said grimly.
“Yes,” she agreed. Thank f-k for that. She was able to focus more on the view through the car windows, though she could not bring herself to try to sit upwards. There was no slide of streetlights overhead, just the watery light from the moon and stars.
“Where are we going?” She asked.
Wade released a breath in relief that she had improved enough to ask questions. “We have a property out of the city, Lia, where our pack runs on the full moon. We are keeping Raiden there.”
“Keeping him?” She turned her head and met Wade’s eyes in the rear-view mirror.
“Raiden was injured, Lia. Badly injured. He needs to rest to allow his body to recover, but with you missing, he was frantic to find you. We had to lock him up, to prevent him from going after you. He is in no state to take on Lucian.”
“How long?” She wondered. The moon was waning.
“It has been over a fortnight, Lia.”
“Oh, god,” she curled onto her side and sobbed it into her hands.
“It will be alright, Lia,” he was soothing. “It is alright, sweetie.”
She phased in and out of consciousness, and was aware of him parking, and voices around her as he lifted her from the back seat.
“Oh, f-k,” she heard Tara say.
She tried to open her eyes as she felt them enter the warmth of a house and had the impression of light, but it was too bright, painful, and so she closed her eyes against it. They went down steep stairs into a more softly lit area, and she heard metal hinges as a door opened.
“Raiden,” Wade said softly.
“Dad,” Raiden’s voice was hoarse and heavy, half asleep. “Lia!”
“Shh, stay still. Here,” Wade laid Lia upon a mattress.
She felt the warmth of Raiden as he curled around her, the scent of citrus and lavender, and sobbed in a breath reaching blindly for him, her fears of his rejection smothered by her need for him, her craving for the safety of his arms. Raiden pressed his face into her hair, breathing in deeply.
“She stinks of him,” he said, his voice a growl.
“Her scent will change after she has been with you for a while,” Wade was soothing. “William is on his way. Elior says she needs a plasma transfusion.”
“F-k,” Raiden’s arms tightened around her.
She buried her face into him. His chest was bare and the feel of his skin against her cheek, the beat of his heart against her, was blissful. She was crying, broken sobs, her face wet with tears and her nose running, and she did not care, was so far beyond caring, beyond dignity, beyond anything but the relief of feeling him against her.
“Lia,” he murmured, kissing the crown of her head. “I have you, my mate. You are safe now.”
“It is not unexpected,” Wade said softly. “That she will need medical care.”
“No,” Raiden barely breathed it. “But still. Look at her. Shit. F-k, dad.”
“She is back, and that is what is important.”
“Yes,” Raiden laid back down and curled around her. “That is all that matters. Thanks dad.”
She had not realized how cold she was until she was against the warmth of him and as he adjusted the blankets over her, she wrapped herself around him tightly, and heard him hiss out a breath in pain. She lifted her head, forcing her eyes open with an agony of effort.
The light was dim, a golden glow from far off in a large chamber, but it was enough to see that the left side of his face was heavily bruised, with healing cuts like silver stripes through the yellow and purple stretching across his cheek, narrowly missing his eye, and disappearing into his hair.
“Oh, Raiden,” she murmured, lifting her hand to his cheek.
He opened his eyes. “It is not as bad as it looks,” he told her with reassurance.
He lifted his hand to her cheek, and she saw that his arm bore the same heavy bruising from shoulder to elbow, and beneath it, bruises spread from armpit to hip, across his chest and stomach. Her breath shuddered as she laid her palm against his skin.
“Lia,” he lifted her face to his. “Let me look at you.”
She tried to focus on his eyes, but her vision blurred with un-shed tears. “Raiden, I…” She didn’t know how to tell him, or what to say.
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “Shh, it is alright Lia, just rest. God, you are so thin and pale.”
He drew her back against him and held her tightly.