Page 18 of Heir

“We can’t just give him any blood if we don’t know his type,” said another voice.

“Not to transfuse. He needs to drink it.”

Oh no.

I blinked open my eyes to find a familiar face, Raver. “Hey there,” he said, all grins. “Heard you finally got struck by lightning.”

I groaned. “Where am I?”

“Still in the same stupid human hospital. But they found your wallet, called Howar, who called me. I’m just over in Seattle, so I drove down to check on you. Where’s your mate?” He glanced around as if she were just hiding under the bed or something.

“She left.”

His dark blue eyes went wide. “She left? Without you.”

I groaned again. “We didn’t have a chance to meet.”

“Ah, and you’re experiencing the Mate’s Ache. My brother went through something similar when he was struck by lightning. I hear it’s just a curse us vampires bear. No other species has to deal with this.”

“I need to find her.” I made to sit up.

Raver rested a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down. “I’ve ordered some blood. It should help you get enough strength that we can find her together.”

The curtain pulled back and several doctors stood at the foot of my bed. A few of them looked terrified, others looked disgusted. The one with the most authority spoke up. “I’m afraid we don’t give blood to patients to drink,” she said, trying for calm, but coming across as patronizing. “We’d like to do a blood panel and tox screen to determine how best we can help Mr. Ferrin.”

“Lord,” Raver said.

“Excuse me?”

“Lord Ferrin. He is nobility.”

“My apologies. How best we can help Lord Ferrin.”

I shook my head. “No blood work.”

“We’ve hooked him up to an IV because he seemed really dehydrated when he came in, but unless we know what substances he’s taken or how severe his anemia is, we can’t accurately treat him,” the head doctor said, addressing Raver.

“He’s not anemic,” Raver said. “And he’s not on drugs.”

A few of the baby doctors snorted.

Whatever.

“Get his discharge papers, please. I’ll take him to see our private family physician where he will be treated for his underlying condition,” Raver said, scratching at his perfectly trimmed, dark blond beard.

“Uh—”

“I said please,” Raver barked, which caused all of them to snap into action.

I snorted.

He grinned at me, flashing his fangs and letting them drop just a smidge. “I’ll be right back. I’m just gonna go see if I can find you a snack.” He took off down the hallway, leaving me in the bed behind all the closed curtains. Even though my species of vampires didn’t require blood to survive, when we were in pain or injured, there was no better medicine. A few ounces would help me enough to get to my mate without passing out, and Raver knew that.

A moment later, before any doctors returned with my discharge papers, Raver was back. He was all mischievous smiles as he pulled a bag of blood slightly out from under his jacket to show me. “You can have it in the car.”

“Theft is a sin,” I said blandly.

“I hear the demons throw killer parties in hell, anyway.”

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