“I need to see him.”
“Hold on, you’re still healing from a serious concussion. Let me—Seren!”
Seren tried to jump off the bed but ended up sliding off and nearly taking a header on the floor. She braced herself and pushed to a stand, then grimaced as vertigo hit.
“You need to stay in bed. Let me get Trouble to help.”
“I need Storm right now. Let me see him!”
He’d saved her life. Again. But this time, he might have lost his own by putting himself between her and the blast.
“Okay, okay, you humans sure can be stubborn.” Melody put her arm around Seren’s waist and walked with her toward the door.
“Just when it comes to our mates.”
They walked a short way down the hall and entered another room. Hunter and Winter were near the bed with Santa, Storm on his stomach, a sheet draped from his hips to his toes. His back was covered with bandages that were seeping blood. It didn’t even look like he was breathing.
She nearly dropped to her knees seeing him like that.
Muffling the cry of alarm with her hand, she let go of Melody and made it to his bed, clutching the rail.
“He’s going to be okay,” she said. It sounded like a statement, but in her heart she was really asking the question.
Hunter and Winter wouldn’t meet her gaze. She turned it to Santa.
“You can heal him,” she said.
“I tried,” Santa said.
She gingerly lifted the edge of one of the bandages and inhaled sharply. “It’s not healed at all, is it?”
He shook his head. “I believe the bomb was sent by Frost, but I don’t know how he knew where the portal was going to open. There was something in the bomb that’s preventing him from healing. It’s dark magic, Seren. It’s different than mine, and I can’t counteract it.”
“So he’s just… what? Tell me!” Panic was clawing at her. She couldn’t lose Storm.
She wouldn’t.
“I don’t know,” Santa said. “If he could shift, he could maybe heal, but he’s not responding to me or his brothers. The healers have tried their own magic, and nothing is working. I’m sorry, Seren. We’re just going to have to wait and see if he heals on his own.”
She let out a little growl.
Hunter’s brows winged up. He folded his big arms over his chest. “You got something to say, little sister?”
“Yes.” She stared at Storm and put her hand over his. “I don’t accept this wait-and-see business. Storm is going to shift into his polar bear and heal himself, because I don’t really think there’s anything more powerful than love. And we may have only known each other for two days, but I know he loves me. Him and his bear.” Her voice wavered a little as understanding filled her. He really wasn’t like anyone she’d ever known.
He was special and unique.
He was her Storm.
She jerked the railing to the side so it lowered, then put her hand on the side of his head. Leaning over, she said, “Storm, I get it now. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met, and that’s why fate brought us together. It wasn’t an accident. It was because you’re mine and I’m yours. You want me to give you my heart, well, I’m giving it to you. But you have to shift and accept it. I’m…dang it, Storm, I’m in love with you, okay? I love you and Iwant you to tell me that you love me too. But you have to shift. Please.”
He didn’t stir.
She wasn’t even sure he was breathing.
She choked on another sob, her eyes blurring with tears.
“Storm, damn it! Shift!” The words bellowed out of her mouth the way he bellowed after sex, all staking a claim and taking no prisoners.