Page 35 of The King

“Absolutely, Queen Eden,”Max’s voice entered their telepathic conversation.

Startled for just a second, Ettie snickered,“Wow, that took me off guard. I forgot you could do that, Catman Do.”

“I am so sorry, Cariño,”her King sincerely apologized.“I acted on…”

“Instinct,”she chuckled. Squeezing his hand, she comforted, “Noworries at all. I kinda liked it. No. Check. I really liked it.”Giving him a wink, she added,"Keep it up."

“Oh, brother,”Eden scoffed, pouring on the sarcasm even though Ettie could feel how happy the Empress Eagle was. "Get a room.”

“How about you get over it?”Ettie teased.“Then tell me what you mean by Sorcerous influence.”

Before the Empress Eagle could answer, the soldier tentatively nodded at Ettie. Giving him a nod in return, she watched as the crowd parted, and he slowly walked toward her.

His confusion, embarrassment, and fear surrounded him like a shield. Not only was he confounded, but the poor man was having trouble remembering his name. Pulling it from his mind, something she wouldn't usually do without asking permission, but wanted to offer the man something, Ettie held out her hand, "Hello, Sergeant Reeves, what seems to be the problem?"

"R-Reeves?" He stammered, taking her hand, and slowly shaking it. "Reeves. Sergeant Dennis Reeves, First Class." He nodded, slowly at first, then with more confidence. "Yes, yes, ma'am." Pulling back his hand, the sergeant snapped to attention and saluted. "There appears to have been a breach in security, Dr…. Dr…. Ummm…"

"Dr. Featherstone," she responded, adding a tone of authority to her voice while ignoring Max and Eden's chuckles in her mind. Motioning to her Mate, very glad he had decided to Shift back to human form and dress them both in appropriate attire with lab coats, she introduced, "And this is Dr. Prentice." Without waiting for more than a nod from each man, she continued, "Yes, there has been a containment breach, but not to worry. We will simply expedite the closure of this facility and discharge everyone today."

"As you wish, Dr. Featherstone," Sergeant Reeves immediately agreed as if that had been the plan all along. "Would you please coordinate with Nurse…" Looking up, she saw the flirty nurse and knew that although she was young, even for a human, she was also incredibly intelligent and accomplished.

Pulling the name from the front of the woman's mind, Ettie finished for him, "…Bheers." Not giving the sergeant time to think about what was happening, she quickly called into the crowd, "Nurse Bheers, will you please come here?"

“Absolutely, Doctor.” Down the hall in a flash, she stopped in front of Ettie and smiled. “What can I do for you?” With a cloud of confusion in her hazel eyes, Ettie had to give the nurse credit for acting like everything was okay when she obviously had no clue.

“After speaking with Sergeant Reeves, we all agree that we are moving up the date of the closure of this facility to today.”

"T-Today?" The slight stutter in her voice was the only indication of Nurse Bheers' shock. Even as the sharp scent of surprise hit Ettie's senses and the woman's pupils dilated for a second, the nurse's smile didn't falter.

"Yes, Nurse," Ettie maintained her authoritative stance even as she made it all up as she went. "Will that be a problem?"

“No problem at all,” she quickly answered. "Are we moving the patients in the lower levels to another facility? As you know, some still need medical attention, and others are on ventilators."

“Medical attention?”Eden snapped.“Did that crazy bitch just say medical attention? This place is one huge torture chamber. Of course, most of them need medical attention. And they're gonna need counseling for the next century.”

“Si,Mi Reina Águila, it is,”Max agreed, the sadness in his voice momentarily overshadowing his outrage."But as I am sure you have figured out, that explosion of Dark Magic we felt just a moment ago was the breaking of a potent Spell I believe is woven into the very fabric of this structure and was being held together and kept alive by a talisman Pandora O'Baioll had on her person. Everyone here, the employees, although not being drugged or poisoned, were being controlled by the Hex. They have no idea where they are, what they have been doing, and how long they have been here."

Motioning with a tilt of his head, the King added, "The young man with the short dark hair accepted this job to help out his father, who was in a car accident. I suspect that is true with all the humans in Pandora O'Baoill's employ."

"Yeah, Greer, the real Basilisk Queen must've known that too. That was the cover story she kept at the front of her mind. It was good. Even I believed it."Pausing for a second, Ettie remembered what Max had just said and echoed,"A talisman? Seriously?" She shook her head. "For someone who hates everything to do withus, Magic, hell, the whole Paranormal World, old Pandora sure as hell jumped into the deep end of the pool."

“You are correct, mi Corazón,”Max agreed, the low rumbling of his voice more pronounced.

"Isn't that always the way?"Casimiro, the Panther King with whom her Mate shared his soul hissed.“They take what they want and try to destroy what is left of what they don’t understand.”

“You know it, Big Cat,”Ettie sighed. Then, with a push of love and acceptance, added,"Welcome to the party. I was wondering when you'd chime in."

“I am sorry for being late,”the Panther King snickered, the sound like pebbles rolling around in the bottom of a tin can. "I was alerting those still on the surface of what we found and what is happening. They are on their way down."Then, to Max, he went on,"Ernesto and his sister, Dr. Lawrence, have just arrived. Juan Carlos called them when I told him about the poor souls on the lower levels."

“Thank you, Casimiro.”

"Rory called the Grand Priestess and the Elder Healer from the Blue Thunder Clan,"the Panther King continued."As well, as speaking to his brother, Royce, who will be here soon with his Mate, the doctors who are Mated to Guardsmen in the Golden Fire Clan, and the Elder Healer, Siobhan. The patients needing intensive care will be moved to the Clinics at one of those Lairs or the Paladin Compound Hospital."

“Okay,”Ettie yelped."When y'all come to the party – you COME to the party. And you bring the whole fam damily. Did you leave anybody minding the home fires?"

"Of course we did,"Max chuckled.“But when they learned that you were in danger, everyone wanted to help.”

“Awww, y’all are the best.”Looking up at her Mate, she snickered,“Wow, I sound all mushy and shit. Who woulda thought?”

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