Page 116 of Blade's Battle
“I’ve been managing just fine.”
“Look what happened back at the zip line!”
“They deserved to die.”
“I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about you and Callen. He barely looked at you afterward and you avoided him. I’m betting since we got back you’ve barely said a handful of words to Frank.”
“Still more than he says to me,” Blade said.
“Not true,” Frank said.
Blade turned and glared at him.
“You almost died, Blade! Do you expect me to sit by and wait for your wolf to take control? Look at how this situation is affecting you and your pack. This needs to end.”
“I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m not going to sit here and let you endanger yourself for me.”
“Why? Because I’m the female here?”
“Because you’remyfemale!” He pushed away from her bed and stared out the window. “It’s my job to protect you, Anna.”
“And it’s mine to protect you.”
Blade bit back the need to growl. Anna, already sounding so tired, was arguing with him over the laws of nature. Maybe she’d protected her husband for so long she didn’t know how to let anyone take care of her. That had to change. He wouldn’t let her endanger herself for him. Ever. Yet he couldn’t tell her that. His Anna fought for what she believed in. She cared with her heart and soul. He couldn’t be mad at her for caring about him, for trying to help him. But one vital question remained.
“Do you love me, Anna?” he asked.
Tears pooled in her eyes. “Yes.”
He believed her. In the end, the fact that she loved him was all that mattered.
“What exactly did you do, Anna?” Pryce asked, edging his way in front of Blade with an empathetic look.
“The reason the blood-bond with humans is always disastrous is because humans have no wolf genes to exchange,” Anna began, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. “I gave myself wolf genes. I took naked DNA and transferred Blade’s genes into me.”
“That’s brilliant.”
“Pryce?” Blade said. The medic always seemed to follow what she was saying when it came to the medical jargon. “Explain.”
“Basically, she added your DNA into some blank cells so when your DNA searches her genome, it will find and copy the DNA—yourDNA—back to you. The hole that is created in your bridge during the blood bond will be completed using your DNA that she deposited in her body.”
It was brilliant. Bloody brilliant. But it was killing her too.
“Then why is she sick?” Frank asked the question that Blade had been too afraid to ask.
“Because my DNA made her sick,” Blade said as he tore himself from the window and approached his Angel. The Angel who could never be his because his body—his DNA—was making her sick. He couldn’t face her. All that they’d been through and now the damn blood-bond was doomed to fail because his DNA had doomed him.
Anna placed her hand on his arm, her thumb caressing him until he lifted his eyes. “It doesn’t work that way, babe. You didn’t make me sick. The virus I used to add your genes did. It’s a virus, like any other virus. It triggered an immune response and I have to ride it out, that’s all. I guess with the beating I took it was too much for my system and knocked me out. The virus isn’t lethal.”
He lowered his head against her side and her fingers sifted through his hair. Her touch soothed him in a way nothing and no one else ever could, but it didn’t erase all the emotions swirling around in his head right now. She’d been so still, so pale when she had collapsed, and he hadn’t known whether she’d live or die.
“Did you hear me, Blade? This isn’t your fault. I’m not sick because of you. And I’ll be fine.”
The danger she’d put herself in by protecting him was incredible.Shewas incredible. The thought of losing her terrified him. As he gazed into her sweet face, he wondered what other information he’d missed along the way that would bring everything crashing down again. The hunters had been renting the lodge. Anna had been injecting herself. What else had he missed? This was her life in his hands. He had failed his birth pack. What if he had missed other facts and he would fail her too?
“All righty then,” Pryce said as he slapped Blade’s back and headed to the door. I guess we’ll wait to see if this process works, Anna, my dear. Looking forward to the blood-bonding. The entire pack is, so rest for now, and when you two are ready, we’ll be there to witness. And then get ready to be in demand. Once word gets out what you did for Tess, every shifter who survives this virus will be knocking on your door. And if your gene therapy works for the blood-bonding, you’ll be the most famous and sought after genetic engineer in the shifter world. Blade’s going to have to learn to share you.”
“Like hell, I will,” he said. Anna was all his, and he wasn’t letting her out of his sight, no matter how many shifters came begging for her to help them. Oh, he knew he was being selfish, and he’d cave to her the second she said she wanted to help someone, but for now, at least until she was fully recovered, she was all his.
