Page 52 of Countdown to Murder
“I assume they’re calling her a descendant?” Because an immortal wouldn’t have come so close to death.
“Yes. She passed every test, and she nearly died.” He put his hand on my back, and I settled a little. “We’ll get her back in shape. She’s ours now.”
“Mine, Your Majesty. She’smine.”
He blew out a breath, turned, and looked at me with his arms crossed. “You need to understand that I can fuck her if I choose to, but I’m choosing not to, mainly because she was a virgin and I can’t bring myself to be...”
He let the ending drop, but I finished it for him.
“A monster? We both know you’ll play the part if you feel it’s best for the lions. I’ve been loyal to you for decades. If you can’t acknowledge she’s mine, I will respectfully need to move out of your territory.”
He smiled. “Good. I needed to hear that from you. She’s yours, but you are mine, which puts her under my protection. You know how this works. Find a way she can show me her fealty. Neither of us wants it to be sex, so figure something else out.”
I nodded. We’d find something, but not that. His Majesty had needed to know I’d still stand up to him. I’mone of his fail-safes, should he go off the deep end again. He needs to know I’ll tell him if he turns towards darkness. He’d survived just outside of the light for centuries. I hadn’t thought he’d ever find his way out of the shadows and fully into the light, but Kirsten had changed everything for him. Should something happen to her, though, he’d lay the world to waste to avenge her death, and we all knew it. Thankfully, she’d gained enough powers, we hoped she could keep herself alive.
Kirsten popped into the room, and Nathan pushed her towards a wall to make sure no one could see her from the nurses’ station. The walls were glass, so they could see the patients without having to come into the room. This was a special supernatural hospital, and they were serious about security.
“We need the bed and all of the IV equipment,” Nathan told her. “I have people in place who can keep up what’s been started until we get our own doctor in to see her.”
“Not a problem. Ya’ll know what to do.”
I grabbed the bed and one IV unit, while Nathan unplugged everything and grabbed the bed and the other IV unit. Kirsten had climbed onto the base of the bed by then, and the next thing I knew, we were in a secure room in the basement of Nathan’s home.
Two lionesses who happen to also be nurses plugged everything in, made sure the IV units were operating as they should, and checked her vitals.
Risking Nathan’s wrath, I pulled Kirsten to me and hugged her, and was relieved when she hugged me back.
“She’s going to be okay,” Kirsten told me.
I let her go, and she said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She disappeared, but — true to her word — three minutes later, she walked in the door with Mordecai.
* * * *
Mira
I awakened with a start, but Panda’s arm was near my face so I didn’t immediately fight the hands holding me.
My eyes opened, and I saw Mordecai at the base of the bed, his hands on my feet.
“Ah, there you are. You still have a good deal of silver poisoning, but I’ve worked on your energy signature to help give you the strength to fight it.” He nodded towards the IVs in my arms. “You’re getting nutrition and fluids, and chelation meds to pull the silver from your cells, but it will take a while.”
“We have some pills to give you by mouth,” one of the nurses told me. “Do you think you can hold down an egg salad sandwich?”
I looked at Panda and smiled. “Yeah. That’s perfect.” I turned my head back to the nurse and the entire room swam. “Fuck.”
“Slow movements,” Mordecai said. “You’re awake so you can take the pills, and to calm your lion down. If you can go back to sleep once you’ve eaten, that will be ideal.”
Epilogue
One Year Later
Mira
I awoke before the sun rose, managed to get out of bed without waking my lion, donned leggings and a long-sleeved shirt, grabbed my running shoes and four protein bars made special for my needs, and snuck out onto the back deck. I ate two of the bars, donned my shoes, took a few moments to stretch, and ran towards the woods behind our house.
Our house.
