Desire Unchained

Chapter 15

Kynan had flashbacks of being called into the principal’s office as he approached the administrative wing of the hospital. Eidolon had ordered him to appear before him, and Ky had felt his gut knot.

Eidolon’s office door was open, and inside, the doctor sat on his desk, arms folded over his chest, long legs crossed at the ankles. Wraith stood in the corner, his blue eyes iced over.

This couldn’t be good.

“Close the door.” Eidolon’s command was as cold as Wraith’s gaze. “And then tell me how you know Arik Wagner.”

Kynan had to swallow the lump of oh-shit before he could find his voice. “I knew him from my Army days.”

“Give me your hand.”

Where was this going? Kynan wondered, but it didn’t occur to him to disobey. Eidolon took Ky’s wrist and pressed his fingers to his pulse. “I’ll tell you the truth. You don’t have to play lie detector, if that’s what you’re doing.”

“It is,” Eidolon said, and for some reason, that stung. “Now, tell me how he knows about the hospital.”

Oh, man. Kynan’s heart rate revved like a race car engine. He’d done nothing wrong, but what he’d done during his time in The Aegis now felt like a huge betrayal.

“I told him about UG, last year when Tayla told me all about it. But it was before I started working here.”

“Who else knows?” When Kynan didn’t answer, Eidolon squeezed his wrist. “Who else?”

“I can’t answer that.”

Eidolon’s eyes were flecked with angry gold. “You damned well better answer that. I have to protect the hospital.”

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Then why did the Army send Arik’s sister to find you?”

Not good. “I didn’t know he had a sister.”

“He does,” Wraith said. “And she just happens to be Shade’s new mate.”

Small fucking world. Small fucking Army. Dammit, he shouldn’t be surprised that they had sent someone after him. Though he was no longer active duty, he’d shared information with them—until he started working at UG. After that, he’d all but severed his ties with The Aegis and the R-XR. He helped out Tayla when she needed him, but he avoided The Aegis when he could. There were too many memories, and he didn’t like the reminders that he was playing for the other side now.

If the military knew he’d been working with the enemy, they’d haul his ass in, and they could keep him imprisoned—or worse—for God knew how long.

“Please, Kynan.” Eidolon’s tone was as close to pleading as Ky’d ever heard it. “Answer the question.”

“I can’t.”

Wraith lunged, and in the span of a heartbeat, Kynan was dragged back into Wraith’s body with an arm around his chest, and paralyzed by a finger pushed painfully hard into the base of his skull.

“I was just starting to like you, human,” Wraith murmured into his ear. “So I really hope you haven’t done anything to jeopardize this hospital.” The demon’s voice was low and rough as he continued. “Let’s see what you’ve got in your little human mind, ’kay?”

Guardians wore jewelry imbued with magic to help them resist psychic attacks, but Kynan had tossed his ring months ago. Still, he’d learned basic shielding techniques, and he quickly slammed barriers into place around his thoughts.

Wraith laughed. “You think I can’t wear those down?”

Suddenly, Ky was on a beach. Alone except for a female figure in the distance, walking toward him. She wore a knee-length, pink sundress, the kind Lori used to wear. A pang of longing shot through him as the woman drew closer. His heart started beating faster. She looked a lot like his wife. She smiled.

Lori’s smile.

This was Wraith at work. He knew it, but he couldn’t stop himself from gasping, “Lori?”

She closed the distance at a run, threw herself into his arms. The impact and shock knocked him to the ground, taking her with him.

“You’re dead,” he said. “This is bullshit. Wraith, knock it off.”

“Shh.” She touched a finger to his lips, silencing him. “Tell me about Arik.”

He shook his head. His mind was getting misty, his memories unclear. His barriers were slipping.

“Kynan? Tell me.”

“Arik is part of the Raider-X Regiment. Army paranormal division.” Fuck. Did he just say that?

“Yes, you said it.” She nuzzled his neck the way she did when she wanted to make love slowly. “Did you tell them about the demon hospital?”

He blew out a long, slow breath, but it did nothing to release the tense feeling of wrongness about this. Wraith was … wait … who was Wraith?

“Tell me, love,” she whispered.

“Yes, I told them. But not where it is.” By the time he learned the location, he was no longer in contact with the R-XR.

“You should tell them.”

“Never.”

“I’ve missed you, Ky. I’m so sorry about everything.” Her hand slid down his abs until her fingers breached his waistband. She climbed on top of him, rubbed herself against him as Gem had done.

Gem had been so hot, so …

“Ky, please. Love me.”

“I loved you so much, Lori.” He gripped her waist, flipped her so she was on her back, and yanked her hands roughly above her head. He wasn’t going to fall for her shit again. “Until you betrayed me and threw me away,” he growled.

She arched her hips, trying to work him into arousal. It wasn’t working. “Tell me about the demon hospital. Tell me about what information you’ve been giving to R-XR.”

He frowned. “I haven’t contacted them since the night I caught you with Wraith.”

Wraith! You son of a bitch!

Suddenly, he was standing in Eidolon’s office, heart pounding. “Damn you,” he whispered. “Damn you.”

He lurched away from the demon, but his legs were too rubbery to support him, and he had to catch himself on Eidolon’s desk. Closing his eyes, he stood there, hunched over, trying desperately to bring himself fully back into this world. The images of Lori had been so real, even if they’d been wrong. But one thing hadn’t been wrong—even if it had been a surprise.

I loved you so much, Lori. Until you betrayed me …

Until. Holy shit, he didn’t love her anymore, did he?

He grappled with his surprise and his nausea as Wraith filled in Eidolon on everything that had taken place inside Kynan’s head.

“I regret that we had to resort to that, Kynan,” Eidolon said. “But we had to know what you weren’t telling us. The R-XR will be our secret as long as they don’t fuck with us. I promise.”

Kynan nodded, but didn’t open his eyes. He got it, knew why they’d been forced to take the information from him if he wouldn’t talk. He’d have done the same thing in a similar situation. Had done worse in the name of protecting The Aegis.

“Ky, if you need some time off, take as much as you need.” Eidolon left, leaving him alone with Wraith.

“You okay, dude?”

The room spun a little as Kynan swung around to glare at Wraith. “Go to hell.”

“Why are you mad at me but not E?”

“Because he’s in charge of this place, this staff. He’s protecting his hospital. But you …” You’re my friend.

God, did he really think that? Just because Wraith had stuck his fangs in him? Okay, it was more than that—they’d been sparring in the gym together for months, kicked each other’s butts in video games—but that hardly constituted a friendship. He must really be spiraling downward if he believed any different.

“I what?”

“You got off on it.”

“You think I liked using your dead wife against you?” Wraith asked quietly.

“You’re the one who said you don’t care about anyone or anything.”

Wraith went taut, as if he were offended. “That doesn’t mean I like to see the people around me suffer.”

Kynan snorted. “Yeah, you’re a real tender guy.”

“I would take your pain away if I could, human.” The words were spoken so softly Kynan barely heard them, and then Wraith was stalking away as though his feet were on fire.

Awkwardly, because his knees were still weak and his muscles had gelled, Kynan sank into Eidolon’s desk chair. What a mess. So much was bouncing around in his head now—Lori and Gem, his relationships with the hospital, The Aegis, the R-XR. He’d used work and alcohol to avoid confronting any of the issues, but now they were all crashing down on him at once.

One thing was clear; he needed to protect the hospital, and it wasn’t just because he liked Eidolon and his brothers. The things he’d learned here would be invaluable to human medicine—if he could convince Eidolon to share the knowledge. Hell, by Kynan’s calculations, nearly 10 percent of human diseases and illnesses had demonic roots. Human-demon matings, especially, accounted for a staggering number of maladies, as Gem had confirmed with her past work in a human hospital.

And what was up with Arik’s sister being bonded to Shade? He rubbed the back of his neck, groaning as he worked out the kinks. If she’d told Arik that Kynan was working at the hospital, he was screwed. The R-XR would send an entire team after him.

He needed to call Arik.

Once he did that, he’d have one more pressing issue. An issue that kept showing up in his dreams and his nightmares.

Gem.

Surprisingly, Shade didn’t say anything about how Runa had stood up to him. In fact, she got the distinct impression that he’d liked it.

Good. Because he was going to be seeing a lot more of that. She knew she’d always been a bit timid, and hell, she could face it—a doormat. But the whole getting-bitten-by-a-werewolf thing had hardened her a little, and surviving Roag’s dungeon hadn’t hurt. Then there was the fact that Shade had a way of riling her up, and now that she knew how much he needed her …

Shame put some heat in her face as they walked the hospital’s dark halls. That he’d said that females have all the power in a relationship with a Seminus demon didn’t mean she should abuse that power.

“Where are we going again?” She studied the weird drains running along the hallway and wondered what they were for.

“My office. I need to post the new paramedic schedule.” He gave her a sideways glance. “Don’t touch that.”

She jerked her hand away from the gargoyle statue she’d paused in front of. “Why?” It was beautiful … smooth white marble shot through with black and gold veins.

“He bites.”

Shade continued down the hall as she leaped back. She swore one corner of the gargoyle’s mouth tipped up just a bit.

“Your hospital is creepy,” she muttered, as she hurried to catch up.

Creepy, but at least it didn’t smell like human hospitals, with the overpowering odor of disinfectant layered on top of the more subtle, but much more disturbing, stench of disease and death. Just thinking of the smell made her shudder, brought back gut-wrenching memories of her mother, attached to machines as she lay dying. Of her father in the same hospital, years later.

“So, uh … how long have you been a paramedic?” she asked, partly to get her mind off the reasons she hated hospitals, and partly because she was genuinely curious.

“A little over forty years. I go through human paramedic programs every ten years or so to catch up on the latest technology and techniques.”

“That’s dedication.” She scooted behind him to let a monstrous, two-headed thing pass by. “So why did you become a paramedic?”

He sighed, letting her know he was humoring her. “My breed’s gifts are meant to aid in seduction and reproduction, but they can also be used for healing. When my brothers and I started the hospital, I decided I’d rather not spend a ton of time in school to become a doctor.” He shrugged. “Besides, paramedicine allows me to pick up patients and drop them off. I don’t have to hang around and get involved with them like E does.”

“You don’t have to get attached.”

“That’s one way to look at it.”

She figured that with Shade, that was the only way to look at it.

They turned a corner, and she nearly ran into an iron cage containing some sort of winged demon. Its cruel, sharp beak and wicked black talons told her more than she wanted to know about its diet. It hissed and flapped one of its wings—the other had been immobilized in a cast.

“What the heck is that thing?” she asked as she carefully skirted the cage.

“It’s sort of the demon equivalent of a vulture.”

“Shouldn’t it be at a demon veterinarian’s or something?”

She watched in awe as he stopped next to the cage and stuck one hand inside to pet its spiky feathers. The thing made a high-pitched chirping sound.

“Yes, but as you can probably guess, demon vets are rare, and most work topside, in human veterinary clinics. Someone brought this creature in, and E won’t turn down anything for care other than a few select species. He even treated a dog Skulk brought in.”

A sad smiled tugged at his mouth. She reached for him, taking his hand in hers. She hoped to comfort him, but he tensed, and with a sigh, she pulled away. “So,” she said, mainly to change the subject, “are most paramedics like you?”

He made some clicking noises at the winged thing, and it rubbed its scaly head on his hand. “What? Antisocial?”

“Yeah. I mean, I did notice that Luc is also a paramedic, and he didn’t strike me as Mr. Party Animal.”

Fury blasted from him, a heat wave that hit her at the same time as his curse. “I want to gut him for hurting you.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“No.” He took off down the hall again, and she had to jog to catch up. “A lot of EMTs and paramedics choose the work because they get off on the adrenaline rush. You never know what you’re getting into when you go on a call. Could be walking into a raging battle. Skulk liked—” He broke off, his fists clenched.

“I wish I could have met her,” she said softly.

He came to a halt and swung around to her. “Why?” There was no malice in his question. Just curiosity.

“Because you loved her, and from what I can tell, that’s not something you do often.”

His mouth tightened even as his eyes softened. Slowly, tentatively, he pushed her hair back from her face, his touch gentle, barely a whisper on her skin. Still, his touch made her nerve endings spark.

“Hell’s gates,” he murmured. “I wish …”

“What, Shade?” She leaned into his hand, nuzzling the warm skin. Playfully, she nipped the heel of his palm and watched as his eyes grew darker, his lids coming down to watch her with sensual intent. “What do you wish?”

Abruptly, he dropped his hand and spun away to continue down the hall, his gait faster and heavier than before. “Nothing.”

Impossible man. She knew enough about him by now to know to choose her battles, and this was not the time to fire a first shot, so she didn’t push it. Instead, she followed him to an area that opened into office spaces.

As they walked past office doors, she realized that the only windows were between the hall and the offices—the offices had no outside views. Come to think of it, neither did the hospital.

“We’re underground, aren’t we?” she asked, suddenly feeling stupid for not realizing that earlier.

“Technically, we’re in New York City, beneath an abandoned parking garage.”

She looked around in awe. “Your demon contractors are really something else.”

He grunted in agreement, and then grunted again when Kynan exited an office and bumped into Shade.

“Kynan,” Shade growled. “We need to talk.”

“Your brothers already dressed down my ass, so let’s forgo the fun, ’kay?”

“Kynan?” Runa eased around Shade to speak to the man she’d been sent to find, the reason she was in this crazy mess in the first place.

Kynan frowned. “So you’re Arik’s sister.”

She nodded, a bit awestruck at coming face to face with the man who had survived a battle his own team and enemy forces hadn’t survived, and had single-handedly brought down a Fangorg demon. But was he also a traitor to the human race?

“Does the Army know where I am and what I’ve been doing?”

“Yes.” Thanks to me.

She gave him credit for his poker face. If he was worried, it didn’t show. He merely nodded and looked pointedly at Shade. “I hope you know I wouldn’t do anything to compromise this hospital.” He turned back to Runa. “Good to meet you.”

He took off, and she waited until he’d disappeared to ask Shade, “Do you believe him?”

“Yeah,” he said. “The guy is like a human version of Eidolon. He’s got this pesky, annoying sense of honor.”

She gasped in mock horror. “How horrible. You should probably kill him. Immediately.”

His eyes locked onto hers, and for a moment she thought she’d irritated him. Again. But slowly, one corner of his mouth came up.

“What?”

“Your inner wolf suits you.” Color flooded his face and he stalked away as though just realizing he’d proved her right when she called him a liar for saying he didn’t care.

Now she just had to get him to admit it.