Chapter 9
The next few hours were a blur of activity. The Keeper and Walker transport teams arrived, followed by the rest of the Keepers who’d been housed at StoneCrow. Apparently, it was moving day and the Keepers—in their entirety—would be settling into their new home.
Jenny and Bishop disappeared to instruct the handful of Keepers who’d be assigned to the Fortress’ infirmary while Bellis remained with Sam.
Before leaving, Jenny had removed Sam’s black suit and dressed her in a medical gown. It was odd seeing Sam in the light color. Bellis didn’t like it. It made Sam seem more fragile, more feminine, and his already raging protective instincts were only heightened as he studied her unconscious form. She was the smallest thing. Hell, her feet with dainty red-tipped toes were half the size of his palm. His gaze was skimming up her slight frame when he suddenly tensed, feeling eyes on him.
Jerking his head up, his eyes collided with Keo’s.
“Will she live?” Keo asked, his gaze sliding to Sam.
Unsure why he did it, Bellis grabbed the blanket folded beneath Sam’s feet and gently pulled it out to cover her body. “Yea. She’ll live.” He didn’t feel inclined to tell Keo that Sam was something other than human.
“Good job getting her here.”
Bellis’ eyes hardened. He couldn’t tell if Keo was being sincere or a smartass. “We should have flown her from the start.”
Keo nodded, but his eyes still lingered on Sam’s face.
“Keeper!” Bellis growled, drawing Keo’s attention.
Looking up, Keo merely glanced at Bellis before looking back down and saying, “She saved Bronx.”
Awe was evident in Keo’s tone, and it irked the shit out of him. “She was probably trying to make a run for it and your damn cat got in her way.” The words felt bitter leaving his tongue, because he’d seen the whole thing. Sam shoved Bronx down and covered him. She’d saved the cheetah, but Keo didn’t need to know that. The only thing Keo needed was to stop staring at Sam like he wanted to pound his chest with his fist and declare his fealty to her.
Keo’s eyes turned angry as he looked at Bellis. “You can go, Skin Walker. Your duty is fulfilled.”
Bellis tensed. He wanted to tell Keo to fuck off, but the Keeper was right. His only job was to get Sam to the North Fortress, and she was here. Glancing around, he felt helpless to find an excuse for an extended stay.
Beyond the curtain, he heard Fatal’s voice as he addressed Jenny. They were discussing Sam and her condition. Watching her, Bellis knew she was coming around and healing faster than she should, thanks to whatever else she was.
“Keo!” Fatal addressed the Keeper from the end of the curtain. “You’re on permanent guard duty over the traitor.” His dark gaze slid to Bellis. “You’re excused, Walker. We thank you for your assist.”
Bellis’ gut clenched at being dismissed, but what argument did he have? He looked at Sam, awake and staring at him. For a moment, mere blink of time, just the briefest flash of vulnerability shone in her expression before she hardened.
“Good job, Demon.” She looked away, staring at the curtain. “Now, run back to your compound before your Dominant has to paddle your ass for stalling here.”
He bristled at her words, but straightened to his full height. “Good-bye, Princess.” He gritted his teeth at the claws that raked down his insides, shredding him for what he was about to do. “Good luck.” He turned and left the infirmary, and the North Fortress. He located York and his team, and soon they were loaded up. Bellis was leaving Sam and the Crazy Mountains behind for good. Beside him, his team chatted good-naturedly, laughing about the ambush and joking about how the only casualty had been the traitor. Bellis pressed his fingers to his lips and frowned out the passenger side window. He wasn’t amused that Sam had been hurt, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps the Megalya hadn’t been attempting to retrieve her at all. Maybe, just maybe, they’d been trying to silence one of their own. Or, could it be that they knew something about Sam that he didn’t? Maybe she was a traitor, but what if it’d been the Megalya she’d turned on? It’d explain why she was adamant about speaking to Monroe and no one else.
York slapped him on the chest. “Still pissed you had to protect the traitor and miss out on the dirty work?”
Bellis jerked his head in a nod, but kept his eyes out the window.
“Well, our part’s done. She’s the Keeper’s problem now.”
Then why do I feel like I’m abandoning her?
***
Sam eyed Keo’s back where he stood at the end of the med bed near the curtain. He cast an occasional glance over his shoulder to her, and each time his eyes collided with hers, he offered her a soft smile. Cute, stupid ass, Keeper.
She was fucked and she knew it. Her secret was out, and that had her stressing, but not as much as what had happened between her and Bellis. Something had happened when she drank from him. Something that hadn’t ever happened before. Usually when she took blood she was revitalized, but drinking from Bellis had made her lethargic. She’d passed the hell out, and that was scary. It wasn’t supposed to work that way. She could get by on human food in a pinch, but she needed blood at least once a week, and normally when she finally got her fix she was wired for hours. That was how it was supposed to work. She couldn’t afford to get drowsy from feeding!
Blinking, she took stock of her body, trying to tell if there was any other noticeable difference in how she felt. Fisting her hands and rolling her shoulders, she realized she felt…good. She touched her side over the ridiculous medical gown she was wearing and there was no pain or tenderness at all. Shifting her weight so she could pull her gown up, she peeled the bandages off and inhaled sharply.
Keo’s head jerked around and she dropped her gown, but his gaze shot to her side. She didn’t know what he’d seen, but he turned back around to face away from her, stoically going back to his guard duty. She wasn’t sure he understood that he was supposed to be protecting his Keepers from her, and not the other way around.
Quietly lifting her gown again, she eyed her side. There was only an angry red mark where her bullet wound had been. She planted a palm against her chest and breathed in. Where she’d felt the most pain when the grenade had exploded in front of her was now gone. Granted, she did heal quicker than normal people, but it’d never been like this, never this rapid.
Sam licked her lips as she remembered the taste of Bellis. God, he’d been divine. Even now, the memory of the way his flavor exploded on her tongue had her heart racing.
Fuck. That can’t be good.
Compounding matters was the fact that she didn’t know if Monroe was aware that his Second had given her to the Keepers. She didn’t know if she could still trust him or not. Maybe he’d turned on her. Maybe, even after all she’d done for him, he’d been so pissed about the attack, the short notice of it, and the injury to his Angel, that he’d abandoned her. It’d been her worst fear, and now it seemed it was coming true. Because of it something dark and twisted slithered its way around Sam’s heart and squeezed. The only thing she could do was hope that her one last gem would be enough. She’d been holding it back, keeping it as her last bargaining chip. She knew Monroe wanted, and still didn’t have, the location of the main Megalya facility, but she did.
Jenny came into the exam room and checked her vitals. She saw the gauze in Sam’s hand and frowned hard before tugging at Sam’s gown. When she got it up high enough to see the wound though, Jenny stilled. “Holy shit!” She looked at Sam. “Is…is that normal?”
No, her healing like this was definitely not normal. Sam shrugged. “I heal fast.” She wasn’t about to offer up more information than Jenny needed, mostly because she didn’t have any.
“Wow,” Jenny breathed and turned. “I need a picture of this.”
As she stepped out of the area, Sam eyed Keo, who’d lifted his head to watch Jenny’s exit. Sam knew that if she was going to make a break for it, she’d need to do it now.
Jenny returned, jabbing her finger onto the screen of what looked to be an e-pad. Keo was watching Jenny, and Sam’s body tensed. She was going to use a burst of energy to rush the door.
She didn’t get the chance.
“Keo!” A deep voice barked, and Sam looked toward the end of the curtain. It was the same Keeper who had spoken to her just before transport. She’d heard Keo call him Rohm. He was scary as shit. Taller than Keo, Rohm was the exact opposite of Bellis. The male was polar bear white, with long white hair and clear blue eyes that looked like two ice cubes in his head. Sam shivered.
“Why is the prisoner not restrained?”
Keo opened his mouth but nothing came out.
“Secure her!” Rohm held up a pair of cuffs. He looked at Jenny. “Is she cleared from medical?”
Jenny looked at Sam then glanced at her now-covered side before turning her gaze to Rohm. “Yeah. Yeah, she is. Her vitals are normal and her wound is… Hey!” Jenny snapped, when Rohm ignored her. He didn’t wait for Keo. Instead, he grabbed Sam’s hand and slapped on one cuff and then the other before frowning at his fellow Keeper. “I’d like to get back to my mate. We’re moving this traitor to her cell, now!”
“Wait!” Jenny followed behind as Rohm pulled Sam from the med bed. “I was hoping to run some tests. She’s got some unique qualities that need to be addressed, tested, studied!”
“Sorry, Doc!” Rohm kept walking, hauling Sam along beside him. “Fatal thanks you all for your service and assistance.” He stopped to look at her over his shoulder. “But he wants all Skin Walkers gone from his nest in the next thirty minutes. That includes you.”
“Really?” Jenny crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. “Does that include Nyree, too?”
Rohm’s expression darkened. “Nyree isn’t a Walker. She’s mine.”
Jenny rolled her eyes. “I wanna speak to Fatal.”
“He’s busy,” Rohm clipped out, and turned to continue walking.
Jenny watched him disappear with Sam, and when Keo made to follow, she caught the Keeper’s arm. “I need a meeting with Fatal.”
Keo watched Rohm and Sam disappear too before turning to Jenny. He studied her a moment before nodding. “I’ll see what I can do. Wait here.”
“Keo!” Jenny’s tone turned imploring. “She was dead ten minutes ago. I want her back in this infirmary. Just because she seems fine now,” she shook her head. “I see the way you look at her.”
Keo tore his gaze from Jenny’s to look at where Rohm and Sam had disappeared. “She saved my Soul Sentry.”
Jenny nodded and offered a smile. “Good. That’s good. I need her back here. Do you understand?”
Keo lifted his golden gaze to Jenny. “Like I said, I’ll see what I can do.”