Chapter Two

Caden brought the Jeep to a screeching halt outside the building Tristan and Cait used to treat patients. Xander jumped out the Jeep and ran into the medical building Saffron in his arms.

“Her heart stopped.” His voice was so soft that everyone would have taken the time to move away from him if they weren’t already in crisis mode.

He laid her on the table. Tristan was doing the compressions while Cait breathed. Not having any results, she pulled out the defibrillator.

“Stand back.” Cait placed the paddles and shocked her body.

“Nothing. Again,” Tristan yelled. Still nothing. “One more time.”

Cait shocked her body restarting her heart. Both Xander and Sage fell to the floor screaming in pain. Cait moved to Saffron checking the bullet wounds.

“She needs a blood transfusion.”

“Where will we find the blood?” Caden was on the floor between Xander and Sage trying to keep them still.

“I have a sample of Sage’s blood, I'll replicate it.” She moved across the room taking the blood she had stored and poured it into a machine.

“You can do that Why do you have a sample of Sage’s blood?”

“I have all the female’s blood, so I can replicate it if the need arises.”

She was setting up a transfusion for Saffron. “Tristan?”

“Go deal with them, I’m prepping her for surgery.”

She moved over to Caden and knelt beside him. “Listen, take Sage and Xander home. Put them on the living room floor and get them so drunk they can’t move. I want them to pass out. Then you stay awake and watch them until tomorrow morning. Are you listening?”

“Yes, but why?”

“I want to save all of their lives tonight. Go do it.”

Enzo and Ven walked in. They picked up Xander and carried him out while he screamed bloody murder trying to change in their hold. Caden picked up Sage.

“You better be right about this.” He walked out holding her tight as she fought the further they walked away from Saffron.

He placed her on the floor. Cole walked in carrying alcohol followed by Declyn and Fire.

“Any chance to drink.” Declyn gave Caden a wry smile not understanding what was happening, but willing to back Cait and Tristan up.

Cole walked over to Xander, who was being held down by Enzo and Ven.

“Down the hatch.” He forced Xander to drink.

Deja walked in and made Sage a mixed drink that Caden cajoled her into downing. When she had drunk the first one, she received another and another.

“It hurts so bad.” Sage was crying on Caden’s lap. “Jim beat and trapped me, but this pain is eating me alive. This feels like the poison has control of me again, but only worse. What’s happening?”

“I don’t know Sageray.” He rocked her and gave her more alcohol until she passed out in his arms.

“Please, brother set me free. I’m dying, I need to leave this body before I become a killer. You don’t want me to become like the animals we keep, good for nothing except hunting.”

“I can’t lose you, Xander, I won’t lose you. I don’t know what’s happening, but I trust Cait and Tristan. You have to hold on.”

“She’s dying Caden, and I won’t live without her. You won’t like what I turn into.”

“Then we won’t lose her because I won’t lose you, now drink.”

Declyn walked over to him and placed a cuff on each hand.

“I thought we lost those in the crash,” Enzo said looking at Xander’s wrist. There was no way he could change or force a change as long as he was wearing them.

“I collected them before anyone woke up. I thought it was too risky to give general access to them when we had no idea what or who we would be facing.”

“That was a sound choice.”

“As long as you didn’t know Enzo you couldn’t take the blame or be hunted if my decision was the wrong one.”

“How many times I have I told you, that you don’t have to protect me?”

“Too many to count, but I’ll never stop.”

Cole forced more alcohol on Xander until he passed out. “Now we have to make sure they stay this way.” Everyone took a seat it was going to be a long night.

*~*~*~*

Cait pulled off her bloody gloves while Tristan was pulling off his.

“What’s happening?”

“How am I supposed to know, Tristan? I’ll take a stab at it since you asked. I think someone knows she’s the key.”

“The key?”

“You really didn’t listen to the tales that used to circulate at night. What good is a door without a key?”

“I’m too old for this.”

Tristan was old. He slipped up one day and told her his age when they were working. It made her wonder why he was part of their unit.

“What happens next?”

“We watch her, but I think she will pull through. Here’s what bothers me more. Why is all of this happening?”

“I don’t know. I’m thinking of going to ground.” That got Cait’s attention.

“What do you mean? You just resurfaced not too long ago.”

“Like I said I’m too old for this. You’re becoming a good doctor. I know I can leave and not worry about the health and welfare of our people.”

“Tristan.”

“No Cait. There’s nothing you can do to help me. I think we can only live for so long, and my time is running out. Right now, we need to make sure the human on the table survives. I know she’s Xander's mate, but what relationship does she have with Sage? Fill me in on her while we watch her tonight.”

*~*~*~*

“What happened?” Sage tried to move, but the little men with jackhammers in her brain encouraged her to stay still.

“My brother got us drunk to the point of passing out. Now I have to kill him, sorry sister.”

“Wait a while until I can move, I’ll help you.”

“You're both up and already planning my death. How do you feel?” Caden gave them both looks of relief.

“Dead, I feel dead come and join me here,” Sage whispered because talking normally felt like shouting.

“How do you feel Xander?”

“Lower your voice, or I really will separate your head from your body.”

“I don’t feel the pain any longer,” Sage told him. “It was tearing me apart. I felt like it belonged to me. Why didn’t you feel it?”

“I don’t know. You were hurting I could see it, and I knew Xander was hurting but nothing I tried helped me relieve the pain for either of you.”

“It felt like I was being torn apart, my body was invaded, and I could feel her. Her spirit burrowed deep inside of me; I was the only thing holding her to the Earth. She wanted to flee, and I was ready to let her go and chase after her, but you wouldn’t allow me to leave. That’s why I couldn’t allow her to leave.” It was torture and ecstasy at the same time. The knowledge that he had a mate who would instinctively depend on him even though she didn’t know him.

There was a knock at the door that had Sage grimacing. Ven stood up to answer the door.

“All of you spent the night?” She was still getting used to the idea of family. All of them staying to make sure she and Xander were alright was making her heart swell.

“The two of you needed us,” Deja told her with a smile. “It seems you like to drunk sleepwalk.”

Sage cautiously turned her head to look at everyone. “Tell me you didn’t take pictures.”

“I spent all night showing them how to work the cameras on their phones,” Ven told her as he walked back over to them.

“Be glad I don’t turn into anything scary that can tear you apart.”

He flashed those blue at hers, and she wanted to laugh, but her head warned her against taking that action.

“How are you?” Cait asked.

“Recovering, what happened?” Xander was sitting up moving slowly as if he didn’t trust his body to keep him stable.

“The female made it. For a while, it looked like she might die, but something or someone held her to her body. She’s sleeping. Tristan is still watching her. I thought you might want to go relieve him, Xander.”

“I do. How did you know she was my mate?”

“I knew, by the way, you felt her pain.”

“Why couldn’t I feel Sage’s pain or Xander’s?” The fear that maybe something went wrong in his mating with Sage was in his eyes.

Sage forced herself to roll over and climb into Caden’s lap. She wasn’t giving him up.

“This is just a theory. I think one of you will always be removed enough to take care of the others. Sage and Xander needed you. If you were in as much pain as they were, then no one would have been able to ground them.”

“That makes sense, but I don’t know why it makes sense.” Sage rubbed her nose against his neck drawing in his scent. “You make me feel calm.”

Xander stood and groaned. “I’m going to take a shower, and then I’ll be right over.”

“I’ll let Tristan know.”

*~*~*~*

She looked so peaceful lying there. Her eyes were closed so he couldn’t see the color, but if he remembered correctly from last night, they were green. Her red hair was cut short and lay over her head and face as if it were meant to be that way. He loved the way the red reflected off her light brown skin. She was beautiful with exotic looks.

He had a mate something he didn’t deserve. If she had died last night, there would have been blood filling the human streets. Not even Caden would have been able to stop him.

Tristan was sitting in the corner clearing his throat. Xander knew he was there, but he didn’t want to take his eyes off her.

“Thank you. Thanks to both you and Cait for what you did, you saved my mate. If I can do anything for either of you, ask.”

“You welcome Xander. I never thought I’d see the day when the twins were mated. It almost feels like my world is complete.”

Xander finally turned to look at him. He was telling him something important.

“What are you saying? Your world is not complete.”

“Bad choice of words. I’m going to go and leave you alone with her. If something goes wrong, we will get an alert, but I expect you to reach out to us as well.”

“Understood.”

“She won’t wake up today, maybe tomorrow. Cait and I used a new technique we’ve been developing. It accelerates the healing process. A lot of her damage was healed before we closed her up. There may be some side effects, we’ll have to wait until she wakes up to know for sure.”

“Thanks, I’ll stay here and call you if there is a change in her condition.”

Tristan walked out leaving him alone.

“I wish I knew your name.” He pulled up a chair close to the bed and took a seat.

“You’re in the Kur’ik compound, and I’m your mate. None of this will mean anything to you when you wake up." He reached out and took her hand. He needed to feel her and wanted to connect with her on some deeper level.

“I don’t know who hurt you, but I will kill them for you.” He stroked her hand and sat in silence. He would greet her when she woke, no matter how long it took.