Chapter One

“What do you mean, I can’t go in? I’ll damned well go in if I want to.” The man growled the words through clenched teeth.

He towered over her, but Cortney stepped between him and the open trauma room door. The last thing the patient needed was to have an irrational family member getting in the way of his care. Too much was at stake. “You. Can’t. Go. In. There’s a waiting room right over there. We’ll come for you as soon as we can.” She pointed in the direction she expected him to go, and turned to head back into the room. She didn’t mind helping in the ER when needed, but she could do without rude assholes.

“I want your name. I’m filing a complaint.”

Cortney drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Punching a man in the throat would be deemed unprofessional. It would feel good, but she’d lose her job. Not to mention, her punch wouldn’t likely make him flinch with all the muscle he had, much less cause any harm. Turning on her heel, and without glancing in his direction, she headed straight for the filing cabinet. She rifled through the folders, grabbed what she needed, then placed the form in front of him. “It’s Cortney, no U.”

“What?” the man spat as he looked down his nose at her, already reaching for the pen.

“My name. It is Cortney, with no U in it. C-O-R-T-N-E-Y,” she spelled in case he wasn’t bright enough to figure it out as she pointed to her name badge. “You still can’t go—”

A beeping sounded overhead, and her stomach fell. Fuck. Please, let it be anywhere else. She chanced a look at the blinking blue light above trauma one just as the announcement came over the loudspeaker.

Code Blue, trauma one. Code Blue, trauma one, the voice on the speaker declared. She was running even before the announcement was done. The asshole would have to wait.

Two nurses she recognized, as well as a student in navy blue scrubs who looked like she might pass out, rushed in along with her.

“Someone start compressions,” Dr. Eric called out the moment he ran in. “Give me some history on this guy.”

Cortney listened to every word but said nothing as she kneeled on the stretcher and placed her hands on the young man’s sternum. One, and two, she counted in her head, wincing as the familiar cracking of bone accompanied the second compression, but she kept going. Three and four and five...

The doctor watched from the foot of the stretcher, keeping tabs on everything going on. “Do we have an IV on him yet?” he asked.

“Almost there with the IV,” Sylvie, the ER nurse, called out then rattled off what little information she had on the patient.

One and two and three and four and five and six… Cortney kept counting to thirty then paused for the respiratory therapist to administer a couple of breaths before starting all over again.

“Let’s get him intubated,” the doctor ordered.

“IV is in,” Sylvie said loud enough to be heard above the commotion.

“Push one milligram of Epi now,” the doctor ordered. “Great compressions, Cortney. Keep going.”

Her arms ached, and sweat trickled down her back, but she wouldn’t stop. Not until someone was ready to relieve her. Unlike larger hospitals, their little town didn’t have a code team. They had to rely on nurses from different departments to drop what they were doing and help.

“Intubated,” the respiratory therapist called out as she attached the bag and began the rhythmic squeezing that would keep oxygen flowing to the man’s vital organs.

“Epi in.” Sylvie called out.

“I’ll take over, Cort,” Trista, one of her medical floor co-workers, said as she stepped up behind her.

Cortney looked back to see Mel and Bernice waiting in line. Yes, the cavalry has arrived.

“Stop compressions,” Doctor Eric ordered as he stepped in for a pulse check.

He studied the cardiac monitor for a moment. “We have a faint pulse. He’s in V-tach. Let’s shock him.” He took the paddles, and the high-pitched whine of the machine cut through the silence.

He placed the paddles on the patient’s chest. Everyone stepped away from the stretcher, hands up in front of them. “I’m clear. You’re clear. We’re all clear,” he announced just before the man’s body jumped as electricity jolted through him.

Cortney held her breath as they all stared at the monitor. One beat. Two… then nothing. Damn it.

“Resume CPR.”

***

All Draven had wanted was to get in there and get Kirk out before all the drama started. But that little spitfire with her light brown hair and steel gray eyes had gotten up in his face and stood up to him. Him. He was the head of the biggest phoenix odyssey in Ontario. No one in his clan gave him grief over anything. Ever.

It had been oddly refreshing. The constant ass kissing Draven received grated on his nerves. He’d had no intention of reporting the little nurse, still didn’t, but the situation with Kirk was getting out of hand, and if he didn’t get in there and get him out, all hell would break loose.

It wasn’t that phoenix shifters were in hiding anymore, but tensions between the phoenix population and humans were on the rise, and burning one of their hospitals down would incite a riot. Not that he’d allow it to happen, but even a hint of such a danger would send the humans in an uproar.

Once Kirk rose, he was going to kill the kid and make him go through it all over again just for causing him this headache.

Draven watched as Kirk’s body bounced off the stretcher. That wouldn’t feel good. And the broken ribs would hurt like a bitch, too. Oh, Kirk wasn’t feeling a damned thing now, but he’d feel every blow as he came back to life. Served the idiot right for getting himself killed in the first place. He was too reckless. He’d learn. By human standards, Kirk wasn’t a child, but in phoenix years, he was no more than a snot-nosed teen who needed to be taught some manners.

All motion stopped for a beat. Two. Then when the line on the monitor went flat, the flurry of activity started up again.

He watched Cortney move around with all the confidence of a seasoned professional, but she couldn’t be more than twenty-two at most. When she dashed to the red cart and grabbed another vial from the drawer, a faint glow trailed her fingertips, but then it was gone. What the hell?

Draven stood straighter. A second later, the glow came back, bathing her whole body in a pale aura. She was either reacting to Kirk, or to him. Either way, she was a suitable phoenix mate. She would accompany him to the odyssey when he left. He just had to make that happen sooner rather than later. Already, the temperature in the room had risen a couple of degrees. Kirk was coming back faster than even he’d expected. Any longer and they would fry the humans. Well, most of them anyway. Spunky little Cortney would be fine. But the others would perish.

“How long have we been coding him? Has family been notified?” the doctor asked, his voice resigned.

“Almost twenty-five minutes,” the one who had been recording everything on a clipboard said. “No family on file.”

Draven stepped forward. “I’m his family.”

All eyes turned to him. Cortney glared, but Eric’s eyes grew wide.

“Draven, I… Jesus, is he one of yours?” the doctor asked, his face getting paler by the second.

“He is.”

“Clear the room. Everyone out. Now,” Eric ordered.

Cortney stood there blinking at him for a moment, then proceeded to follow her co-workers as they did as instructed, confusion evident on each nurse’s face.

“Not you. You can stay. In fact, you’re coming with me,” Draven told her more gently than he’d spoken to her before.

She narrowed her eyes at him, then turned to the doctor. “What’s going on here, Eric?”

“Draven, if this guy goes up in flames—” the doctor shook his head. “I can’t let you put one of my nurses in danger.”

“She’ll be fine. She’s a phoenix mate. I just need somewhere out in the open to bring him. And fast.” Already he had him up in his arms and headed toward the exit.

“The helipad. Should be far enough from the building, and we don’t have a chopper coming in,” the doctor suggested.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere with you,” Cortney spat as he walked past, then hurried to keep up with his longer strides.

He didn’t bother mentioning that she was following. Her aura had already brightened to a brilliant red. It was a color of power and strength. And it gave him hope. Someone so strong wouldn’t be suited to a young one like Kirk. For too many years—lifetimes—he’d been alone. He almost didn’t dare hope.

Draven took in the energy pouring from Kirk as he jogged to the helipad. He placed the kid at the center before turning to Cortney. “He’s going to burn fast, and hot. It won't hurt you, but it might be frightening.”

“Doctor Parker.” She whipped around to ask Eric something, but the man was long gone. “What’s goi—”

“He can’t come near. He’s human. He’d die.”

“B-but, I’m human.” Eyes wide, she took a step back, then another. More than anything, he wanted to reassure her, but there was no time. Fiery energy blasted him from behind. He absorbed as much of it as he could, but even he couldn’t contain the fire of a rising phoenix.

Cortney’s scream ripped through the clearing as the blue and yellow flames engulfed them all.