“One more, just like that!”

The training rocks flung toward the target on either side of me. They smacked into the red and white circle, an LED marking where we’d hit. Today...was not my day.

“Focus, Ed, focus!” Chester called next to me like a drill sergeant. I knew he meant well, and I knew I was supposed to be practicing my powers, but what could I say? I had other things on my mind.

Ever since returning from the terrible scene in Cormera, visions of the broken man in the rubble haunted me. I couldn’t remember much of it, mostly what others had filled me in on after the fact.

But I remembered those blood red eyes. Would remember them forever.

I grimaced as my shot went wide again, clipping the edge of the target instead of the center. My hands balled into fists, my muscles taut.

I’d seen him. There was no doubt about it. That poor, sweet man I’d shared a night with not so long ago? He was in danger. He was a vampire now...because of me.

Anger and emotion flowed out of me and I punched two more stones toward the target. this time they hit with such force the target itself quivered with the impact.

100 points! A weak light flickered, dead center.

“Hey, there you go!”

Chester’s voice was far away. I knew how important it was to keep my wits about me, but something about that sad little omega had wormed its way into my brain and showed no signs of leaving.

Just what I needed.

I sat in front of the hearth, staring into the flames and hoping they had some kind of answers. No answers came, but I turned my head to look when Quin came by and took the chair next to me.

“Hey,” he said without taking his eyes off the fire. 

“Hey.”

I shifted in my seat and checked my drink. Needed something to do with my hands. The empty glass stared back at me.  

“What’s up?” I asked. “You’re not one for small talk.”

Quin’s lips quirked upward in an almost smile. No, I knew him well enough by now to know if he wanted to talk, it was important. 

“I saw something,” Quin started. “Wanted to ask you about it.”

“Me? What does this have to do with me?” Even as I said it, my heart thudded with the words. What if he knew how much I was thinking about Beck?

“I had a meeting with Claria earlier about the vampire problem. It’s worse than we thought.”

A chill shook through me. “Don’t like the sound of that.” Then, “is that what you saw in your vision? The vampires?”

“Yes...” he started, pursing his lips, “And no.”

“Spit it out.” I crossed my arms. “It’s late and I don’t have time for your mysticism right now.”

“Think about it, Edison. Think about what happened when the Void sought out Wes’s mate. It went all the way to his hometown to find him, and if we hadn’t arrived in time...”

“Are you saying I caused this somehow?” I sputtered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That man we saved from the wreckage in Cormera. The way he looked at you...” Quin fixed his gaze on mine. Those intense near-black pupils seemed to lock on to me and gaze deeper still, down to my most secret thoughts.

“You know him, don’t you?” It was more of a realization than a question. 

I tried to look away. Couldn’t. “None of your business,” I muttered. 

“It’s all of our business, Ed. We’re a team, remember?”

Where did he get off thinking he could tell me what to do? I turned away, breaking his gaze at last. 

Quin didn’t let up. “You saw what happened with Wes and Dan. The gems make things...complicated.”

Tell me about it.

“And if your gem is calling out to this...Beck, his name was? Well, I think you know what that means.”

“Nothing happened,” I retorted, but the words felt fake in my mouth. “I mean, sure, we met up, but...” 

Quin didn’t believe that for a minute. Never try to lie to a psychic. I sighed. “We hooked up. But that was it. Just a one time thing.”

“How long ago was that?” He asked, furrowing his brow.

“Not too long. But he probably doesn’t even remember me, in his state...” I trailed off as a fresh wave of nausea hit me. “I wish they’d let me go see him.”

Quin shook his head. “You know you can’t do that. He’s in quarantine while they make sure he’s stable. Even if you are mates, hell, especially if you’re mates, you gotta give him some time to adjust. Adapt. He’s bound to be scared as hell right now.”

“He needs someone familiar, then.” The words escaped like traitorous prisoners. So much for my devil-may-care attitude. It was at least partially my fault for what happened to Beck, and I couldn’t let someone else get hurt because of me. 

Whether it was the gem speaking to me or my own sense of guilt, it didn’t matter. I needed to be there. Needed to protect him.

Stupid alpha instincts.

I rubbed my forehead and yawned. “So is that what you wanted to ask me about? If I had something to do with Beck’s attack? If that’s everything, I think I’ll just be going to bed.”

Quin shifted in his seat again, his eyes turning hard. “I saw something else...heard some rumors. Not sure if it’s true, and it’s not my secret to tell, but Ed—you’ve gotta be more careful. Especially around him. You hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I tried to wave him away and brush the thought from my mind, but his words stuck there like stubborn sap. 

Be careful. 

Be careful with him. 

All the things I wasn’t so great at.

No pressure, right?

“Thanks, Quin, but I think I can handle it. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” I faked another yawn, covering my mouth with my arm. “I’m gonna go get some shut eye.”

Quin got up, but not without a final skeptical glance. “You know what Chester says,” he reminded me before heading back to his room. “Listen to your gem.”

The door to his room clicked closed, and I was alone once more, the topaz stone pulsing against my chest. 

Couldn’t a guy have a one night stand in peace?

It was no surprise that I couldn’t get much sleep that night. I drifted off at one point, but my dreams were plagued with blood.

Two razor sharp fangs, pale as pure ivory. 

Crimson pupils, dilated with need.

And then there was something else. A second voice. A smaller voice. Coming from almost inside him. 

The word whispered through my mind, fleeing like mist the moment I tried to focus on it.

Relax. Feel into it. I waited, and like magic the word came to me in all its truth and terror.

Father.

I woke up in a cold sweat, thrashing through the covers into an upright position. The mug I’d left on the nightstand flew off the table and smashed into the wall. Fragments of ceramic and dried coffee scattered the floor. 

Had I done that?

My brain was still rebooting when I heard an urgent knock on the door. I knew it would be Ollie before I heard his voice.

“Hey, are you okay? Sounds like a tornado in there!”

“I...” I started, my voice hoarse. “Yeah,” I called finally. “It’s okay. Just ran into something. I’m sorry.”

“Well some of us are trying to sleep, and you know if you wake up Ruby in the other room there’ll be hell to pay.”

I scrubbed a hand over my face. It wasn’t like I’d done it on purpose. Wes, Dan, and their little one Ruby shared the suite next to mine—I was surprised there wasn’t a squalling baby at my door, instead.

“It won’t happen again,” I called through the door, too tired to open and up and talk to him properly. “Go back to bed. I’m just gonna...go get some water. Take a walk.”

“Just keep it down, okay?” 

“Yeah,” I mumbled, but I heard Ollie’s door shut from across the hall. 

That could have gone better. 

I rubbed the last of the sleep from my eyes and stood. What was that dream? I wasn’t a psychic like Quin, at least, not in that way, but I couldn’t shake the prophetic feeling. I’d seen him, all right. Beck. 

Made sense, as I was still reeling from the attack and had just been talking to Quin about him before bed.

But what was that part at the ending? What was that word that seemed to flow out of him and into me? 

Father.

I mouthed the word, tasting it. Did that mean what I thought it meant?

I shook my head and did my best to ignore my gem’s response. Need, it pulsed the word through my veins like fire. Mate.

This was ridiculous. 

Vampires couldn’t get pregnant...could they?

That settled it. I had to go see for myself. Screw the quarantine. Screw the rules. 

If what Quin saw was correct, I needed to get to him. If he was actually with child, well...

That could change everything.

Before I could change my mind, I slipped on some clothes, peeked down the hallway to make sure no one was watching, and slipped away into the darkness.

Did the elevator always take this long? Felt like forever as I took the lift to the Medical Wing. Shouldn’t run into much traffic, as most of the patients would be sleeping. Just the night nurses making their rounds. Maybe I could slip in, get a look at where they were keeping him.

If I could just talk to him, make sure he knew who I was and that I didn’t want to hurt him...

My heart squeezed at the thought and my gem reacted in kind. 

Mate, it whispered in that teasing ghostly voice. Mine.

“Shut up,” I grumbled to myself, and the doors dinged open around me.

Hospitals all smelled the same. Even magical ones, apparently. The cold, sterile scent of cleaner and linen hit me, joined by something else. Something I remembered all too well.

The smell of him.

I knew it shouldn’t be possible. There were Vecta knew how many walls and doors and partitions between me and him, not to mention the cloying scent of sterilizer. 

But there it was, worming its way back into my bloodstream like a drug. 

He was here, all right. And my gem wouldn’t take no for an answer.

The gem’s power pulled me forward like a man possessed. I walked past door after closed door, not knowing quite where I was going, but somehow trusting that the gem would take me there.

The reception desk was darkened, a sign on the counter reading “out on rounds”. As long as I didn’t run into anyone and have to field awkward questions, I’d be fine.

Now where did they keep the quarantine?

I turned a corner and found myself faced with a tall steel door. A sign striped in yellow and black read “Caution - Quarantine Area - Authorized Personnel Only”. 

Chancing another glance over my shoulder, I tried the knob. Locked. 

They should have known they couldn’t keep a telekinetic Guardian out, though. Honing in on the source of my power through the gem, I concentrated on the lock. The energy of the Guardians flowed into me and through me, lighting up my veins with fire. It wasn’t enough to transform, no, but enough to get a good look at the lock.

Child’s play. 

With a slow, careful movement, I held my breath and adjusted each of the pins in the tumbler. One slipped and went too far for a moment before I bit my lip and overcorrected, nearly ruining the whole process.

If I messed this up now, the alarms would start blaring. I wasn’t that much of a fool. Koxerra’s security would be on me in no time, and my reputation as a Guardian? Forget it.

I took a deep breath and tried again, this time feeling the fragile steel of each pin in the lock until they aligned just right. An audible click echoed through the corridor and a light above the door flashed green.

I was in.

The Quarantine ward wasn’t much to look at. Even more sterile and protected than the regular medical wing, there were a few beds encased in glass where the doctors could keep an eye on them. Next to each compartment was a screen reading out their vitals and any other information. The steady beep, beep, beep of the health monitors ticked away the seconds. My eyes roamed over each compartment in turn, looking for the one that would lead me to my mate.

Beck Davis, Stage 1 Vampirism.

My eyes caught on the name plate immediately. My heart sank.

So it was true, then. 

He’d turned.

I drew in a shaky breath and stepped closer, trying to peer through the glass. 

“Oh, Beck,” I whispered. Waves of guilt and grief washed over me all over again, and even the warm reassurance of the topaz couldn’t stop it. 

I knew now that vampires could live healthy, relatively normal lives like the rest of us, but pain of transition? The cravings? The memory of all those fangs, sinking deep into flesh as you begged for death?

I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. 

There he lay, alone and covered with multiple blankets on the small hospital cot. His messy blond hair fell over his forehead almost into his eyes. Those eyes, I realized with a spike of terror, that would be red forevermore.

He looked peaceful enough. Or at least, not in any visible pain. 

As I watched him sleeping there in the quarantine ward, hooked up to who knew how many IVs and monitors, I made my decision. 

Beck was mine. And I’d protect him until the end of my life, if that’s what it took. Those bastards that turned him? They were going down.

And maybe, if I was lucky, I’d find my own redemption along the way.