Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (23 page)

“Glove up, Jays. With this much blood, be super careful of exposure.”

Jays slid an absorbent pad underneath and handed a bottle of saline to Ian. Chris firmed his grip when she flinched as the doctor started washing the wound. Then Jays rubbed numbing ointment around the edges so he could set new stitches while Ian held the tattered edges together.

Her whines of pain got to him, and Chris watched Kieran’s head bow until it touched Jessica’s temple. His Flight lieutenant’s shoulders had grown tense, and Chris could hear Kieran’s voice softly singing one of his old Gaelic ballads. Jays finished quickly then sprayed it with something. Ian washed down the rest of her leg.

“Here, Chris.” Jays tossed him a wad of cloth. “Try and slip those on her.”

The stitching seemed to take some of the fight out of her because she didn’t try and struggle when he caught the cloth, so he got her feet threaded through, and then with Jays’s help, worked up her legs and over the wound.

Ian wrote in her chart, scrawling quickly. “I think there’s infection starting, so keep a close eye. Let’s get the rest of her vitals. You’ll need to draw up another dose of inhibitor since the first is on the floor.”

Kieran’s voice floated around them while the doctors continued the exam. Chris started to massage her feet and calf, careful to avoid her stitches, hoping to help her relax.

A sob sounded over Kieran’s notes when Ian punctured the vein in her elbow. He quickly pulled the blood samples then took the syringe full of inhibitor Jays held and clicked it onto the waiting needle. Depressing the plunger, he injected the substance into her blood.

She groaned in pain.

With surprise, Chris noticed a slight tremble in Ian’s fingers that he quickly controlled when he pulled the equipment from her arm and taped down a gauze pad to staunch the blood.

“Ok, boys, we’re done here for now,” Ian said. “Jays, get the cart out.”

He continued to rub the tension from her legs and feet while Jays trundled the cart out. Kieran brushed her hair away from the side of her face that was visible and wiped her tears with unsteady fingers.

Ian knelt down by her head again, but she refused to open her eyes. “Jess, I’m sorry about the burn. It should fade soon, but then the rest of the affects you experienced yesterday will start. Try and get some rest. It’ll help.”

When Ian stood, Chris and Kieran released their holds and she curled up into a tight ball on the bunk. With a last look over his shoulder, Chris followed the others out of her cell.

Ian paused in the doorway to let Kieran and Chris pass and pressed the bridge of his nose, hoping to ward off the headache he felt threatening.
Not bloody likely,
he thought as his mind turned to Nickolas. He pulled the door shut, sealing her in.
The next few weeks are going to need some careful handling.

He turned to face the Hub. Jays had taken the cart to the far side of the room to clean and prep it for the next exam. Kieran had already pulled an ice pack from the freezer and had it pressed to his cheek. Donald and Chris talked quietly near the monitors while they kept an eye on Nickolas. And Nickolas?

He moved.

The restless pacing along the wall was full of feral energy. Ian could almost see the spikes of power swirling around him with his naked eyes.

The Alpha Valkyrie flared his wings and pivoted on his heel at the end of his circuit. His hand raced through his tousled hair as he started the length again.

Ian nodded to Chris and Donald, who stepped aside to let him into the monitor island. A quick glance at her screen showed her still curled up and rocking.
Hopefully she’ll pass out soon. One down, now to take care of the other.

Cocking his hip on the edge of the desk, he folded his arms and watched the restive movements. It reminded him too much of fifteen years ago. He took a deep breath and plunged in.

“Do you want to tell me what the hell that was about?”

Nick’s gait faltered and his back stiffened.

“Well?”

Nickolas spun and fire flamed in his eyes for a split second before confusion drowned it. His wings dropped. “I don’t know.”

He started pacing again, but slower this time.

“I know the memories are hard. But I need to believe that you know this must be done. Or I’ll bar you.”

Nickolas clamped his wings tight to his back and stopped to stare at him. After a moment he spoke. “That won’t be a problem. I don’t plan on helping again. I have enough work to do anyway.”

“Damn it, Nicky.” Blowing out a breath, Ian took in his stiff stance. “Go to the gym and log in thirty minutes on your cardio regimen.”

Nick fell back a step. “But I’m not on schedule for that.”

“Your brother already threw my schedule with what he pulled this morning. So I think an extra thirty minutes for you will hardly make a difference.” He threw a glare over at Chris, who had the grace to look sheepish.

“Shut up, Beta,” Chris snapped at a chuckling Kieran. Donald snorted.

“All right, all of you get out of my Hub. Take him to the gym, Chris.”

Ian watched the three lieutenants escort their Alpha from the Hub. After the doors swung shut, he relaxed into a slump and rubbed his pounding head. He looked up at a soft touch to his shoulder and took the silently offered pills and cup of water from Jays.

“Thanks.” He drained the glass and set it on the table. “The next few weeks aren’t going to be fun.”

“What happened in there, Ian? I’ve never seen Nick lose it like that before.”

He pulled a chair out from under the desk that held the bank of monitors and sank into it. His thoughts turned back, and he examined the mental snapshots of what had happened. “Chris confirmed that Nickolas has stopped taking his pills. He’s entered stage four.”

“Great,” the other doctor groaned. “We did think that was a possibility.”

“Yes. But his symptoms are too advanced. He’s acting like his system is clear of residual amounts. That shouldn’t happen for at least a week after his last dose. It’s only been forty-eight hours. I want a blood draw on him, today if possible.”

“So the aggression shouldn’t be a surprise then?”

“No. But the focus of it is. His aggression had a clearly defined source. He reacted to a perceived threat to Jessica and instinctively moved to defend. He was clearly shaken by his response, if his behavior out here afterward is any indication. I don’t like his resolution, however. If not for his help, we would have needed to use Xanthar on her already.”

“But he’s just going to continue to deteriorate as he progresses through the last stage. How much longer would he really be able to help with her?”

“True. There would come a turning point. But until I’m forced to pull him, I would rather keep observing their interactions. It’s an entirely new field we are witnessing.”

Jays slid up to sit on the desk. “Do you know what we can expect from him?”

Ian shook his head. “No. I have some ideas based on how he was during his isolation. But who knows what a fifteen-year delay will do to the end of his change? And I have no idea what talents he will manifest.”

“Exciting.”

“You have an interesting definition of exciting, Jays.”

His Second laughed and he returned a smile.

“Well Jessica has definitely thrown a monkey wrench into our calm, running machine,” Jays said.

This time he laughed outright. “Another brilliant observation from you, Jays. I expect today’s antics will only be the first of many surprises. And I recommend from now on that you wear your keycard inside your clothes.”

“Duh.”

Still smiling, he continued. “You will remain lead for the fledglings, except for Jessica. Continue your normal duties, but I don’t want her handled alone. Jack and Michael should be able to deal with the daily schedule of appointments with the Valkyries. We might need to adjust their testing and checkup schedules if they can’t. Between Jessica and Nick, I don’t think I’ll be free to handle my normal duties.”

“No, I doubt it. And talking about schedules…what about Nick? Who’s going to take over his duties, if he can’t?”

“Let me talk to Chris, but I think Dev will be the best choice. The PR schedule is set for the next couple of months, so he wouldn’t need to deal with that. Well, except for Kieran…”

A beep sounded and he absently swiveled his chair to look at the monitors. Jessica had finally fallen asleep.

“So, why Kieran? He’s the most sought after of our PR unit.”

“Yes, but as of now he’s reassigned. So start trying to come up with a good excuse to give the team. His value in handling Jessica today supersedes his pretty face on TV or wherever they have him going next.”

“I doubt you’ll hear him complaining.”

“No. Not likely. He hates the attention. Though, he might not thank me for putting him on fledgling duty. Especially since one of them is Nickolas.”

“Speaking of fledglings, I need you to take a look at Denis. He’s halfway through the coma, and I don’t like the looks of his readings. Carlo looks like he’s going to drop into the coma in a day, maybe two. Allison and Ron are both a week or so behind him. Then we’ll hopefully have a break in fledglings.”

“Right.” Ian sighed then scrubbed his face. “Give me the chart. I’ll see what I can, and then it’s time for me to collapse.”

Rolling over in the dim light of dawn, Marcus opened his eyes blearily to look at the clock on the bedside table.
Ugh, five hours of sleep.
He fell back over and threw his arm over his eyes. Focusing his mind, he called out,
*Who? What’s wrong?*

*Sorry to wake you, sir, it’s Robin. Kelley and Leslie just arrived back…they have bad news.*

Suppressed emotion twined around Robin’s sending, so Marcus had a good idea what that bad news likely was.
*I’ll meet them in the longhouse. Please get some coffee and muffins or something.*

Marcus groaned and rolled over to his sleeping wife, brushing the raven strands away from her face. “Beth, honey, wake up.”

Stirring lightly, she opened her eyes to look up at him, smiling sleepily. “Is it morning already?”

“Almost. Les and Kelley just got back. I need to go meet with them.”

“Jessica?”

“I don’t know yet, but it doesn’t look good.”

His wife’s smile dimmed and her grey eyes lowered. He bent over and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll let you know later,” he said softly.

She nodded then opened her eyes again. “I’ll be up at the lake with Raven Sept today if you need me.”

“Right. I expect I’ll be in meetings most of the day now.” He threw back the covers and got up, shaking out his wings and stretching them. Then he walked into the closet, grabbed the first clothes to hand, and put them on. “Whose turn is it for dinner?” he called over his shoulder.

“Puma. I believe their sept is planning on cooking venison pot roast, but if Robin isn’t up to it…?”

“Don’t worry. The activity will be good for him.” He walked back into the room to slip his shoes on then ran his hands through the short strands of his hair, trying to put it in some semblance of order. The light coming in the window strengthened; the sun must have just started to rise up over the peaks of the mountains surrounding them. “Looks like it’s going to be another nice Indian summer day today. Why aren’t you up with the fishers now? This is the best time for catching.”

Beth sat up and pulled the sheet higher, yawning. “I’m not catching, I’m just selecting for tomorrow night’s dinner. It’s my sept’s turn tomorrow, so we thought some nice pan-fried trout would be good.”

“Sounds good to me too. I’ll see you at lunch, love.” He bent down to give her a quick kiss.

He walked through their small living room to the plank door and stepped out onto the gravel path that led away from the front of their little cottage. The trail wound a short distance past fern-draped maples and the silent sentinels of dark coniferous trees before reaching the edge of the meadow. He took a deep breath of the early morning air then stretched his wings out to their fullest extent and gave them a flap. Settling them back into place, he looked around at the little village they had managed to carve out of the forested mountains of the Cascades.

To his left, he could just make out in the distance a waterfall that rushed down the rocky cliff face of the valley. It filled a pool at its base before running off in a wide tumbling creek that cut its way through the small valley. Autumn flowers still bloomed in profusion in the unexpected warmth of the season to spill over the rocks along its course. The cheerful color and scent filled the morning. Small footbridges spanned its length periodically.
Not that we have to use the bridges, but unless the livestock starts to grow wings too, they’re still necessary.

He stared out across the length of the meadow toward the south village. Other early risers made their way sleepily on the paths that defined the boundary of the grassland and trees. The trickle of humanity flowed toward the longhouse, and Marcus stepped out of the tree cover to join them. The longhouse had been the first building they had built after their escape from the Facility. It still housed all the communal cooking and other offices. Though, once it had been their only living space.

Now everyone had small cottages of their own located either in the southern part of the meadow, or more and more now, in the surrounding forest. They kept the buildings small. Most only consisted of a bedroom or two and a living room, grouped around a shared bathhouse. Someday, maybe their time and resources would be enough to give everyone private bath and cooking space, but not yet.

He took a shortcut through the vegetable garden; the thin mist hugging the ground swirled around his feet and through the few fresh vegetables they had left to harvest.
I’ll have to ask Beth how the storing went this year. Hopefully we won’t be short again. Every time we need to bring in outside resources is a risk.

A bald eagle chuckled and he scanned the cliff as he let himself out the garden gate. The bird rested in the sun-gilded top of one of the fir trees at the edge of the cliff face. It called again then launched out of the tree. Its wings briefly flashed in the sunlight before it dove into the shadows of the cliff. Not sure whether to take it as a good or bad sign, he locked the gate, then finished walking the short distance to the door of the longhouse. The smells of breakfast cooking and the quiet murmur of voices invaded his senses. After a quick fortifying breath, he walked straight to his office.

Inside, he nodded to the two Valkyries seated before his desk. Then spying the cup and plate of biscuits already placed before his chair, he smiled over at Robin, who sat perched on the corner of his desk. Marcus took his seat and picked up the mug, inhaling the scent before he looked to Kelley. “Well, I take it the news isn’t good?”

Grimacing, Leslie shook her blond head. “I’m afraid not. We didn’t get there in time. Alpha team got to her first. We had hope briefly, when she gave them the slip. There was a slight chance we could get her while she was on the run. Unfortunately, Nickolas never gave us an opening. He managed to stay right on her heels the whole time. But we did succeed in downloading the latest data.”

She set a tiny computer disk on the desk and slid it across to him. He looked at it and took a sip of his coffee before picking it up and putting it in the top drawer of his desk. He returned his gaze to the two Hunters and said, “Continue.”

“Nickolas is the very best at recoveries, so imagine our surprise when she escaped him. I wish you could have seen his face, Marcus. He looked absolutely disgusted. It was a hoot.”

He leaned back in his chair, surprised at her forced levity. He glanced at the silent Kelley. As the superior of the two, she should have been giving the report.

Leslie continued. “Well, she eluded them through the night, and us as well, though we had to avoid the recovery team more often than not. They must have emptied the Facility to capture her. I have never seen so many teams sent to one location before. They finally trapped her in a neighborhood with sheer manpower. She managed to elude them for nearly twenty-four hours before Nickolas wised up and set a trap that she would fall for.”

A knock at the door interrupted them, and Marcus held his hand up to stop Leslie’s report. “Robin.”

His Hunter Prime jumped off the desk and crossed to the door. After a moment of quiet conversation, he admitted another older male Valkyrie. The older man stumped up to the desk, stopping between the two seated females, clearly waiting for Marcus’s permission to speak.

“Good morning, Nathan. I assume from the interruption that the Seers have something to report immediately?”

“Yes, sir. The watch last night had a strange incident occur. My Second decided we didn’t have an immediate danger, so they reported it to me this morning.” He cleared his throat and fixed his gaze over Marcus’s shoulder. “Apparently an unknown Valkyrie tried to contact us last night. Telepathically.”

Marcus’s chair protested as he sat bolt upright. “Excuse me. What do you mean?”

“Julie was on duty. She said that she got the feeling someone was trying to reach out mentally, so she lowered her shields then got blasted when a strange male called out. There’s only one person that could be Marcus. Julie swears it can’t be Gabriel. But he’s the only Valkyrie not on inhibitor who isn’t in the valley.”

“Why does she think it isn’t Gabriel?”

“She said the sending felt too raw and undisciplined.”

“Any idea how close?” Robin asked.

Nathan furrowed his brows and looked at the floor for a moment. “That’s the thing…she thinks it could have come from as far away as the Sound.”

Kelley gasped and looked at Leslie. Her face had blanched.

“Kel…?” Robin asked.

Kelley turned stricken eyes on Robin before she turned and faced him squarely. “We hadn’t gotten to the end of our report yet, sir. Nickolas started using his talents yesterday. During the hunt we could feel him getting clearer, and it soon became obvious that he was using his abilities to track her. I don’t think he’d have caught her otherwise, sir.”

“Nickolas?” Marcus relaxed back into his chair in bewilderment. “That makes no sense. How could he? And the distance…? Nathan, did Julie answer him?”

“No. The communication was severed immediately. She didn’t get the opportunity. She wasn’t sure what procedure you wished us to take if there is another try.”

He picked up a biscuit and took a bite, thinking. “How did he figure out to try the first time? Let me find out what the latest communication from the Facility says before we make any final decisions. I’ll get back to you by tonight, but as it stands for now, monitor for any signs of more communications but don’t answer immediately.”

“Yes, sir.” Nathan nodded to the others present then walked heavily back to the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Eyes turning inward, Marcus absently took another bite of his biscuit, thinking about this new development. Then Kelley cleared her throat and drew his attention back to the meeting. Marcus took in the blush staining her cheeks and the hesitant way she sat. Slowly setting his biscuit down, he grew cold, his eyes boring into her. “What else happened?”

She looked at Les, then took a deep breath. “Um, well, sir. They had finally gotten her into custody and were on the ferry when…” She trailed off, hanging her head.

“When what?” He leaned forward so he could hear her quiet reply.

“When I…talked…to him.”

Frozen for a split second, staring at her, Marcus couldn’t quite believe what he had heard, but then he surged up out of his chair and slammed his hands down on the desk. “You what! What the hell did you think you were doing?”

He shoved himself away from the desk and started around it, his eyes locked on hers. “That was the last thing we needed. We did not need Nickolas becoming curious.”

Robin lunged in front of him and snapped his wings wide to block his view of Kelley. “Marcus. There’s no point. What’s done is done.”

Hard, hazel eyes pinned him and the warmth of Robin’s hand on his chest brought him down. He took a deep breath and the Hunter Prime said softly, “She is mine to discipline, Alpha.”

Nodding curtly, he returned to his chair. Robin slowly lowered his wings then looked over his shoulder at Kelley. Without another word, he too returned to his place on the left of the desk.

Marcus gripped the back of his chair and stared at his white knuckles until he felt that he had his temper under control again, then resumed his seat. He still needed a sip of his coffee before he could trust himself and look at Kelley again. “You do realize the danger Nickolas is now in, do you not? If Gabriel finds out…”

“Sir,” Leslie made eye contact with him, which was no small feat on her part. “I don’t think the communication we had with him made that much of a difference. From what we had observed of his behavior, he had already made the decision to stop taking the inhibitor. Something else triggered his choice. We decided to take the chance that maybe he had learned enough of the truth that he would actually let her go.”

“No, Les. I made the choice. Let’s be clear here. You wanted to stop me.”

“Kel,” she growled.

“No. This is on me.”

“As Robin said, what’s done is done. She’s in their hands now. We can only hope that my father can protect both of them. Is there anything more to report?”

“No, sir.”

“Good, then you two are dismissed. Robin, you stay.” He swiveled his chair to look out the window.

“Kelley. You will wait for me at the practice ground.” The edge of steel beneath Robin’s voice almost made Marcus smile. After the door closed, he felt Robin approach his chair and stop. “It was only a matter of time before he figured it out, Marcus.”

The mist was rising in wisps from the grass and water of the creek, but Marcus barely saw it as memories swam through his mind.

“I know. The games we play are always dangerous, but now…now the stakes are higher, and the players don’t even know they are in play.” He paused and rubbed his eyes.
Oh, Nick, I sure hope you know what you’re doing. It’s up to you to take care of the others. Be careful.
The comforting weight of Robin’s hand came to rest on his shoulder, and he looked out of the corner of his eye at him. “I’m sorry about your sister.”

Robin squeezed his shoulder. “You know how stubborn she is. She’s always blamed you for Mom and Dad.”

He shook his head, closing his eyes. “I wish there had been some other way. I wish Jennifer had
told
me.”