Recovering the Siren Page 2

“You too,” I muttered, seriously worried as I took in the gray hair at his temples and huge bags under his eyes. “I’m okay, Bri.”

  “You’re not,” Apollo worried, hurrying me over to the ambulance. “You’re still deteriorating.” He got me on the cot but let Brian climb in with me.

  “Thanks for coming,” I told him before the door was closed in his face.

  “Always, Seraphine,” he muttered, knowing I would still hear him.

  Brian gently took my hand even as people started fussing over me and the ambulance pulled away. He kissed my skin, tears filling his eyes when I winced in pain. Yes, even that hurt. “Don’t you dare leave me. All we’ve done is search, and you cannot leave me now that we found you.”

  “Not going anywhere but I’m tired,” I admitted.

  “You can sleep, Chief Thomas,” one of the EMTs told me. “We’re going to pump you full of everything you need and flush out the bad. We’ll fix you up.”

  “Thanks,” I mumbled as I passed out again.

  “How bad?” Brain asked someone, bringing me back around.

  “I honestly don’t know how she’s alive,” a voice I knew answered. It took me a second, but then I realized it was Simone’s panther who was a doctor at the paranormal hospital. He’d helped the boys and was amazing when it came to knowledge about paranormals and what we needed. “Every muscle in her body is almost nonexistent. What they were giving her was not meant to be used long term.

  “It ate through muscle cells, and the reaction to that threw a ton of toxins in her body. One kidney fully shut down, and there’s so much of everything bad in her body that it’s a fucking miracle she’s alive. We need to cleanse her blood—which they took too much of—and keep doing it until we at least get all the shit out. She’s too weak and hurt to even heal, and if she can make it through this part, it’s—I honestly have no idea how she will.”

  “You’re saying she’s still dying?” Dain asked, his voice cracking.

  “Yes, the potions and drugs they pumped into her are in every cell of her. We start cleansing it out, and it could shock her system and kill her. I want to be clear on that. This could kill her.”

  “Do it,” I told him firmly. The group turned and gave me a range of looks, but I was focused on the doc. “Do what you think is best. Would feeding from one of the sirens help?”

  “No, because that would jump start your body,” he answered as he came over to me. “We’re going to try and keep your body quiet and in shock still while we try and get as much bad out, and then we can try to heal you and get you energy.” He gave me a worried look. “If you survive this, it is a long road you’re looking at, not like normal rapid healing. You’re—I’ve never seen a shifter in this bad of shape.”

  “Got it. Do it.” I gave the slightest shake of my head when he opened his mouth, knowing what he was going to say. “No, do it now. Don’t let me talk to everyone and see I’m talking and then I die. Do it and I can talk to them when we know I’ll really make it.”

  “Okay then. We’re going to drop your body temperature to do it and basically filter your blood, sort of performing heart surgery where we bypass your heart so it doesn’t all flow right there.”

  “Got it. Do your thing.” I glanced over and saw Dain and Brian. “I am not dying like this. Not after what I fought to get out of. No fucking way.”

  “Damn right you’re not, babe,” Brian whispered, tears running down his cheeks. “You keep fighting and come back to me.”

  “I promised I would. I promised all of you.” I fell asleep again, and I either felt what they were doing to me or I dreamed of severe pain and my mind made it seem real.

  Honestly, I didn’t want to know which was right but prayed the pain would just stop. It felt like forever so I had to guess that whatever they were doing to me took a while.

  The next time I woke I thought I was hallucinating as Alena sat in a chair next to me and it looked like we were hooked up to each other. She smiled at me and told me the doctor was a genius and figured blood from the same bloodline instead of blood type was more helpful.

  Okay, that might have been real, but I was back out, and the next time I came around she wasn’t there.

  “You’re doing better and almost out of the woods,” Reagan told me gently, Hagan standing next to him, both crying. “Keep fighting. You’re almost there, and then we’ll get you back, I promise.”

  “I love you both,” I mumbled as I slipped back into darkness.

  Tommy was sitting on my bed when I woke next, playing with his phone. He set it down and gave me a bright smile when he saw I was awake. “Brian said not to give you my normal update because it’s too much. Anything you want to know?”

  “How bad has it been?”

  He swallowed loudly, understanding what I meant. “Bad. We fell apart without you. Reagan would drink and sob most nights. Hagan I don’t think slept. Noah’s pissed a lot of people off calling in favors to find anything. We didn’t know what to do but just help them so they could find you.”

  “Good call,” I praised. “Yeah, thanks, that was the right call.”

  He shrugged. “There wasn’t much else we could do. We’re targets so it wasn’t like we could go search the world for you. The twins wanted to, but they had to stay to keep the pack safe.”

  I waved him off when he ramped up to tell me more. “Slow. I need slow on the info. Brian’s right.”

  “Everyone’s worried that you’re so calm,” he admitted, his eyes searching mine.

  It hit me what he was getting at after a moment. “This isn’t the first time I’m coming back to my life after being gone months.”

  He bobbed his head but then shook it. “You weren’t undercover, Sera.”

  “No, but that training might be the only way I don’t totally fall apart,” I muttered, my eyes feeling heavy again. “Am I going to live?”

  “They’re not sure yet, but the doc is amazed you survived.”

  “That’s a start.”

  There were a few more rounds of that and not really knowing what I said or who was around but at least knowing I was waking back up again and feeling the tiniest bit better each time. That had to mean something, right?

  “It’s been four days since you came home,” Brian told me when I woke again, seeming to know I was more alert.

  I studied him closely, seeing the relief in his eyes. “I’m out of the woods?”

  “Yes, barring any complications, you’re going to make it,” he rasped, rubbing his thumb tenderly over my hand. “Tommy said you want to do this like being undercover.”

  I swallowed loudly and gave a nod. “I’m not sure I can handle this otherwise.”

  “You have to, babe,” he choked out, leaning his head down to my shoulder. “Please, I cannot lose you. We lost you, and everything fell apart. I need you back, Sera.”

  “I love you too,” I breathed, sniffling as I felt his tears on my skin. “I’m so sorry, Bri.”

  “I’m sorry we lost you.”

  We softly cried together a bit before we got it under control and had to be the adults. I could tell neither of us wanted to, but we had to be.

  “I need Nina,” I told him. “I need to talk with you, Nina, and those that are mine.”

  He gave a slow nod, kissing my cheek before moving off the hospital bed and heading for the door. I had a few minutes to myself and tried to check that my wolf and siren were doing better, but both seemed to be napping in the corner of my mind, too tired to even sound off. Well, napping was better than dead.

  Nina came in first and gasped, freezing where she stood and almost falling over when Reagan bumped into her.

  I gave a sad chuckle, wiping my hand over my face. “That bad, huh?” I had only meant who was tied to me, bonded, but I couldn’t blame the twins for coming in with Noah, Goran, Dain, Brian, and Nina.

  “Yes, but that’s not why,” she replied as she shook herself and moved closer. “Sera, when were you by my ex-husband? How? He’s l
ong dead.”

  “Oh boy,” I sighed, putting together what she was sensing. “So your ex-husband took me and apparently wasn’t dead, but is now.”

  “Oh boy,” she agreed, slowly sitting down.

  I looked at Dain since he was by the door. He closed it and flipped on the white noise maker someone had put in the room so no one could listen in on me. “I don’t remember any of what happened except when whatever he gave me wore off that last time.” I spent the next couple of minutes telling what I knew and remembered.

  Goran cleared his throat and sat on the cot with me. “Apollo got the message and was able to track number and location. He didn’t get there first, and it was being treated as a crime scene, but no one would tell him where they took you. He got suspicious when people were sharing looks and someone mentioned you being treated as a spy. The former CIA director had been contacted by his German intelligence buddies.

  “What Apollo pieced together was he made a deal that they could take you and share what they found because they want to know what you are and what you can do. Germany isn’t all that paranormal friendly, and we’ve put out the word it’s worse than we thought to warn people. He and his teams followed your trail as now you had one and you were at an off the books site for paranormal testing.

  “They were live harvesting you. He destroyed it all. All the samples, the whole place, and all the people. The council, along with the US government, has started serious shit with the German government for detaining you, but they’re disavowing all of it. The council is also joining up with Greece and your family about this live harvesting and treatment of paranormals.”

  I gave a nod and took a few moments to digest that before focusing on Nina. “I drained him. I sucked his energy and power dry, my siren about fizzling out to do it since I had no other option and we’ve never done that before. But when I fought back when I woke again, I shocked them all. It was like I tased them. Please, please tell me I did not get magic or something.”

  She winced. “I believe you did. I’m feeling his energy around you like it’s yours now.”

  “That’s got to be a mind fuck,” I sighed. “Sorry.”

  “I’m missing a few parts here,” Hagan admitted, glancing between us. “Why did he want Sera pregnant in the first place?”

  Nina’s eyes flashed shock when she saw I’d already figured that one out. “When a witch is pregnant, she’s basically a magical generator to bring forth a magical life. It’s why we helped pump Mrs. Evans with more chi before she gave birth so the baby would have more magical abilities. But if he was still alive, he had to be powerful, and that would make a half powerful baby and the other half a very powerful Dorcus baby.”

  “And he wanted a girl,” I told her. I met Hagan’s confused gaze, not making Nina saying it. “If there’s a miscarriage, that growing magic is absorbed back into the mother. Or I would guess in this instance, the father which was how he has gotten so powerful and lived so long.”

  Nina pushed to her feet, looking shaken to her core. “I will work on a charm to suppress his energy or whatever magical side you now have.” She headed for the door, stopping when her hand was on the knob. “No one can know this, Seraphine. Not that sirens can suck down my kind and come out with magic or that my kind can absorb their children and that magic somehow. None of this.”

  “Agreed. It’s too dangerous a risk to all sides.”

  She gave a swift nod and walked out, closing the door behind her.

  “What do you remember about the day you were taken?” Brian asked after we all sat with that a few minutes.

  Alena burst into the room and looked relieved when she locked gazes with me. “Thank the gods.”

  “You were really here,” I whispered, blinking at her. “I thought I dreamed it.”

  “No, Simone’s panther wisely figured if I used my body as the filter for your blood, it would be the best way. Your grandmother is on a plane to do the same and so I can get back.” She clamped her mouth shut and shot Brian a look. “You have a procedure to acclimate her back to her life, yes?”

  “Yes, it’s like when she’s undercover, but it will be harder as she lost the time, not just has to catch up on a new timeline,” he admitted.

  I bobbed my head, thinking of the couple of days I’d lost when I’d sirened Dain. It was much, much weirder to lose the time instead because you have no feeling of that time. It was still mid-March to me.

  “Not March,” I whispered, looking at Brian.

  He shook his head. “It’s the second week of July. You were gone almost four months.”

  Axel came through the door next, relief filling his eyes when he saw me. “I had to see myself you were really home.”

  “I just asked her what she remembered,” Brian told him, getting us back on track.

  I thought back, rubbing my forehead, tears burning my eyes when I didn’t feel the normal weight of my tons of hair… That they were all staring at the lack of. “I’m sorry I let them take my hair. I know you all loved it.” Shame filled me for some reason, and I curled into myself.

  Dain moved onto the cot with me and cradled me to him. “It will grow back. It was just a piece of you, and we will put the pieces back together. All we care is you’re home safe, my love.”

  “I don’t know I can be put back together this time,” I admitted. I didn’t have the memories of being raped, but now they all knew that was what was happening to me while I was gone, and that would not be easy for anyone to handle. I took a few minutes to let myself fall apart, scared beyond words I was completely broken now. I flinched when the door opened again and Eugene was there along with Carter.

  Alena switched with Dain, muttering she had to leave. She shook her head when I opened my mouth to ask questions. “You do not worry about anything other than getting better. We are fighting what we need to.”

  “Glad to give you something to do,” I muttered, guessing it was about whatever was going on with Germany and the US government. I waited until she nodded to confirm it and focused on Brian’s question, moving my hand back to my head, feeling naked without my hair like it was a visible scar of my pain. Dain whipped off his shirt and then the undershirt, coming over to me and using the undershirt to fashion a do-rag for me.

  “You are just as beautiful as the last time I saw you,” he whispered before kissing my head.

  “Liar,” I chuckled, feeling the truth from all of them. I sighed, sinking against Alena, soaking up her strength and thinking about what I remembered. “I was running late. Traffic was shit, and I realized we forgot to get presents for the boys. We kept saying we were going to, but we didn’t. I was going to grab some from the airport, but the guy at the rental counter said something about the weather.” I frowned.

  “We found video of you walking towards the plane looking at your phone,” Brian told me. “You looked around before hurrying to the plane like you saw something.”

  I nodded, remembering then. “Right, I was checking the weather and this storm the guy said was coming in. I was going to text you something dirty to get the boys gifts.” I frowned. “I felt a chill like someone was watching me. It was odd energy. My wolf didn’t like it. Then I saw Orson down—”

  “Orson was down?” Carter asked, blinking at me like this was news.

  I glanced around and saw they were all confused. “Orson was lying on the floor of the plane by the door. He wasn’t moving.” Fear gripped me, totally having forgotten about that.

  “Orson’s fine,” he promised, rubbing his hand over his head. “He never mentioned waking on the plane floor or anything like that. The warlock must have hit them with something not to remember.”

  “When did you notice I was missing?”

  “An hour and a half after you dropped off the vehicle,” Brian answered. “Orson called me and asked if you got delayed and immediately checked when we told him you had left the office two hours ago.”

  I nodded along as he filled me in on how things had played out
those first few hours, wincing when he mentioned Dubois and then swallowing my shock when he said the councilman was a mess and drunk. Wow, so I’d really messed him up with the truth.

  Well, that was still better than living a lie, right?

  “Wait, Jason helped?” I cut in, tripping over that part.

  Carter snorted. “He was how we found out so fast that no US agencies had you. He flat out threatened them with Bijan and telling the leader of Iran with the nukes if everyone didn’t check that no one had you. Bijan backed the play. He was very clear that he and all of Iran would honor the alliance with your family and scorch the ground if any hurt you after you had been so much help.”

  “Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed that one,” I admitted.

  “Jason burned a lot of bridges pushing and pushing more to find out anything he could,” Brian admitted. “We called in every favor, and even Galvin and the president were demanding answers from every dark hole and black site facility.”

  “And the warlock blocked me because I couldn’t feel you or our bond,” Dain told me, filling in something I’d wondered about.

  I nodded to continue, but my stomach rumbled loudly.

  “She hasn’t seen the doctor yet,” Brian told them, shaking his head when Alena gave him an annoyed look. “She asked for something first and—”

  “He can explain later,” I cut in. Axel and Eugene answered to the council, and while Alena needed to be warned of what I did, the council did not need any more reasons to take issue with me. “Did we get the gulls?”

  “Yes, Eugene made sure you kept your promise,” Brian answered. “The rest of us pushed it and the cartel raid aside while searching for you, but he said you’d be pissed if your promises weren’t kept and we let all your hard work fall apart while you were gone.”

  “Smart man,” I praised, giving Eugene a grateful look. “Thank you.”

  “Thank you for fighting to come back,” he whispered, looking away and wiping under his eyes. “I’ll go get the doctor.”

  “We very much like the dire wolf,” Alena told me quietly. She moved her hand over my mouth when I went to object. “We’re not mating you off. Stop. You were just pulled back from death. Mating you is not on the agenda. You are in a worrisome position and weak. I’m saying the dire wolf did a lot, and we implicitly trust him and the tiger and their feelings for you. The others you already know that of, but I wanted to tell you before I had to go.”