Bound By Darkness

Chapter 8

Larem hoped she was gone. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could fake being asleep. Not with Sasha’s hand on his, her soft voice whispering near his ear. At first he’d thought it was a dream, just another in a long line that he’d had since first meeting her. But no, he was hurting too much for this to be anything other than reality.

He slowly inhaled and immediately recognized the blood and chemical stench of Laurel Young’s medical lab. For a few seconds he was confused about how he came to be stretched out on one of her stainless steel tables before it all came trickling back. Talking to Devlin about what had happened down in the tunnels. Someone swinging a sword—a guard maybe. Trahern protecting Larem from further attack.

Then periods of total oblivion mixed with the occasional vague awareness of pain. Voices—some familiar, some not. He hated knowing he’d been at the mercy of strangers. Granted, he trusted Laurel Young, but he didn’t know how her coworkers felt about having a wounded Kalith for a patient.

The whole idea left him feeling vulnerable. With that in mind, he moved his arm enough to realize he wasn’t chained down as the Paladins usually were. Good. Not that he could muster much of a defense if he was attacked.

He heard footsteps. Someone was coming, but not Sasha. He quickly closed his eyes just in case. A draft of cool air washed over him as his visitor pulled the curtain back.

“You can open your eyes now, Larem. She left.”

Relieved that it was Laurel Young, he did as she said. He had questions for her but found it hurt too much to talk. He managed a hoarse whisper. “Water?”

“Sure thing.” Evidently his request pleased her, because she was smiling when she held a straw to his lips. “Take little sips.”

The chill of the water slid down his throat, soothing away the dry pain. The effort it took to swallow pretty much sapped what little energy he had. He closed his eyes briefly and tried again. “Status?”

Laurel set the glass aside and checked his breathing and pulse with her usual efficiency. Her fingers felt strong and impersonal against his skin, unlike the warmth of Sasha’s brief touch. The comparison bothered him. He shouldn’t be thinking about Sasha at all. Not after the events of . . . when?

“How long?”

Laurel finished her cursory examination and looped her stethoscope around her neck. “Since yesterday afternoon. We had to surgically repair your femoral artery. At least your Kalith healing ability has finally kicked in, so you’re well on your way to making a full recovery.”

She adjusted the flow of the plastic bag of fluids that hung on a pole at the head of his table. “We gave you a unit of Barak’s blood to make up for the puddle you left behind on the floor. I’ll check your blood count later, but it’s been climbing steadily.”

No wonder he felt as if he’d been run over and left for dead. “Anyone else?”

Laurel bit her lower lip before answering. “Well, you know how the Paladins like a good party. Once one of them gets to come hang out with me, they all want to come. Lonzo is still here. Which reminds me, he said to tell you this wouldn’t get you out of doing chores. If you want to argue the point, I’ll wheel him over to see you as soon as he feels up to it.”

“It’s my week to do the laundry.” But then fear for his friend sent a shard of new pain ripping through Larem’s chest. “Is he badly hurt?”

“He was. He’s better, just like every other Paladin who managed to get himself cut up the past couple of days.” She reached to offer Larem water again.

“We also lost a couple of the guards. Sorry, I don’t mean to be such a downer.”

She held the straw to his lips. “I’m going off duty for a few hours as soon as I’m done here with you, but my boss will be around to check on you while I’m gone. If you need anything, press the button there on the side rail. If Dr. Neal is busy, my technician Kenny will come running.”

Larem took a long drink. “Thanks.”

The Handler seemed reluctant to leave. She insisted on fluffing his pillow and then adjusted the light overhead. What was she trying not to say?

“Laurel, spit it out, even if you think I won’t like it. I can’t put up much of a fight right now even if it does make me mad. Later maybe, though.” He held up a shaky fist to demonstrate.

She stopped fiddling with the dials on the monitors and turned to face him. “Okay, hard-ass. Here it is.”

Laurel bent down to whisper in his ear, reminding him that the curtain only gave the illusion of privacy. They weren’t alone, and any Paladins who were awake could hear every word if they weren’t careful. Laurel knew that better than most, so he’d have to trust her judgment on the matter.

“Sasha Willis stopped by to see me and ended up telling Devlin everything about what happened between the two of you yesterday. That’s how she found out you’d been hurt. I don’t mean to be telling tales out of school, but she took it hard.”

Sasha told Devlin everything? Somehow Larem doubted that. She’d never want anyone to find out she’d knowingly let a Kalith touch her—or that she’d liked it.

“That’s okay.” What else could he say?

“The thing is, I think she’ll be back. You know, to check on your progress.” There was a great deal of curiosity in Laurel’s dark eyes, but she was too tactful to press for details.

“Thanks for the warning.”

“If you don’t want to see her, I can tell her that I’ve restricted visitations until you’re fully recovered.”

Oh, he wanted to see Sasha all right. Too much, in fact. But considering he’d been attacked by a guard, feelings were already running high against him right now. The last thing she needed was to be seen favoring the enemy.

“She’s just feeling obligated because of what happened.” And he didn’t need her gratitude, especially because of what had happened.

Laurel’s eyes narrowed in obvious doubt. “We’ll see how you feel about it tomorrow. We don’t get a lot of visitors anyway, so I can honestly say that we’re not really set up for it. I need my patients to get all the rest they can while they’re here.”

Laurel stood back up and laid the back of her hand on his forehead. “No fever. You’re definitely on the mend. I’m glad, Larem. Very glad. Now get some sleep. You’ll need all the energy you can get to duke it out with Lonzo over the whole laundry thing.”

“Tell him to bring it on.”

“I’ll do that. Right now, though, a feather could knock both of you over. It wouldn’t be much of a contest, so I won’t be starting a betting pool anytime soon.”

“Don’t blame you.” He was a healer himself and recognized when someone else was running on empty. “I’ll be fine, Laurel. Go get some rest.”

“Nag.”

“Somebody should.”

He managed to hold on to consciousness until her footsteps faded into the distance, leaving behind only the soft chorus of beeping machines to lull him to sleep. And if the last thought he had was of Sasha, well, no one had to know.

Contrary to Dr. Young’s advice, Sasha was back in the office bright and early Saturday morning. She’d already lost too many hours over the past couple of days to take the whole weekend off as well. At least she had the place to herself for the moment.

Where to start? E-mail first and then she’d follow up with D.J. to see if he’d made any progress. Later, maybe she’d take a short break and go back downstairs to the lab and check on the status of Laurel’s patients, one in particular.

As she logged in to her account, she sipped her white chocolate latte with cinnamon and whip, postponing having to wade through the unending barrage of e-mails. Back home, her local barista had laughingly called the combination a “Sasha special.” Hopefully she’d be living in Seattle long enough to become a regular at the coffee shop here, too. That would be nice.

A knock on the door startled her out of her reverie. “Come in!” she called.

D. J. Clayborne stuck his head inside the door. “Hi. I thought I’d let you know I’m back working on the bastard’s records this morning. Didn’t want to freak you out if you heard me banging around next door.”

“I appreciate the warning, D.J.” She picked up her coffee. “Can I see what you’re working on? I promise not to hover.”

“Sure thing. Give me a few minutes to get started first.”

The Paladin took off for Kincade’s old office at just short of a run, which seemed to be his only speed. Even when he was sitting at the computer, he was always in motion—foot tapping, his hand pounding the desk with a rhythm only he could hear, anything to burn off some of his endless supply of energy.

A few minutes later, she heard D.J. start cursing a blue streak. She hurried into the adjacent office to find him staring at the computer screen with the strangest look on his face.

“D.J., what’s wrong?”

When he didn’t immediately answer, she moved closer, careful not to startle him. “What’s up?”

D.J. finally looked up and blinked. Then he shook his head as if to clear it and shrugged. “Sorry, Sasha, it’s nothing to do with you. Just a strange e-mail. I’ve gotten a couple lately I haven’t been able to figure out. I suspect it’s a Paladin friend yanking my chain.”

His smile turned wicked as he rubbed his hands together. “Once I manage to track them back to him, there will be hell to pay. I’ll fry more than just his damn hard drive.”

Then he looked chagrined. “Oops, probably shouldn’t have said that in front of you. Don’t suppose you could forget you heard anything?”

All she could do was laugh at the incorrigible hacker. “Heard what? I’m just standing here enjoying my coffee and watching you working hard to decipher Kincade’s files.”

D.J.’s eyes twinkled with good humor as his fingers flew over the keyboard. “Yes, ma’am, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I expect to make some solid progress, too, because I’m all about staying on task. Just ask Devlin.”

D.J. went from playful to predator, leaning forward to study the screen. “Gotcha, you bastard.”

He pulled out his cell phone. “Cullen, get your worthless ass over to the admin building now. I’m in Kincade’s old office, and I’m going to need your help with this.”

Cullen was the other computer whiz among the local Paladins. Rumor had it that between him and D.J., there wasn’t a server in the world that would be safe if they decided to go on the prowl.

Sasha moved closer. “Did you find something interesting?”