The internal whispering tapered off, and she managed to pry her eyes open, but her pupils recoiled at the sudden brightness. Jerking her head away from the harsh fluorescent overhead lights, she blinked away the spots whirling before her eyes.
A glance at the window told her it was nighttime. She frowned. That felt . . . wrong. She felt like she’d been asleep for a while. Long enough for it to be daylight. “How long have I been out?”
“Almost twenty-four hours.” Alex had his back to her, placing the empty plastic cup on a tray next to the wal . He took a deep breath, his ribs expanding. “Feeling better?”
Chloe wiggled her toes, flexing her muscles one at a time to test for pain. Everything seemed fine. She flicked her fingers, trying a smal spel to check her magic. The glass Alex had just set down popped straight into the air and landed like a miniature party hat on his head.
“I’l take that as a yes.” His tone was dry, but his pale eyes twinkled when he turned to face her again. He extended the claws on one hand, snagged the cup with the other, and set it to spinning like a top on one pointed talon. “So, yesterday was an interesting day.”
“Yeah, about that.”
“About that.” He set the glass down, folded his arms, and leaned back against the wal , the look on his face far too serious for someone his age. The light reflected off the design on his T-shirt, a logo for some teen rock band. In some ways he was a typical boy, and in others, he was already a man.
At sixteen, he was six feet tal and growing. His young shoulders were already broad and muscular, his features were blade-sharp, and his black-brown hair and bronzed skin only made his pale, celery green eyes stand out in contrast. The kid was good-looking and going to be a lady-kil er someday. Chloe almost felt sorry for the girls in his class. Almost.
His expression didn’t waver under her scrutiny; it retained the same calm impassivity he’d perfected the day his mother had died. It was hard to remember the carefree boy he’d once been, but she did her best to remind him to have a little fun as often as she could.
This wasn’t going to be one of the times she could remind him.
She sighed and sat up straighter in her hospital bed. “How much do you know already?”
“Dad’s missing.” Or dead like Damien, but neither of them voiced that thought. “Someone kil ed your ex-boyfriend and his fiancée. Someone—maybe the same someone—tried to hack into Desmodus Industries’
servers looking for information on the lycanthropy project you’re al working on.” He angled a glance at her.
“How am I doing so far?”
“Those are the highlights, as far as I know them.” She closed her eyes at the emotionless little recitation, and crossed her arms. Her wrists were stil puffy and a little red, but thankful y the major damage was gone.
Normal technology rocked for some things, but magic was awesome for things like this. The Magickal doctors at Harborview were top-notch. Like most other public services, from law enforcement to education, major hospitals had private rooms for Magickals and medical professionals on cal who had the skil to handle cases like hers.
“None of those highlights explains why you needed to be brought to a hospital. You were fine when I talked to you on the phone. The vibrations in your voice showed no real distress.” He let his arms fal to his sides. “Merek and Luca seemed to be having a lot of private chats last night while the doctors were working on you. They left me to entertain Tess and made sure I couldn’t overhear them. So. Something else happened, right?” His pale eyes lasered through her, incisive and demanding answers she didn’t want to give. Stil , she’d never lied to this boy, and she didn’t want to start now. He’d know anyway. He was far too intel igent and had senses far too sensitive to not know when she was prevaricating. So, she didn’t.
“One of the FBI agents worked for a terrorist named Leonard Smith. He wants the drug your dad, Damien, and I have been formulating.” She met his gaze, but kept her face careful y blank. “After Luca went out to get you, the other agent brought in a Fae to try to pry information from me about my part in the werewolf project. She used spel s. Dark spel s. Black magic.”
He swal owed audibly. “If Luca hadn’t—”
“Don’t even think that.” She held her hand out for him to take, and after a moment’s hesitation, he crossed the room to her. “None of this is your fault. Or my fault.”
“But it might be my dad’s fault.” His strong fingers curled around hers, but his gaze held the awful pain of betrayal. His father could be a traitor to his entire race, to his son.
And Chloe couldn’t take that pain away from him, because she knew it could be true, so she gave him the respect of honesty. “Maybe. That stil doesn’t make it your fault.”
His chin jerked down in an abrupt nod, but he said nothing more.
She tried to smile, but knew it was probably a weak parody of the real thing. “You’re going to stay with me until we find out what happened to Ivan.”
His gaze snapped up to meet hers, blazing with relief he quickly hid. A smal grin quirked his lips, and he gave an exaggerated sniff. “That’s going to put a crimp in your social life.”
That her godson smel ed a man al over her would have made most women blush, but no one who’d made it through medical school could be a prude about the human body, and she wasn’t dumb enough to think Alex had much innocence left in that department anyway. She just shrugged delicately, plucking at the thin blanket covering her legs. “You’re my godson. You stay with me.”
The grin widened a little. “Wel . Okay. If you insist.”
“Your enthusiasm bowls me over, kid.” But she squeezed his hand.
A bark of laughter answered her. “I promise not to be too big a pain in the ass for you.”
“You can be as big a pain in the ass as you want. I might hex you a little for it, but you’re stil staying with me no matter what.” She held his gaze, making sure he could see, could sense, the depth of her sincerity. It was important that he knew he had someone, that he was wanted, especial y after Ivan’s blatant neglect since his mother’s death. Jaya would rol in her grave if she knew, so Chloe hoped the afterlife kept that information from her friend.
“I love you, too, Chloe.” He tightened his grip on her fingers, but gently, as if he knew his own strength and tempered it for her. He was such a good kid. He deserved better than he’d gotten.
She pressed her free hand to her heart and made her eyes go wide. “Aw, now that’s what a girl likes to hear.”
His white teeth flashed in a wicked grin that had to make the teenage girls pant, but he sobered quickly.
“So, you were in protective custody, but . . . the FBI is done with you now that you gave al the project information to the bad guys, right? The terrorists don’t want you anymore and you’re safe?”
She swal owed, looked down at the blanket, ran her palm over the nubby surface, and worried a few loose strands between her fingers. “They didn’t get any information from me. Not about the project, at least.”
“What do you mean?” Merek suddenly loomed in the door, his expression thunderous. He seemed to take up al the space and oxygen as he stepped into the room, snapping the door closed as though the act required great precision. His gray eyes locked on her face.