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  I exchanged glances with Sal before I answered. “That’s between you and Chanter.”

  My answer seemed to surprise him. Good. It surprised me too.

  I’d never thought of myself as over-protective before, but maybe I was. Hunter was tougher than most other boys his age. He’d been through hell already. If he wanted to put his life on the line to save someone else’s, I should have been proud. Nervous, but proud.

  I thought of Alex, my dead husband, and wondered if he would have been proud of Hunter or angry at me for letting our only son walk into the line of fire. Well, if Alex had anything to say about it, he wasn’t making it known. Hunter and I were on our own.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The hospital wasn’t busy. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the day. For whatever reason, the emergency room was always more bustling in the evening hours than mid-day, which meant the rest of the hospital was slower.

  The nurse at the welcome station looked up from her station and saw our trio approaching, but didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. The good nurses here, the smart ones, did that. Meet the gaze of the wrong supernatural creature, and you might find yourself a snack. Werewolves were less likely to eat you, but when an irritated one came through the door, it was a bad idea to try to stare them down. I imagined plenty of irritated people came through the door, and this nurse had learned it was better to be safe than sorry.

  “What can I do for you?” she asked in a cheery tone as we approached her instead of the automated check-in system.

  “There’s a patient we need to see. Valentino Garcia,” I said.

  He would have been moved out of the emergency room as soon as possible and probably to a specialized unit. The ER was for intake and stabilization of patients before they were passed on somewhere else in the hospital. Once they figured out what was going on, they would have moved him elsewhere. We just needed to know where.

  The nurse turned to her computer screen and moved her fingers across a keyboard at lightning speed. “And you are?”

  I tugged my badge from where it hung on my belt and slid it across the surface of the plastic desk for her.

  “We’re family,” Sal explained, placing a hand on Hunter’s shoulder.

  The nurse frowned at us. “No one under twelve is allowed to go onto the unit, and no more than two of you can be in the room at the same time.”

  That wasn’t unexpected. It was hospital policy, and it made sense. It would be harder for doctors and nurses to move around a crowded room to do their job.

  “He’s twelve,” Sal answered without skipping a beat. A lie, but one that would hopefully do more good than harm.

  Thankfully, the nurse didn’t argue. She opened a drawer and pulled out a sheet of those stick-on name badges, sliding them to us. “Fill these out. I’ll add you to the patient visitor roster. Make sure your badges are visible at all times. Any bags, purses, or backpacks are subject to search at the discretion of security personnel.” She rambled the speech off as if she said it hundreds of times a day. In a hospital that size, she probably did.

  I filled out the name tag for myself and Hunter and then handed the pen to Sal who scribbled his name on his own. After peeling off the stickers and placing them on our chests, the nurse nodded. “Follow the yellow line on the floor to the tower elevators and take the elevator up to the second floor. From there, swing a right and you’ll find the ICU. They’ll direct you from there.”

  I nodded, thanked the lady, and searched the floor where I found a variety of brightly colored paths. The yellow one curved around the information desk and down a hall behind it. The three of us walked along the yellow line, Hunter between Sal and me.

  Hunter looked up at Sal. “Are you going to take him back to Chanter?”

  “Probably,” Sal answered with a shrug. By the distant focus of his stare, I could tell he was deep in thought about something. “I doubt traditional medicine has been able to do much for him.”

  “Will Chanter be able to help?”

  “No,” Sal answered with more certainty than I expected as we approached the elevator. “Chanter was a stronger healer than me when he was well, but his body has been fighting the cancer and it’s weakened him, whether he wants to admit it or not.” Sal’s hand reached up to grip the bag Chanter had placed around his neck earlier. “And when he passed that responsibility to me, I took it like an idiot. No, this is going to fall on me. If there’s healing to be done, I’ll have to be the one to do it.”

  “Can you?” I asked.

  I’d seen Sal heal several wounds. He was a powerful healer in his own right, but I knew even he had his limits. If this was just a matter of putting his hands on Valentino and making the venom stop its progression, he’d have done it a long time ago. Chanter had also warned him yesterday that any kind of healing would be reckless and dangerous. It might even kill him.

  Sal jammed a thumb in the up arrow button by the elevator. “No one can save everyone.”

  We rode the elevator car up in silence and stepped out onto another floor. The air here was stuffier, but still held that sterile air smell common in hospitals. To the left of the elevators was a small lounge area with televisions, coffee and semi-comfortable chairs. There were also a few bench seats without arms. Shauna, the fourth-highest ranking werewolf in the pack, sat on one of these. Her girlfriend, Daphne, was curled up beside her, her head lying on Shauna’s lap. A more unlikely pair, I didn’t think I’d ever meet. Daphne was sweet, quiet, a little on the heavy side. When she smiled, the whole room lit up with her dimples. Shauna was gruff, rough, and, in a word, ripped. She was a scary looking lady with dark skin, close cropped hair and a permanent scowl. She also had a bodybuilder’s physique. Her whole demeanor screamed, “don’t mess with me” and so I normally didn’t. She and I basically just avoided each other.

  When she saw us step out of the elevator, though, she gently lowered Daphne’s head and stood to come and greet us. “Nina got here a little while ago. She and Ed are in there right now.”

  A wise choice. Ed was basically at the bottom of the pack, while Nina ruled the female pecking order. That was really the only pair of werewolves that would have gotten along.

  “How’s he doing?” Sal’s voice was gentle, full of concern, but his tight shoulders and straight back said he was on high alert. Probably because of how much he hated hospitals.

  Shauna shook her head. “Not good. Half the problem is Doc Ramis. He’s fighting with the staff about Valentino’s care and no one seems to appreciate the way he’s throwing his weight around. They want to treat it like a snake bite, give him anti-venom. Don’t want to listen to him.”

  Sal snorted. “Not surprised.”

  “They got pretty upset when Doc broke Valentino’s arm.”

  I winced. That had been the strategy when we last saw him. Keep breaking body parts to stimulate Valentino’s healing response and slow down the progression of the venom as it slowly shut down his body. If they were to breaking arms, they’d run out of fingers and toes.

  I noticed Shauna was glaring at me with hard eyes. I probably wasn’t welcome. She, like some of the others, still viewed me as an outsider, someone who had no business meddling in pack affairs. I couldn’t care less what she thought of me. I was there to help Valentino, not impress her.

  Sal made a small noise that I realized later might have been a barely audible growl, and Shauna dropped her gaze to the floor.

  “Has anyone looked in on Leo?” I asked.

  “Broken ribs heal,” Shauna said, still staring at the floor. “Leo is young, too young for him to heal, but he will respond to the healing touch.”

  Sal nodded. “I’ll head down to the PICU after this.”

  Shauna lifted her eyes without moving her head from its bowed position. “Are you going to try to heal Valentino?”

  Sal shook his head. “It’s not my first choice. We’re working on a plan to trap the thing that bit him and extract the venom to make an anti-venom. It’s dan
gerous. If that doesn’t work, though, I’ll do everything I can to draw the venom out.”

  Shauna’s nostrils flared. “I thought there was something different about you. You smell too much like Chanter. Is he well?”

  “Stubborn, grumpy, and a pain in my ass as always.” Sal said it with a slight smile and an endearing tone. Then, he gripped Shauna by the shoulder and squeezed. “Valentino is coming back to Chanter’s with us. I would appreciate it if you would take him. I’ll go with you to make sure he does well in transport.” Sal turned his head to address me. “You can drive my truck back to Chanter’s place, can’t you? We’ll make further plans from there.”

  I nodded and uncrossed my arms. I hadn’t realized I’d crossed them, but the aggressive body language would probably irritate Shauna, who didn’t much care for me anyway. “I’ll stay here if you want to go back with Hunter.”

  “Nah.” Sal waved a dismissive hand. “All three of us are going back. You’re a cop and Hunter’s guardian. I know they won’t like it, but they’ll have to deal with it. I’ll need to talk to Nina and get her to sign the release papers and you two need to see Valentino. Get an updated assessment from Doc. Shauna, Daphne, you guys go get your car and pull it up. We won’t be long.”

  Sal headed for a set of glass double doors. Hunter and I followed. He pressed the button to be buzzed into the ward and the little light on the buzzer went from red to green. A small pop sounded through the hallway as the magnetic door released and the doors opened.

  One of the nurses at the nearest station put down the telephone receiver and glanced over our name badges. She’d been expecting us. “You’re here to see Mr. Garcia?” she asked in a heavy Texan accent. “Only two of you can go in at a time and there are already two in there.”

  Sal went and leaned against the nurse’s station, flashing his smile. “Howdy there, darlin’.”

  The firm-faced nurse suddenly blushed and her whole demeanor changed. The slight feeling of magick tickled my nose and I resisted the spell. It wasn’t thrown at me, but then werewolf magick didn’t quite work like mine. It seemed to affect the entire immediate area without regard as to who was standing nearby. Sal had laced his Southern charm act with the tiniest bit of compulsion magick, a useful tool to get people to comply. He couldn’t make people do things against their will, just suggest it would be better if they did. Not everyone was susceptible, of course, but this lady didn’t have her guard up. She was expecting a werewolf killer to walk through the doors and demand something, not sweet Texas charm.

  “Agent Black and her son are going in. I don’t mind standing out here with you.” His grin widened.

  The nurse swallowed. “I don’t really have time to talk.”

  “That’s alright,” Sal continued, still exaggerating his drawl. “I know you’re a busy woman, but if you wouldn’t mind prepping my friend’s release paperwork.”

  Something in her face changed, hardening. She’d fought her way through the magick. “This is the ICU, not a hotel. We can’t just release patients. Everyone here is gravely ill. Your friend needs to be monitored around the clock by professionals.”

  Sal turned his head to look at me. The look on his face said he was enjoying playing with the woman too much. “Go on to his room, Judah. Send Nina to me. We’ll get this all straightened out.”

  The nurse looked like she wanted to say something to stop us, but Sal turned back and engaged her in some more banter, distracting her. Hunter and I took the opportunity to slip down the hall in search of Valentino’s room.

  It wasn’t hard to find. It was the only room that had Doc Ramis standing outside, arguing with someone on staff as both stared at a computer screen on a mobile cart. The nurse he was arguing with wore a deep frown as Doc pointed emphatically to the screen.

  “...already poked him with enough silver today, don’t you think?” Doc was saying. “Any more and you’ll trigger an adverse reaction.”

  I lifted a fist and coughed into it to get his attention.

  Doc turned away from the screen and heaved a relieved sigh. “Judah, thank God. This place is a madhouse with no idea how to treat patients.” He cast a glare at the nurse.

  Eden Memorial Hospital was the best hospital in the nation for supernatural care. The problem was that there were too many chefs in the kitchen, so to speak. Valentino would officially be under some other doctor’s care and that other doctor probably had his own way of doing things. Doc didn’t technically have a medical license anymore, which is why he could only practice on the reservation where laws and regulations were more relaxed. He was the best at what he did, however. It was just the whole zombies thing that got his license pulled from my understanding. Medical politics. Apparently, the Texas Board of Medicine didn’t think it was ethical for a doctor to keep the living dead and his license to practice medicine.

  I stopped in front of the door to Valentino’s room and cast a sideways glance inside. I couldn’t see Valentino because the curtain was drawn, but I could see Nina. Nina is the definition of beautiful. If she hadn’t been a werewolf, she might have been a model. She also openly hated me already, so the glare of daggers wasn’t unexpected. Her normally perfectly contoured eyes were puffy and red and her mascara was smeared. Even so, her glare and growl made my skin crawl and my hindbrain shout, “Danger!”

  “How is he?” I directed the question to Doc.

  “Bad,” Doc admitted. “The kidneys are shutting down. Other parts aren’t far behind. I think there’s some minor fluid built up in his lungs, but I don’t know if that’s from the bite or all the silver this place uses in their needles.”

  “It’s common procedure,” the nurse interjected. “Specialized werewolf hospital tools are all silver-plated and we’re trained to use them with minimal risk to the patients.”

  Doc ignored her. “I’ve been trying to hurry their lab up and get some x-rays of his chest cavity to see how serious it is, but hospitals are slow.”

  “Chanter wanted him released.”

  He gave me a wild look and threw his arms up. “Released? Is he crazy? The only thing keeping him alive right now is a dangerous cocktail of drugs. Stop that drip, and he’ll be dead inside an hour.”

  Nina made a small noise and my attention snapped back to her. She’d put her hand over her mouth. The prospect of losing her husband brought new tears to her eyes.

  “We’ve got a plan,” I said loud enough that I was sure Nina could hear me. “We can get the anti-venom. Chanter thinks traditional medicine can’t help. We’re not dealing with a natural kind of snake with natural venom, after all. In the end, it’s not up to us. It’s up to Nina.”

  Hunter broke from my side and stepped to the doorway where he stopped. “Would it be okay if I came in?”

  Nina chewed on her bottom lip a moment and then nodded.

  Hunter stepped into the room and pulled the curtain back. Valentino did not look like himself. His skin was pallid, lips pale. Sweat dampened his face. His eyes were closed as if he was asleep, but his chest rose and fell with more effort than a sleeping man’s. They’d fitted him with an oxygen mask, but even I could tell that he wasn’t getting enough air, not as hard as he was having to work.

  Hunter gripped the bedrail closest to the door and held it. “My mom’s going to help,” he promised. “And I’m going to help her.”

  Nina sniffled and swallowed, regaining some of her lost composure. “If you’re doing this because you think it will change our vote about letting you into the pack—”

  He cast a long look at Valentino. “I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do. And because I know what it’s like to grow up without a dad. Leo needs his dad, even if Valentino is a jerk to me.”

  Nina’s face softened. She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. A silent tear slid down her cheek, drawing charcoal lines with it. “Thank you,” she whispered, tilting her head.

  Hunter didn’t answer. He pushed away from the bed and came back to me, head high and sh
oulders rolled back. “Okay,” he said, nodding once. “Whatever you want me to do, I’m doing it.”

  “Can you expedite his release?” I asked Doc.

  “The administration is going to fight it, but I can get a religious exemption down the pipeline quickly, maybe.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Valentino’s Catholic, isn’t he?”

  “Not today, he’s not.” Nina was suddenly at the door, dabbing at her eyes with a stiff tissue. “If my father says he can help, then I’ll place my husband in his care. Traditional medicine isn’t doing anything but drawing the whole thing out.”

  “I’ll give him a booster of the medicine,” Doc said. “And hopefully he lasts long enough for your plan to work.”

  I nodded. “Appreciate it.”

  Doc shook his head. “Don’t. Just fix this. I don’t want anyone dying under my watch.” He slid past Nina and back into Valentino’s room.

  Nina stepped out to address me. “Is my cousin here?”

  She meant Sal. They were cousins, but they’d been raised together so they were more like brother and sister than anything.

  I nodded. “We’re going down to the PICU to heal Leo after this, if that’s okay?”

  She gave me a good once-over as if she were deciding on something that had nothing to do with healing her son. “Whatever your plan is, I hope it works. If it doesn’t, and I have to go hunting to find this monster to avenge the death of my husband, make no mistake. I’ll kill whoever I have to, and I might not stop with some giant snake monster.”

  I believed her. When Valentino lost his brother, it was all he could do to keep from doing the same, and the two of them weren’t even close. I knew the pain of losing a husband and being left alone to raise a small child. If I had been a werewolf the day Alex had been murdered, my future would have ended up very differently. My hands would have been a lot bloodier. Because I understood that she was speaking from a position of worry and grief, I didn’t take it as a personal threat.