Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two

Havermouth, Present Time

“Aislen,” Talen murmured into her ear. “It’s time to wake up, little demon.”

Aislen fought through the darkness. There was a roar of mental sound, and she hastily repaired the bubbles until there was quiet again. The effort, and the sharp pain in her head it caused, pushed her back into the darkness... Daddy... Talen... She remembered and tried to surface again. Fuck, she hurt… Ah, yes, the police had shot her. Oh god. Was she dead? No, Talen was there…

“She’s coming around,” the woman’s voice was vaguely familiar.

“Judith,” Aislen tried to say, but realized there was something in her mouth. She panicked, her eyes flicking open and then closing against the painful glare, her hands lifting to her mouth. Talen took her hand, holding it gently in his – she knew it was him because his touch came without mental noise – preventing her from pulling at the thing that gagged her. Intubated, she told herself, she’d seen it often enough on TV.

“It’s alright, sweetie,” the nurse, Judith, said. “We’ll get that out. Give me a little cough.”

The slide of the tube was incredibly uncomfortable, and Aislen gagged. Her eyes were beginning to find focus and she was able to open them properly without so much discomfort. She was in the Havermouth hospital, in a private room, with Talen leaning over her, and the Triquetra hovering at the foot of the bed, Rhett’s fingers wrapped so tightly around the pole of the footrest that his knuckles were blanched, and Heath with his arm around Cameron’s shoulders.

All four of her men. Her heart melted. All four of her very stressed out and worried men.

“I feel like shit,” she complained, her voice hoarse. “Thirsty, and in need of a shower.”

“Here, just a little and we’ll see how you go,” Judith held a straw to her lips. Aislen took a sip, using the water to wet the inside of her mouth. “How are your pain levels?” She asked Aislen.

“Hurts,” Aislen replied. “But okay. Fuck, the police shot me.”

“Friendly fire, they said,” Judith told her.

“Wasn’t very friendly from this side of the bullet,” Aislen said ruefully. She plucked the blankets with her fingers, hesitant to lift them and see what lay beneath. “What’s the damage? Do I want to know?”

“They missed the tattoo,” Rhett’s smile was wan. “If that matters to you.”

“Hmm,” she rolled her eyes and then frowned as she realized that the light through the window was early afternoon. “It’s… tomorrow, isn’t it? Fuck, I lost the night… and morning.”

“You lost a lot of blood,” Talen stroked her hair back gently. “And needed to recover from surgery.”

“The doctor will be in within a few hours to discuss your surgery and recovery, but I can confirm that you lost a lot of blood, over two liters, and a transfusion was necessary. The bullet lacerated your small intestine which required surgery to stop the bleeding. That is actually the best type of wound,” Judith told her, holding the straw to Aislen’s lips to let her take another drink. “Small intestine wounds are much easier to heal from than large intestine wounds.”

“So, everything’s in its right place, and I’ll be fine?” Aislen asked hopefully.

“It will be a slow recovery,” Judith was gentle with the news. “You will be in the hospital for several days and will need another adult with you at home when you are released. There will be physical therapy, and regular check-ups until the doctors are confident that you have returned to good health.”

“Fuck,” Aislen sighed. “I suppose sex isn’t going to be possible for a while?”

“It might be a while until you feel that you are recovered sufficiently for sex,” Judith replied dubiously. “And then you should get your doctor’s clearance and be careful to stop should you experience discomfort.”

Talen laughed under his breath.

“Like it wasn’t a question you wanted answered, too,” Aislen told him. The table and benches around the bed were covered in cards, balloons, and great big bunches of flowers with soft toys peeking out between them. They reminded her of the girls hiding in the bushes. “Oh,” she remembered the boy with the gunshot wound. “The boy that got shot, is he okay?”

“Stephan,” Cameron supplied. “He’s doing better than you. He was eating jelly and custard this morning when I stopped by his room. His parents--” He broke off, his eyes filling, and shook his head, looking away whilst he composed himself. “A lot of parents, really, want to thank you when you’re feeling better. You saved a lot of kids’ lives.”

“Stephan’s very smug about the fact you stripped down to a see-through bra in front of him,” Rhett added, still trying for humour, but the attempt sitting ill at ease with how tightly he clutched the footrest of the bed.

“It was either my shirt or my skirt,” she replied, with a smile, hoping to ease his obvious tension.

“Havermouth’s hero is what Tabitha Marie is calling you,” Judith announced. “And preventing her from busting into your room to interview you is keeping the security guards on their toes.” She was fascinated by the men in the room, and very intrigued as to what their relationship was to Aislen considering her question about sex.

“Ouch,” Aislen winced as Judith’s thoughts were accompanied with a sharp, spiking pain. She had over-exerted her telepathy, she thought, in trying to persuade the gunman to lower his weapon.

“Something hurting?” Talen murmured.

“Just a headache,” she told him.

“Rest,” Judith told her. “I’ll go let the doctor know that you are awake.” She looked around the four men, obviously considering ordering them to leave.

Heath smiled faintly at her. “You can try to make us go,” he told her. “But you will fail.”

Judith sighed heavily and looked back at Aislen. “I will make them if you want me to.”

“No,” Aislen shook her head. “I want them here. But thank you.”

“Alright,” Judith acquiesced and left.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Heath looked to Talen and raised his eyebrows.

“Little demon,” Talen stroked her cheek. “We have discussed overnight and have agreed that the offer should be made of my blood.”

“Your blood,” Aislen repeated in confusion. “What about your blood?”

“My blood can significantly increase your rate of recovery and will ease your discomfort, enabling us to take you home sooner,” Talen explained gently. “But it… hmm,” he slid a look at Rhett. “It is how we create vampires. Many small doses of blood over a prolonged period of time will turn a human into a vampire.”

“You’re not a human, however,” Rhett said, and she realized that this was the cause of his tension. “The result could be… unpredictable. It’s…” He shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Aislen frowned. Between the headache, her hunger, the pain from the wound, and the sucking exhaustion that wanted her to fall back to sleep, she couldn’t think straight, but she knew her four men well enough to be suspicious as to why Talen and Heath would consider something risky just to speed her healing process. “Why?” She asked, looking up at Talen. “What has happened?”

“The police officer who shot you was one of us,” Heath said quietly, gesturing to the Triquetra, and meaning a werewolf. “There are murmurs that it was an unsanctioned hit, and if it was, it won’t be the only one.”

“An unsanctioned hit?” She repeated blankly.

“Someone in the hierarchy of the pack,” Talen murmured. “Has unofficially given word that you need to be killed, Aislen. That police officer did not misfire. He was aiming at you.”

“Well, who?” Aislen demanded of Heath. “Who said, let’s shoot Aislen Carter?”

“We don’t know who gave the order,” Heath replied grimly. “And the officer in question insists that it was friendly fire and that he was aiming for the gunman.”

“That poor kid had his gun pointed at his own head,” Aislen replied, the memory causing her to swallow hard. “He wasn’t a risk to anyone but himself at that point – why would the police shoot him, when he was about to shoot himself?”

“Nerves, spur of the moment, instinctive reaction,” Heath replied. “Or, at least, that’s the official explanation.”

“Can’t you just get the other bosses of the pack to countermand any unsanctioned hit?” She asked.

“They deny that any hit exists,” Heath explained. “They cannot countermand something that they deny has occurred.”

“We can’t protect you, here,” Cameron said softly, his voice hoarse. “Not in the hospital.”

“You think that there’s a risk, daddy?” She looked up at Talen.

Talen’s eyes were gentle as he smiled. “I think that you are a little demon,” he replied and raised his eyebrows in amusement, “who has a habit of starting fires. Tyler has advised that an angry man and a woman both came by for you yesterday whilst you were at the hearing, and it is very possible that a member of the pack has decided to silence you. I agree with Heath that being vulnerable and in hospital is not the safest of options for you at this time. I would not offer my blood, if I did not consider the risk minimal,” he added.

Aislen considered the options and shrugged. “Why the fuck not?” She decided. “It’s not like I want to hang around like an invalid in the hospital anyway. I bet you taste great, and I’m starving,” she added. “Bring on the blood, daddy.”