He went down, landed hard on his elbow and then his face. Collin didn’t try to break his fall. Pain exploded, and the gleeful blackness opened up its jaws and swallowed him whole.
Chapter Five
“I can’t believe I was out for the entire flight home.” Hope sat on a plush leather examination table in her aunt’s lab, having blood drawn. Her head hurt, and her tongue was swollen. When she’d regained consciousness after arriving at Realm headquarters in Idaho, her arm was already in a cast.
“I set your fractured ulna while you were out. Now I’m going to look at the components in those darts,” Emma said, inserting an IV needle into Hope’s arm. “Here’s a nice concoction that’ll help you feel better.”
It was nothing new for Emma to take Hope’s blood, but today she just ached. Her head hurt, and she couldn’t grasp the thought that Paxton had betrayed her, had betrayed all of them, actually. It didn’t make sense. She desperately needed to speak with him.
Emma smoothed Hope’s hair away from her face. “We’ll figure this out, honey, I promise.”
“I know.” Hope tried to force a smile for her aunt, who was also the Queen of the Realm. She was their chief scientist, and she spent more time inside the lab trying to cure diseases than she did outside it. Her hair was raven black and her eyes sparkling blue, and as usual, she wore a goofy T-shirt, frayed jeans, and tennis shoes beneath a white lab coat.
The door opened, and a large figure came inside. “Are you all right?” asked Hope’s uncle Kane, moving to her and looking into her eyes.
She blinked. He was actually her great-uncle, but when one lived forever, it was necessary to condense titles. “Emma? You called Uncle Kane?” she whispered.
Emma swallowed. “There’s nothing wrong with a second opinion.”
Except there was. Warning ticked down Hope’s spine. Emma hated anybody messing with her equipment, so she must have been more worried than she appeared to be, to call for a second opinion.
Kane stared at the sling. “Heard you broke your arm.”
Hope swallowed. “Yeah.”
“You try to send healing cells to it?” he asked.
Duh. “What a great idea,” she said, trying to cover her sarcasm but failing miserably. “Maybe the drugs are slowing down my healing cells.” Her voice wasn’t as level as she’d hoped. All immortals had healing cells to repair injuries, but hers weren’t working. Never had, really.
“When was the last time you fractured a bone?” His eyes glinted with intelligence.
“Many years ago in a bike wreck,” she admitted. So there was no way to determine if she had healing cells. They didn’t work against colds or the flu, basically because most immortals weren’t susceptible to such illnesses.
“You want blood?” Kane’s fangs dropped.
Emma didn’t look up from her microscope. “No. No blood until the drugs have completely exited her system. I’m not taking any chances.”
“Huh.” Kane stalked over to the microscope and nudged Emma aside.
Emma glared at her brother-in-law. “Kane, give me a break. It’s my lab.”
“I’m still the smartest person on the planet, last time I checked,” Kane said absently, having to lean down to look into the scope. “Plus, you called me.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “I’m real glad to hear those self-esteem classes are working for you.”
Hope shifted uneasily. “Kane, have you been down to see Paxton?”
Her uncle straightened and looked over his shoulder at her. “No. You’re not going, either.”
“I don’t think I can go near him until I calm down a little bit.” Hope sighed, her chest hurting. “I don’t even know what to think.”
Kane looked around the spacious lab. He wore a black silk shirt tucked into black pants, and even relaxed, his muscles played as he moved. His hair was Kayrs dark, his eyes violet, and his intellect unsurpassed. “You know, I’m surprised your parents aren’t here, or your grandparents for that matter.”
“I kicked them out,” Emma said simply. “They were driving me nuts, and you’re the next to go.”
Kane straightened to his full height just as one of the many pieces of lab equipment on the wide granite counter beeped.
Emma hurried over to it and then turned as a printer spit out several pieces of paper. She read through each page rapidly. “Riveting.”
“What?” Kane leaned over her shoulder.
She handed him the papers.
Hope held a hand to her stomach. “What did they give me?”
“Quite a few interesting components in those darts,” Emma murmured. “The one that knocked you out was xylazine, which is used by veterinarians to sedate large animals, usually horses.”
“Damno is totus ut abyssus,” Kane said. “It’s also a street drug, which is probably where the Kurjans got it. They no doubt wanted to kidnap you.”
For goodness’ sake. Hope knew Latin, so it was silly that Kane still swore in the language when around her. “We’ve suspected they’ve had a bounty out on me for years. Am I going to be okay?”
“Sure,” Emma said.
Hope narrowed her gaze. “What else was in the dart?”
“I don’t know,” Emma said.
Hope was quiet for a moment, her lungs stuttering. Emma knew everything about drugs. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“There’s a very, very small ingredient my equipment couldn’t identify.” Emma frowned, gazing off in the distance as her amazing mind no doubt went to work.
“Hmm,” Kane said as he read over the sheet. “We’ll need to do further testing. Let’s use the robust flame ionization detector.”
“Out,” Emma said. “I know what I’m doing.” Even though he was a good head taller than she was, Emma put both her hands on his chest and pushed him toward the door. “I appreciate the consult, and I’ll be in touch once I have more information.”
“Jeez, fine,” Kane said, stomping off. “Call me when you need me.”
The tension in the room dissipated with his departure. “I swear, your uncles.” Emma sighed.
“My mom was just as bad.” Hope chuckled.
“Yeah, Janie’s a sweetheart,” Emma said, her expression softening. “I probably shouldn’t have kicked her out when I kicked your dad out, but Zane’s pacing was upping my anxiety.”
Her parents were still overprotective even though she was twenty-four years old. “How much of this unknown compound remains in my blood?”
“Not much,” Emma said. “The second tests show that it’s dissipating quickly, whatever it is, but I still want to identify the compound. It’s something I haven’t seen before.”
Hope flopped back on the comfortable table, her hair spreading out over the pillow. Her arm ached, but she didn’t care. “That can’t be good.”
“No, it can’t. I need to take another sample from Paxton.”
Hope swallowed. “How is he?” She felt like an idiot for asking, but if his head was pounding as bad as hers was, well, he probably deserved it.