Chapter 23

23

GRAYSON

I should've restrained the bastard the moment he walked into the room and I smelled a shifter. The guy matched Violet's description and coincidentally arrived at Holly's hospital bedside. What if Holly's abductor sent Dashiell to finish the job? We may've just prevented her death.

"Stay with Holly!" I call and blur from the room, barely touching the nurse in the doorway as I sprint after Dashiell. The shifter's insane if he believes he'll escape a Petrescu.

Momentarily, I pause, vaguely aware of someone yelling for security. The other way —Dashiell wouldn't head for the elevators. Pissed that the smell of cleaning fluids and sickness interferes with his trail, I run along the hallway and through double doors at the end. I catch sight of Dashiell's head as the guy knocks into people, dodging a guy being pushed in a wheelchair, as the shifter barrels along another hallway, not pausing once.

The hallway ends with a large window.

"Stop!" I shout.

Pausing, not looking back, Dashiell yanks open a door to his left and dives through. I catch the door before it closes, entering the concrete stairwell in time to see him leaping through the center of the winding stairs.

I vault over the metal rail after him and land inches away, surer footed than the wolf. He yells out as I grab the back of his jacket and slam him face first into the cinderblock wall.

"Coming to the hospital was a dumb move. Trying to outrun a Petrescu equally stupid," I hiss in his ear.

"Please. Let me go. I swear you won't see me again. I'll never come near Holly or any of you."

Yanking him backwards, I turn Dashiell to slam his back against the wall instead. "That's the problem, shifter. If you disappear, so do answers."

I've seen terror in other's faces before, normally in response to my hemia transformation, but Dashiell's fear comes from elsewhere. "I need to leave before somebody knows what I've done. There's messed up shit happening, and I'll die ."

"Then you're safer with us," I say.

"Safer with Dorian Blackwood?" he says in a strangled voice. "At least I'll have a chance if I run."

"You honestly believe that?" I sneer. "Either he or this mysterious guy will catch you. Dorian might be more lenient."

Am I seriously saying those words?

But if Dashiell cooperates, and he genuinely did help Holly, he has a greater chance of survival than if Viktor and his associates catch a betrayer with evidence against them.

"Down here!" echoes a voice. A burly man peers down from above the three floors we jumped down. "Security. Stay where you are."

Shit. I shouldn't be here either. But if I run from this hospital, Dashiell will escape. It's one thing for a hemia to chase a shifter through hospital hallways, another to take this pursuit into the streets. Dorian will lose his shit with me and Violet anyway; if I add in some more negative supe behavior in public, I'm done.

Honestly, I'm already done. I aided and abetted Violet in evading Dorian Blackwood.

Wow. The human hospital contains rooms to lock people up in while waiting for the police to arrive. Realistically, the square space wouldn't hold me if I wanted to leave, and Dashiell could also escape if determined enough. Although the guards outside would be a problem, and we've caused enough trouble already.

Security mentioned they'd call in someone from supe authorities who can control us . Once someone communicates that Violet Blackwood is mixed up in all this, I'm certain that someone will be Dorian.

Where is Violet? Hopefully, Violet understands the seriousness of human injuries and realizes taking Holly wouldn't be wise. But if a nurse or security try to remove Violet from Holly's room and her sight, I wish them luck.

I don't speak to Dashiell, who's sitting in an orange plastic chair at the opposite side of the narrow room, head in hands. Who is he? Did he really help Holly? Either way, he's put himself right in the middle of everything.

My blood cools as a recognizable voice approaches from outside. Dorian. I swallow and glance at Dashiell, silently wishing him luck and hoping fate slings some my way, too. The knot in my stomach untwists slightly as Violet's voice joins Dorian's.

Who sounds the most pissed? Because as they grow closer, Violet's protesting about leaving Holly, and Dorian's threatening to take her straight from the academy to Scotland.

An image of the pair fighting crosses my mind— Dorian trying to involve her in a blood rune spell, and Violet resisting. Sure, Dorian is her parent, but Violet matches him on every level, and that includes doing anything to get her own way if she she's blinded by her single-mindedness in a situation.

The door opens and Dorian's frame fills the doorway before he regards us in the gray-painted room. The blond-haired hybrid's disdainful look at me switches to dark disgust as his glacial eyes rest on Dashiell, who's finally looking up.

What the hell do I say? Even smiling at Dorian might irritate him more.

Violet shoves past Dorian and glances around, her eyes holding mine for a moment before she turns to her father. "If I'm not permitted to stay with Holly, I want her under supernatural supervision at all times until she's well enough to leave."

He looks down at her. "As if I'd allow anything to happen to the girl." I know as well as Violet that isn't fear for her safety. "She contains vital clues."

Those words could've almost come from Violet's mouth. The old Violet. "You do not examine Holly's mind unless I am present."

Dorian's jaw hardens. "Stop making demands. I'll investigate this how I see fit."

"And him," continues Violet, jabbing a finger towards Dashiell. "I want to be in the room when you question the shifter."

Dashiell's face disappears into his hands again.

"That requires cooperation, Violet, and, so far, you have excluded me. Therefore, I will speak to Dashiell when I see fit." She seethes at him. "But rest assured, I'll pass on everything I discover."

Dorian turns to me, and every muscle in my body tenses as I prepare for him to grab me or use magic. He slides hands into his pockets and looks down. "Rowan informed you that I waited at the academy for Violet. You assisted her in avoiding me."

My throat bobs. "Violet would've come to the hospital without me. I wanted to protect her."

He barks a laugh. " Protect her?"

"I mean, stop Violet from doing something that would cause trouble," I stammer.

"Uh huh. Avoiding trouble by chasing shifters through the hospital?" He pushes his tongue against a canine. "Hemia aren't supposed to enter human hospital wards."

"Sorry," I mumble.

"I can be very persuasive, Dorian," Violet says."Grayson had to help me."

He pivots to look at his daughter. "You used mind control on him?"

"No," she retorts. "My three friends often step in if they believe I may cross a line and cause trouble."

Again, a derisive sound escapes Dorian before he steps across the room to Dashiell, hands still casually in his pockets. "Look at me."

Hesitantly, Dashiell removes his fingers from his eyes and does as he's commanded, then suppresses a pained noise, face paling. I cringe at the memory of Dorian's magic piercing my mind. "Violet informed me that your memories are a mess. Your mind may take some working on ."

Dashiell's hands tremble, and he balls them on his knees. "I'll cooperate."

"You say that as if it's an option, Dashiell. Is that your real name?" He nods. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you, Dashiell ."

Poor guy. But at least Dashiell's presence deflects from me. Dorian turns to Violet again. "To say that I'm unimpressed with your behavior would be an understatement. I'm called to the academy by human detectives who tell me somebody found Holly injured in the woods. One of you . I had no idea. You've made me look like a fool."

"And I have explained why," says Violet.

"I will not harm the girl," he repeats.

"And I couldn't be sure, Dorian. Holly?—"

"Your loyalties are wrong," he snaps.

I shuffle in my uncomfortable chair as Dorian's dark cloud of anger grows. Violet, this is not helpful .

"If I'd returned to the academy as requested, I would never have found Dashiell at the hospital," she says evenly. "A result for the investigation."

"A lucky coincidence," he retorts.

"Not for me," mumbles Dashiell. "But I had to know that Holly is safe. You will keep her safe?"

"From shifters trying to tear her insides out?" asks Dorian.

"That wasn't me! I called an ambulance when I saw what Sam had done. Then I heard voices. Brought Violet to her," he protests, slumping back. "Like I said, I'll cooperate in every way."

"And like I said, you've no choice but to cooperate."

Dashiell took a risk visiting the hospital once this morning, and then a second time this evening. He'd known Holly would be under watch by humans or supes, or both. The shifter either has a guilty conscience along with his secrets or he genuinely protected Holly and wants to continue keeping her safe.

Or somebody has sent him to finish a failed job.