Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Sammy sat on the edge of the exam table, wearing a set of scrubs that were far too big for her. The pant legs were rolled several times, as was the waist. She basically swam in the shirt, but they were clean and didn't smell like dead guys so she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She felt like a lab rat but at least she was clean.

There had been no sign of Wheeler for nearly two hours, since she'd last seen him in the hallway, trying to kill Mac. Concern for him left her stomach twisted into a knot. He'd seemed fine when she'd last seen him, but he'd been through a lot in the last few days. Being turned to stone and coming out of it only to have to take on a bunch of evil jack-holes had to take it out of a guy.

Auberi entered the exam room and left the door standing wide open. "Are you sure I can't get you anything to eat? The twins put extra subs in the break room refrigerator."

"I'm fine," she said, sliding off the table and standing in her heels, because the disposable sandal-slipper things Auberi had given her had been too big. She'd cleaned the blood off her heels and had chosen to wear them instead. She knew she looked ridiculous, but she didn't care. "Where is Wheeler? Is he okay? Did I hurt him worse than I thought when I electrocuted him?"

Auberi glanced away quickly and busied himself with her chart. "Preliminary results of your testing are back. Would you like to hear…?"

She touched his arm. "Where is he? What's wrong with him?"

He sighed, and then faced her. "We've run into a small problem. It's nothing we can't figure out. In the meantime, I'm having actual clothing brought over in your size, and I've arranged for you to be put in a safe house until we can get you to Ezra and Holland."

She shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere until I see Wheeler."

"He's indisposed at the moment," said Auberi, looking up from her chart.

"W-what aren't you telling me?"

He faced her fully. "He's started to turn to stone once more and nothing we're doing is stopping the progression."

"Take me to him now!"

"Samantha, please understand that we have the best team of scientific minds on this," he stressed before reaching for her. "He's in good hands. Let's get you taken care of and somewhere safe."

The air around her began to thicken and the hair on her arms rose. "Take me to him now."

Auberi glanced around the room before his gaze locked firmly on her. He grinned slightly. "I see the initial results saying you have a fair amount of Fae in you aren't wrong. If you could refrain from electrocuting me, I'd appreciate it."

"Will you take me to him?"

He nodded. "But you should know, he told me not to. He said he doesn't want to see you."

She stepped back fast. Wheeler didn't want to see her? She'd thought they'd formed a connection. A bond, even if just new. Why wouldn't he want to see her now? Had he had enough time to think about the fact she might be his mate and realize he didn't want her?

Was that it?

Did he want to exchange what nature had given him?

Sammy clasped her hands before her and began to pace in the exam room, her heels clicking loudly. Nodding, she looked at the floor as she walked. "I understand."

"Do you really?" asked Auberi.

She glanced at him. "Yes. He doesn't want to see me. I get it. This has been a lot for us both. I'm not what he wanted. I accept that."

Auberi walked to the open door and motioned with two fingers for her to join. Reluctantly she followed, though she didn't really want to have Wheeler reject her face-to-face. But she did want to see him.

She glanced into some of the empty exam rooms and paused outside of one, noticing for the first time since her arrival at the facility that there wasn't really anyone else there. Just the people they'd come with. "They really don't have this place staffed at all yet?"

Auberi glanced back at her. "Not as of yet. I was told it had been scheduled to launch six months back but had been delayed. For the best. Means it's off the grid, so to speak."

"Because you guys have bad apples spoiling the bunch?"

He seemed to think hard before answering. "We're aware we have leaks in our organization. We thought we had most of them weeded out. We were wrong."

She was getting a crash course in just how dangerous his world was. A world that she was apparently part of now.

They continued walking until they came to a door at the end of the long hall.

Auberi put his hand on it but didn't open it right away. "Samantha, prepare yourself."

She nodded, and he opened the door.

No amount of prep work could have gotten her ready for what she saw.

Wheeler was there in the center of the room, standing in a pair of scrub bottoms, holding an arm out that was fully stone. One of his legs was fully stone as well. The other was stone up to his knee. The stone was moving up his arm, over his shoulder, to his neck. It was like watching someone freeze over in place, but with rock being the end result in place of ice.

His friends were around him, concern on their faces.

Wheeler's gaze moved to Sammy and widened. "What is she doing here? I said I didn't want her seeing me like this."

Rurik was in the back of the room, leaning against the wall. He had his thumbs in the loops of his black tactical pants, appearing unaffected by everything around him. He withdrew them and pulled a knife from a sheath on his belt. He began to clean under his fingernails with it, as if trying to appear aloof. She got the sense he cared greatly about what was happening, despite the display. "She saw you as a full statue."

"That was different," Wheeler said, desperation in his voice. The look in his eyes wasn't anger. It was fear.

He was afraid of what was happening to him.

The next Sammy knew, she was running at him, heels and all. She took the hand that wasn't stone yet and held it, looking around at his friends. "Someone do something! Stop it!"

The twins lowered their heads.

Auberi touched her shoulder lightly. "Samantha, we've tried everything we can think of. We have calls in to our associates all over the world. Everyone we trust is working for a solution. None have seen anything like this before."

That couldn't be it. Someone had to know what was happening. They couldn't just be accepting the fact he was turning back to stone, could they?

"Take her out of here," said Wheeler, agony in his voice. "Please."

She clung to his hand. "No. I'm not leaving you."

He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly. It was then she felt the slight tremble in his hand. "Go. Please. You don't need to see this. I'm sorry. I thought we had a chance."

Her mind raced with everything that had occurred since he'd been delivered into her life. She thought about what he'd said—that her voice and the smell of her blood had called to him while he'd been locked in stone.

"Auberi, blood. Can it fix him?" she asked, hoping she was on to something. "He only drank half the container. Give him more. Lots more."

"He's been given more," said Auberi. "He's had more than he can drink even. It's not helping."

"Sammy, go," begged Wheeler.

She shook her head, still clinging to his hand. "No. What about my blood? He didn't drink that."

"No. He did not. But I don't think blood is what—"

She didn't want to hear what else Auberi had to say on the matter. Her focus went to the knife in Rurik's hand. One second it was there, and the next it was flying across the room as her hair lifted on its own and the air around her thickened. She knew it was her doing. That whatever it was she'd been born with was acting on its own.

She released Wheeler's hand and reached out fast. The knife sliced her palm on its way to the other wall, where it embedded—next to Car's head.

Car's eyes were wide. "Rurik, I know we do nae always see eye to eye, but you do nae have to try to take my head off!"

Mac shrugged. "I'm fine if he does. It would give me that only-child status I was cravin'."

Rurik pushed off the wall. "That wasn't my doing."

"You're bleeding!" shouted Wheeler, trying to grab for her hand again.

Since he was stuck in place, he couldn't quite reach.

She twisted out of Auberi's grasp as he too tried to get her. She slammed her bloody palm onto Wheeler's stone leg.

At first, nothing happened, and her stomach sank. She'd been so sure it would work. That somehow her blood was the key to helping him.

A strained sob came from her. While she'd only just met the man, she felt connected to him and wasn't ready to admit defeat. But that was exactly what she was facing. Somehow he'd managed to arrive in her life, thanks to Al and his men, and worm his way into her heart. She cared deeply for this man. Heck, she didn't want to admit that she might very well already love him.

"It didn't work," she said in a barely there voice, pulling her hand away.

How could fate be so cruel as to put her special someone in front of her, only to rip him away?

Auberi was there, ready with a bandage, giving her a stern look. "That was foolish. This will require stitches."

"What in the hell were you thinking?" demanded Wheeler. "All I want is you safe and you go and fling a fucking knife at yourself! Woman, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Can he have one of those?" asked Car of Mac.

Mac rubbed his chin. "I do nae know. Can we ?"

"Guid question," said Car, a pensive expression on his face.

"Uh, guys," said Rurik, only to be ignored.

"Auberi, take her out of here!" yelled Wheeler.

"Guys," said Rurik again.

Sammy glanced at him and noticed him staring at Wheeler's leg. She followed his gaze—and blinked several times. Where she'd touched with her bloody hand was no longer stone. The area around it was slowly turning back to normal.

Wheeler continued to rant and rave about how careless she'd been and how she needed to be taken far from him and kept safe. He added his other arm to his rant and kept going for another minute or so before he paused, staring at his arms. They were both back to normal. "Holy fuck, it worked!"

Rurik groaned and walked past Wheeler. "Americans."

He went to the wall near Car and retrieved his knife before leaving the room.

The twins followed behind him.

Auberi nodded to her and then set about bandaging her hand. "You were right."

"W-what does this mean?" asked Wheeler.

Auberi took a deep breath. "I'm not sure. My guess is that she most certainly is your mate, and that her blood is key to keeping you from reverting to stone. Whatever Mirza did to you may wear off eventually, but it might not. Samantha could be the answer. Her blood, that is."

Wheeler paled. "I'm not letting her cut herself every few hours to keep me from being a rock. No way. Not happening."

Sammy put her uncut hand on her hip. "I'll cut myself if I want to."

"No. You won't."

Auberi cleared his throat. "Perhaps there is a better way."

Wheeler looked at him. "I'm not letting her donate blood either. I won't have her being poked all the time for my sake."

Sammy huffed. "Why can't your mouth stone over? I'd like you to shut up now so that would be handy."

"Really?" he asked, clearly annoyed with her.

She grinned. "Really."

"Wheeler," said Auberi calmly.

It took a bit, but Wheeler finally settled enough to speak to his friend. "What?"

"As your mate, you'd claim her, and she'd naturally meet your needs daily," he offered, giving Wheeler a knowing look. "Are you following?"

Wheeler took a deep breath. "We'd naturally have sex…and I'd feed from her each day."

Sammy perked. "We would and you would?"

The idea of doing the hottie had a lot of merit. Even if he was as hardheaded as the rest of him could become.

"You would," said Auberi. "It's the way of things for our kind. Sex and blood tend to go hand in hand."

Sammy stiffened. "Every time he feeds, he has sex?"

"Stop helping, Auberi," said Wheeler.

Auberi laughed. "No. I tend to have sex every time I feed, but Wheeler isn't like me. Though I have heard he is very good with the ladies. Maybe he does."

"Seriously, don't help," added Wheeler sternly.

Sammy wanted to be angry at him but realized she had a past too. She bit her lower lip. "If you don't ask me about the men I've been with, I'll not ask you about all the women, okay?"

Wheeler cocked his head to one side. "What men? I want names."

She glanced at Auberi and blew out a long breath. "I'm totally going to stake him again."

Laughing, Auberi went for the door. He put his hand on the light switch before he stepped out. "Have fun, kids," he said, flipping off the main light.

All that was left was a small light under the cabinet by the sink.