Allegiance(86)

CHAPTER 27

Nik couldn’t get his Ranger training out of his head. Don’t be a hero, their unit leader would tell them before a mission. Don’t be a martyr. Don’t be a Lone Ranger. Don’t be a cowboy. Don’t go in without backup.

He’d broken every one of those don’ts in the last few hours, and he was paying for it. Only his stubborn male pride kept him from giving in to Robin’s pleas to let her carry him back to Mirren’s. He’d be damned if he went before the biggest alpha male on God’s green earth in the arms of a ninety-eight-pound woman, no matter what she could or couldn’t turn into.

“Just let me c—”

“Robin, I’m not giving on this, so shut it.”

“Stupid boy.” They hobbled the longest block in the world, from the mill to Mirren’s house, with his left arm over her shoulder and her right arm around his waist. “Are you sure it was her? How do you know? And what happened back at the restaurant?”

Her being Shawn. “Let’s get to Mirren’s first. I can’t go through it twice, and hello—I’m bleeding like a sieve.”

She stayed blissfully silent the rest of the walk and didn’t even laugh at him when she had to mostly drag him up the steps; both feet left the ground simultaneously at least twice. At that point, Mirren spotted them and took over. He just picked Nik up without asking.

Another embarrassing moment in the life of Rangers versus Others. “Down,” he said. “I can walk.”

“Shut the fuck up, Dimitrou.”

Couldn’t argue with that. By the time Mirren got him to his bedroom, Glory had spread out a white sheet over the bed and had water running in the bathroom. She rolled up her sleeves and worked with Robin to get his shirt off and his cuts and bites cleaned and bandaged. Finally, Krys bustled in wielding a rolling suitcase and a big needle. Better and better.

“Gotta stitch up the ear.” She numbed the area and worked quickly. Either that or Nik had fallen asleep or fainted like a girl. At any rate, she was there, and then she was done, and then she was gone. Only Robin remained, stretched out next to him, watching him with sharp eyes, her eyebrows drawn together.

“Hey.” Why did everyone who’d been injured sound like a four-pack-a-day chain smoker?

She smiled and patted his shoulder, one of the few body parts that didn’t hurt. “Hey, you stupid boy. I gotta go and get Mirren. He wanted to know as soon as you woke up. You know he still calls you Zorba behind your back?”

“What? Wait.” He tried to sit up. Once, twice, third time was the charm. “Well, Zorba doesn’t want to talk to him flat on my back. Help me get into the living room.”

Robin narrowed her eyes—her usual precursor to arguing—but finally nodded. Maybe Cage was having a good influence, bringing out her kinder, gentler side. Nik and the vampire were probably the only ones who’d ever seen it. “Heard from Cage?”

She hovered nearby until she was sure he could stand on his own. “Not yet. I’m worried.”

“He can take care of himself. You’ll see.” Except he was up against something for which none of them had prepared. Something none of them could understand, because it shouldn’t exist.

They made their way to the living room. Mirren was in his usual chair, with Glory on his lap getting a little PDA time. As soon as she saw them, she jumped up and cleared a spot on the sofa nearest Mirren.

Only when he was settled did Nik take a full breath. He’d been focusing all of his energy on staying upright.

“Talk.”

A man of few words, Mirren. “Bottom line or from the start?”

“Both.”

“Shawn Nicholls is our coyote.” Nik held his hands up and winced as a cut threatened to reopen. “I know, I know, not possible. I don’t know how, but it’s true. Cage is after her now.”

“Holy fuck.” Mirren sat back, his frown etched so deeply into his face that it might never come out. Glory, wide eyed on the floor next to him, didn’t even seem to notice his use of the F-word. If any situation called for an F-word, this was it.

“You gonna call Aidan? I’m not sure Niko can go through this twice.” Robin, the guardian angel his friend Kell called “Razorblade Robin,” held up her smartphone.

“He’s on his way to Atlanta, to deal with the fallout of these blood-bank bombings,” Mirren said. “I’ll fill him in before daysleep. Maybe he can check around while he’s there and see if anyone else has heard of something like this. It’s the damnedest thing I’ve heard in a while. Now, let’s start at the beginning.”