Night Unbound(71)

Zach squeezed her hand when, yet again, no response came.
David’s blood seemed to have done nothing to help her. It didn’t even warm her cold feet. When Zach had repeatedly expressed his concern over her chilly toes, Melanie had found a heating pad and applied it, along with several blankets.
Not knowing how else they might help her, they had moved Lisette to a bed in the next room, where she would be more comfortable while they watched and waited.
Bastien and Melanie had followed Darnell to David’s office. Low murmurs of conversation fluttered to Zach’s ears while the three consulted this immortal doctor or that network doctor over the phone.
David had been called away to solve some crisis in South Carolina, but not before he had ordered Richart and Étienne to cut the crap when they had continually objected to Zach’s presence . . . and his holding Lisette’s hand.
Zach would be damned if either one of them would usurp his place at her bedside.
And, if his holding her hand pissed them off, what the hell would they do when they found out about all of the marvelously wicked explorations he had made of her body?
Tracy occupied a chair on the opposite side of the bed, keeping Zach and Lisette quiet company. Lisette’s two brothers glared holes in the back of Zach’s head from their seats over by the televisions.
Knowing worry and weariness would eventually drive him to exacerbate Seth’s ire by hitting both males with enough preternatural force to make their eyes swell shut if he kept catching glimpses of their scowls, Zach leaned over and rested his head on the bed next to Lisette, pressing his face to the hand he refused to relinquish.
Lisette, sweetheart, please answer me.
“Zach?”
His heart leapt at the feminine voice, then plummeted when he realized it wasn’t Lisette’s. Raising his head, he looked toward the doorway.
Ami stood there, her big belly preceding her. Behind her loomed Marcus and Seth.
“Seth told us what happened,” she said, her gaze taking in Lisette’s still form, as well as Zach’s desperate hold on her hand. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” he said for the benefit of their audience. No, he told her telepathically. I’m not. She won’t wake up.
Ami hurried forward, arms extended.
Zach looked to her husband as Ami wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.
Marcus crossed his arms over his chest and watched the two impassively.
Hmm. Zach leaned into her embrace and wrapped his free arm around her. Burying his face in her neck, he let her comfort him.
“I didn’t realize you two were seeing each other,” she said softly, rubbing his back.
It’s only been a few weeks. He didn’t say it aloud. The others could kiss his ass. It was none of their business. But she means everything to me.
“There’s been no response?”
“None.”
Lisette? he heard her call mentally. It’s Ami. Can you hear me?
Ami’s belly jumped against his own as the baby kicked, but Lisette remained still and silent.
Ami hugged Zach tighter. “She’ll come back to us. I know she will.”
Somehow the confident words conveyed only worry.
 

 

Ethan entered the infirmary on silent steps.
Lisette lay as still and pale as death in her bed, a mound of blankets piled atop the cold feet over which Zach had been obsessing. Her brothers slept in two of the other beds the room boasted, their wives curled into their sides. Zach . . .
Ethan stared at him.
Zach sat on the same stool he had occupied for the past three nights and days, his head on the covers beside Lisette’s hip, her limp hand clutched in his. His longish hair concealed his eyes, but Ethan thought they were closed. Something about him seemed . . . off.
Ethan looked to Seth, who slouched in a chair on the opposite side of the bed, his hand pressed to Lisette’s shoulder. That hand, Ethan couldn’t help but notice, bore a golden glow.
Ethan nodded at Zach. “Is he asleep?”
Seth shook his head. “Unconscious. He keeps pouring every ounce of energy he has into healing her, then passes out. When his strength returns, he tries again to heal her and, when his energy flags, he passes out. He tries again when he awakens. Then again.”
Any doubts Ethan had borne that Zach truly cared for Lisette flew out the window. The idea of her loving another man still cut like a knife, but at least Lisette had found someone who would give everything he had to help and protect her.
Ethan studied Seth. Frankly, he didn’t look so good. Ethan hadn’t realized Immortal Guardians could appear weary. Sure, they could feel weary. But the virus usually kept the telltale signs of exhaustion from manifesting in their countenances.
Not so with Seth. If Ethan hadn’t known any better, he would have taken one look at Seth and assumed him on the brink of collapse. Dark circles created hollows beneath his eyes. Lines creased a formerly pristine face. His long hair fell in loose, untidy waves to his hips as if he had lacked the energy or will to bind it and had settled for merely dragging a comb through it. Once.