The Shadows(79)
“Is that the reason she passed out?” Qhuinn asked. “The extra young?”
Doc Jane shrugged again. “Her vitals all look fine—and they’ve been stable for quite some time. When was the last time you fed, Layla?”
The problem was not whether she’d taken a vein lately. “I…”
“We’ll deal with that right now,” Qhuinn announced. “Blay and I will both give her our veins.”
Doc Jane nodded. “It would be logical that, with the second baby beginning to require more nourishment, your caloric and blood needs may be much greater than you’ve realized. I think it’s entirely possible you were pushing yourself and it caught up with you.”
Layla felt utterly numb and had to force a smile. “I’ll be more careful. And thank you. I really appreciate your caring for me.”
“You’re welcome.” Doc Jane gave Layla’s foot a squeeze through the light blankets. “Rest up. You’re going to do great.”
As the healer left, Layla thought about the strange sexual cravings that she’d been having lately, as well as the relatively sudden increase in her physical symptoms. Was it the second young—?
“Do you want something more comfortable than that?” Qhuinn asked.
She shook herself back into focus. “I’m sorry, more comfortable than…?”
“That hospital johnny.”
Glancing down at herself, she saw that she wasn’t in her clothes anymore. “Oh. Well. Actually, it’s a bit chilly down here. One of my robes would be nice, but I don’t want to trouble you.”
“No problem. I’ll take your things back to your room and pick up a nightgown and a robe—meanwhile, Blay, you wanna offer her your vein?”
By way of answer, the soldier’s wrist appeared right in front of her. “Take as much as you need.”
In that moment, she had an overwhelming urge to tell them. Come clean. Wipe out the stress of the last year no matter the repercussions.
She just wanted to be free of the terrible burden that weighed her down. Scared her.
Tantalized her.
No doubt that would improve the chances of her carrying the young better—less stress was good for pregnant females, right? And now there were two lives at risk as well as her own.
“Layla?”
She swallowed hard. Looked up at the pair of them as they stood over her bed, concerned. She didn’t want to betray the only family she had ever had. Besides, maybe if she told them about Xcor, they could … make the compound safer. Or move everyone. Or …
Layla cleared her throat and gripped the covers on the bed as if they were a roll bar and she was about to go into a hairpin turn. “Listen, I need to…”
When she didn’t finish, Qhuinn jumped into the quiet. “You need to feed. That’s what you need to do.”
As if her fangs were listening, they punched out from the roof of her mouth, and she got in touch with the fact that, yes, she did need to take a vein.
And no, she really couldn’t tell them. She just … it was no good. There was no good solution for her. They would hate her for endangering herself and the pregnancy—and meanwhile, Xcor would still know where they all lived because the Brotherhood was never going to leave the compound. This was their home and they would defend it when he attacked after she stopped seeing him.
People would be killed. People she loved.
Shit.
“Thank you,” she said roughly to Blay.
“Anything for you,” he replied, brushing her hair back.
She tried to strike as gently as she could, but Blay didn’t even flinch. Then again, when he and Qhuinn made love, he was no doubt used to much, much harder bites.
Just as she began to draw against the familiar source, taking in the nutrition her body required and could get only from this gift by a male of her species, Qhuinn went over to where her clothes had been put on a chair in the corner. As he took them into his hands, he frowned and glanced down. Then rifled through the folds like he was searching for something.
A moment later, his mismatched stare shifted over to her and his body grew very still.
Ducking her eyes, she pretended to concentrate on what she was doing. She had no clue what he had found or why he was looking at her like that.
But given the way she was living, she had a lot to hide.
“When were you supposed to go?”
As Trez asked the question, Selena focused on the hot bowl of oatmeal he’d just made for her. As it was well after dawn, all of the household’s doggen were taking their rest in their quarters, so she and Trez were alone in the enormous kitchen, sitting side by side at the oak table.
“Selena. What time is your checkup.”