The man’s gaze moved silently over the now quiet Inez, taking in her injuries with grim eyes before turning to Thomas.
“How angry are you?” he asked.
Thomas clenched his teeth as the question brought his rage stirring back to life and suddenly the bag in his mouth exploded, splashing the red liquid everywhere.
“I guess that answers that question,” Lucern said dryly, wiping blood off of his face.
Terri hurried out of the room for more towels.
Ripping the burst bag from his teeth, Thomas tried to sit up again, this time eager to get his hands around Bastien’s throat as fury poured through him.
“Stay put, tiger,” Lucern said, pushing him back on the bed. “You aren’t strong enough to take on Bastien yet, you need more blood. Besides, Mother would never forgive you if you killed him.”
Etienne immediately slapped a fresh bag of blood to his teeth as Thomas fell back on the bed. Terri returned then with a stack of towels and Etienne and Lucern both took one each to wipe themselves down.
“I’d better change,” Etienne muttered, getting to his feet and moving away.
The moment he did, Lucern sat on the side of the bed next to Thomas. “You have to cut him some slack, Thomas. Bastien is a planner. It’s an old habit from running the company so long. He thinks of things in bottom line terms. I have no doubt he considered the options, weighed the risks, and thought he had everything covered. I don’t think he’d have gone ahead with this plan if he’d thought there was any real risk to your lifemate.” He allowed a moment of silence pass to let him think about that and then added, “And there wouldn’t have been if everyone hadn’t let down their guard.
“That’s always the most dangerous point,” he continued with a grimace. “I can’t tell you how many excellent warriors I’ve seen die after a battle is over. They let down their guard and relaxed and then pow, one of the enemy they thought was more seriously injured than they were suddenly reared up and killed them.”
Thomas just stared at him, eyes wide above the bag of blood in his mouth. Lucern wasn’t much of a talker. In fact, this was the first time he’d heard him string more than a couple of words together. The immortal was over six hundred years old. He’d been a warrior, wielding a broadsword when he was younger, and still had the physical build needed to do it. He was also a writer, tapping out reams of words on paper, but when it came to talking it sometimes seemed as if he’d used up all his words in his books and had nothing else to say.
Lucern glanced to Bastien, considered him briefly, and then shook his head and glanced back to Thomas. “Bastien is suffering the guilt for it now. When he apologizes, let it go. We’re all family and even immortals make mistakes.”
Thomas hesitated, his gaze sliding to the next bed. Rachel and Bastien were hovering over Inez, Rachel cutting away her clothes and binding the wounds that were slowly closing, while Bastien held Inez slightly elevated with one hand under her neck and shoulders as he tried to feed her. Inez had no teeth yet and they had no IV to take care of the matter, so he was reduced to pouring blood down her throat straight from the bag.
Lucern patted his shoulder and Thomas glanced back to see that Etienne had returned and Lucern was getting to his feet.#p#分页标题#e#
“Kate and I are going to get out of the way. We’ll be below if you need us. Just give a shout.”
Thomas watched him go, noting that Kate, Jackie, and Vincent followed, leaving the other two couples to handle matters.
“I’m sorry, Thomas,” Etienne said solemnly, drawing his attention again. “We really didn’t think Inez was in any real danger. We thought we could keep her safe, otherwise we never would have suggested it.”
Thomas hesitated, waiting for the familiar anger to rear up inside him, but this time it didn’t. He just felt tired. Nodding wearily, he closed his eyes and waited for the bag of blood in his mouth to empty.
Thomas consumed five bags of blood before Etienne and Terri reluctantly let him get up. He immediately moved to hover behind Rachel, his eyes anxious as he peered over Inez.
“That’s all I can do for now,” Rachel said, drawing the blankets up to Inez’s neck as she sat up straight on the side of the bed. “I’ve set her leg, bound her wounds…All we can do now is keep feeding her blood. It’s up to the nanos to repair her.”
They were all silent, peering down at Inez’s pale face. She was resting quietly for now, but no one was foolish enough to think she would stay that way. There would come a stage when the drugs wouldn’t be able to touch the pain and her mind would be filled with horrible images of fire, death, and blood. She would imagine she was burning up, or being rent apart. It was impossible to prevent that part of the turn.