Page 17

L ogan groaned, squeezing her eyes shut against the blinding lights in the infirmary.

“Easy now,” Sarah crooned. “We have to clean out these wounds.”

She buried her face against the table and screamed as they applied the antiseptic.

Seth offered himself for comfort and she got a solid grip on his neck ruff, holding on like her life depended on it.

You threw yourself between shifters fighting again , Seth told her . Velda scared the shit out of all of us when you bolted.

I wasn’t proud of screaming out for all of them when Logan had gotten away from me.

She’d even taken the stairs so I couldn’t catch her waiting for the elevators.

For a few brief moments I’d only worried about facing Yelena’s wrath, but that had disappeared in a heartbeat when this beautiful and stupid witch had thrown herself into the fight.

“You have to stop doing this,” Dr. Atling sighed, examining Logan’s injuries. “Oh, gods.”

Caden appeared in my field of vision, gently taking Logan’s hand. “What is it?” he asked.

“We’re going to need to do surgery. Sarah, prep the OR. Protector Velda put out a page for anyone with medical experience.”

“On it.”

“Shit.” Dr. Atling rushed about.

It probably wasn’t a good sign when your doctor was swearing.

The scent of copper overrode Logan’s usual earthy florals. “Am I going to die?”

“Not if I can help it.”

I punched in the code and held down the button to broadcast over the nest speakers. “Anyone with medical experience, specifically surgery, please report immediately to the infirmary.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Yelena had always talked about eating Kendrick, but I never thought she would actually try. She was the one stopping fights, not getting involved in them.

If Logan died, we were so fucked. We might be anyway. If she was seriously injured there was no way she could charge the warding.

But more importantly, she wasn’t allowed to die. It would destroy too many. I hadn’t even gotten that close to her yet and panic was still a shackle around my throat at the thought of losing her.

A few members of the nest rushed up to the infirmary, and I met them at the doors.

“I was an army medic,” the first said, a chimp shifter named Dembe. “It’s been a few years, but I’m happy to help.”

“Go through.”

The next was a bright-eyed fox shifter. “I was an anaesthesiologist assistant before I moved here.”

I passed her along to Sarah. The next ones were slightly less useful at the moment, but we had a snake shifter with training in post-surgical care, and a crane shifter with a degree in veterinary medicine.

I dragged Seth and Caden out of there so we wouldn’t be in anyone’s way. “She’s in good hands.”

“She should be in a fucking hospital. You guys aren’t set up for this,” Caden hissed.

Seth looked like he was ready to fall over. Shit. He would be feeling everything she was, though thankfully not to the same degree.

“You need to sit.” I shoved him onto one of the chairs. “Wait here.”

I set off for the dining hall and poked my head through the kitchen doors.

“What the fuck is going on?” Chef Estrella asked before I could open my mouth

“Protector Logan is seriously injured. Protectors Yelena and Kendrick are confined to their suites on medical leave. We’ll need trays sent up to both of them, and I need some juice so Seth doesn’t fall on his face.”

“I’ll bring up a carafe,” Florencia said. “We’ll make some things appropriate for Protector Logan when she’s ready to eat.”

“You’re all angels. Thank you.”

Shakti caught me as the kitchen door swung shut. “Velda, what the fuck?”

I relayed the same information to her as I had to Estrella and Florencia.

“What is the matter with everyone regarding this witch? They’re all losing their minds.”

“Judge later. You and I are in charge and everyone is freaking the fuck out.”

“I’ll handle it.” Shakti went over to one of the panels. “All nest residents not currently engaged in essential work, please return to your suites immediately. Meals will be taken in shifts. Your cooperation is appreciated. We will answer all questions when we have answers.”

I wasn’t so convinced people would listen that easily, and said as much.

“It’ll at least be fewer people in the crosshairs if anyone else panics. We can deal with stragglers one at a time if we need to.”

I didn’t want to deal with stragglers. I wanted to pace uselessly outside the infirmary and wait for news about Logan. Shakti must have sensed that.

“Go. I’ll call you if I need backup.” She muttered something about the witch enchanting me too, but in that moment I didn’t care.

Florencia followed me with a cart, the top filled with glasses, juice, and cookies. I forced the glass on Seth when we arrived, and Florencia browbeat Caden into one as well.

“Any news?”

“They just took her in,” Caden replied.

“Do we know what the damage is?”

He shook his head. “It was a lot of yelling, so it’s probably not good.” Tears decorated his lower lashes.

I yanked him into a hug. “She’s going to be okay.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“She survived a tiger. She can survive this.”

Waiting was a fucking nightmare, but we had no other option.

I probably should have checked on Yelena at some point.

She had to be losing it up in her room, but I couldn’t make myself go further than the dining hall.

She had Haru to comfort her, and Kendrick had his claimants.

Maybe Seth and Caden thought I was an interloper, hovering around their grief and fear, but every second that passed with the possibility of Logan leaving this world twisted me up in a way I hadn’t expected.

Living full-time in a nest had gotten me used to constant change.

Relationships were transient at best; friends came and went.

We had a few long-term residents, but they were a small percentage of those here.

It was possible I had gotten too used to letting people go.

I had never considered fighting for someone before.

It seemed cruel of the fates to make me consider that when they were holding Logan’s threads of life between their fucking scissors.

I nibbled one of the cookies Florencia had left us hours ago to fuel my pacing. Caden kept his arm around Seth, the younger panther looking like he was one breath away from a full-blown panic. The elder wasn’t much better but at least had the benefit of not having to feel Logan’s pain.

Deep breaths.

I choked on the swell of panic.

Deep fucking breaths.

Everything about this was ridiculous. I was pretty sure the monster at our gates didn’t have any specific intelligence, but if it had any goal to destroy us from within, it was doing a damn good job.

Kendrick and Yelena had been dancing around each other for years. He was a button pusher at the best of times but her control had never slipped before. I probably would have slipped too if I was bonded to the witch. I was already protective of her and a bond would make it a million times worse.

I poured more juice, forcing another glass on the panthers.

Laila and my other girls came to check on me, their arms wrapping around me. They were temporary too. Every single one of them had plans to leave, would have already been gone if we hadn’t been put on lockdown.

“How is she?” Laila asked.

“Still alive. That’s all we know.”

“You should sleep,” said Kelly.

“I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.”

Tessa kissed my cheek. “We brought you a blanket and slippers. Might as well be comfortable while you’re waiting.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re sure we can’t entice you to rest?” Melanie asked.

“Later,” I promised. “If Logan doesn’t survive, we have to be ready for a mass evacuation.”

“Shit,” Tessa breathed. “I’ll go pray harder that the gods don’t take her.”

“Can’t hurt.” I sighed, accepting the blanket and slippers from them, slipping the former over my shoulders and latter onto my feet. They were a small comfort and made me feel a little better.

Shakti checked in after my girls left. “People are nervous. Everyone is contained, at least. Kitchen, library, and medical are the only ones working right now. I have Margaret going around with her library cart for the people who had no entertainment in their rooms.”

“I’m sorry I’m leaving this all to you.”

“Don’t be. We all have to be prepared to step up when the time calls for it.

” She pulled me into an unexpected hug, tears sneaking up on me.

“I don’t pretend to understand the allure she holds for all of you, but I’ve accepted you’re all goners for the witch.

I’ll do what I can to make things easier. ”

“Thank you.” She and I had never been close, a fundamental difference of personality. I was annoying to her and she was a stick in the mud to me, but right this second none of that mattered. “Are Yelena and Kendrick okay?”

“Minor physical damage, but emotionally they’re crumbling.” Shakti gave me a firm squeeze before stepping back. “I have to say, I wasn’t expecting them to be the ones to break during all of this.”

“I know.” I swiped at my eyes, mopping up the tears with the edge of the blanket. “Yelena is so steady, and Kendrick, for all his bullshit, has never attacked anyone in the nest.”

“Yelena is too protective for her own good. The witch doesn’t need a bodyguard.”

“They’re mated. Pretty sure rationality goes out the window a little bit in that regard.”

“It does,” said Caden, drawing our attention. “Knowing that Logan can handle herself doesn’t do a damn thing to make you feel better about letting her do that.”

Shakti pulled up a chair to sit with us, snatching one of the cookies off the tray. “It’s hard to think she’s sturdy. I forget that non-shifters can be.”

“She’s got a core of stubbornness and steel,” Caden told us. “I don’t think she’s ever been browbeaten in her life. Once she gets an idea into her head, there’s no stopping it.”

“Do you think Kendrick was an idea that got into her head?” Shakti asked.

“I can’t imagine why else she would defend him,” I replied.

Shakti rolled her eyes. “Not everyone dislikes him as much as you do.”

I shrugged.

Shakti let out a bitter laugh. “She’s making her way through all the Protectors. This might be the first time I’m actually grateful to only be attracted to men.”

“It’s my fault everything is happening so fast,” Caden said, dropping his gaze to the floor.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Logan was always meant to have a pack, but I didn’t know or understand that before. I knew she loved Seth for years and wouldn’t let anything develop. If I had been more secure, maybe fate could have moved at a different pace.”

“You had good reason not to want me around Logan,” Seth defended. “The timeline might be a little fucked, but that doesn’t mean it won’t all work out in the end.”

I was about to ask for a little history lesson about the panthers, but the door to the infirmary swung open.

I bolted to my feet. “How is she?”

Sarah pulled in a shaking breath and my mind tumbled down into panic.