Page 18 of Vein & Vow (The Bouchers #1)

Chapter 17

Reese

“S top it,” I ordered, jerking my arm away. Fire raced under my skin as I pushed closer to Beau. “Why isn’t he waking up? He was just talking.”

A hand touched my waist, and I jerked to the side, leaning further over Beau.

“Wake up,” I whispered. “Wake up.”

“We have to go,” Danny ordered.

The hand on my shoulder burned.

“Stop touching her,” Erik snapped at his son.

Danny’s hand disappeared.

“Reese,” Erik boomed, jerking my attention away from his son. “We have to get him out of here. Stand up so we can lift him.”

“I’m not leaving him,” I argued, my hand tightening on Beau’s shoulder. They’d have to tear me away, and by the way Erik was staring at me, I didn’t think he’d do it.

“Of course you’re not,” he said gently. “We’re all going.”

“Okay,” I mumbled, getting to my feet unsteadily as Mordecai grabbed one end of the red plastic stretcher and Erik grabbed the other.

I kept my hand on Beau’s shoulder near his neck as we made our way out of the apartment. Vaguely, I noticed that there was a helicopter in the center of the parking lot with men I assumed were Vampires standing at regular intervals around it.

“I’m in the back with Reese,” Danny yelled as we got closer, jogging next to us.

“I’ll co-pilot,” Mordecai replied with a nod.

Beau’s head rolled to the side, and I caught it gently with my hand.

God, he looked so bad. There was blood everywhere. His skin was nearly blue he was so pale.

The males around me gestured for me to climb into the helicopter first, Beau’s stretcher sliding in beside me.

“How is he?” Ambrose asked from the pilot’s seat.

“Not great,” Danny spat, kneeling down beside me.

I wasn’t sure how long we were in the helicopter. Time seemed to have warped the moment I saw Kenny’s body on my couch, alternately speeding up and slowing down with no warning.

Beau’s breathing was labored. There was blood in his mouth.

Erik and Danny moved carefully around me as they worked on Beau.

I kept my mouth shut, frozen. If I opened it, I was afraid I’d start screaming, and I wouldn’t stop. What the hell had just happened? We were supposed to be on our way to Europe.

“Landing in five,” Erik yelled, meeting my eyes. “Then we’re on the move.”

I nodded, looking out the window for the first time since we’d climbed in. Trees surrounded us as we flew forward and eventually lowered, gently landing on a wide slab.

“Everything’s prepped,” Chance hollered as he threw open the door. His eyes landed on Beau and widened. “Fuck!”

“Moving now,” Erik told me.

I followed closely as we climbed out of the helicopter. Chance and Danny grabbed each end of Beau’s stretcher, and I lost my grip on him as they jogged toward a path in the trees. My heart in my throat and fire burning in my veins, I ran behind them. Somehow, they managed to move swiftly, barely jostling Beau as they went.

My heart stopped when the familiar gables of the house came into view.

“He needs a hospital,” I argued, glaring at Erik, who kept pace beside me. “What the hell are you doing?”

“No human doctor would know what to do with Beau,” Mordecai replied from my other side. “It’s good we’re here.”

“Someone should?—”

My words cut off as Mattie raced onto the porch, Helen and a woman I didn’t recognize following her out. The new woman was covered from head to toe with scrub gear, similar to what I wore at work.

“How the hell did Aunt Alice get here so fast?” Danny called over his shoulder as we got closer to the house.

“They were in town already,” Erik replied.

“Uncle Sven’s here, too?”

“Well, he wouldn’t let me have all this fun myself,” the woman in the scrubs called out, striding down the steps.

Helen wrapped her arms around Mattie, holding her in place.

Danny and Chance slowed as Alice met them in the gravel, but we all kept moving around the side of the house as she looked Beau over.

“Aw, Bjorn,” she murmured. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

A door on the back of the house was open, and they disappeared inside. The few seconds before I crossed the threshold was agony, and I grit my teeth as I raced after them.

“You must be Beau’s mate,” Alice greeted as Chance and Danny lifted Beau onto a narrow bed in the center of the room.

My mouth dropped open as I reached Beau’s side. It looked like a hospital room. There was a bright light shining down on my mate, illuminating his blood-soaked clothes and slack face. Cabinets lined every wall, some of them open with medical supplies stacked neatly inside. A stainless-steel sink stood in the corner.

“Reese, right?” Alice said brusquely, snagging my attention again. “I’m Alice. I want you up here at the head of the table, all right?”

She waved me toward a stool near Beau’s head.

“Are you squeamish?”

I shook my head and then nodded as the room moved quickly around me. Erik scrubbed his arms at the sink. Ambrose stood impatiently behind him, waiting his turn.

Danny stood the stretcher on end against the wall.

Chance was doing something by the door I couldn’t see.

Mordecai had disappeared.

“I need you there,” Alice reminded me, pointing at the stool. “If you’re squeamish, keep your eyes closed.”

Slowly, I moved around the table to the stool and carefully sat down. My hands shook as I brushed Beau’s hair back from his face. He was so still. He’d thrashed a little in the helicopter, but since we’d landed, he hadn’t moved at all.

“Erik?” Alice asked, her gloved hands in loosely held fists by her chest. “You’re up.”

Freshly gowned and gloved, Erik stepped in next to the table and quickly started cutting Beau’s clothes off with a pair of scissors.

My stomach twisted, and I slammed my eyes shut as pale bloody skin came into view.

“One, two, three, four,” Alice said, her voice almost monotone.

“And one in the thigh,” Erik added.

My head grew light, and I swayed in place, refusing to open my eyes.

“Head down,” Danny ordered somewhere near my shoulder.

Bracing my hands on the end of the bed, I leaned forward.

“That’s right,” he said gently. “Put your head right next to Beau’s.”

I shuddered as the smell of my mate’s skin permeated the nightmare. Turning my head, I pressed my lips to the spot above his ear.

“That’s good,” Alice said. “Talk to him, Reese.”

They spoke in quiet voices as I sat there, hunched over Beau with my lips pressed against his face. Tuning them out the best I could, I listened to his breathing. It was steady. In and out. In and out.

“I’m going to kill you,” I whispered. “You fucking idiot.”

The sheet beneath us grew wet, but I didn’t open my eyes even once as the tears slid down my face. I couldn’t see his wounds. I was too afraid to look.

“He’s doing well, Reese,” Danny said at some point.

Time had no meaning. We could’ve been there for hours or minutes. I had no idea. My only focus was Beau’s little puffs of breath.

In and out. I synced my breaths with his.

“They’ve exchanged blood?” Alice asked someone.

“The bond’s complete.”

“Reese,” she called. “We’re all finished, sweetheart.”

I was afraid to raise my head. I was monitoring his breathing, and I couldn’t do that if I moved away. If someone wasn’t making sure he was breathing, then all of this was for nothing. Someone had to make sure he was still breathing.

“Reese,” Danny said. Air moved by me like he’d started to put his hand on my shoulder but stopped himself. “Reese, they’re done.”

“I need you to lean up for me,” Alice ordered, not unkindly.

“What’s wrong with her?” Chance asked.

“Shock,” Erik replied quietly.

“Beau needs blood, Reese,” Alice continued. “I need you to lean up for me.”

When I lifted my head, Beau was bare from the waist up, a sheet covering the rest of him. Large bandages peppered his chest. One near his heart. Another on his sternum. On the opposite side over his ribs. To the left of his belly button.

Gripping the sheet in my fists, I pushed myself straight.

“If you put your arm near his mouth,” Alice said with a nod. “He’ll drink. Instincts are a beautiful thing.”

Sliding to my feet, I leaned over Beau and pushed my coat and sweater up my arm, pressing the bare skin against his mouth. Nothing happened for a minute.

It felt like everyone held their breath. No one moved.

When his mouth opened and immediately clamped down on my wrist, I let out a sob of relief, my legs going out from under me.

“Got you,” Alice said, her strong arms wrapping tightly around my waist. “He’ll only take as much as he needs. Don’t worry.”

I almost pushed her away. Don’t worry? I wasn’t worried Beau would take too much. He could have anything he needed. I’d never been less afraid for myself. There wasn’t any room for self-preservation, not then.

“Good,” I whispered to Beau, pressing my lips against anything I could reach. His forehead. Cheek. Nose. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

Beau’s eyes opened slowly and met mine, panicked as he let go of my arm and swiped the tiny beads of blood with his tongue.

“You’re okay,” I repeated. “I’m okay. We’re at the house.”

Cupping his cheek in my hand, I watched as his eyes scanned the room, taking in the family that surrounded him. He let out a small, relieved puff of air and looked back at me.

“Kiss me,” he ordered, his voice broken and rough.

Alice laughed quietly as she let go of my waist and stepped away.

“I don’t take orders from you,” I argued with a small sob, leaning down to press my lips to his.

Before I’d even lifted my head, he’d lost consciousness again.

“No,” I yelped, jerking back to look at him. “No, wake up.”

“It’s okay,” Erik said, tearing his gown off as he moved toward us. “He needs the rest.”

“He woke up,” I argued, shaking my head as I stared at Beau. “No, he was just awake.”

“This is just sleep,” Alice said, carefully laying her hand on my shoulder. “Sleep will help him heal. This isn’t a bad thing, I promise you. He’s just sleeping, Reese.”

My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as I traced the contours of his face with my fingertips.

They spoke quietly behind me. I wished they’d all go away. I just wanted to be with Beau.

“Reese, we’re going to take him into a bedroom, all right?” Ambrose said, stopping on the opposite side of the table. “Somewhere more comfortable.” He paused. “For both of you, okay?”

Why was he still bothering me? Couldn’t they see that I wanted them to leave us alone?

Raising my head, I looked at Beau’s older brother. He looked almost as devastated as I felt.

“Just into a bedroom,” he repeated. “We’ve got a spare downstairs that’s all ready.”

I forced myself to nod. It was too bright in there anyway. There was no way that Beau could get any rest with a light shining in his face.

I shuffled out of the way as Beau’s brothers rolled the table toward the door by the sink.

“Come on,” Danny said softly, walking beside me as we followed them into the downstairs of the massive house. The door opened up to a place under the stairs near the kitchen—one I wouldn’t have thought was anything more than a closet if I’d seen it from the other side.

“Erik,” Mattie called, hurrying toward us.

“It went well,” Erik replied tiredly as Mattie reached Beau’s side. She murmured words I couldn’t hear.

There was a dull roar in my ears.

The room they took us to had a wide window with the curtains pulled back. There were no dressers or anything on the walls, but two plush chairs sat on either side of the bed. I hovered as Ambrose and Chase transferred Beau carefully onto the crisp white sheets of the bed, pulling them up to his waist before taking the operating sheet away.

I dropped numbly onto one of the chairs as the room began to clear.

Chance and Ambrose strode away, asking Alice about something I couldn’t hear. Erik stood on the opposite side of the bed while Mattie leaned over it, fussing with Beau’s bedding.

Looking down at my hands, I shuddered.

I was covered in blood. It was caked around the cuticles and beneath my fingernails. There were smears of it disappearing into my sleeves. Dropping my chin, I looked down at my coat. The originally purple fabric was nearly black.

Erik practically carried Mattie out of the room as she began to cry.

Leaning over, I set my hand on Beau’s bare arm, resting my cheek on the bed between us.

Sometime later Helen strode quietly into the room, carrying a bowl and a stack of something I couldn’t get a clear look at.

“Up, child,” she said gently as she closed the door behind her.

I didn’t have the energy to fight her, so I rose to my feet.

“You’re a mess,” she continued, shaking her head as she sat her things at the foot of the bed. “You don’t look much better than poor Beaumont.”

Standing like a doll, I let her unzip my jacket and pull it off. My guts twisted at the realization that blood had seeped through near the neckline and gotten all over the sweater I wore beneath it. Lifting my arms, I let Helen pull that off too. Then my shoes and jeans. She dropped everything into a pile on the floor.

Next, she dipped a rag into the bowl at the end of the bed and reached carefully for my face.

Closing my eyes, I let her gently wipe away the blood. It was down my neck. In my ears and hair. Covering the bottom half of my arms and hands. She kneeled in front of me and wiped down the fronts of my legs where it had soaked through my jeans.

I didn’t even know that people had that much blood in their bodies. How in the world had Beau lost so much?

“I grabbed some clothes out of Beau’s dresser,” Helen said as she rose to her feet again. Reaching behind her, she handed me a soft gray t-shirt. It smelled like Beau.

I pulled it over my head.

“The boy doesn’t have sweatpants,” she informed me, handing me…leggings? “But I found a pair of thermals.”

I pulled the soft base layer leggings up my legs, folding and rolling the waistband to keep them from falling off.

“That’s better,” she said with a small smile. She lifted the bowl of water off the bed, and bile filled my mouth at the sight of the dark liquid inside. “You climb in with Beau. I’ll tell them all you’re sleeping.”

“Thank you,” I croaked.

“Anytime,” she replied, pausing by the door. “I’ve patched Mordecai up a time or two.”

“Was he ever this bad?” I asked in a whisper, looking down at Beau.

Helen was quiet for a moment before she spoke. “A couple who looks like us were targets for all kinds of fools,” she said finally. “But they always got what they deserved in the end. Rest, child. I’ll come back and get those dirty clothes in a few minutes.”

As soon as she was gone, I crawled onto the bed and curled up next to Beau on his least injured side. The heat was a steady thrum under my skin, so I didn’t bother getting under the blanket. He was so still, his arms down at his sides and his head tilted just slightly toward me.

“As soon as you wake up, I’m going to rip you a new one,” I whispered on a shuddery exhale.

Lacing my fingers through his, I closed my eyes and pressed my lips to his bicep.

I must’ve fallen asleep because when I woke up the sky was darker through the window, and my clothes had disappeared from the floor. The door was open, and Ambrose’s head was barely visible as he peeked inside.

Movement next to me had me lifting my head just in time to see Beau gesturing for Ambrose to leave.

“I’m awake,” I announced groggily, pushing myself up so I could see Beau’s face.

He looked terrible. There were dark circles around his eyes, and his expression was strained—but his eyes were clear.

“I’m going to kill you,” I growled, getting to my knees as Beau let out a painful sounding huff of laughter.

“I second that,” Ambrose agreed, striding into the room.

“I’m fine, baby,” Beau said with a wince, his hand clasping my thigh.

“You…you…” I stuttered, staring at him in disbelief.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Ambrose barked, dropping into the chair next to the bed as people started filing in.

Ambrose must’ve been what broke the dam because I was pretty sure everyone on the property had crammed themselves into that little room.

“We were less than ten minutes out,” Erik chided.

“You were shot five times, Bjorn,” Alice said, censure dripping from her words.

Beau’s jaw firmed as I scooted in closer, moving to sit at his shoulder.

“You didn’t even have a weapon,” Chance drawled. “What kind of suicidal shit was that?”

Beau’s arm moved out slowly, crossing over my thighs. His thumb rubbed along my kneecap.

“Well,” Erik said when my mate refused to respond.

“Is this some kind of intervention?” Beau asked curiously. I wondered if anyone else heard the thread of venom in his voice.

“I’ve already lost three children,” Mattie said softly.

Beau jerked almost imperceptibly.

I didn’t think that this conversation was going to go the way everyone had planned. “I think this is too much?—”

“I’m a mated male,” Beau snapped. “None of them had a knife large enough to remove my head .”

“You didn’t know that,” Ambrose argued.

“Yes, I did.”

“And what if you’d fallen?” Mordecai asked sternly. “Then it would no longer matter whether or not they carried a blade. They could’ve taken you anywhere.”

“Bjorn, we don’t even know if your immortality has been cemented yet,” Alice scolded gently.

My heart pounded as I turned to look at Beau.

“My mate was in that apartment,” he said emotionlessly, his gaze scanning over the people in the room. “There was no other option.”

“You could’ve let Daniel?—”

“Danny hasn’t mated,” Beau cut Mordecai off. “He was safest inside protecting Reese.”

“All you had to do was wait,” Erik thundered.

“Until what?” Beau replied angrily, shoving himself up in bed.

I scrambled to brace him, but he didn’t seem to need the help.

“Until a stray bullet hit her? Danny could take two, maybe three? Reese could not.”

I gently laid my hand on Beau’s back. His entire body was trembling.

“You could’ve died,” Ambrose said angrily. “You could’ve been taken.”

“And it still would’ve been worth it,” Beau yelled, the tendons in his neck bulging.

“Hey,” I whispered, smoothing my hand over the clammy muscles of his back as my eyes began to sting. “Hey, calm down.”

“Get the fuck out,” Beau ordered, his hand tightening on my leg. “All of you.”

“Beaumont,” Erik scolded.

“I swear to the Gods,” Beau snapped, reaching for the sheet like he was going to throw it off and climb out of bed.

“Out,” Helen ordered, speaking for the first time as she gazed up at her husband and then back at us. “They need some time.”

Mordecai nodded and led her out of the room. The rest of them trickled out slower than they’d entered, but, eventually, Beau and I were the only ones left in the room.

He was sweating as he lay back down, his chest heaving.

“Do you feel like a big strong Vampire now?” I admonished, glaring at him.

“I don’t need shit from you, too,” he replied, closing his eyes as he let out a long slow breath.

“What were you thinking?” I asked, wishing I could smack him. “They were ten minutes out? Beau.”

“One minute was too fucking long.” His eyes snapped open to glare at me. “Thirty seconds was too fucking long.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Those men were in your apartment.”

“I know that.”

“They ruined your stuff,” he continued. “They killed your friend.”

Oh god. I hadn’t even thought of Kenny since Beau was hurt.

“I thought you were going to die,” I grit out angrily.

“I told you about the mating bond?—”

“Well, excuse-the-fuck-out-of-me for forgetting that little tidbit when you were bleeding everywhere!”

“I don’t know why you’re angry,” he growled. “It’s my job to keep you safe.”

“I thought you were going to die,” I repeated, my voice going all high and screechy. “Do you know what that felt like?”

“I wasn’t going to die.”

“Oh, really? Because your brothers and your dad looked like they were going to shit their pants, too.” I pointed at the door. “It wasn’t just me that thought it.”

“I won’t apologize for keeping you safe.”

“Fuck you,” I hissed, jerking away from him. “You would’ve left me all alone!”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, reaching for me as I scrambled off the bed.

“You would’ve just—” I struggled to speak around the lump in my throat. “You would’ve just left me forever. And I just would’ve…would’ve…been stuck here without you.”

Beau’s expression changed instantly.

“Come here, love,” he murmured gently.

“I don’t want to,” I shot back, still angry. “You could’ve waited for help.”

“No, I couldn’t have,” he said, throwing the blankets back.

“Stop it,” I ordered as he slowly and carefully got to his feet. “Get back in bed.”

“Let me hold you,” he said breathlessly, shuffling toward me. “Come here.”

I was still angry, but I met him halfway. I told myself it was because he was hurt, and he was going to end up ripping open his stitches, but the truth was that I needed his arms around me.

“I’m sorry you were scared,” he murmured against my hair.

“You should’ve stayed with me,” I mumbled.

“I would make the same decision a thousand times more,” he argued, his voice soft. “There will never be a time when I hide while you’re in danger.”

“You were so pale,” I whispered, tipping my head back to meet his eyes. “You were bleeding everywhere.”

“I’m right here,” he whispered back. “I’m fine. I took a calculated risk.”

I opened my mouth to argue but snapped it shut again when he gave my hair a slight tug.

“It is a risk I will always take, no matter the odds.”

“That’s stupid,” I grumbled.

Beau’s lips tipped up at the edges, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he reached up to run a finger down my cheek. “You are the beginning and the end of me, Reese Matthews.”

“Shit,” I breathed, staring into his eyes.

The moment he started laughing…I knew I loved him.