Remo’s jaw dropped open, showing his fangs, but I didn’t rub in the fact that calling for Hermes had indeed worked. “Damara, the satyr, can you find her?”

“Of course.”

“I need her to come here. Tell her Alena needs her services as a healer.”

He saluted and was gone in a flash of wings.

“Well, shit, you are just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Remo muttered. I finally looked at him.

“I’m a woman. What did you expect, a Sunday drive?”

“No.” He smiled. “But I didn’t expect a trek through the jungle.”

I tried to smile back, but the edges faltered and fell. Tad had to hold on, he had to.

I couldn’t lose him again.

CHAPTER 16

An hour slipped by with no word from Hermes and no appearance of Damara. My blood dripped steadily into Tad, and his blood dripped steadily from his wounds no matter how Beth packed them.

“I’m sorry, I know I missed something but I can’t find it.”

I closed my eyes. “Thank you for trying. It’s more than some people would do.”

Remo grunted as if I’d slapped him. “Not subtle.”

“Wasn’t supposed to be,” I murmured, swaying ever so slightly where I stood on the chair, a human IV bag.

Remo went to the sink and washed his hands. “Dahlia, pour the vodka for me.”

She hurried to his side and did as he asked, dousing his hands with the alcohol.

He flicked his fingers once and then moved to Beth’s side. He peered into the still-open wound. He reached in and touched a spot that seemed fine, but when he turned the piece of innards over, blood pulsed out. “Stitch this. He should stabilize.”

Beth took the last of the catgut and went to work, stitching the final piece up. “I don’t have enough to stitch him the rest of the way.”

We all looked at each other, and I knew then that we’d lost Tad.

“Well, it’s a good thing I do.”

I whipped my head around to see the petite blond satyr step into the room. “You made it. Thank you for coming.”

She didn’t look at me, her eyes locking on Tad’s wounds. “I gave you my word I’d help you if you called on me. Hermes made it clear your brother was wounded badly and needed a healer’s touch.” Damara hurried to Tad’s side and peered into his stomach. “Healing up a supernatural isn’t like a human. On one hand harder and the other hand easier. A human would have never survived this long.” She dug into her bag and laid a few things out on Tad’s chest. “And yet if he’d been human you could have taken him to the hospital.”

Her tiny hands moved like butterflies, lighting on things from her bag, herbs and pieces of bark, and then fluttering over the wound. “Whoever stitched him up saved him. The blood was a good idea too.”

She yanked the IV out of his arm. “But I need you all out now. I work alone.”

Beth held her ground. “I’m a nurse. If I’m going to live in this world, I want to be able to help still.”

“Fine.” Damara waved a hand absently at her. “Stay. But the rest, out.”

Dahlia touched Tad on the cheek as she went by, and Sandy followed her lead. Remo held a hand up to me and helped me down. I stumbled and he caught me.

“How long since you slept?”

I blinked up at him, as I counted back. “I haven’t.”

His eyes shot up. “Since you’ve been turned?”

I shook my head. “No, I haven’t had time.”

He hustled me out of the room, through the living area, and up the stairs to the second floor. “Shower. Clean clothes. Then sleep.” He all but shoved me into the bathroom.

The word sleep resonated through me, and my movements became sluggish as if I were drugged. I flicked on the hot water and stepped into the heavy flow. The shower didn’t perk me up but instead seemed to drug me further, slowing my movements to a crawl. With the mud, blood, and sweat from the last few days washed off my body, I wrapped myself in a towel and stepped out of the bathroom. Immediately across from me was a bedroom, the sheets turned down on the bed. I dropped the towel and climbed under the blankets. The sheets were soft and the mattress seemed to suck me down into it in a welcoming embrace. I breathed out a sigh and closed my eyes, and sleep claimed me.

A soft rumble in my ear woke me and I rolled into the deep bass, my nose leading me. I buried my face against the juncture of neck and chest and breathed in his smell. Roger had never smelled so good. Cinnamon and honey . . . my mouth watered with wanting to taste the combination.

I jerked upright, the sheets falling to my waist. Remo grinned up at me. “That’s a good look for you.”

I yanked the sheets up, or tried to. He lay on top of the blankets, effectively keeping me from covering up. I slid back down enough that I could at least cover my chest.

“What time is it?”

“Midnight.”

“That’s not possible, it was after midnight when . . . I slept that long?”

He nodded. “Almost twenty-four hours. Even supernaturals need to sleep. Especially those who are freshly turned. The fact that you stayed awake as long as you did is surprising.”

A tremor started in my belly and spilled upward. “Tad. Did he . . . ?”

Remo gave me a wink. “Remind me never to bet against you.”

Alive, Tad was alive? “Really?”

He nodded. “Really.”