“Holy shit, this night is crazy. What time is it?” He didn’t even know. Baojia glanced at the wall. “It’s four a.m. The number.” The human handed him a slip of paper, which he took to the office, punching the number into the phone. He pressed the button for speaker mode and began to pace. It was Dez Kirby who picked up. “Baojia?” “Dez.” He hated that his voice broke, but he couldn’t seem to control it. “Where is she?” “She’s at UC Medical Center. Matt and I are here with her. They have her stable. Both her legs were broken, and she lost a lot of blood, but they’re worried about head trauma right now. They induced a coma until the swelling goes down.” “Is she going to live?” There was enough of a pause that he punched a wall. “Dez!” “They think so, okay! There’s no way of knowing if she has any brain damage right now. We just have to wait. They think, if everything happens like they’re hoping, that she’ll be significantly better by tomorrow.” “I’m coming to the hospital.” “She’s just sleeping. And you’ll have to leave in like an hour.” “I don’t care.” He was already pulling on a new shirt. “I’ll be there.” She wasn’t awake, but she wasn’t dead, either. And Baojia sat there, holding her limp hand until he was forced to leave before dawn. Carwyn had explained to the doctors about the horrible rockslide while they were hiking, and a brush of Tenzin’s amnis made any lingering questions go away. Dez and Matt would stay during the day while Baojia could not. He returned to Coronado.  He had no place else to go. The next night, he was holding Natalie’s hand, trying to keep his distance from the hospital equipment, when his sire slid into the room. Ernesto pulled up a chair and sat across from Baojia, cocking his head to the side as he looked down on the sick woman. “Will she live?” Baojia ignored the leap in his chest and tried to make his voice as calm as possible. “They are optimistic. The swelling has gone down the way the doctors were hoping for. They were very pleased when I arrived tonight.” They both fell silent, the only sound was the beeping from the monitors, which filled the room. “You killed your brother last night,” Ernesto finally said under his breath. “I did.” “Because of this?” “Because he was conspiring with Ivan to hold human hunts and implicate you in the deaths of the victims. Because he was dumping human bodies in your territory in an attempt to make you look weak. And yes, because his actions led to the injury of my mate.” “She is not your mate.” Ernesto smiled indulgently. “She is not a vampire.” “That makes her no less my mate. Not to me.” Ernesto’s eyes never left Baojia’s face. The vivid green took on an eerie quality in the fluorescent lights of the hospital. “You are in love with her.” “Yes.” “Why didn’t one of your friends turn her after she was injured?” Ernesto looked over his shoulder toward the hall where Carwyn and Beatrice waited with Dez and Matt. “Perhaps they are not friends at all, but those who want to use you?” He clenched his teeth. “Like you did?” “I am your sire. I gave you this life. Without me, you would have never met your lovely human. You would be dead in an unmarked grave, or buried in a mine that caved in. Perhaps part of the railroad you helped to build, stuffed under the tracks like garbage.” Baojia looked away from him and began to count the freckles on the back of Natalie’s hand. “I know you are my sire.” “I am your family.” “No,” he said firmly. “You are not.” Ernesto frowned. “You sister is devastated.” His chest ached for Paula. “I am devastated for her.” “Did she have any knowledge of Rory’s actions?” “No.” “How can I be sure?” Ernesto shrugged. “Unless you come back to my aegis, how can I be sure who to trust, Baojia?” He blinked. Ernesto wanted him back? Impossible. Unless…  “Who has been inquiring after me? You must have heard some rumor. Someone else has been showing interest in me, or you would not want me back.”  He knew it was true the moment he said it. Ernesto’s gaze narrowed, but he didn’t speak. “Is it Katya?” As soon as the name of his old rival was spoken, Ernesto’s amnis spiked. The monitors near Natalie began to go wild and the nurses rushed in. Baojia stood and backed against the wall, smiling at his sire as the nurses ushered Ernesto out. “I see.” “You see nothing, my son.” “I am not your son,” he said quietly, glancing at the sleeping woman with wild red hair and everything he needed. “I know who my family is. Goodbye, Ernesto. Don’t bother us. You may question my friends, but I do not. Nor do I question Natalie’s.” Beatrice was already at the door, along with Carwyn, waiting with worried eyes to see what the commotion was.  Ernesto looked away from Baojia and toward Beatrice, smiling kindly before he patted his granddaughter’s cheek and murmured, “I wish the best for your friend, cariña. I’m sure she’ll be fine. The doctors here are unparalleled.” “Thank you, Grandfather.” Beatrice’s voice was carefully neutral. “I’m just so glad she has such a fervent protector.” She glanced toward Baojia with a smile. “She’s in very good hands.” “So she is.” The old vampire’s smile was tight when he turned to Baojia and said, “Good luck.”
CHAPTER THIRTY

Sound was muffled, almost as if she was listening from the bottom of a pool. Gradually, Natalie began to sift through her murky senses.