Wyatt drew another pressure bandage from his field kit and took a deep breath before nodding. He let it out as Draden pulled the blade from his thigh. The air rushed from his lungs. His stomach lurched. His breath exploded out of his lungs and he gasped, trying to find more air.
He forced a grin. "Guess I'm not one of those tough guys that can pound on my wounds and say I haven't been shot or stabbed. I'm feelin' it, Draden. Really feelin' it this time."
"Must be getting old," Draden observed. "Either that or now that you've got a woman, you just plain want sympathy."
"I wish I knew I had that woman all sewed up for certain," Wyatt said, "but she's like tryin' to figure out the wind. It just blows any old way it wants to."
Draden raised his eyebrow, watching as Wyatt applied the bandage over the wound. "I thought all women were like that. I duck and run for cover when women like Pepper are around. They're the kind that get you in trouble every time."
"You got that right. I don' know whether I'm comin' or goin'. And hell, Draden, look at me. I've got three daughters and never did get the night of fun. That woman owes me a mighty good time for the rest of her life. Seems like a lifetime might work that debt off." He had to keep talking, it was that or fall on his face.
"You're slurring your words a little, Wyatt," Draden observed. "Let's get you up before someone comes up the stairs and we have to fight our way out of here."
Pepper, are you out? Do you have our children?
Wyatt forced himself onto his feet. The room shifted out from under him and spun in crazy circles. More than anything he needed the sound of her voice. He needed to know that his children were free of a cold, dank cell.
Draden slipped his arm around him. "Lean on me and let's get the hell out of here, Wyatt."
I'm out. Both babies are with me and fine. We're making our way to the airboat. Ezekiel is dropping back to cover you and Draden.
I want him to go with you. Zeke, stick with Pepper and the kids. He tried to project a tone of command into his voice, but even this telepathic communication bordered on weak and slurring.
Ezekiel didn't bother to answer him, which meant the man was going to do whatever the hell he wanted to do.
Exasperated, Wyatt scowled as he limped his way to the storage closet, Draden taking a good deal of his weight. That's always been your trouble, Zeke. You're a wild card. Anarchy reigns when you're in the mix.
I have trouble with authority figures. My profile says so. There was laughter rumbling in Ezekiel's comment. No remorse or guilt.
You had that in your profile? Trap chimed in. So did I. You should see the things that psychiatrist said about me and authority.
Mine says I am the authority, Wyatt reminded.
He stared up at the hole in the ceiling. It looked a million miles away. Pepper had to have felt his second stab wound. They were too connected for her not to have had a sudden burst of agonizing pain, yet she hadn't said anything at all.
"Women are a mystery, Draden," he said. "Fickle as hell and a total mystery."
"Tell me something I don't know, Wyatt," Draden said, and stepped back to give him room.
Wyatt crouched low and sprang, using enhanced muscles as springs to propel him up onto the roof. He landed soft but it didn't matter. The air was driven from his lungs in a violent rush and pain engulfed him completely. His body rebelled, and blood soaked both bandages.
Draden leapt through the hole to land beside him. "You've gone gray, Wyatt. Can you make it down to the ground without falling?"
Wyatt didn't want to think about the climb. He might try jumping halfway, but just the landing on the roof had nearly made him pass out. He'd lost more blood than he thought, which meant his internal repairs weren't holding up as well as they should have.
"Let's just get out of here." Fast. They needed to get home where Trap could take a look at him. What kind of shape are you in, Trap?
He dragged himself, with Draden's help, to the edge of the roof. The distance stretched on endlessly.
I'm recovering, Trap answered. Shaken up. Cold. But my hands are steady and my brain is working.
Trap was quick. No one ever had to figure it out for him.
I've got two wounds. One in the thigh, and I took one in the chest. As soon as we're clear, you'll have to do some repairs. I thought I had things shored up but I'm losin' too much blood. Might have a broken rib or two.
How much blood do you have on hand?
You'll have to do a transfusion usin'... Wyatt trailed off. He couldn't remember who was his blood type. That shook him. He never forgot details, especially details that could save lives. He felt cold all over and that was bad too. He was in the swamp, and even late at night, the swamp could be warm, even hot.
Wyatt, get off that roof right now. That was Ezekiel. Climb down. If you can't climb, Draden will haul you out on his back, but get moving now.
The command in Ezekiel's voice spurred him to action. Something wasn't right, and his team needed him now. Wyatt forced pain out of his mind and swung over the side, the action jarring him far more than he was prepared for. Even his laser focus couldn't stop the agony rushing through him. His stomach lurched. Hell of a good soldier he was going to be for his men in his condition.
But he climbed down. Sweat beaded on his body and he shivered and trembled with every movement, but he kept going. He wasn't about to let the others down. Somewhere, far off, he heard Ezekiel talking to him, encouraging him, giving him the distance in small increments. He didn't know if he could have made it without that. He just concentrated on Zeke's numbers and went from one point to the next until his feet touched down.
Ezekiel was there. Solid. A rock. His face grimmer than Wyatt had ever seen it. He slipped his arm around Wyatt on one side. Draden took the other and they ran for the fence. Wyatt's movements were mechanical and automatic rather than deliberate. He barely registered his surroundings. Only Ezekiel's voice giving him commands.
"You can do this, Wyatt. You have to jump that fence. We're going to be trapped here, all three of us, if you don't make it over that fence."
The fence looked insurmountable, but Wyatt crouched low, took a breath and sprang. He cleared the roll of razor wire and came down on the other side, landing on the balls of his feet. The landing jarred him, wrenching every bone in his body. The ground shifted and then rose up to meet his face. He felt helpless, unable to do anything to break his fall. He just watched as the thick vegetation came at him in slow motion.
Ezekiel came up in front of him, blocking his fall. Wyatt grinned at him as he hit Ezekiel squarely in the chest with his solid weight. Ezekiel didn't so much as rock backward. He dipped his shoulder and caught Wyatt up, and then turned and sprinted through the swamp, back toward the airboat. Behind him, Draden brought up the rear, his weapon out and ready.
We'll need to stop the blood and get a vein fast, Malichai, Ezekiel said. Be ready with the equipment. Trap, whatever you have to do to get in shape, do it fast. We need blood. Probably lots of it. I'm his type, so is Malichai.
What is it? I'll give him blood.
That was Pepper, Wyatt recognized through a fog. It would be interesting to get her blood. Would her immunity to snakebites be passed on to him? He tried to rouse himself enough to ask Trap to let her donate if possible, but then his mind was too fuzzy and garbled to get through to his team.
He wants my blood if possible, Trap, Pepper interpreted. He thinks it would be an interesting experiment.
He could feel her, all feminine, pouring into the lonely places, the parts of him always held away from the rest of the world. Those places of doubt and fear he never showed to others.
He reached out to her. She wasn't as far as the others. She was in him. Feeling what he was feeling. He felt her fingers run down his arm to thread to his.
"He's very cold. He's never cold like this."
There was fear in her voice. In her. He didn't want her to ever be afraid again. She'd had enough of that in Whitney's lab
oratories.
"Open your eyes, Wyatt." That was Trap. He sounded tough and mean, just like Trap usually sounded.
"Damn it, Wyatt, open your eyes." That was Ezekiel. You didn't ignore Ezekiel. Wyatt made the effort. He was a little shocked to be lying flat on his back on the airboat. Draden and Malichai were crouched low and armed with semiautomatics, facing out toward the swamp. That confused him more than ever. He clearly was in a combat situation, but he couldn't remember.
"Am I hit, Trap?" he asked.
Trap was working on him, his face grim, his movements steady, but very fast. "I'm putting a line in your arm, Wyatt. We need to give you blood and we don't want your veins collapsing on us before I get this line in. As soon as we're home I'll do the repairs, but you don't pass out on me, you hear? We need you alert."
Wyatt tried to keep his eyes open. He drifted in a sea of pain and guilt. The last thing he wanted to do was be a burden to his team. He was aware of them all around him, kneeling beside him, their faces grim, their voices low as they worked on him. Ezekiel was on one side of him while they tried to push blood into him.
"We've got to go now," Trap determined. "Get us back home fast, Malichai."
Wyatt watched the night spinning fast above his head. Every bumping jar of the boat on the water sent a ripple of agony shredding through his muscles and bones. The strange spinning made him sick and he closed his eyes.
Wyatt. Pepper's voice was demanding. Don't you dare die on us. We've got three children who need you desperately.
I don' plan on dyin', honey. Just goin' to sleep for a little while. I'm tired out.
Well, you can't. We're all tired out. All of us. You're still needed.
He didn't like letting her down, but truthfully, he wasn't certain he could stay awake. He'd never been so tired in his life. And cold. Is there a blanket around, I'm freezin'.
"He needs a blanket. Didn't we bring one?" Pepper asked, anxiety turning her voice soft and teary.
Wyatt hated that. He tried to rouse himself but he couldn't move. He turned his head toward her, prying open his eyes just enough to make her out. She knelt beside him, the two babies cuddled on either side. She looked as if she was crying. Worse, the two babies, looking exactly like Ginger, looked as if they were crying as well. All three stared at him with big eyes.
Don' cry, Pepper. You're upsettin' the children. I'm goin' to be fine. Trap's a good doctor. He'll fix me up.
"This damn swamp is a maze," Malichai shouted. "How the hell does he know which way to go?"
"Turn into that canal just ahead," Trap said.
Malichai scowled at him. "Trap, you've never been through the swamp except when we were heading to the plant. How could you possibly know?"
Trap knows, Wyatt told Pepper. He never forgets anything.
"He's right," Pepper called, trying to be heard above the sound of the airboat. "That's the way we came in, Wyatt confirmed it."
Malichai took the airboat into the canal, hoping for the best. All of them felt a sense of urgency. They'd have to prepare a makeshift operating room and Trap would have to do what he did. He wasn't a surgeon, not like Wyatt, but he was a good doctor and he read more books and attended more seminars and classes, watched more operations, than anyone else. He retained everything he read or saw. They'd have to trust that he could find out just where Wyatt was bleeding and repair the damage.
Are you hanging in there, Wyatt?
Trap's voice roused Wyatt out of his comfortable stupor. He didn't want to think, it was too difficult, but something in Trap's voice made him answer.
I'm here. Pepper's hangin' on to me. She won' stop givin' orders. Who could sleep with her bossy mouth? He loved her mouth. Her sweet, sweet instrument that made him feel so good. I love her mouth. Even when she's bein' bossy.
I'm not going to put you all the way under. I'll need your help.
Wyatt's heart jerked hard in his chest. Trap had to be worried to tell him that.
I'm tellin' you, Trap, it's just a little repair. The leg's good. It's just bleedin' a lot, but the one in my chest, I thought I'd taken care of it, but it didn' hold.
I can do it, Trap assured. But diggin' inside you is not my favorite thing. Not under these conditions and in your grand-mere's house. If I make a mistake, that woman owns a shotgun and the one staring at you with moony eyes can bite with venom. Then there're the three little vipers...
Wyatt laughed. Coughed. Hurt like hell. Shut up before you kill me. Unless that's the plan, to do me in before we get to the house.
It might be a better option. You've got Ezekiel's blood going into you.
If I need more, use Pepper. I want to see if her blood will give me any immunity against snakebites.
After I give you her blood, do you plan on letting one of the little ones bite you? Trap asked curiously.
Wyatt took a breath to steady himself. He needed to just drift away, go to sleep, but something just wouldn't let him do that. It took a few minutes for his brain to figure out Pepper was locked on to him like a missile. She was firmly in his mind, whispering silly nonsense to him. Talking about the children. Telling him the differences between their personalities, so he could identify them more easily.
Every time he started down the road to sleep, she would whisper again, so low he had to really listen to hear her voice. He loved the sound of her voice. He loved the way it filled his mind and made him feel as if he were a part of her. Sometimes she talked about her dreams. Things he knew she would never tell him if she wasn't so worried about him. Intimate, personal things she would be embarrassed if he remembered once Trap operated on him.
Keep talkin', Pepper, he encouraged when she choked back a sob. I can feel the boat slowin'. We must be close to the house. Talk to me. I don' feel the pain when you're talkin'. And he didn't so much that he'd just let go. He couldn't do that to her.
I've been afraid for so long, Wyatt, she confided. Once I fell in love with the children, I didn't know how I was going to get them out of there or care for them. I'm still scared. How can I be a mother when I never had one? I'm trained to kill, not to nurture. You're so different. So is Nonny. You both know how to love. I didn't even know what a family was supposed to feel like until I met you. Don't leave me.
Wyatt concentrated on the tremor in her voice. Her tone told him she really was terrified that she would make mistakes with their children.
I don't know how to be a girlfriend or a wife. I don't even like most men. The ones I met weren't very nice. How can I be someone special to you when I won't know how to treat you? What to do or say? I've honestly never been so terrified.
He wanted to reassure her that they would do just fine. They'd find a way to make it all work. That's what he was best at - making things work. He couldn't find the energy to talk anymore, not even when he knew she needed him to. It was all he could do to concentrate on the sound of her voice and keep himself awake.
I thought it would be so much better outside of the laboratories and schools I spent my life in, but at least there I knew what was expected of me. I knew what the rules were. I feel as if I've been thrown onto an alien planet and there's no guidebook to tell me what's venomous and what isn't.
He found that an interesting choice of words. Pepper dealt in venom. She'd been bitten several times and knew what it was like to suffer the effects. She had to be really afraid to compare freedom to a snakebite.
I love that you want me for myself. I never thought that could happen. I don't even know who I am on the outside, but I love that you do.
He made an attempt to squeeze her hand. He was very aware of her fingers in his, but he couldn't tell if he'd succeeded.
I didn't know I could feel such love for anyone. It happened so fast, before I had a chance to think or know what I was doing. I'm afraid, Wyatt, all the time, worried you'll discover I'm not nearly the person you think I am. That doesn't matter, because you have to stay with me. I need you. The children need you even more than they need me. Stay wit
h me, Wyatt.
She needed reassurance. Babe, I'm not goin' anywhere. He forced his brain to work, to let her know she wouldn't be alone.
She went very still. In his mind. Her fingers moved ever so gently in his. I'm pouring my heart out to you, Wyatt, but I didn't think you could really hear me. I'm sorry. I wanted to keep talking to you. I thought if I did that I could hold you to me.
You thought right. Keep talkin'. I'm strugglin' to stay conscious.
He didn't want them to bring him unconscious to his grandmother, or to Ginger. The child had become attached to all of them in a very short time. She would be overjoyed to see her sisters, but she was far too intelligent and she would comprehend that he'd been wounded rescuing them.
Wyatt forced his mind to accept the possibility of death. He reached for Ezekiel. If somethin' happens to me, send for Gator and Flame. Nonny will need them and they can help Pepper with the girls. My girls. I have three daughters, Zeke. I'd like to see them grow up.
Stop bein' a morbid son of a bitch, Wyatt. You can't die and you know it. You've got too many responsibilities. So just make up your mind to get through this and do it.
Yeah, that was Ezekiel. All soft edges and sympathy. Wyatt would have laughed but it hurt too damned bad.
Chapter 18
Wyatt stood leaning in the doorway, his entire body shimmering with rage. Pure, black rage. The red welled up to join the black and the cat DNA added to the already lethal mixture. He could taste the terrible mixture in his mouth, a terrible concoction of temper, jealousy, desire and possessiveness. The combination was ugly and it was dangerous.
Pepper's soft laughter ripped through his body. There was happiness there. Joy even. His three little girls danced in the parlor, turning in circles while Pepper danced too - with Ezekiel and Mordichai. Mordichai.
The man had joined them while Wyatt was unconscious, and he'd certainly wormed his way into the household. Right now, his gaze was on Pepper, drinking her in. Ezekiel at least had the decency to try to keep his eyes averted. With his enhanced senses, the elevation of male testosterone wasn't that difficult to smell. Or Pepper. The biochemical spilled out of her, leaving traces behind.
Mordichai reached a hand under Pepper's elbow when she nearly tripped. She was wearing the boots he bought her. He bought her. Wyatt. Not Mordichai. His gaze found Mordichai's hand wrapped around Pepper's bare skin. His stomach knotted and every muscle in his body tensed. He clenched his teeth, the ugly beast clawing at his gut, urging him to claim what was his and destroy his enemies.