Asanni Page 9

I would see, I thought, in a few days. And I would be with her, and do what Tristan and Liv couldn’t, no matter how much they cared for her: I would change, too, and be with her, and talk to her, and she wouldn’t feel alone anymore.

  A distant sound of several emergency vehicles heading toward the same point interrupted my thoughts. I glanced at Tristan and Liv. They heard it, too.

  “What do you think, Jack? Why is her change so dramatic?” Tristan asked. “Can you help her?”

  “Her spirits are still separate. Her wolf part needs to be connected to her human part.”

  “How did that happen?” Livia asked. “Aren’t your spirits connected at the moment of birth?”

  “That’s how it usually happens, yes,” I said.

  Both my parents were werewolves, and I was born with my spirits united. Even children who had one human parent wouldn’t have two separate spirits. Usually they’re already linked by the time a child was born.

  “There are exceptions,” Tristan said. “But that’s never been a problem, as far as I know.”

  “Rarely, a wolf spirit and human spirit are separate,” I said. “But they connect either with the first change...” Here I took a deep breath. “Or with the first sexual intercourse with another werewolf. In Astrid’s case, they didn’t connect with the first change, and she... ahem... hasn’t been in contact with us, so...”

  Livia clapped her hands in excitement. “Oh. My. God. In other words, she needs a werewolf boyfriend. She’ll be thrilled when she hears that! The good news is you two are heading in that direction anyway. God, Jack, you’ve made my day!”

  I redirected my eyes to Tristan. He at least tried to keep a straight face. “You know what, Jack,” he said in the tone of a trained professional, “it makes a perfect sense.”

  His phone hummed. “It’s Astrid,” he said as he glanced at the display. “What’s up, Princess?”

  “I need you to come immediately.” I heard her confident and calm voice.

  “On my way,” Tristan said as he rose. “Talk to me.”

  “A family was in a car accident. Two girls, ages five and seven, not badly injured. We did MRIs, no internal injuries, no head injuries. The father’s in bad shape, but he’ll make it. You’ll do him. The mother’s in critical condition. They’re prepping her. I’ll start right away. She was a heartbeat from death. I stabilized her, but I’m not sure. She’s suffered massive internal injuries...” She continued in Latin medical terminology. Then Liv closed the door behind her husband, and I couldn’t hear Astrid’s voice anymore.

  Liv let out a deep sigh and sat down across from me. “Two of the best doctors will operate on them. If anybody can save them, it’s Astrid and Tristan.”

  “Why did she call Tristan? Why not somebody who’s already there?”

  “Because of the severity of the injuries. She doesn’t trust anybody more than Tristan. And vice versa. Tristan gave her that authority, to call whoever she thinks will be the best.”

  “They must be quite a team, then,” I said.

  “Oh, you bet. Did Astrid tell you how they ended up working together?”

  When Astrid was attacked last spring, Liv explained, Arnaldur contacted her and Tristan for help. Astrid chose to come to this town and start working as an ER doctor. Tristan and Liv had decided that one of them needed to be close to Astrid while she was at the hospital. There hadn’t been any other open positions, however, so the always practical Tristan created one. The previous CEO suddenly got a once-in-a-lifetime, take-it-or-leave-it offer that took him to Chicago, and Tristan got the brass plaque on the CEO’s door on the fourth floor.

  “How do the other doctors take that? They’re probably not crazy about the Duplant/Blake tandem.”

  “You’d expect their professional pride to be bruised, but they like them both. Especially Astrid. She spends more time with the other doctors and staff. They respect Tristan because he’s so capable and does so much for them. He’s flexible, approachable and ready to help whenever he can. Your girlfriend...” Liv looked at me and smiled, and I smiled back. It sounded just right. “She’s adored, particularly among the nurses and other hospital staff, and of course, her patients. The doctors, well, they wisely don’t try to compete with her. And besides, everybody knows she is the CEO’s protégé.”

  “What about you? Why don’t you work with them? Don’t you miss your job?”

  “For the time being, I’m happy being a part-time self-employed real-estate agent with a rich husband.” Liv shrugged. “I’m a researcher, Jack, not a practitioner. I have my laboratory here in the basement. This is all I need.”

  “It’s been more than a year since you came here. Don’t you miss your life?”

  Liv shook her head. “This is our life now. We’ll stay with Astrid as long as it takes. There’s another bond that’s unbreakable: it’s called loyalty. And when we talk about Arnaldur and Ella, and you and James—friendship. You didn’t hesitate to help us when it was dangerous to take our side.”

  “Ah, the years of living dangerously,” I said nostalgically. “It’s been worth it, we’ve accomplished a lot... Liv, when I take Astrid with me, you and Tristan can—”

  Liv lifted her hand, stopping me. “Jack, Seth will try again, we all know that. Tristan and I will stay around. Just in case you need us. You know that we can be quite handy in a tight spot.”

  “Thanks, Liv,” I said, not at all surprised by her offer. I knew they wouldn’t consider their job done just because the replacement had come. Astrid was their friend now, and they would be there for her, as long as she needed them.

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “Liv, tell me about her.”

  “You first.”

  “Headstrong, stubborn, sharp-tongued, smart as a whip, funny and intriguing. I’ve never thought it was possible to feel so strongly about someone after such a short time.”

  “She is fascinating. Did you know she studied medicine at two different universities at the same time? The first year courses at one, the second year at another so that she could complete two years in one. The regular program was too slow for her. She had to fake her birth year; she was far too young for medical school. She became an MD in less than four years and has two surgical specialties. She’s logical and rational, like her wizard kind, and at the same time emotional, warm and sensitive. And feminine, don’t you think?”

  “She is.” Oh boy, she is!

  Astrid was breathtakingly beautiful. Her sexual appeal was most prominent in the color of her voice, in those dark-blue eyes, in the soft curve of her neck; in the way she moved, talked, smiled and laughed.

  I glanced at the clock. Hours and hours before she would be done. I briefly closed my eyes and imagined her serious, calm profile focused on the broken body on the surgery table. I saw her elegant yet strong and confident hands in bloody surgical gloves connecting damaged tissue. The subtle energy of her healing touch would help her to do the impossible.

  I was about to take her from the only life she knew and loved, and parachute her right into an unknown world, so different from hers. If she agreed to stay in Red Cliffs, she would be our Ellida, something she’d never heard about before I told her. She would be my wife, and my mate, and the mother of my children.

  Nobody asked her if she wanted it, and yet she was willing to try: to leave everything behind, to be our Ellida, to live with us, to give me a chance. What right did we have to do that to her? I wasn’t surprised that she’d fallen apart today. I was truly astounded she wasn’t indeed on her way to Nepal instead of calmly trying to save somebody’s life. My brave girl.

  “Liv, she seems so young,” I said quietly, suddenly struck by a fear that, sooner or later, Astrid could get tired of all those burdens we’d been putting upon her and decide to leave.

  My friend quickly identified the source of my acute panic attack.

  “Don’t go there, Jack,” she said gently. “Astrid is a mature and responsible person, driven by her famous logic as well
as her heart. She doesn’t make impulsive decisions. And she is capable of deep and honest feelings.”

  “What if she gets tired one day and wants to leave?” I repeated aloud my anxious thought, desperately looking at my friend for reassurance.

  “For Chrissake, Jack, don’t even dare to compare Astrid with that girl! Madeleine left you for somebody else. She cheated on you, not the other way around! It wasn’t your fault! You know what?” Livia raised her voice and I could only hope it would stop at that level. “I’ve never understood what you saw in her. Okay, she was pretty and there was some mystique around her. She was always so reserved and quiet, and I never knew if it was because she was indeed reserved or because she didn’t have much to say.”

  “And you didn’t bother to figure it out? With all the methods you have at your disposal?”

  She smirked. “For a human, she was very difficult to read with my non-evasive methods, so it stayed a mystery for me if she loved you or if she liked the idea of having a rich, good-looking boyfriend who adored her.” She stopped and exhaled audibly. “Sorry for being so open. I hope it doesn’t bother you anymore.”

  It didn’t, but Liv was one of the few people who could talk to me like that and get away with it. “It’s not important anymore, Liv. I’ll just tell you that Lanni is a smart and compassionate woman. Being an introvert is not a personality fault.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry. I was probably a bit unfair. But she wasn’t the right girl for you, Jack. I knew it from the beginning, but I was polite enough to keep my mouth shut.”

  “Maybe you should’ve told me long ago and saved me a lot of trouble.”

  “Yeah, and you’d have listened to me, sure… I’m telling you now, about Astrid. Think about this: Madeleine was your choice, and it didn’t work. Astrid has been chosen for you as your bond mate, and it works. And believe me, in spite of her ‘tender age’, I can’t imagine anybody else who could handle you and a whole bunch of your kinsmen better than Astrid Vandermeer.”

  “I didn’t mean to compare Astrid with Lanni. Though you’d be probably surprised to see how much Lanni has changed. She graduated from nursing school and now works as a pediatric nurse.”

  “Oh, I’d like to see that change myself.”

  “She’s put her life back on the right track. You can easily check that for yourself. Liv, she worked hard to make something out of her life.”

  Livia eyed me sharply. “And you know all this how?”

  “It’s not what you think, Liv. Lanni belongs to somebody else now. I have no business there.”

  She raised her eyebrow. “Does she know that?”

  “Of course she knows. Come on, Liv, give her some credit! Lanni had a lonely, unhappy childhood and a harsh life. I loved her, and I know she loved me. And I was equally responsible for our break-up. I took her for granted, like everybody else in her life… Our relationship had been over long before Astrid came into my life, however, and it’s going to stay like that. Astrid’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Liv. I’m aware of that. I’m just saying Astrid is young, and everything is happening too fast for her.”

  “Then be there for her, Jack. Her life has always been so disciplined, so organized, so spartan. And she is such a warm, darling girl. Shake her up a little bit. Bring some more fun, more laughter into her life, more lightness of living. She hasn’t had much of that.”

  “It’s me who is shaken up, so I might as well return the favor.”

  I wasn’t sure if Astrid was ready to hear the next few lines of Cohen’s song, but her man was damn ready to hum them into her ear. “Liv, is it okay if I go to the hospital now?” I said.

  “One of them will phone when they finish. Then you can go. If Astrid is still in the operating room, they won’t let you into her office. Let’s make us something to eat while we wait. I’m hungry.”

  It was a quarter to three when Liv’s phone rang. “They’re both going to make it.” I heard a bright, cheery tone in Tristan’s voice. “She’s a wizard!”

  “Are you coming home?” Liv said.

  “I’ll stay a bit. I hear Jack’s still there. Why don’t you two come here for an early morning cup?”

  Before Liv ended the call, I had the car keys in my hands.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Astrid

  “YOU DON’T mind, do you?” Tristan said.

  “Not at all.” On the contrary.

  Just the thought of seeing Jack made me forget instantly how tired I was. My heart beat fast and hard, I felt light and giddy, like a teenage girl having her first crush.

  I was tired, though, in spite of my formidable physical and mental endurance. I could work long hours, do a string of surgeries without feeling tired or losing concentration. I needed little sleep. Four, five hours were usually enough. Except close to the full moon, when I felt exhausted and slept a lot.

  Or after complicated surgeries. That night, I had operated for several long hours, fighting for the young woman’s life. I’d mobilized all my energy and skills and focused them on the body in front of me. When I’d finished, I felt physically drained and emotionally exhausted, like after crying for a long time.

  The young woman, mother of two little girls, and wife of the man Tristan had operated on, would survive.

  Sometimes my patients would die no matter how fiercely I fought to save them. Losing those battles always left me not only empty and worn out, but also sad, bitter and angry. In short, not quite myself for days. I’d never learned how to deal with that.

  Luckily, the young woman that had been brought to the hospital clinically dead was going to have a full recovery. I’d stabilized her condition and eased her pain as much as I could, so we didn’t need to put her into an induced coma. She would wake up sometime later that day and start her slow yet steady convalescence.

  “You did a hell of a job tonight, Dr. Duplant.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Blake. Those two girls need their mother, and that man, his wife,” I said.

  Tristan leaned across the table and gently stroked my cheek.

  We sat in my office, waiting for Liv and Jack. Tristan brought us two double espressos he made in his office, where he kept a small Gaggia machine.

  My job was done for today, but I would check on my patient before leaving the hospital.

  “I’ll find you a replacement for tonight. Take a day off,” Tristan said.

  I rubbed my eyes. “That will leave me with Jack more than... than...”

  “More than you want? Why don’t I believe you?”

  “I didn’t mean to say that. Jack told you about that special connection between us, didn’t he? Damn it, Tristan, it’s working. I feel like a part of me is missing when he’s not within arm’s reach. I’m just wondering if I would feel the same for him without that bond. I wish we'd met under different circumstances.”

  “Astrid, I refuse to believe that any kind of bond is arbitrary. That would be a bad joke, nothing more.”

  “Then what about all those famous couples who couldn’t function together yet couldn’t live without each other?”

  “They wasted the gift they were given,” Tristan said. “That’s what I think. A bond works if you make it work, otherwise it’s a curse. I’m trying to say that you still hold the reins. It depends on you, not on the bond, if you’re going to make your life and somebody else’s heaven or hell.”

  I was about to say I liked Tristan’s bonding philosophy. I didn’t mind if he’d just developed it for my sake. Then all my senses detected my bond mate walking briskly toward my office. My heart moved up to my throat and I tried to push it back to its place, and then I thought about Tristan’s wise words and gave up.

  Jack came in, bringing his delicious scent of wind, sun and rain; mixed with longing, desire, closeness, hunger, lust. I firmly grabbed the sides of the chair I’d been sitting on in order not to launch myself on his handsome, inviting self.

  “Hey.” Jack came to me and kissed my hair. “I heard you did a
great job last night.”

  It was good I was already sitting because my whole body turned limp. I reached for his hand and held it between mine.

  With the pretext of making an espresso for Jack, Tristan excused himself and went to join Liv in his office.

  Jack picked up a stray lock and tucked it behind my ear. “You look tired. Do you need to stay until your shift is over?”

  I shook my head. “No. Tristan will stay.”

  Still holding my hand, Jack pulled another chair up and sat close to me. I rested my head against his chest and breathed in his scent. Just a little bit, just for a minute... You smell and feel so good, Jack Canagan. Maybe you are indeed given to me as a gift, and I stake my claim, here and now. You are mine, and I will die if you ever, ever love any other woman but me...

  I shook my head at my silly thoughts and looked up at Jack. “Are you sure you can’t read minds?”

  A smile sparkled in his beautiful amber eyes. I wanted him to close them so that I could kiss his eyelids. “Oh, I can guess what’s on your mind. Something similar to what I’ve been thinking of, for sure,” he said.

  I tucked my head back into its place, into that inviting hollow between Jack’s neck and shoulder that seemed so perfectly shaped for it. “What have you been doing all night?”

  “Talking with Liv.”

  “About me?”

  “Of course. Who else?”

  “I’m taking a day off. What are we going to do?” Are we taking things slowly, or are we diving into the deep end?

  I wasn’t sure if I said that aloud or if it was only in my mind.

  It was probably just my raunchy imagination because Jack didn’t reply directly to my question. Instead, he cupped my chin and said, “Astrid, let me see your eyes.”

  I looked up at him, feeling a bit dizzy. For a long moment his eyes examined mine, and I could see that he found in them whatever he’d been looking for.

  “Tristan and Liv are coming,” I said, hearing their steps coming towards my office, and reluctantly removed myself from Jack.