Reclamation (The Ravening #3)(21)
Author: Erica Stevens

"Cade," I whispered. His hand trailed over my throat, the fingers that had once caressed me so lovingly and with such reverence were now poised to kill me. "You don’t want to do this Cade." His hand stilled around my throat, my breath froze, I couldn’t move. "It’s me Cade. I love you."

His eyes remained unseeing and as cold and distant as outer space. Then, the blackness seeped out of them as they fixed on me in utter dismay and revulsion. A moan of anguish escaped him as he flung himself backward. He hit the wall with a heavy thud that caused the walls to shake and the room to echo with the hollow sound. He was panting, his breath rapid as his eyes crazily spun around the tunnel.

I turned over and pushed myself to my feet. "Stay back Bethany," he sneered when I took a step toward him. "Knock me out. Bishop give me something to knock me out!"

Bishop was shaking as he dug through his bag of supplies for a syringe and bottle. Filling the syringe with the clear liquid in the bottle, he looked nervously at Cade whose breathing had become even more rapid. Taking a deep breath, Bishop hurried toward Cade. He fell next to him, grabbed hold of his arm, and shoved the needle in before Cade could change his mind.

Cade bucked, his legs kicked out, and then he went completely still. His eyes locked on mine before his lids reluctantly fell closed. What little strength I had left fled my body as I collapsed onto the floor.

Bishop sat back on his heels beside Cade, the color had left his face, and lines I hadn’t noticed before were now visible around his mouth and eyes. Yet I could tell his curiosity was piqued as his head tilted to the side and he glanced between the two of us. I leaned into Aiden as he sat beside me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. With a trembling hand, Bishop leaned forward and reclaimed the needle lying against Cade’s chest.

***

"He’s the reason why your blood is different."

I lifted my head from my knees and blinked Bishop into focus. It felt like I had bits of sand in my eyes as I slowly pressed and rubbed my fingers into them. He was almost done stitching Cade’s skin back together. I’d lost count of how many it had taken to get this far. Bishop’s eyes were focused on me, his eyebrows raised as a look of dawning betrayal began to creep over his features. I liked Bishop, he’d saved my life, and he was helping to save Cade’s life. I hated that look on his face.

"I didn’t know that. Not until recently," I hurried to assure him.

Thankfully that look of me just having stolen his last morsel of food began to leave his face. "But it was because of him," he murmured as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "He is the reason."

"His blood won’t help anyone else Bishop," I informed him before he got too carried away. "He took a chance with me, but he told me that mixing the blood kills most people."

Aiden’s nostrils flared as fury crept over his face. "And he still did it to you?"

I shook my head as I bit my bottom lip. "He had to take the chance Aiden; otherwise I would have been frozen too. There would have been no saving me then." Aiden’s eyes burned into mine, I could sense his logical side waging a war against the side that was irate because Cade had done such a thing to me. "He’d never do anything to harm me if he could help it Aiden, there wasn’t any other choice."

Aiden shook his head. "Bethany…"

"If my blood was like yours he wouldn’t have done it, but it’s not. I’m not. He saved me Aiden, many times. I know it’s hard to understand, I was angry and thrown off by it too, but I’m alive and I wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for him. If I can understand that, then so can you."

"I want to Bethany I really do, but he’s one of them and you didn’t tell me."

He’d been listening to our mother more than I’d realized as he really knew how to drive the guilt nails in. "I know Aiden and I’m sorry, but that’s my fault. Don’t hate him; he did what he had to."

"I understand that."

I felt like a chastised child but I refused to back down. I’d been protecting Cade, I’d done what I had to do, but I knew I wasn’t in the right here either. "We both did what we had to do."

Aiden shook his head and glanced at Bishop. The doctor snipped off the thread and sat back on his heels. "We can’t undo what has already been done and truth be told it’s probably good to have one of them on our side. I’ve seen some of what he can do and I imagine that’s only the tip of the iceberg. He’s done nothing to hurt us." Bishop’s intense eyes pinned me to the spot. "And I don’t think he would do anything to hurt you."

"He wouldn’t," I agreed. "He got us off The Cape, Aiden, and he has done absolutely nothing threatening to any of us."

Aiden still looked torn as he shook his head. Heaving a large sigh, he tossed his hands in the air. "He needs more blood," he relented. "And I assume a transfusion won’t help. I doubt any of us have his blood type."

"When will he wake up?" I asked anxiously.

Bishop shook his head. "I gave him enough to knock out a small elephant, but there is still no way of knowing. I don’t know what his metabolism is like. It could be another day, it could be an hour."

I began to roll up the sleeve of my shirt; I was grabbing for my knife when Aiden stopped my hand. "What are you doing?" I demanded.

"It can’t be your blood." I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me quickly off. "We saw how he reacts to you Bethany; he refused your blood before because he was nervous about what he would do to you. We don’t know how he will react now. He could kill you; he could kill all of us before he ever realized what he’d done."

"He’s drugged."

"And if your blood happens to wake him there is no way to know how he will react."

"But the two of you won’t be enough, and you’ve already given him yours!"

His jaw clenched as his warm brown eyes flickered. "I’ll find someone else."

I rebelled at his statement. I already felt as if Cade had been too exposed, that he was far too vulnerable right now. I didn’t like the idea of even more people knowing about him. Bishop bent over Cade and pressed his fingers to his neck as he checked his pulse. Concern for Cade’s life swiftly buried my dread of revealing what he was to anyone else.

"Go," I managed to choke out.

"Stay away from him Bethany."

A single tear slid free as I nodded mutely and Aiden disappeared. I turned as Bishop wordlessly made a cut on his wrist and pressed it against Cade’s mouth. Even through his drugged stupor Cade reacted to the blood as he sluggishly began to swallow it. My hands folded against my chest as I fought the urge to go to him, to comfort him in some way. I wanted so much to help him, but there was nothing that I could do.