Absolution of Fate (Fate Series Book 3) (18 page)

She looked up at Ethan. He shrugged his shoulders. It wasn’t really a choice, but something else weighed heavily on his mind.

‘I’m not so sure the virus is his greatest weapon anymore,” Ethan added. “He has Chloe now; we don’t know what she’s capable of, or how he might use her in his fight for power.”

“Of course, I’ll do whatever I can to help, but Ethan is right; what about Chloe? Are we any closer to finding where he’s keeping her?”

“We’re working on it. Ethan’s information really helped, but this antiserum will give us the advantage we need to move on that intel a lot sooner than we’d originally anticipated.”

“I still think if you let me go out with the next team, I will be able to help more. Seeing the areas might trigger some other memories of the location where he held us.”

“I appreciate that, Ethan; we might take you up on that at some point, just not yet.”

“And what about my other request?” Ethan pressed.

“You know I’m all for it, but it’s not just
my
call. I’ll keep working on it, but I can’t make any promises,” Claesson replied, inching towards the door; eager to move on to other business now that he had delivered Alexa to Dr. Jones.
 

“What other request?” Alexa asked, looking to Ethan, then the Commander. She hadn’t heard Ethan ask for anything and she’d been by his side practically every moment. Claesson took that as his cue to disappear.

Ethan figured it was as good a time as any to tell her. “When the time comes, I want to fight, but your father is against it because of you and my history with Lucias.”

“No, no way!” Alexa said, shaking her head. “Thank God for my father. I’ve lost you to that monster once, and he has my daughter. I’m not going to let you walk right back to him to satisfy some macho need for vengeance. Let the soldiers fight so that when we finally get Chloe back, it won’t be at the cost of her father’s life. You can’t do that to her. You can’t do that to me.”

“Amor—” Ethan started, but stopped. She was right; he was driven by a need for vengeance and there was nothing he could say to make her understand. “You’re right; I’m sorry, it was a foolish request.”

Alexa stared at him, searching through their bond to be certain that he meant it. Ethan gave her a sexy grin and slid his arms around her waist, lowering his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss that stole her breath.

Dr. Jones cleared his throat. “We really should get started,” he said without looking at the couple still in each other’s arms.
 

When Ethan released her, Alexa looked up at him through her lashes, with lust burning in her eyes. “Just because you can kiss me senseless doesn’t mean I’m going to forget about this,” she said as she moved towards the doctor. She knew Ethan far too well to believe he would give up so easily, but she didn’t want to fight, and instead resolved to keep a close eye on him. If he wanted to fight Lucias, she probably couldn’t stop him, but he would think twice if she insisted on going with him.

✧

“There’s no way I’m leaving, Amor. If he’s just a friend, why does he keep eyeing me like he’s jealous, like he wants to rip out my throat every time I get close to you,” Ethan asked, storming around the containment unit while Doctor Jones was getting set up.

Alexa looked toward Dante again. There was no denying that he was not a fan of her mate, but she suspected that the reason had nothing to do with her.
 

“Trust me, my love; it doesn’t have anything to do with me,” she said, taking Ethan’s hand and holding his gaze while she kissed his palm. “Dante is a mirror.”

“What does that have to do with it, Alexa? You kissed him and it clearly meant more to him than it did to you. Look at him!” Ethan yelled, pulling his hand away and pointing at Dante, who was indeed staring at Ethan with eyes full of hatred.

“I think he saw; I think he knows,” Alexa whispered. Ethan looked at her and raised his hands in question. “About you and Layla,” she continued in answer, feeling her stomach flop at the mention of it. “He’s absorbed my telepathy before. I think it gets easier every time and, when I bit him, I had just been thinking about it; you were probably thinking about it. Maybe she was, too. He could have seen it from any of us.”

Ethan looked at Dante again, then at Layla sprawled out on the floor behind him and, though they couldn’t hear him, Dante let out a growl when his eyes were on Layla.

“Well, shit,” Ethan said, turning away.
 

“I’ll explain it to him; he’ll understand,” Alexa stated, realizing that no amount of explanation would make Dante feel any better about Ethan and Layla fucking. Ethan seemed to know it as well, based on the cynical look he gave in response to her statement. “Okay, maybe he won’t understand, but I’ll help him deal with it. I’m not going to be able to do that with you here hovering behind me, growling at every turn as a constant reminder. It’s bad enough I have to deal with her listening to everything we say; even if she might not care now because she’s infected. Once they’ve collected enough antiserum, she’ll be cured and we’ll all have to figure out a way to deal with what happened and move on. This is the first step. So please trust me and just give me five minutes to speak with him,” Alexa pleaded, placing a hand on Ethan’s cheek.
 

“Five minutes; not a millisecond longer,” Ethan agreed reluctantly. Alexa stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I love you, Ethan,” she whispered before she spun him around and started ushering him to the door.

“I truly do not like this,” Ethan said over his shoulder.
 

“But you love me, and you’re doing this for me,” she replied, giving him a little wave before the door closed between them.

✧

“I don’t understand how you’re so calm about this,” Dante gritted out through the intercom at the front of the cell he shared with Layla. Luckily, she was asleep in the corner, still blood-drunk from her last feeding. In order to draw enough samples to produce the antiserum, Dr. Jones was granted most of the remaining blood stores on the compound to feed Layla. It had taken a while, but thanks to the collection system the doctor was able to rig up and the preternatural healing of the vampire body, after this round of extraction they would have more than enough blood from Layla to generate sufficient antiserum to cure the whole of Lucias’s army and then some. While the ultimate goal was to continue production until the whole vampire population was vaccinated, the research team was confident that they would be able to synthesize the virus long before they ran out of samples from Layla. Unfortunately for Alexa, they still weren’t able to pinpoint what it was in her blood that allowed her body to generate the antiserum, so she would remain integral to the process for the foreseeable future.
 

“Because it was beyond either of their control, and you know it. Besides, if we’re being honest, you and Layla weren’t even a couple at the time. If I recall, there was something about a human in that bar the night she went missing bouncing around in that head of yours, too, so don’t be such a hypocrite.”

Dante’s eyes shot to Alexa for a moment, his expression shocked, then ashamed. She was right; he’d had no claim on Layla at the time. Ethan was her bonded mate and she’d somehow found a way to deal with the situation; at least that’s what she claimed. She might feel differently when Layla was cured.

“I know it’s hard, Dante, but I’m just asking you to try. In a few minutes, Layla’s going to be cured and you’ll both be out of here. Try to focus on that; the second chance you’re about to get to make things right with her. You’re important to me; I want for us to remain friends. I want all of us to be friends, but that is going to be impossible if you’re growling at my mate and giving him the evil eye every time you see each other. It’s hard for him, too, knowing there was something between us, even if it only turned out to be friendship; all he can think about is that we kissed.”

“Okay, I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises.”

“And what about Layla? What are you going to tell her about everything? Will you tell her that you know?”

“Yeah, I have to. Like you said, this is my second chance to make things right. I can’t start out keeping secrets.” The shame she’d seen in his eyes before returned. “She’s had to deal with me and other women before,” he whispered, “I just hope she can do it again, because I swear it’s the last time. She’s all I want now.”

Alexa smiled at him, her eyes full of understanding. “She’s a lucky woman.” Alexa turned to the door then stopped. “So we’re clear, there will be no growling, chest puffing, or muttered threats directed at my husband when you’re out of there, right?” she asked a teasing edge to her voice, though it was a legitimate concern.

“I said I’d try. I’ll give you the growling and chest puffing, but you have to let me keep the muttered threats,” he joked back.
 

“I guess I’ll take that,” Alexa said with a triumphant smile.

“Seriously, though, thank you, Alexa, for everything. I don’t know what I would have done without you. You saved me; you saved all of us,” Dante said, pressing his palm to the glass the same way Alexa had done when she first came back. Alexa’s eyes welled up with tears as she placed her hand over his and nodded; too choked up to say anything else before she released the button and sped to the door.

✧

Alexa smiled up at Ethan from her semi-supine position. Dr. Jones had managed to get a recliner dragged into the lab for her to relax in while her body did its magic.

“I’m proud of you,” she said, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand that was linked with hers. “You didn’t even look at Dante when you came in. That’s progress,” she teased.
 

“Amor, I will always do whatever I can to please you,” his words were sweet, but the look in his eyes gave them a more delicious meaning. Alexa groaned. “Ethan, you’re such a tease,” she whispered.

He responded with a soft, slow kiss.

Dr. Jones cleared his throat behind him. It seemed he had to do that a lot when he was around Ethan and Alexa. “We’re ready to begin.”

Ethan vacated his seat in order to get out of the way, while the doctor set up the machine that would continuously draw Alexa’s blood. He placed a cooler filled with bags of Layla’s blood on the other side of her chair. “That should do it for now; just sit back and relax. I’ll be here the whole time, so just let me know if either of you need anything.”

“What about Layla?” Alexa asked as her blood made its way along the clear tubing and emptied into the first of many collection bags.

“I administered the antiserum a few minutes ago and expect she’ll be free of the virus at any moment. She and Dante will remain contained for a little while until we confirm with a blood test, but I expect they’ll be out of here in the next thirty-minutes or so.”

“Thank you,” Alexa said gratefully as she glanced across the room to Layla’s cell. She focused her telepathy and beamed at Ethan while he took the seat beside her again. It warmed her heart to feel Dante’s relief and happiness.

Ethan looked at her curiously, feeling the sudden lift in her mood. “They’re so happy in there. I wish you could feel it; then you’d know you have nothing to worry about with Dante.”

“I can feel it, Amor. I feel it in you, here,” he said, placing his palm over her heart and pulling hers to his. “If Dante’s happiness brings you such joy, I wish him as much as anyone in the world.”

As promised, it wasn’t long before Dr. Jones opened the door to release Dante and Layla. The pair stepped out, arm in arm, looking as content as anyone could covered in dried blood and wearing drab hospital gowns that the doctor had provided for them, after confirming Layla was cured, to replace the blood-soaked and practically disintegrated rags they’d had in the cell.
 

Alexa guessed a shower and some quality alone time for the couple was in order. She wanted to call out to Dante, but thought better of it. Ethan was trying and Dante said he would as well, but their wounds were fresh and she didn’t want to push her luck. It was impossible for her to hide her shock when Ethan sped across the room and put his hand out to Dante. It didn’t help her state when Dante looked to her, smiled, and shook Ethan’s hand before they headed her way with Layla in tow. Perhaps she had underestimated them both.
 

“Alexa, this is Layla,” Dante said, presenting the woman he loved, who was a complete mess at the time, as if she was the most precious thing in the world.

Layla flashed to Alexa and hugged her tightly, lifting her up slightly from her chair before Alexa could even think to react. “Thank you,” she said, continuing to hold Alexa for a moment. It seemed that everyone was full of surprises.

“Oh, um, you’re welcome. It’s nice to finally meet you,” Alexa replied when she’d finally composed herself. Suddenly all of the animosity she’d felt toward Layla melted away, seeming like something from a bad and very distant nightmare.
 

“I don’t mean to be rude, but Layla and I are a few decades overdue for some time alone,” Dante said, taking Layla’s hand, already moving towards the door. Layla giggled, sounding more like a school girl than a centuries-old vampire soldier who’d virtually been brought back from the dead only minutes before.

✧

The matching hospital gowns were discarded before the door to Dante’s room had fully closed. He scooped Layla up and cradled her in his arms as he made his way to the bathroom. Setting her down, he flashed around the room, turning on the bath and shower and gathering supplies, returning to her side only seconds later.

Dante cupped Layla’s face in his hands and pressed a soft, reverent kiss on her lips. “I’m going to take care of you, okay?” She simply nodded her response. He led her to the shower where they both stepped inside, just long enough to let the water wash away the bulk of the blood still covering most of their bodies. He turned the water off and picked her up again. A moment later, she was settled comfortably in the tub between Dante’s powerful thighs, her back to him as he began to wash her body. Neither of them spoke, instead letting their actions do the talking for them. Layla circled her finger over Dante’s knee while he gently scrubbed her scalp. They continued in that fashion for a long time, with Dante gently washing and caring for Layla until he was satisfied that every trace of the past weeks had been washed away. He washed his own body in a rush, before lifting Layla from the tub and wrapping her in a towel.