Chase, Zara - Tigers' Temptation [Impulse 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (16 page)

“You really love him, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I really do.”

“Is it really so very dangerous for him?”

At last he gave her his full attention, piercing blue eyes blazing with anger. “You have
no
idea what it does to him.”

“That’s why I’m asking you.” When he returned his attention to his herbs and didn’t reply, she pushed him. “What is it, Philo? Something happened to you in the past, didn’t it? You lost someone, and now you’re petrified that it will happen again.”

He shot her a look. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

At first she thought that he would open up to her. Then something in the stern planes of his handsome face closed down. She’d lost him again and didn’t know what to do about it.

“Giron’s just pulled up outside,” he said without looking at her. “Go and get your little girl.”

Chapter Eleven

Amy chattered away for the first part of the trip back to Impulse, bursting with news of her activities in the Magic Kingdom.

“Princess Layla held my hand, Mommy,” Amy said, beaming with pride, her eyes as wide as saucers. “She said I was brave and a cute kid, but I told her I’m not a kid because I’m almost six.”

Layla smiled. “That’s great, honey.”

“Layla’s your name, Mommy, so you must be a princess, too.”

Yeah, and I’ve already met my two princes. Unfortunately they ain’t lining up to hold my hands.

“Did you see Mickey?” asked Giron from behind the wheel.

“Yes, and lots of his friends, too. They were funny.” Her childish giggle echoed around the car. “They made me laugh.”

Amy seemed to take these two strangers in her stride, still hyped up from her experiences in Orlando, and didn’t ask who they were or where they were going. She’d met enough strangers in the past few months, Layla thought with a pang, and had gotten used to new people. She examined her daughter as she painstakingly sorted through the bag of goodies she’d brought away with her. Brightly colored pencils, picture books, plastic figures that obviously meant something to her, and, naturally, a princess doll dressed in sparkly pink. She seemed animated, yet pale, a pink cloche mop cap hiding her lack of hair, a result of the chemo.

Layla cuddled her close, fiercely protective but impotent to do anything to help her. The familiar feeling of failure claimed her. The future seemed as bleak now as it always had, and she felt like sobbing at the unfairness of it all. But Layla had already shed too many tears over Amy’s condition. They’d done no good then and wouldn’t now.

“A cute kid,” Giron observed as Amy finally fell asleep against Layla’s side. He changed lanes on the interstate and stepped on the gas.

“Thanks. I think so, too.”

“Keep a close eye out, Jud,” Giron said. “Make sure we don’t have any company.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing all this time?”

Giron chuckled. “Okay, keep your pelt on. I was only saying.”

“Don’t worry,” Jud said to Layla, giving Giron the finger behind his back. “If anyone can help Amy, it’s Mikael.”

Yes, but at what price to him?

Mikael was on the steps to the Institute when Giron’s truck pulled to a halt in the parking lot. Amy had woken up and allowed Giron to lift her down. He put her on her feet and Layla rushed to join her.

“Perhaps I ought to carry her in,” she said. “The air.”

“I can walk, Mommy. I’m a big girl now.”

“Just watch,” Giron said.

Amy seemed totally unaffected by the thin atmosphere that already had Layla gasping for breath.

“Kids don’t seem affected by it the same way adults are,” Giron said. “Don’t ask me why that is.”

Amy made a beeline for Mikael, who’d crouched down to greet her. It was as though she’d known him all her life and understood he was perhaps her only hope of survival.

“Hey,” he said. “Nice hat. You must be Amy.”

“Yes. Do you want to see my doll?”

“Sure I do, honey.” He glanced up at Layla. “You’d best come inside. You look kinda short of breath.”

She shooed Amy in front of her and followed Mikael into his domain. “Where’s Philo?”

“Leave him be,” Mikael said, producing a lollipop from his pocket and handing it to Amy with a flourish. “Let’s get you settled in, young lady.”

Amy slipped her hand into Mikael’s, still chattering away about her experiences as he led her into a part of the Institute that hadn’t formed part of Layla’s original guided tour. It was the clinic, of course, and out of bounds to anyone who didn’t have business there. Their destination was a brightly painted room with a pleasant view of the Intracoastal, colorful pictures on the walls that would appeal to children, and two beds.

“I figured you’d like to sleep in here with her,” Mikael said.

“Of course.”

She would have, anyway—of course she would—but the implication that she wouldn’t be sharing Mikael and Philo’s bed again wasn’t lost on Layla. A pretty nurse appeared, whom Mikael introduced as Fiona. She had a natural way with kids and soon had Amy sitting up in bed, telling this latest stranger all about her adventures.

“What happens now?” Layla asked Mikael.

“We run some normal tests. Blood, stuff like that. Then we’ll see.”

Melanie appeared with tea and cookies for Layla. And for Amy, juice and a big cream cake that made her eyes light up.

“Seems silly to worry about sugar overload, given what the poor little scrap’s going through,” Melanie said in an aside to Layla, laughing as Amy finished up with more cream on her chin than she did in her mouth.

“I guess you’re right.”

Philo appeared when Layla and Amy were temporarily alone.

“How is she?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Amy said. “I’m nearly six. How old are you?”

“Four hundred and seventy-three.”

“Wow, that’s
really
old, isn’t it, Mommy?”

Philo crouched beside her bed and grinned at her, causing Layla’s heart to stutter. She knew what he thought of her, and by association Amy, so she also knew what that smile must have cost him.

“You must be Amy. How’s it going, kid?”

“I told you, I’m not a kid. I’m nearly six.”

Philo shared a grin with Layla this time. “So you did. I forgot that just for a minute.”

“Everyone forgets,” she said, sounding a little sorry for herself.

“Well, when you’re as old as I am, it’s easy to forget things.” He produced one of the snow domes and handed it to her. “Here, try this.”

Amy shook it, rapidly becoming absorbed with the way the rain fell on the two cats.

Mikael rejoined them at that point, looking focused.

“Say, Amy, can you lie down for me and keep absolutely still? Think you can do that?”

“Of course. I’ve done it lots of times.”

“I know you have.”

A look was exchanged between Mikael and Philo. The atmosphere was charged and Layla knew this was the defining moment. Mikael had obviously gotten the results of the tests he did and was now going to touch her beloved child and decide if there was anything he could do to help her. Layla screwed her eyes tight shut, but tears of desperation still seeped from their corners.

“Why are you crying, Mommy?”

Out of the mouths of babes.

“I’m not crying, sweetheart. I just got something in my eye.”

Mikael threw her a reassuring look. Even Philo managed a brief smile. Her heart was in her mouth as Mikael ran his hands lightly over Amy’s head, arms, and legs before bringing them to rest on her small abdomen. He kept them there for a long time. His arms shook, perspiration peppered his brow, but his eyes were wide open, like he was concentrating, or listening for something.

After what seemed like forever, he removed his hands and tucked Amy back up in bed. “Drink this for me, sweetheart.”

Amy showed how often she’d been asked to drink weird concoctions recently by doing so without making a fuss.

“It’s one of Philo’s herbal medications,” Mikael said. “It’ll calm her and we’ll do it in the morning.”

“You
can
do it?” Layla asked, not daring to believe her own ears. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to suffer.”

Philo made an indecipherable sound and left the room without another word or glance in her direction.

“It’ll be all right.” He sighed. “Probably.”

“Mikael, I don’t—”

“Get some rest,” he said, heading for the door. “Melanie will bring you something to eat. I need to prepare myself.”

He kissed her cheek like she was a stranger and they hadn’t shared the same bed the previous evening. She couldn’t begin to appreciate the amount of strain he must be under, or properly express her appreciation for the sacrifice he was prepared to make. She wanted to scream at him that she loved him and that he shouldn’t take the risk.

One look at her lively, inquisitive, dying child and the words stalled on her lips.

“Will I see you later?”

“In the morning.”

Amy fell asleep almost immediately, but Layla wasn’t left alone for long. Several of the colony members she already knew stopped by to reassure her. Rafe and Vilas came first, speaking in whispers to avoid waking Amy.

“I’m worried about Mikael,” she said, whispering, too. “About what this will do to him.”

Rafe flexed his jaw, and she could see that he was worried, too. “I guess he feels it’s something he has to do.”

A prolonged silence ensued. Rafe and Vilas stared at one another, and she got the impression that they were doing that pheromoning thing. She wanted to tell them that it was rude to exclude her, but now wasn’t the time for levity. Eventually, Rafe shook his head decisively and the discussion appeared to come to an end. She would have given a lot to know what it had been about, sensing that she’d been at the center of it all.

Rafe and Vilas hadn’t been gone for long before Chantal took their place. She sat beside Layla, talking quietly about her new life in Impulse. About how embraced she felt by the colony at large. How the colony was the family she’d always wanted. How Rafe and Vilas gave focus and meaning to her life. Layla thought of Mikael and Philo and could definitely relate to that.

“Even my brother’s here now,” Chantal said. “Mated with Rochelle.”

“Really!” Layla elevated her brows. “I think I saw him in the Cat’s Whiskers yesterday. He looks a lot like you.”

“Yeah, he does. He’s my only living relative so it’s great that we can be here together.”

“It must be.”

When Chantal finally left her, Layla checked on Amy, brushed her teeth, and climbed into the bed next to her daughter. She prayed for the first time in years, asking whichever deity happened to be listening to grant her the gift of a healthy daughter again
and
to spare Mikael.

She woke early, having slept badly. Breakfast was out of the question, and, obviously, Amy wouldn’t be getting any. Her daughter had barely opened her eyes before Mikael, Philo, and Fiona entered the room.