Viola's Risk (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 2) (12 page)

“Is Viola okay?” Cora asked standing up from her seat beside
Dominic at the same time Angelica asked, “Can we go see her?” and Thomas asked,
“Is she awake?”

Dominic just sat there looking up at the doctor with hope in
his eyes, but weariness on his face. Sage understood just how much he’d been
through in that moment.

“We’ve run every test we can think of and come back with
nothing. I have no explanation for any of this,” Dr. Brown informed them with
shake of his head. “We’re moving her to a room and working to get her body
temperature down. We’ve got to get that down quickly or we risk brain damage.
There are nurses tending to her constantly with regards to her body temperature.
Other than that, she’s resting comfortably at the moment and is showing no
signs of pain, other than the scrapes and bruises she obtained from jumping
from a moving vehicle. We’ve got her hooked up to an IV to make sure she’s
getting plenty of fluids which is  all we can do for the moment, until she
wakes up.”

Dominic’s head dropped back into his hands and Cora let out
a soft sob. Liam moved to Cora’s side and wrapped his arms tight around her
shaking shoulders.

Angelica let out a wail as her legs gave out from under her
and Thomas had to catch her before she hit the floor as grief wrapped a fist
around her heart.

“I am so sorry that I could not find what is causing this. I
will keep reviewing the test results and run more tests as I see fit, until I
can find something that might be a causing factor for her condition,” Dr. Brown
said, his helplessness evident.

“Please keep us updated with any new information. We’d like
to see her as soon as possible,” Thomas told the doctor as he held his mate in
his arms, moved over to the seating area and sat down with her on his lap
sobbing into his neck.

“I will make sure you know of all new developments. A nurse
will come out and notify you as soon as you can go to visit her. Please keep
the number of visitors down to no more than two at a time so she’s not
overwhelmed when she wakes up,” Dr. Brown requested and left the room after
each person nodded their understanding.

“Shhh, my dear. She’s young and strong. I’m positive she
will pull through this,” Thomas soothed and did his best to calm her.

Liam was doing the same for Cora, but Dominic seemed to be
on his own with his fear and grief. Sage went over and laid a hand on the man’s
shoulder. As Dominic looked up, Sage motioned with his head for Dominic to
follow him as he turned around and headed out of the waiting room.

Dominic caught up quickly and Sage could tell from a quick
glance the man had been crying behind the hands that had covered his face. The
man’s emotional grid was unstable at the moment so he was trying to get him
somewhere they could talk.

“Where are we going?” Dominic asked, looking disoriented.

“We’re going to get a breath of fresh air. You look like you
could use it and sitting there wasn’t helping you at all. Viola needs you
clear-headed and strong when she wakes up,” Sage said, compassion in his eyes
and his voice.

“I don’t want to be out of reach if there’s any news,”
Dominic stated, starting to turn around and go back.

“You won’t be. All of them know how to reach you if there’s
any news. They know how to reach me as well. You’ve gotta take care of yourself,
or you’ll be useless to her,” Sage told him with confidence.

Dominic looked over at Sage and wondered how he knew so much
and then he remembered Cora telling him about Liam’s visit to medical and how
Sage had kept her from losing her cool while they waited for news of Liam’s
condition.

“How do you do it?” Dominic asked him.

“Do what?” Sage asked, confused.

“You helped Cora when Liam was injured and now you’re
helping me through this. How do you do it when you’re as connected to both
people as the ones you’re helping. You’ve got to be in pain too,” Dominic said,
trying his best to clarify his question even though his brain was foggy and
could only seem to focus on the last time he’d seen Viola’s pale face before
leaving the examination room inside.

“It’s what I do. I have the power to sense other’s emotions.
It’s a blessing and a curse,” Sage said with a shrug of his broad shoulders, as
if it was no big deal. In truth, he did wish he had someone to be there for him
and help him through these situations like he did for others.

“Is that why you left the waiting room earlier? Everyone’s
distress over Viola was getting to you?” Dominic asked, curious and concerned.

“Yeah. If it gets to be too much, I start getting a
migraine. I just needed to get some fresh air and clear my head for a few
minutes,” Sage shrugged again.

“Man, I am so sorry,” Dominic said with a pat on the
shoulder.

“It’s really no big deal. I’ve learned to handle it. I’m
more concerned about you right now and how you’re handling all of this. I know
you lost your family at a young age and you feel as if Viola’s all you’ve got.
I want you to know that’s not true. You are our family now. You have Cora,
Liam, Thomas, Angelica and me to lean on for support now. Don’t shut us out,”
Sage said, shoving his hands into his pockets, but looking directly at Dominic
as they stopped, before pushing through the door leading outside.

“I don’t know what to say,” Dominic said, surprised.

“If you need to talk about what’s going on, just do it. I
won’t judge you, none of us will. Like I said, you’re a part of our family now,”
Sage said, looking the man dead in the eyes.

“I just don’t understand what happened. I’m sure they tested
her for internal bleeding and broken bones because of her jump out of the SUV.
They had to have done testing on her brain to see if she has a concussion or
swelling of the brain. What else could it be? What would cause her body
temperature to spike as high as it did?” Dominic asked, baffled.

“I can’t answer those questions for you,” Sage said, feeling
useless.

Dominic remained silent, lost in his own thoughts for a few
moments. Sage watched him concentrate as if he was figuring something out.

“What are you thinking?” Sage finally asked.

“When Viola attacked Anna, you were the only one conscious
in the room and saw what happened right?” Dominic asked, raising his blazing
eyes to meet Sage’s.

“No, Cora was there too, but it was pretty intense. I have
to say, she scared me,” Sage admitted.

“I’m sure it was impressive. I need you to remember, what
powers did she use on Anna? Were they her Lunarian powers, Solarian powers or a
combination of the two?” Dominic asked, his voice becoming more and more on
edge as he progressed.

Sage was quiet for a moment as he thought back to their time
in that room and replayed the scene in his mind. He pictured how furious Viola
had been. Her emotions had been running hot and he could see the heat coming
off of her. “Viola only used her Solarian powers. Cora used a combination of
both.”

“That’s it? She didn’t use any of her Lunarian powers?”
Dominic pressed.

“Not that I could see. Where are you going with this?” Sage
asked, starting to pick up on Dominic’s train of thought, but wanting to make
sure they were thinking the same thing.

“What if this is caused by an imbalance in her powers? What
if, by using only the Solarian powers, she’s got too much of the heat from them
raging through her body and not enough of the Lunarian to balance it out? I’m
Lunarian only so my body can take just that power being used,” Dominic said and
Sage brightened.

“Cora!” he exclaimed. “When she attacked Anna both times,
she used a combination of her powers and didn’t have a problem. Come on, let’s
go find Dr. Brown.”

Sage turned on his heel and rushed back toward medical with
Dominic striding right along-side him even though he almost running.

“Man, I hope you’re right about this,” Sage said, hope
surging through them both.

“Me too man. Me too,” Dominic said as they entered medical
and caught the first nurse they came to and asked where Dr. Brown could be
found.

As soon as Sage and Dominic found Dr. Brown, Dominic
launched into filling the doctor in on his theory. The doctor seemed to be
contemplating whether or not that could be the problem while the two men stood
impatiently before him.

“I’ve never dealt with anyone who possessed both powers,
other than when the twins were born. I guess it is a possibility, but I have no
idea how to test your theory without putting her in danger,” Dr. Brown told
them, regret filling his voice.

“Can’t we just try to balance it out with Lunarian powers?”
Dominic asked.

“I would advise against it. We don’t know how much damage it
could do to her if that doesn’t work. You could create an imbalance of power in
her if that isn’t the problem to begin with, and that’s not a risk I’m willing
to take,” Dr. Brown said, studying the two men.

“We understand sir,” Sage said as he pulled Dominic back by
the arm. “We won’t take up anymore of your time.”

Dominic looked over at Sage, fury in his eyes. Sage gave him
an almost imperceptible shake of the head and then nodded to the doctor.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you that is definitely the
problem and we know how to fix it. We just don’t know and it’s too risky to
test it out on her,” the sadness in the doctor’s voice pulled at Sage, but a
plan was forming in his mind. He just hoped Dominic would follow his lead. The
man was looking like he could strangle the life from the good doctor.

“Thank you for listening to us. We’re going to go check on
the rest of her family now. Please let us know if there is any news,” Sage said
and pulled Dominic in the opposite direction down the hallway.

The doctor watched them with a suspicious look until they
turned a corner out of sight before he turned and went back into his office
with sad eyes.

“What are you doing?” Dominic hissed at Sage after they’d
rounded the corner.

“We need to talk to Cora right now,” Sage said and continued
back toward the waiting room.

“Why?” Dominic asked, suspicious of what Sage was up to.

“Because, she was somehow able to send a surge of Solarian
powers into Liam when he was killed during the twins unbinding ceremony and
brought him back to life. If anyone would know the safest way to pull this off
without harming Viola, she would,” Sage informed Dominic with a determined look
on his face. From that point on, Dominic didn’t fight him.

When they entered the waiting room, everyone looked up at
them. The purpose of their strides and the determination on their faces alerted
everyone that they were on a mission. They didn’t stop walking until they were
standing in front of Cora.

Dominic knelt down and took her hands in his own.

“What’s going on? Did something happen with Viola?” Cora
asked, terror in her voice.

“We think we might have figured out what is wrong with her,
but the doctor is unwilling to test our theory. You are the only one who might
have the knowledge we need to test it without harming her,” Sage told her from
behind Dominic. Her eyes grew wide as she looked back and forth between the
two. Thomas and Angelica rose to their feet and moved over to the small group,
listening intently to every word.

“How can I help? I have no idea what’s going on with her,”
Cora asked, confused.

“When you brought back Liam, you infused Solarian powers
into him which put his body back into balance. We need to know how to infuse
Lunarian powers into Viola without harming her. Our theory is that because she
only used her Solarian powers on Anna during her attack, it put her out of
balance and there’s too much Solarian running through her right now,” Sage told
her.

“Please Cora. We have to do something,” Dominic pleaded.

“I didn’t really do anything though. My body did what it
needed to do from instinct when I was lying across his chest,” Cora said with a
shake of her head.

“Thank you,” Dominic said and stood.

“Where are you going?” Thomas demanded.

“To help your daughter and my mate sir. Her body can only
withstand being out of balance for so long before she’ll die,” Dominic said and
took off from the room without waiting for a reply. Everyone followed him, in a
hurry to keep up.

Dominic followed his senses to where Viola’s room was and
was irritated to find the doctor and several security guards standing in front
of the door, blocking his path.

“You are not testing any theories out on my patient that
could harm her,” Dr. Brown said in a threatening tone.

“Get out of my way,” Dominic ground out between gritted
teeth.

Thomas put his hand on Dominic’s shoulder and moved in front
of him.

“You and your guards will move out of our way right now,”
Thomas ordered, his tone leaving no room for debate.

“With all due respect sir, no,” Dr. Brown said and stood his
ground. The security guards standing behind him fidgeted nervously.

“You will move out of the way or find yourself somewhere
else to work. I can find another doctor for this facility without any problems,”
Thomas threatened. He would not allow anyone to stand in their way when they
could possibly save his daughter right here and now.

“Please sir, if you allow this, you could be putting her at
further risk,” the doctor pleaded with Thomas.

“I said move now,” Thomas said and looked at each of the
security guards, letting them all know they were included in his directive. “I
won’t repeat myself again.”

Sage and Liam moved up along either side of Thomas as a show
of strength even though they were all sure it would not come down to force.

The guards looked at each other, turned and walked away
without saying a word. The doctor turned and tried calling them back, only to
be ignored.

Thomas crossed his arms and tapped his foot, losing his
patience with the doctor. Not waiting for Thomas’ order, Sage stepped forward
and moved the doctor himself while Liam moved to open the door to Viola’s room,
only to find it locked.

“It’s locked sir,” Liam said, looking back at the doctor.

“You will produce the key right now. Any more
insubordination from you and I will have you up on charges for disobeying
direct orders. Sage will be instructed to take you down to the prisons and put
you in a cell until you stand trial for your actions. Do not test my patience
right now,” Thomas said as the doctor’s eyes widened with fear and he nodded
his head.

Sage released the doctor and the man reached into his
pocket, pulling out a large key ring, with at least fifty keys on it. His hands
were shaking so badly it took him a few times fumbling with the keys to get the
right one and hand it over to Liam.

Liam wasted no time unlocking the door and opening it wide
for everyone to enter. The doctor followed the group so he could monitor to
make sure they didn’t make his patient’s condition any worse.

Dominic went straight over to the bed and picked up Viola’s
hand in his. He hated the IV line running into her arm, but knew it served its
purpose so he left it alone even though his instinct was to pull it out.

He looked up at Cora and she nodded her head in
encouragement. Nobody in the room objected to him being the one to try this
experiment with Viola, except for the doctor, who shut up when Thomas threw him
an annoyed look.

Dominic reached out, smoothed back Viola’s hair and sat down
carefully on the side of the bed. He leaned his body close so his chest rested
across hers and whispered in her ear, “I’m here Beautiful One. Come back to me.
I am not letting you get away from me this easy.”

He wasn’t sure what happened, but he felt his powers
responding to Viola in a way he’d never experienced before. He could feel the
transfer from his body to hers as his instinct to save his mate took over.

Not sure how to stop it, he let his instincts control the
transfer, trusting it would stop when Viola’s body was back in its proper
balance.

It was a minute later when his powers stopped flowing into
his mate and he could feel the difference in her body temperature. Her skin
felt normal again, not radiating heat like the sun as it had before.

He rested his cheek against hers for a moment before moving
to sit up. As he was straightening, Viola’s eyes fluttered for a second before
opening slowly, squinting at the harsh lighting in the room.

“What happened?” she asked, looking around at all of the
smiling, relieved faces gathered around her.