“We’ve tried cooling him down and heating him up to no effect,” Dr. Daniels said.
She nodded absently and looked past him to her friend. What did the three survivors have in common? Her eyes snagged on the defibrillator next to the bed and a slow grin spread over her face.
“A shock, Doc,” she said. “He needs a jolt.”
He frowned at her, his brow furrowed. His face smoothed when understanding dawned. “Of course. The cold, the burns from the fire, the jump. Brilliant. But don’t even think about it.”
“Think about what?” she asked.
“If we use the defibrillator it could stop his heart. Let’s try something a little less extreme, huh?”
She scowled. She hadn’t been thinking about actually shocking him. Well, not really. At least not without permission. The doctor came back with a large syringe and Juliana moved to stand by Nathaniel’s bedside.
“A nice jolt of adrenaline should do the trick,” he said. “A very nice jolt.” He said the last so low that Juliana barely heard him.
She cringed as he injected the liquid into her friend, but the doctor didn’t look her way again. His attention was all on his patient. “Come on. Come on.”
Placing her hand on Nathaniel’s arm she leaned slightly over him, her eyes searching his face, looking for any sign of him returning to them. Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he sucked in a breath. “Nathaniel?”
“Walker West?” Doc said from the other side of the bed.
Nathaniel’s eyes darted around the room in a panic, not focusing on anything.
“It’s okay, Nathaniel. You’re all right,” she said, squeezing his arm. “Everything’s okay now. Everything—” Her words were swallowed when her friend sat upright in the bed, grabbed her head in both hands and planted a huge closed mouthed kiss right on her lips. Juliana tried to pull away but Nathaniel had a firm grip and wasn’t letting her go anywhere. She started to laugh and so did he. He was back.
Then a hand was between them and Nathaniel was pushed back several inches though he still had hold of her head. “Wolf, you will remove your lips from my...Juliana. Actually, I would prefer it if you quit touching her at all.”
“Who’s the vamp?” Nathaniel asked her, amusement coloring his words.
“Nathaniel West, meet Thomas Kendrick. Thomas, Nathaniel.”
Her friend jerked his hands away from her like she was diseased. “Sorry, no offense meant. Strictly platonic.”
“Hmm,” was all Thomas said before moving back across the room.
Juliana threw her arms around Nathaniel’s neck. “I’m so glad to have you back.” When he just continued to sit there, she added, “If you don’t hug me back I’m going to kick your ass.”
“But you don’t know the look I’m getting right now,” he said in her ear even as he did as she instructed.
“He’ll get over it.” She released him and leaned back, looking him over. “And so will you. Promise.”
He nodded. “Thank you, Jules.”
“It’s what I do.” Seeing a medic hopping around behind her, she stepped out of the way so the girl could launch herself at Nathaniel. If Juliana remembered correctly Nathaniel and the girl had been out once or twice.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” the medic said as she all but landed in Nathaniel’s lap.
He grinned at Juliana over the top of the girl’s head. She stepped away to give them some privacy and felt an uneasy pang of jealousy. Warmth appeared at her back.
“We could have that, if you’d let us,” Thomas said.
“We’ll never have what they have, Thomas. For one thing, I know Nathaniel would never threaten someone just for touching her.”
“He doesn’t deserve her then.”
Hardly the argument she expected, his words sent a thrill of excitement racing through her. She couldn’t stop the grin that crept up. Amusement shone in his eyes. Somehow she’d forgotten this side of him. The playful sense of humor. She missed it.
“Besides, that was a kiss, not a touch,” he argued, his irritation evident.
She snorted. “That was not a kiss.”
“Then what was it?”
“That was him saying hello.”
“Well, he needs to learn to use words like everyone else.”
Her snicker turned into an outright laugh at Thomas’s amused grin. Thomas making fun of himself was almost impossible to resist. Tamping that thought down, she looked at Ben. “Where am I staying?”
“You’ll stay with me and Anna,” Jeremiah said before anyone else had a chance to speak.
She nodded her thanks.
“Those Neanderthals don’t live there, do they?” Thomas said in her ear. Her elbow caught him in the gut, her reward a small grunt.
“What’s wrong with your place?” Nathaniel asked.
She balled her fists and started forward but Thomas took her arm and steered her toward Jeremiah. “Stupid werewolf,” he muttered.
“We all need to get some rest,” Thomas said. “We still have another demon to hunt.”
Chapter Fourteen
The next morning Juliana sat on Jeremiah’s back porch, coffee in hand. Early morning fog blanketed the world, making it hard to see anything past the perimeter of the yard. Knowing the wards and protections on the property, she wasn’t overly concerned about what might be lurking where she couldn’t see. Anna came out to sit beside her. The weight of her gaze made Juliana squirm in her chair.
“Jeremiah says your vampire was rather protective of you yesterday. It seems to me you’re getting rather cozy,” she said finally.
The corner of Juliana’s mouth curled up. “I suppose that’s one way of putting it, though I don’t know that I’d ever call a vampire cozy. They aren’t teddy bears. Well, teddy bears with teeth maybe but definitely not cozy.”
Anna snorted. “Teddy bears with teeth, indeed.” She paused for a moment. “What about your particular vampire?”
With anyone else, Juliana would have given the first smartass comment that came to mind. Anna was different. Besides, she didn’t tolerate flippancy when it came to topics she considered important. “Cozy is the last word I’d use to describe Thomas or our relationship. Dark, dangerous, screwed up, destructive. Any of those would be more fitting descriptors.”
“For him or your feelings for him?”
“Either. To paraphrase our relationship...we had this intense powerful thing. When I asked for time to get used to the idea, he disappeared. Now he’s back telling me the past seven years were just as hard on him as they were on me.”
“Maybe they were,” she said in a soft voice. She met Juliana’s eyes for a moment and then turned her head to look out over the yard. “I’m only saying you should keep an open mind. You don’t know that what he says isn’t true.”
Juliana shifted her gaze to the dissipating fog.
“What aren’t you telling me, child?” Her voice was soft, a thread of comfort woven into it. “Did he hurt you in some way?”
She smiled her half-smile again. “Other than abandoning me and breaking my heart? Not really. I just find it hard to separate him from all the other crap in my life sometimes. So much would have been different if he hadn’t left. I wouldn’t change it. Not all of it anyway, but it’s going to kill him when I finally get up the nerve to tell him. I don’t want anyone else hurt by what happened. It’s over.”
“Does he have to know?”
Juliana gaped in surprise. Anna was the biggest crusader she knew for complete honesty in a relationship. She gave Anna the courtesy of thinking about her answer before giving it. “Yes. As much as I hate it, he has to know. It’s too big a part of who I am now.”