"Yes, I do." The small, stitched gash in his forehead bunched up with his scowl. "You've been kind and giving all along, and I - " He broke off, muttering something under his breath. "I appreciate what you did, that's all."
Oh, she thought, that's all. Even his gratitude came fully equipped with emotional barriers now.
Suddenly feeling too much like an outsider with him at the moment, she was more than willing to change the subject.
"I hear Tegan made it back in one piece.">Danika shook her head, but shot an anxious glance at Gabrielle. "Why would he be here? Wasn't he with all of you?"
"We lost track of him soon after we hit the Rogue lair," Dante put in. "Once the explosion went off, our main goal was getting Lucan and Rio back to the compound as quickly as possible."
"Let's roll here," Gideon said, taking the head of Rio's gurney. "Niko, help me get this thing moving."
Questions about Tegan were eclipsed as everyone scrambled to do what they could for Rio. They all made their way down to the infirmary, Gabrielle, Dante, and Lucan moving the slowest along the corridor as Lucan swayed on his feet, holding fast to both of them and working to keep himself steady.
Gabrielle braved a glance at him, wanting so badly to caress his bruised and bleeding face. As she looked at him, heart twisting, his dark lashes flicked up, and he met her eyes. She didn't know what passed between them in that prolonged instant of quiet amid the chaos, but it felt warm and right, despite everything that was terrible about the night's events.
When they reached the room where Rio was being tended to, Eva stood at the side of the gurney, hovering over his broken body. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," she moaned. "It shouldn't have been my Rio. Not like this."
"We'll do everything we can for him," Lucan said, his breath rasping heavily from his own injuries. "I promise you, Eva. We won't let him die."
She shook her head, staring down at her mate on the bed. As she pet his hair, Rio murmured incoherent words, semiconscious, and in obvious pain. "I want him out of here at once. He should be taken to the Darkhavens. He needs medical care."
"He's not stable enough to be moved from the compound," Gideon told her. "I have the training and the equipment to treat him here for now."
"I want him out of here!" Her head snapped up, her glittering gaze flitting from one warrior to another. "He's no good to any of you now, so let me have him. You don't own him anymore - none of you. He is all mine now! I only want what is best for him!"
Gabrielle felt Lucan's arm tense at the hysterical outburst. "Then you need to stay out of Gideon's way, and let him work," he said, slipping easily into the role of leader despite his own battered condition. "Right now, the only thing that matters is keeping Rio alive."
"You," Eva said, her voice dry as she leveled a teary glare at him. Her eyes took on a wilder sheen, her face transformed into a mask of pure hatred. "It should be you dying right now, not him! You, Lucan. That was the deal I made! It was supposed to be you!"
A chasm opened up in the infirmary, swallowing all sound but the stunning truth of what Rio's mate had just confessed.
Dante and Nikolai's hands went to their weapons, both warriors prepared to strike at the slightest provocation. Lucan lifted his hand to stay them, his eyes holding fast to Eva. He really didn't give a damn that her venom was aimed squarely at him; if he'd been some kind of target for her rage, he had survived it. Rio might not. Any one of his brethren present on the raid tonight might not have survived Eva's betrayal.
"The Rogues knew we were going to be there," Lucan said, his voice held all the more cool by the depth of his fury. "We were ambushed at the warehouse. You arranged it."
Low growls sounded from the other warriors. If the confession had come from a male, there would have been little Lucan could do to keep his brethren from attacking with lethal force. But this was a Breedmate, one of their own. Someone they had known and trusted as kin for more than one lifetime.
Now Lucan looked at Eva and saw a stranger. He saw madness. A deadly desperation.
"Rio was to be spared." She bent over him, cradling his bandaged head in the crook of her arm. He made a noise, something raw and wordless, as Eva tugged him into her embrace. "I didn't want him to be able to fight anymore. Not for you."
"So you would see him maimed instead?" Lucan asked. "This is how you care for him?"
"I love him!" she cried. "What I did - all of it - was out of love for him! Rio will be happier somewhere else, away from all of this violence and death. He will be happier in the Darkhavens, with me. Away from your damned war!"
Rio made the sound in his throat again, more plaintive now. It was unmistakably a sound of agony, although whether it stemmed from physical discomfort or the distress of hearing what was happening around him, was unclear.
Lucan gave a slow shake of his head. "That's a call you can't make for him, Eva. You didn't have the right. This is Rio's war, as much as anyone else's. It is what he believed in - what I know he still believes in, even after what you have done to him. This war belongs to all of the Breed."
She scoffed acidly. "Ironic of you to think so, when you are only a few steps away from turning Rogue yourself."
"Jesus Christ," Dante hissed from where he stood nearby. "You're wrong, Eva. You are fucking disturbed."
"Am I?" Her gaze remained rooted on Lucan, sadistic in her glee. "I've been watching you, Lucan. I've seen you struggle with your hunger when you think no one is around. Your façade of control does not fool me."
"Eva," Gabrielle said, a voice of calm washing over the tension in the room. "You are upset. You don't know what you're saying."