Moreno had an expression of surprise on his beefy face, Jillian thought. As though he had spent his life hurting and killing other people, but had never expected to be hurt or killed himself.
“What…what happened?” she mumbled, looking down at the still-twitching body. Nothing seemed to be making sense in her brain. “What…how…?”
“Broke his fucking neck,” Kalis said shortly. “Gods, sweetheart—I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner! What did he do to you?”
“Cut me,” Jillian said, gesturing with her mangled hand, which sprayed blood over the dirty concrete floor. “A lot.”
“Gods, sweetheart! Let me see!”
As Kalis started to examine Jillian’s maimed hand, Brad finally spoke up again.
“Whoever you are, let me go—okay? Moreno lured me and Jilly both down here and hurt both of us. None of it is my fault, okay?”
Despite her shock and pain, Jillian glared at her ex.
“You’re a…a liar,” she whispered, having a hard time getting the words out. “You told him…told him I took…took his money. I—”
“Sweetheart, don’t try to talk.” Kalis ignored Brad completely—his total focus was on Jillian. He had gently lifted her chef’s whites and was staring grimly at the stab wound she’d taken on the right side. “Right through the liver,” Jillian heard him mutter. “Gods, this isn’t good…”
“Sorry,” she mumbled. She felt weak and unsteady on her feet. Her body kept bleeding and wouldn’t stop and everything was starting to get gray. Was she that badly hurt? Was she going to faint?
Not if Kalis can heal me! Like he did with the venom poisoning.
The thought flashed across her mind and she looked up at the big Kindred hopefully.
“Kalis,” she whispered. “Can…can you heal me?”
“Not in this form.” He shook his head and nodded down at her side. “I can’t draw enough of my Ursus’s regenerative power to heal such a serious wound.”
“What?” Jillian looked at him uncertainly. “I don’t…don’t understand,” she whispered.
Kalis took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.
“I’m saying I have to let my Ursus out—he’s the only one who can heal you now.”
“But…but, no!” Even in her woozy state, the idea sent a spike of fear through her. “All this blood—he’ll want to bite me! Eat me!”
“He’ll want to heal you, sweetheart,” Kalis said firmly.
“Just…just take me to the hospital!” Jillian begged, but he shook his head.
“This is a gut wound, Jillian, and you’re bleeding too much—I think the knife might have knicked a major artery. I can’t get you to a human hospital or the Mother Ship before you bleed out. I have to heal you now—my Ursus has to heal you.”
“But…but…” Jillian shook her head frantically.
“I need you to be brave,” Kalis told her. “And remember, my Ursus feels the same way about you that I do—he loves you! And he will never, ever hurt you.”
Then he lowered her gently to the floor, took a step back, and began to change.
49
As he began to give his body over to his other side, Kalis sent frantic thoughts to the Ursus who shared his being.
She’s frightened! You must be gentle! But don’t let her get away—heal her quickly—she’s badly wounded.
This changing process—which lasted only a split second in most cases—was the only time he had direct communication with the beast inside him. He could sense it at other times, moving on the other side of his psyche, but this was the only time they could actually talk.
As the fur sprouted from his skin and his face elongated into a blunt muzzle, he heard back from his other half.
Understand. Gentle…careful…frightened.
The Ursus didn’t speak in words often—it mostly communicated via emotions. From it, Kalis felt his own feelings for Jillian echoed back at him. Love… protectiveness… caring… the desperate desire to heal and guard and shelter from harm…
He was right—the massive beast inside him loved the curvy little Earth female as much as he did. The Ursus only wanted to heal and protect her.
He only hoped that Jillian would allow herself to be healed.
50
Earlier, Jillian had been feeling faint and weak from blood-loss but she’d been fighting to stay awake. Now she wished she could lose consciousness. She didn’t want to see Kalis change—didn’t want to watch as the massive predator took over the man she loved.
But though she wished she could faint, the opposite happened—she seemed to have become hyper-aware of the enormous Ursus as it emerged.
It filled up most of the room when it was done and she could faintly hear Brad screaming for help and shifting around in the metal folding chair he was tied to as he tried to get away from its huge, hairy bulk.
But all that seemed unimportant—the only thing that mattered now was that the massive predator had dropped its snout to her side and was snuffling at the knife wound, which was still pumping blood onto the dirty concrete floor.