Two days had passed since my old man shared Jack’s voice mail with us. We’d been in planning mode, strategizing, running through scenarios, and listing the tactics associated with each. We were also searching for a meeting place, which we had yet to find. But we couldn’t proceed if Jack didn’t return my father’s call.
According to Layla, Noah was missing, and the Aberdeens were concerned that Roman had taken him. If Jack wanted our help, he sure as hell wasn’t making his son a priority—unless Jack had given in to Roman’s demands. Though, Jack didn’t strike me as the type to ask for help or give in to anyone. His pride drove his actions, and he was also a skilled hunter.
I skirted a table in the infirmary on my way to see Ben. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him. As I brought Wyman in, Jo had called about Layla, and I’d rushed out.
“Sam, don’t take too long,” Dr. Vieira called from his office behind me. “I want to start pulling your blood before Dane comes in.”
I grumbled at the shifter’s name. It had been over a week since the alpha of the Gray Pack had been there. Nevertheless, I came to an abrupt halt, spun on my heel, and strode to his office. “Did you find out why the drug is killing shifters?”
“The toxicology report isn’t back yet. He’s dropping off another supply of shifter blood. Ben’s wound hasn’t fully healed, but I think I know why. I just need to run some tests.”
“You think the antidote we have on hand will help us when we meet with Jack?” I asked.
“I haven’t tested it against that drug, but all of you will get the antidote just the same. I’ll be out in about ten minutes.” He yanked his cell from atop a stack of folders. “One more thing, Sam. Play nice if you’re here when Dane comes in.”
I nodded even though I couldn’t promise Doc anything, although I needed to thank Dane for his help.
Ben grinned the minute I strutted in. “Dude, finally. How are you? I heard you were almost burned alive. And shit, Layla is pregnant. Man, I missed so much. How are you holding up?” His jaw looked like it might come unhinged, as if he had just heard about the baby.
I ponied up to his bed and gave him a quick bro hug. “By a thread. Sorry I haven’t had a chance to talk. You look better today.” His reddish-brown eyes were clear. Color had returned to his face, although it was hard to see much beneath the thick beard that had grown in.
“I feel better, but for some reason, the wound isn’t completely healed yet. I’m so ready to join the ranks of the living.” He threw the blanket off him and exposed the injury on his hip. “Doc says my human side is fighting with my vampire side. He’s waiting for more shifter blood.”
“That looks a thousand times better, dude. Doc will come through,” I assured him.
“I sure as fuck hope so. If not, I’m done with the SEALs.” He replaced the bandage and pulled the blanket up to his waist. “I hear you’re meeting with Jack Aberdeen. When? Maybe I can be part of that.”
“Jack hasn’t called to confirm. And before you ask, we don’t have any leads on Roman or Rianne. I take it Doc or Tripp filled you in on that too.”
He nodded. “Tripp is hoping I’m healed in time for whatever is coming.” The one skill Ben brought to the table as a half-breed was his strength. He was stronger than the average vampire, which didn’t make sense since he was half human.
“It’s something big. I can feel it.”
“You’re usually never wrong about those gut feelings,” he said.
“Do you remember anything when you were with Roman, by the way?” Tripp had questioned Ben the moment he became coherent, but he’d said Ben hadn’t learned anything that would give us a clue as to what Roman had up his sleeve.
“As I told Tripp, I overheard part of a phone conversation. Roman had been talking to some guy named Fred, demanding more money.”
Doc poked his head in. “Sam.”
“I’ll be right there,” I volleyed over my shoulder. “Dude, I have to give blood. Apparently, my little guy needs it.”
One of his thick eyebrows went up and the other down. “What? Why?”
“Million-dollar question. But I want to make sure Layla has a supply with her.”
He smirked. “I’m still blown away that you’re about to be a dad. And you said ‘little guy.’ Do you know if it’s a boy already?”
“Too early to tell. Heal, man. I need you more than ever. I’ll check in soon.” I gave Ben a quick hug, spun on my heel, then left.
Doc was waiting for me on the other side of the infirmary next to his lab bench. He and Jo each had their own workspace.
I sat in a metal chair with wide wooden arms for ease of drawing blood. “Any luck finding out why Layla needs blood for the baby?”
Doc went to work hooking me up to the equipment. “I doubt I’ll find an answer while she’s pregnant, but Alia is helping me search records. Maybe this has happened to someone more than a century old. Regardless, I don’t think it matters that much, as long as Layla and the baby stay healthy.”
After having lain awake for the last two nights, thinking about my kid, I agreed. True vampire baby or not, the kid was mine, and that was all that mattered to me.
As soon as my blood started flowing into the bag, Doc’s cell rang. He tore off his nitrile gloves and plucked it out of his lab coat. “I’ll be right back.” He sauntered toward his office with his phone to his ear.
I closed my eyes, thinking I could get a quick nap in. I had tuned out the hum of the lab equipment in the spacious room when the whoosh of the doors penetrated my eardrums.
“Sam, have you seen Layla?” Tripp’s fury-filled voice boomed.
My eyes bulged open, and all I could think was that Layla had run, that she’d finally decided that dating a vampire and having a baby wasn’t her gig. Then Rianne came to mind. I wondered if she’d called Layla and asked to meet her somewhere.
Tripp crossed the lab in a flash, his features pinched, his bronze eyes swirling to black. “She’s not at Harley’s, and neither is Jordyn.”
“Motherfucker.” My heart plummeted off a cliff. “I think she was meeting Alia at the library.”
His mouth tightened at the corners. “She’s not there. I’m trying to get Lane on the radio, but he isn’t answering.”
I ripped the needle from my arm as Doc hurried over. “I just hung up with Alia. She overheard Layla and Jordyn talking about new clothes.”
Tripp yanked the radio from his belt. “Lane, come in.”
The radio crackled. “Go, lieutenant.”
Tripp growled. “Why the fuck didn’t you answer before now?”
“Sorry,” Lane said. “I was using the head. I was about to call you.”
“Where’s Layla and Jordyn?” Tripp asked in a tone that brooked no argument.
“In the women’s dressing room at the base exchange,” he returned. “No need to worry. They’re fine. I can hear them laughing.”
My pulse slowed as I exhaled.
“Bring them to the war room. Now!”
“Copy that,” Lane said.
“I’ll go get them.” It would help ease my nerves to see Layla.
Tripp caught my arm and tightened his grip. “No. I want you down in the control room. I have something to show you.”
Doc and I exchanged a wide-eyed look. Tripp hardly ever blew a gasket. He was one of the most reserved SEALs on the team, even as our leader.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Too fucking much to keep track of,” Tripp said cryptically as he set his hard gaze on Doc. “Is he done?”
“Sam can come back later,” Doc replied quickly. “Dane is coming in, anyway. It’s best if you two aren’t here.”
“You’re right about that,” Tripp fired back. “Your father just spoke to Jack. I’ll explain the rest when all of us are in one room.” He marched out, slamming open the lab doors as he did.
I couldn’t begin to think why he would be livid with the Aberdeen sisters.
As if Doc knew what I was thinking, he said, “I’ve only ever seen Tripp that furious maybe twice. Whatever is going on has to be monumental.”
“They’re Aberdeens,” I mumbled.
“And you’re tied to them for eternity, Sam.” He sounded sad.
“Only Layla, man. Only Layla.”
He gave me a who-are-you-kidding look. “I think you and she fit together nicely, and I’ll support you no matter what. But Sam… you know as well as I do that it’s not just Layla. Regardless of whether it’s vampires or humans, a relationship always comes with the person’s family. But—”
“If you’re about to counsel me on what I’m in for with the Aberdeens, I know. Remember, two of them tried to burn me alive.”
Pity colored his expression. “Then let me just reiterate something. It’s ingrained in the Aberdeens to kill our kind. Has been for centuries, Sam. Now, with a kid on the way, your life will be filled with more strife than you’ve ever seen. And while I believe you can handle almost anything, everyone has a breaking point, even you.”
“Do you have some new information I don’t know about?”
“The Aberdeens will never let that kid be born, and it’s not Jack that you have to worry about.”
I angled my head. “Please tell me you’re not about to say something like Layla’s father is alive.” Not that he would scare me, but it would throw a wrinkle into the mix.
Doc pulled on a pair of nitrile gloves. “Jack’s mother. She’s the one who runs the show,” he said casually, as though I should have known.
Regardless, another Aberdeen hunting me or breathing down my neck didn’t matter. Or maybe it did. “Layla has never mentioned her grandmother. My father hasn’t, either.”
Doc nailed me with a grim look. “You’ve only known Layla for a short time. You can’t know everything about her.”
“Why are you making a big deal out of her grandmother, Doc?” Jack had been the star of the show. “And why are you just now telling me this? Or why hasn’t my father?”
“There wasn’t a need to tell you. But now that she’s pregnant…”
Then it dawned on me. My father had been trying to tell me something just before Abbey blew into his room at the medical facility in Boston. “Sam, there are a few things you should know—” But before that, he’d been adamant about her family not finding out about the baby.
My phone pinged. “I better go. Tripp might chop off my head.”
“Sam, make sure you come back. I don’t want Layla in a situation where she doesn’t have any of your blood.”
I didn’t, either.