Evans, Gabrielle - From This Moment [The Moonlight Breed 7] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic Ma by Gabrielle Evans (ebook reader with highlight function .TXT) 📗

“Oh, blow it out your ass,  Alpha. I’m not buyin’ it.”

“Guys, this isn’t getting us anywhere,” Cole implored. “Everyone  just needs to calm down.”

“Shut up,” Demitrius growled at him.

“You can be pissed at me all you want,” Blaise responded coldly  as he eased Cole behind him. “You will respect my mate, however.  Cole has barely slept in a week, and he’s doing everything he can to  help. Watch yourself, Accola. I mean it.”

“And what have you done? Where have you been this whole  time?”

“I have responsibilities. I have a pack to run.”

“Where are the Enforcers ya promised?” Cian asked, letting the  accusation slip into his tone. “They should have been here by now.”

“Their assignment is taking longer than expected.”

“Bullshit,” Demitrius snapped. “Go back to Cloud Peak, Blaise.  We’ll take it from here.”

“You need our help,” Cole inserted quietly.

“Yes, we do,” Demitrius agreed. “Too bad we’re not getting any.”

“Now, listen here…”

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And after that, everything just dissolved into chaos again with the four men yelling and snarling at each other. There was name-calling, accusations tossed around, and  a few questionable references to bodily harm that Cian wasn’t sure were physically possible. It didn’t stop him from saying them, though.

They were acting like idiots. More to the point, they were being childish, like little boys in a playground skirmish. None of them seemed to be able to dial back the testosterone long enough to do anything about it, however. The longer they argued, the more imaginative the insults became, and Cian figured it would have probably escalated into physical contact if Oscar hadn’t chosen that moment to burst into the dorm.

“Please,” he begged with wide eyes and a trembling lip. “I need  help. Please.” Then he was gone again, dashing back outside like the  hounds of hell were on his ass.

Cian didn’t waste time with questions. Shoving past Blaise and  Cole, he sprinted after Oscar with Demitrius right on his heels. His heart pounded frantically  as his brain supplied ghastly images of things his mate could have suffered while he was busy being a tool.

His boots thudded over the sodden ground as he raced to catch up to Oscar. For such a little guy, he was damn fast. Cian was faster, though, and within seconds, he’d finally caught the shifter. “What?  What’s wrong?”

“This way,” Oscar panted, not slowing his pace at all. “We were just walking down by the lake and he collapsed.”

“Who? Who collapsed?” Cian didn’t wait for an answer, though.  His mind supplied the worst, picturing Zavion spread out on the ground—pale, cold, and unmoving.

Turning on a burst of speed, he shot past Oscar, running as fast ashis legs would carry him toward the murky pond. The cold January air burned his lungs and stung his face, but he barely noticed. Overhead, the clouds rolled and darkened, churning with the threat of coming rain and echoing the emotions inside his heart.

From This Moment                       65

When he broke through the trees at the end of the path, his thundering pulse drowned out all other noise when he saw both twins on the ground, one kneeling over the other. From that distance, he couldn’t tell who was who, and it did nothing to calm his whirling panic. While it was horrible no matter which was immobile in the dirt, the selfish part of him prayed it wasn’t Zavion.

“Cian.” The kneeling blond looked up at him with watery eyes, pleading for his help.

Only Zavion ever looked  at him that way, and relief crashed into  Cian like a wrecking ball, allowing him to breathe again and think intellectually. “Okay, baby, easy now.” Crouching in the mud beside his mate, Cian pulled him into his arms and kissed the top of his head.

“He just dropped,” Zavion whispered thickly. “He can’t die.  Please, Cian, don’t let him die.”

Cian wasn’t a medic, nor was he the gods. He had no power over life and death, but he’d do everything he could to make sure Zavion didn’t lose his brother. Easing the smaller man to the side, he leaned over Zuriel’s motionless form and pressed two fingers under his jaw to feel for a pulse.

“Is he okay?” Oscar asked, appearing at Zuriel’s feet with  Demitrius’s arms wrapped around him protectively. “Does he have a pulse? Is  he breathing?”

“Aye, he’ll be okay.” Zuriel’s pulse was weak but steady, and his chest rose and fell with deep, easy breaths. “I’ll get ’im back to the dorms. Someone needs to get Logan.” As a former paramedic, Logan would hopefully know what to do. He’d know a lot more than Cian at

any rate.

“I’ll do it,” Zavion offered at once as he pushed to his feet.

“No.” Even though Zavion appeared okay at the moment, Cian  didn’t want his mate out of his sight.

Cicero was as silent as ever, but he nodded curtly and took off at a  jog along the path that led away from the pond. Cian didn’t have a  clue where Logan was, but if Cicero couldn’t find him, then maybe

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Blaise could reach him on the phone. Either way, he didn’t have time to ponder it just then.

Scooping Zuriel into his arms as gently as possible,  Cian  held  himcarefully as he began the trek back to the dorms. “Stay close,” he ordered his mate,  slowing his pace to allow Zavion to fall into step

beside him. If the man collapsed like his twin, there wasn’t much

Cian  could do about it, but it just made him feel better to have his mate within reaching distance.

“This is it, isn’t it?” Zavion asked with an air of hopelessness that pulled at Cian’s heartstrings. “It’s starting.”

“I’m afraid so, Zavion.” He wished it wasn’t so, but with the proof staring him in the face, he’d be a fool to deny it.

“Then we can’t wait anymore. We have to leave now. I’ll find the lab, Cian. I know I can do it.”

Cian had full confidence in his lover, but that didn’t mean he

wanted to send the  man into the fire if he could help it. Unfortunately,  it appeared that they’d run