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

“Braxton—”

“Let him in,” Cian interrupted. “He’ll be much calmer inside than

out here.”

Logan stared at him for a long time before he sighed and stepped aside to let Braxton into Xander’s room. “I’m not trying to be a dick. I just don’t want him to be upset.”

“I know,” Cian acknowledged. “He wasn’t too happy just now, either. Ya can’t expect him to be okay with this, Logan. At least he’ll feel better if he can hold Xander’s hand and watch over him.” There

was absolutely nothing he could do for Zavion, but just being near his  mate made him feel slightly less panicked, so he knew from  experience.

“Yeah, you’re right.” A loud commotion sounded from the front  of the building, and Logan exchanged a confused look with Cian.  “What the  ”—

Side by side, they hurried to the reception area, following the sound of all the shouting and clanging. “It’s all here,” an Enforcer stated. His large hand was wrapped around the arm of a stranger Cian had never met, and he shook him violently. “Which one is it?”

“The purple ones. I swear it’s the purple ones.”

“The Doctor,” Logan whispered to him unnecessarily.

“How do we know ya aren’t lyin’ through your teeth?” Cian demanded, stepping forward to grab the man away from the Enforcer.  “If ya do anything to hurt my mate, I’ll make sure ya don’t live long enough to regret it. Are we clear, Doc?”

The man gulped audibly and bobbed his head in understanding. “I don’t want to hurt them, but we’re running out of time. They probably only have a couple of hours at most. If you’ll let me, I can save them.”

From This Moment                       89

Jerking his head toward the boxes of vials and bottles, Cian indicated that someone should bring them along as he dragged the  Doctor down the hallway to his lover’s room. When the man stepped forward with an outstretched hand like he was going to touch Zavion, a vicious growl rumbled through Cian’s chest, and he grabbed the  Doctor around the wrist in an unyielding grip. “What do ya think you’re doin’?”

“Please,” he whispered. “I just wanted to check his heart rate.”

“No,” Cian snarled. “Get the antidote and get on with it.”

A sad look came into the Doctor’s eyes, but he did as he was ordered, preparing a syringe from the vial of lavender-colored liquid.  When he went to inject the drug into the crook of Zavion’s arm, however, a sense of paranoia washed over Cian, and he grabbed the man once more by his elbow.

“Cian,” Logan said slowly,  cautiously. “It’s okay. Let him help.”

“I  won’t hurt him,” the doctor responded quietly as he gazed down at Zavion’s sleeping form. “I  never wanted to hurt anyone.”  The needle pierced Zavion’s skin, and the life-saving liquid filled his veins. “It will take a couple of days for him to be back to normal, but he should be okay now.”

“Thank you, Doc,” Cian said sincerely as he finally released the

man’s arm and took his hand instead. “Cian Murphy.”

“Destin. Destin Woods.”  He shook Cian’s hand quickly before

using the rolling lab tray to prepare three more syringes. “You must  think I’m horrible for not helping  them escape. I’m no soldier, Mr.  Murphy, and I was watched like a hawk. I would have just ended up  getting us  all killed.”

“How did ya get mixed up in this mess in the first place?”

Destin sighed and readjusted the glasses on his nose before  pushing his  long hair out of his face. “About six years ago, my lover  was caught and killed by a group of wolf-shifters because of his white  pelt. He wasn’t my mate, but I assure you, I loved him deeply. When  The Hive approached me,  they said they could make sure that nothing

90                        Gabrielle Evans

like that ever happened again. I’d lost my partner, but I could save the

lives of others.”

The guy didn’t need to point out that his shifter lover  wasn’t his true mate. Shifters only ever mated shifters, and Cian couldn’t scent even a trace of animal on the man. With his long,  dark  hair, silvery-gray eyes, and slightly pointed ears, Cian pegged him for an elf. Plus, he was  a bit  dainty. He wasn’t feminine exactly, but he seemed kind

of fragile, both physically and emotionally.

Welcome to the club. After all, that’s exactly what Haven was—a

home for the broken and lost.

“It wasn’t what you expected, though,” he prodded, choosing to  discuss Destin’s paranormal status at a later date.

“No. I tried to resign once I realized what was really going on  there, but it’s a lifetime commitment. It’s either The Hive or death. I

guess I should have read the fine print.”

“Aye, that ya should’ve.” Part of Cian wanted to grill the man for  more information, but there were more pressing issues at hand.  Besides,  The Council, along with the leaders of several covens and  packs, were probably chomping at the bit to interrogate Destin. He’d  find out all he wanted to know—and  some things he probably

didn’t—soon enough. “I’ll show ya where the others are.”

Leading Destin down the hall, Cian stopped at Oscar’s room first.  The minute they stepped inside, he knew there was going to be  trouble. Demitrius rose to his full and intimidating height, growling

savagely at the Doctor. A random thought flitted through Cian’s  overtaxed brain, and he wondered if he should still think of Destin as

a Doctor with a capital  D since  he no longer worked for the lab. Hell,  did the guy even have medical training outside of The Hive?

Jerked out of his thoughts by Demitrius’s hostile approach, he  decided to worry about it later when he didn’t have a snarling shifter  ready to rip someone’s throat out. “He’s here to help.”

“How do you know that? He’s one of them.”

From This Moment                       91

“Aye, but not anymore.” Technically,  them didn’t even exist any  longer. Some had fled, of course, but most of the staff from the lab  had been detained and taken to various holding facilities run by  The  Council. “He gave Zavion the antidote.” Cian  paused, letting the  information sink in. “I trust him.”

That wasn’t to say that his