Base Instincts (13 page)

Propping himself up with one arm, Slake reached out to gently cup Raze’s cheek. “I’m fine. Gods, I’m so fine. I made a mess of your sheets, though.”

The sheets? Slake was joking about blood- and cum-soaked sheets? “Damn it, Slake, I attacked you! I—”

Slake sat up and gripped Raze’s shoulders, getting right in his face. “Listen to me. You backed off. You were willing to suffer in order to spare me. I could have gotten away. I chose to stay. I chose it, Raze.”

“But—”

“No. I knew what I was getting into.” He paused, and Raze held his breath, afraid Slake was going to reveal something horrible. “Well, sort of. But then . . . damn, it just felt good. And you didn’t seem to mind that I was male.”

Closing his eyes, Raze shook his head, hoping to rattle some memories back into place. “That shouldn’t have happened. I should have—” He broke off on a sharp inhale as the implications of what had occurred sank in.

He’d come. With a male.

A
male
.

It wasn’t possible. Maybe this was a dream. Or maybe he was dead.

His mind spun, unable to process everything that had happened. All around him, the world went fuzzy and sounds became muted, as if he was being held underwater. He broke out in a cold sweat, and distantly, he heard Slake’s voice, felt himself being shaken. What was going on? He heard himself mumble something about keys, and then all went black.

“Raze?” A spike of adrenaline made Slake’s hands tremble as he took Raze by the shoulders and shook him. “Raze!”

Nothing.

Raze was passed out cold, and while his pulse was strong and his breathing steady, Slake was pretty sure that being this unresponsive after sex was a bad thing. Had Fayle hurt him? Had Slake? What if being with a male had caused permanent damage?

Icy terror filled Slake’s chest cavity. This could be his fault.
All
of this could be his fault, right down to Fayle chaining him up out of jealousy or some crap.

Ignoring his aches and pains, he fumbled through his clothes for his phone and dialed *666 for Underworld General. A growly female voice answered. “Underworld General Hospital. How may I direct your call?”

“I need . . . shit, I don’t know what I need.”

“That’s not much help, sir.”

Right. Yeah. Okay. Maybe calling was stupid. He’d get Raze to the hospital himself. “Never mind.”

He hung up, threw on his clothes, and found a set of keys beneath the dresser, exactly where Raze’s nearly incoherent ramblings had said they’d be. After he unlocked the shackle around Raze’s ankle, Slake wrapped him in a blanket and hauled his heavy ass to the Harrowgate. He swiped his finger over the hospital symbol on the wall, and an instant later, he was stepping out into the emergency department.

Immediately, two people wearing scrubs rushed over. One, a doctor he’d seen before, the one with blue streaks in her black hair and a name tag that said
Gem
, guided him to an empty exam room.

“What happened?” she asked as she gestured for Slake to lay Raze on a table.

“I think he needs a doctor who is a Seminus demon to deal with this.”

She frowned, but she didn’t pause as she checked his airway, breathing, and pulse. “Then this is species-related? Sex?”

“I think so.”

“It’s okay,” she said with a firm nod. “My sister is mated to a Sem. I know more about them than I really want to.” She knuckled Raze’s sternum, but there was no response. Even Slake knew that was a bad sign. “What happened, exactly? Did you find him like this?”

“No.” He watched her finish inspecting Raze’s self-inflicted wounds and then cover his lower half with a sheet. “When I got to his place, he was crazed and violent. He needed sex.”

She grabbed his wrist. “Did he get it, or is he . . .”

“He got it,” Slake said, hoping he didn’t have to go into detail. “But then he passed out.”

“Where’s the female?” Gem’s gaze flickered to Raze’s blood-streaked hands as she prepared an IV kit. “She can’t be in good shape.”

“Ah . . .” Slake had never been shy about sex, but this was seriously uncomfortable. Not only for himself, but he also didn’t want to betray Raze’s secret. “His partner is fine.”

“Tell her it might still be a good idea to get checked out.” The doctor pushed a button on the wall, but Slake had no idea what it was for. “Now, I need you to wait outside.”

Slake hesitated. He was sure Raze was in good hands, and it wasn’t as if Slake could do anything about his current condition, but still, the idea of leaving him like this . . . it bothered him. Raze was vulnerable right now, and Slake had the oddest desire to stand at his side like a guard dog.

“Is he going to be okay?” he asked, needing reassurance before he could leave.

Gem offered a comforting smile. “I’m calling in an expert, but I wouldn’t worry too much. His color is good and his vitals are stable. Give the receptionist your information, and we’ll get back with you when we can.”

Reluctantly, Slake left Raze in the doctor’s care, but he didn’t stick around. Fayle had done this to Raze. She’d chained him and left him to suffer. Slake needed to finish the job he’d started, but now capturing her wasn’t entirely about his soul. Now it was also about revenge.

Fayle had just made this very, very personal.

According to Eidolon, Raze had been in a coma for three days. Three fucking days. As he stared at the doctor from his hospital bed, Raze blinked his blurry eyes. The last thing he remembered before waking a few minutes ago was having sex. With Slake.

His gut churned at the memory, but right now he had to concentrate on why he was a patient at Underworld General.

He searched his brain, hunting for anything that could jolt a memory, but all he had in his head was Slake. And . . . Fayle. Yes, now he remembered her chaining him up, telling him she was leaving. That happened after . . . after he and Slake went to the apartment following the explosion.

Suddenly, he jacked up in the bed and grabbed Eidolon’s scrub top. “Thirst . . .” He swallowed, but it did nothing to get rid of the hoarseness in his voice. “Nate. Vladlena. Marsden. My friends . . . how many . . .”

Lexi
. Gods, her death came roaring back, and he sagged against the pillows.

“Ten people died in the explosion,” Eidolon said softly. “Eight were customers, two worked at Thirst. I don’t know their names, but I can get them for you. Nate, Lena, and Marsden are fine.”

Raze swallowed again. Hard. “I already know one of the names,” he said, and then he needed to get off the subject, and fast. “How did I get here?”

“Your friend Slake brought you in when you lost consciousness.”

Raze shook his head as if doing so would shake loose some memories. It didn’t. “I passed out?”

Eidolon jammed his hand through his short, dark hair, his frustration evident in his brisk, jerky movements. “As far as we can tell, you went too long without sex, which caused internal damage. The damage should have healed quickly, but when I tried to repair it with my power, nothing happened. It was almost as if something was draining my healing energy. Nothing we did could counter it. We just had to wait and see what happened.”

Wait and see
. The most common and exasperating words in the medical world. He’d said them a million times to patients, and now he understood why they didn’t always take those words well.

He patted himself down through the hospital gown dotted with Underworld General’s caduceus, and everything seemed to be okay. He felt fine. Didn’t even feel the distant need for sex.

And wait . . . while a Sem was recovering from injuries, the need for sex would go into a hibernation of sorts, but the moment they were well, the need should hit like a punch to the groin.

“If it’s been three days, why am I not going mad with—”

Eidolon, obviously anticipating the question, gestured to a full syringe lying on the nearby instrument tray. “A few years ago I developed a drug for Wraith that would temporarily ease the symptoms. I injected you this morning after I determined you were healed enough for the need to set in. You probably have four to six hours at best before the need hits you.”

Great. And then what? Did he go hunting for a female . . . or for Slake?

“I’m glad you woke up,” Eidolon continued. “Your buddy is a little . . . tenacious. He called ten times a day, and I don’t know how much longer he was going to be civil about our lack of a diagnosis.” He reached for a backpack on the counter and tossed it to Raze. “He brought you some clothes this morning. He didn’t want you to wake up and not have something of your own to wear.”

Raze’s hand froze as he reached for the pack. That was the most thoughtful thing anyone had done for him in a long time. Especially considering the fact that Raze had attacked him.

The thought took a slow slide from his brain to his gut, where the reality sat like a jagged piece of brimstone. He’d lost control and could have seriously hurt Slake. And what if the coma was a result of going against his Seminus DNA and having sex with a male instead of a female?

What should have been a happy discovery had just turned into a stinking pile of shit, and as he pulled a red Manchester United hoodie and a pair of jeans from the bag, he succumbed to the realization that he needed to come clean with Eidolon.

Which made him want to throw up that lump of brimstone.

Standing to put on the pair of jeans, he spit it out before he chickened out. “Something’s going on, Doc.”

Clearly sensing that this wasn’t going to be a light and fluffy convo, Eidolon sank into one of the chairs next to the bed that had been Raze’s home for three days. “Hit me.”

Raze mirrored him, taking a seat on the bed. Then he just sat there. Looked around. Tapped his fingers on his thigh.

“Whatever it is, you can talk to me,” Eidolon said. The guy could be a ballbuster, but he always knew how to put a person at ease too.

Finally, Raze blew out a breath. “I, uh . . .”
Just say it, man.
“I’m gay.” There. He’d said it. Cringing inwardly, he watched Eidolon, who, to his credit, kept his surprise limited to cocking one black eyebrow.

“Given the fact that we have to orgasm with females, being gay must be difficult for you.”

Raze hadn’t thought Eidolon would react badly, but his measured response, utterly free of judgment, still stunned him. His respect for the doctor swelled more.

“It is,” Raze admitted. “It’s lonely.”

Eidolon inclined his head in a slow nod. “So what does this have to do with your current situation?”

“I’m not sure. Something happened. When I was all raged out. It was weird. Good, but weird.”

“You gotta give me more to go on.” Eidolon kicked his legs out and crossed them at the ankles.

This was so damned uncomfortable to talk about. “I was . . . I was with a male. And I . . . there was no female, but I . . . I came.”

This time, both of Eidolon’s eyebrows popped up, and his head actually snapped back a little. After a moment of silence, he leaned forward again, propping his forearms on his knees. “Are you sure it was a male you were with? There are a lot of spells, tricks—”

“I’m sure.”

The skepticism didn’t completely drain from Eidolon’s expression, but at least he didn’t push. “What species is this male?”