Kellan lay in a hospital bed inside one of the half-dozen medical rooms. Tess and Rafe were with him. Nikolai, Dante, and Lucan stood off to one side of the bed. And Nathan was there, standing as rigid as a sentry on watch, flanked by his squad of warriors and Mira's too.
The teams she'd trained with, laughed with, rode into battle with, all gave her nods of greeting and support as she entered the room. As for Nathan, despite his carefully schooled posture, there was no mistaking the concern in his dark-fringed eyes as he pivoted his head and met Mira's gaze. He'd been worried about Kellan too.
Mira went to the side of the bed, not realizing she was holding her breath until she saw Kellan's chest rise and fall, and her own lungs expelled a ragged sigh.
She whispered his name, reaching down to smooth his coppery-brown hair off his pale brow.
"He's weak right now," Tess said gently. "He's lost a lot of blood."
"He's alive," Mira said. It was all the hope she needed. She kissed his mouth, tasted her own tears as she wrapped her arms around his bulky shoulders and let her relief pour out of her.
It took her a long moment before she could release him. She turned away, walking over to Tess and Rafe, her personal miracle workers. She embraced them both but held on to Tess with a gratitude that defied words.
Just that morning Tess had told Mira her vision had given her a gift she could only hope to repay. Never had Mira imagined how much she would need Tess's extraordinary power. How could she ever express the depth of her indebtedness?
"Tess, I . . ."
The other Breedmate merely smiled and squeezed Mira's hand. "I know. Now, go to him. Kellan needs you, more than anything else we can do for him."
Mira went back to his side and took his hand. His skin was warm. His fingers twitched in her grasp, then tightened. He could feel her. He knew she was there with him.
"His heart is very strong," Tess said. "He's been fighting very hard to come back. He didn't want to let go."
Mira couldn't hold back her little sob. "You came back to me," she murmured, leaning in close to him as she caressed his handsome face. "Now you're stuck for good, Kellan Archer. Do you hear me? Don't you ever let go again."
Tess's hand came to rest lightly on Mira's back. "I'd like to check on him a bit later, make sure he's in the clear. But right now, his healing will depend on you. Your blood will do the rest for him, Mira."
She nodded, noted that as Tess stepped away, she had placed a slender scalpel atop some folded clothing on the bedside table.
Mira's relief that Kellan was alive couldn't have been more complete, but she couldn't help feeling the dark gravity of Lucan's presence in the room. Kellan had been given the chance to defy the gunshot wounds that killed him in front of the GNC, but where did that leave him with Lucan and the rest of the Order?
"What happens now, Lucan? If Kellan wakes up - when he wakes up - where will he go from here?"
Lucan's grim expression gave nothing away. He stared at Kellan, then brought his stern gray gaze back to Mira. "None of this changes what's already come to pass. Dead or alive, he was still found guilty by the Council. He can't return to the life he was leading before. Neither of the lives he once led."
Mira knew her disappointment must have shown on her face. She'd been hoping for some kind of absolution from Lucan. Some reassurance that Kellan would be welcomed back into the fold and that life would go on as it once was. Better than it ever had been.
She was hoping for a miracle. And she had it, didn't she? Kellan was alive. The rest they would simply have to figure out later. They would figure everything out together.
And if that meant she had to leave the Order to be with Kellan?
She tried to ignore the twinge of hurt that notion brought with it. The Order was her family. Her purpose in life. Her home.
She glanced away from Lucan, to Renata, beautiful and heavy with child, nestled under the protective wing of Nikolai's strong arm. She looked next to Nathan, her dear friend. Kellan's friend. And to the trio of Breed warriors who had long ago become more than simply comrades. Everyone gathered in the room and under this roof was part of Mira's life.
For all her attempts in the past days to convince Kellan that they should run away together, abandon everything and try to outrun the destiny he'd seen in her eyes, she realized only now how steep the price would have been.
But Kellan had known.
Even with the prospect of his own death hanging over his head, he hadn't allowed Mira to turn her back on everything she loved for a life of exile and hiding with him. He'd chosen to face a fatal destiny in order to make certain she found her way back to where she belonged.
She loved him more for that sacrifice now than she had loved him at any other time.
Mira took the scalpel from the table beside the bed. She made a small incision in her wrist, then held the bleeding wound against his slack mouth. She stroked his hair, his cheek, softly encouraging him to drink. Her blood welled on his tongue, deep red, the coppery tang of it laced with the trace fragrance of lilies, her unique blood scent. Kellan responded after a long moment, his throat working slowly as the blood slipped to the back of his mouth.
"That's it," Mira whispered. "Take some more of me, Kellan. Take all you need."
His lips moved to get a better purchase on her vein. Then his tongue pressed against her skin, warm and searching. He took another swallow. Then another.
Mira caressed him as he drank from her, feeling his strength begin to renew through their bond. "Keep drinking," she told him gently. "Come back to me."
She hardly noticed the others in the room now, all her focus locked on Kellan. On making him better. Making him whole.