*****
"Put her here! No! Wait, there! No, wait!" Hal was practically walking in circles in their family room.
"Hal."
"Maybe here, so she's closer to the kitchen," Hal continued.
"Hal," Etain repeated trying to get the squire's attention.
"But she should be in a bed." Hal looked around the room.
"Hal!" Etain practically shouted.
Hal turned to him his e
yes wild. Etain swallowed hard. The man's fear mirrored his own state not too long ago. "She's okay. Gavriel and Caspian saved her. She's just fine, not even a scar. Come look."
Hal stumbled over on unsteady feet and looked down. Tears dripped down his nose to pool on Vivi's belly. Hal reached out and traced the blood on her shirt. "The one who did this?"
"Will be taken care of, you have my word. My brothers are seeing to it," Etain swore.
Hal looked him in the eye. "She is my entire world." His frank statement just about destroyed Etain, because he knew exactly how he felt. "As she is mine," he replied.
"Take her to your room. I'll make her favorite hot chocolate for when she comes around," Hal said gruffly wiping his cheeks.
"We will be out as soon as she wakes so you can see her," Etain promised.
Hal nodded. "Get her out of those clothes and washed up. She shouldn't have to see that."
Etain couldn't help but agree. "I will."
He carried his mate to their master suite and carefully balanced her against his body to open the door. Once the door closed behind him; he headed straight to the bathroom and stripped her gently. He wrapped her in a bath sheet and walked out to lay her on their cushy floor in front of the fireplace before switching the logs on. She would be nice and warm while he cleaned up the mess.
His hands shook as he cleaned the blood smears from the bathroom floors and fixtures that he clothes left behind. He wrapped up the offending, bloodstained shirt and pants in a towel and pushed it between the toilet and the wall. He'd take it out to Hal to be incinerated later. He stripped himself of his clothes and went back to lift his mate in his arms where she belonged.
He set her on the long bench and took his time washing her hair and body. When he got out he quickly dried them with a towel before tucking them under the covers. He pulled her close and allowed himself to face what happened. He was glad her hair was already wet. She would never know that the thought of living without her had driven him to tears.
*****
Vivi woke up and blinked. She felt Etain's arm around her waist, and they were both naked. She went to sit up and winced.
Etain stirred beside her. When he saw that her eyes were open he popped straight up like a Jack in the Box startling her. "You're awake," he said breathlessly.
Vivi slapped his arm. "You scared the crap out of me. What the hell is wrong?" She rubbed her stomach. "Did we have sex again? I'm kinda sore and not in a good way."
Etain's almost maniacal laughter had her edging away from him about to bolt for Hal. "Etain, what is it?"
He simply fell over her and pinned her to the bed. "You almost died," he choked out the words.
"What?" Vivi asked. Then images of a handle near her midsection flooded her. "Oh, yeah. There was something sticking out of me."
"Something? It was a dagger!" Etain pulled back his eyes flashing.
Vivi looked down at her belly. There wasn't even a pink line showing where her wound have been. "Well it looks like I'm okay now." She sat up and stretched her arms over her head. "I should get back to the lab."
Etain released an unintelligible string of curses. He reached over to his side of the bed and tapped a small alarm clock looking thing. "Hal, I need you in here."
She looked over at her mate. "Really? You're calling Hal in?"