Sari shook her head. “He doesn’t even have experience with adolescent transitions. The last transitioning boy was monitored by Merlin.”
Kalugal put a hand on her shoulder. “You should ask Bridget to fly over.”
Sari turned her eyes to Kian. “Should I? My freak-out doesn’t mean that David is in danger. I’m just overreacting. What if he wakes up tomorrow? Bridget has more than enough on her plate without hopping on a plane and flying over here, only to discover that her services are not needed.”
“They are needed for your peace of mind, Sari.” Kian pulled out his phone. “And ours. I’ll feel better knowing that an experienced doctor is supervising David’s transition.”
Sari nodded. “I want Bridget here, but I don’t want Steven to feel offended.”
“I’m not,” the young doctor called out from David’s room. “I was planning on consulting Bridget over the phone, but if she wants to supervise in person, that’s even better.”
As Kian placed the call, Alena arrived and hugged Sari. “How are you holding up?”
“By a thread.”
Bridget answered right away. “What’s up, Kian? Is Syssi okay?”
He wondered whether she’d heard about David. Knowing Amanda, she’d probably spread the rumor already to everyone willing to listen.
“David is transitioning. He lost consciousness, and Steven is taking care of him, but Steven has no experience with transitions, adult or otherwise.”
“Put him on the line.”
That was Bridget to a tee. No-nonsense, pragmatic, and capable.
Kian walked into David’s room and handed Steven the phone. “She wants to talk to you.”
As the two doctors conferred, he looked at David and the familiar medical machinery he was hooked up to. The sight was very familiar by now, evoking both good and bad memories.
Every time he stepped into a room like this, the echoes of the helpless frustration that he’d felt watching Syssi battling for her life still reverberated through him.
Kian sympathized with all mates of transitioning Dormants, but this time it was his own sister, and his heart went out to her.
Unlike him, though, Sari didn’t try to hide her fear, shedding tears for all to see and wearing her heart on her sleeve. There was courage in her open display of love and worry for her mate, and it didn’t detract from her authority in the slightest.
In fact, he had a feeling that it further endeared her to her people. Sari’s leadership style was very different to his, but it worked just as well.
He missed the days when his sister had served as his second-in-command. Sari had balanced his detached and authoritative style with her compassion and her easygoing attitude.
Thanks to Syssi, he was much better now than he’d been back then, but he still had a long way to go. Apparently, even after two thousand years, he still had a lot of personal growth to do, especially since he was about to become a father.
His daughter would look up to him and follow his example, which meant that he needed to step up his efforts to become the kind of man she would be proud to call her father.
Ending the call, Steven handed Kian his phone back. “Bridget is flying overnight. She’ll get here tomorrow at around noon.”
“Why the urgency?” Kian lowered his voice. “Is there anything I should know about?”
“It’s just a precaution. If David weren’t Sari’s mate, I doubt that Bridget would have made the trip.”
“We don’t know for sure that he is.” Kian put his phone back in his pocket.
“Don’t get me wrong.” Steven lifted his hands. “I’m not upset that she’s coming. It’s just that there isn’t much either of us can do other than monitor David’s vitals. But if anything goes wrong, I don’t want my inexperience to be a factor. That’s why I’m very glad to have Bridget looking over my shoulder.”
That was true. If things went south, no one other than Annani could help David.
“You are a smart guy.” Kian clapped the young doctor on his back. “But don’t worry. One way or another, David is going to pull through.”
The doctor smiled. “I like your optimism, especially since it’s absolutely justified. We haven’t lost a Dormant to transition yet, and we’ve had quite a few.” He lowered his voice. “I don’t know why Sari is freaking out like that, but I have to admit that it’s affecting me. Who am I to dismiss a mate’s intuition?”
“Indeed. Sari is usually a cool-headed woman. The fact that she is so worried about David troubles me too.” Kian stepped out of the room and joined his family in the waiting room. “Bridget is on her way.”
“I heard.” Sari let out a breath. “You were right. It does ease my mind knowing that she will supervise David’s transition.”
He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’ve walked a mile or two in your shoes. I know what you are going through.”
“I’m elated and terrified at the same time. Elated that David is a Dormant and that he is transitioning, and terrified that he might not. Did you feel like that too?”
“I only remember the fear. Syssi was not doing well, Amanda was missing, and I was losing my fucking mind.”
Their mother had saved the day on both counts. She’d given Syssi a small transfusion of her blood, which helped her survive the transition, and she’d given Kian hope for Amanda, telling him that his sister was okay because she’d remote viewed her lounging in a bathtub.
Why wasn’t Annani there, though?
David was not in critical condition, and he didn’t need her blessing, not yet anyway, but Sari could use her support.
On the other hand, things seemed a little strained between Annani, Sari, and David. There was some nonsense about an encounter between Annani and David’s prior incarnation.
In Kian’s opinion, the three of them were nuts for believing in that nonsense. His mother had always been drawn to the mystical, and David was a psychologist who was fascinated by the idea of reincarnation. Sari, however, shouldn’t have bought into that crap.
20
David
“Gudbrand!” someone called out. “Wait up!”
Hearing the snow crunching behind him, David turned around. A large man with a messy long beard and side mustaches was rushing to catch up to him. He looked formidable and was holding a spear, but he was smiling and not aiming his weapon, so he wasn’t a threat.
He also looked familiar.
“You can’t sneak out alone like that, my friend.” He clapped David on the back.
No, not David. His name was Gudbrand, and this was obviously not Scotland or the twenty-first century.
“Herleif,” he spoke his friend’s name. “Go back to your wife.”
“It’s not safe for you to go alone.” Herleif ignored the command and kept pace with him.
Was Gudbrand him, though? Or was David dreaming someone else’s life?
Like a drifting mist, David’s waking life receded, and the dreamscape solidified, becoming his only reality.
He knew this place.
It was his home.