Seth withdrew his healing touch and stepped back.
Nick didn’t like the look on his face and hastily glued his gaze to Kayla’s chest. It still rose and fell with shallow breaths.
He looked at Seth. “Well?”
“She’ll live. Stopping the progression of the damage gave whatever Melanie and Alleck administered time to work. But I was unable to repair all the damage to her heart.”
Nick stared at him. “What does that mean?”
“I’ll try to heal her again once the last of the poison has been neutralized and once her blood volume has been restored. But…”
“But?” He had thought the powerful ancient immortal could heal or reverse anything save decapitation.
As if he’d heard the path Nick’s thoughts had taken, Seth said, “Some things are beyond even my healing capabilities. Most illnesses I can heal. Most injuries, too, save some that affect the brain.” He shook his head. “But this poison appears to have weakened her heart in ways I may not be able to remedy.”
This couldn’t be happening.
He glanced from Seth to Melanie to Alleck and back. “What does that mean? Is she going to die?”
“Not today.” Seth’s voice was soft and carried regret. “Perhaps not even a year from now. But her risk of heart attack and stroke has increased considerably.”
Nick stared at him. “You’re saying she could drop dead of a heart attack or stroke at any moment?”
“If I cannot reverse more of the damage done, then… yes. I’m afraid so.”
Fuck.
Nick took one of Kayla’s cold hands in his. The backs of his eyes began to burn.
It had taken him four centuries to find her. He couldn’t lose her now. They’d had so little time together.
Eliana cleared her throat. “If Nick transformed her, could the virus repair the damage?”
Nick looked at Seth.
The Immortal Guardians leader pondered it. “I believe so. Immortals have suffered some grievous head wounds in recent years. Ethan’s mind is wired differently and so difficult to navigate that I couldn’t heal all the damage he suffered when he and Aidan were attacked. But he eventually made a full recovery. So the virus must have healed what I could not and may very well be able to do the same for Kayla.”
If Nick transformed her.
He had never broached the subject with her. Hell, he hadn’t had time really. They might have known each other for several years, but they had only been lovers for a short time. He had hoped to work his way up to asking her if she would transform and become immortal.
And he hadn’t been terribly confident she would agree.
Roland Warbrook had suffered greatly after his transformation, not from the violence that had followed but because he had been forced to watch his beloved children grow old and die. Then his grandchildren. Then their children and grandchildren.
Would Kayla want to do the same?
If she said yes, she and Nick could spend the rest of eternity together. Kayla would never grow old. She would be strong and fast and would never get sick.
But she would have to watch Becca grow old and die.
How many times had he heard grieving men and women say parents should never outlive their children?
“Jenna transformed for Richart,” Seth murmured.
Was he listening to Nick’s thoughts?
Nick shook his head. “Jenna had no choice.” Vampires took that from her.
Eliana touched his back. “There’s always choice. You should ask her, Nick. Having decades more with her daughter may offset the grief Kayla will eventually experience.”
Nick hoped like hell it would.
Because he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.
Chapter Fifteen
Kayla sighed as consciousness beckoned. Damn, she felt tired. She’d been spending too many hours making love with Nick instead of sleeping. Not that she regretted it. Nick was an amazing lover. But it was really starting to take a toll.
She tried to open her eyes and couldn’t. Her lids were too heavy.
At least the nausea was gone.
Wait. What nausea?
Alarm shot through her. She and Oliver had been kidnapped! They’d been drugged. That woman had taken her blood. Then Kayla had vomited and gotten dizzy and…
She couldn’t remember. Had she passed out?
She finally managed to pry her eyes open. Dim light bathed her from the white ceiling above.
She looked to the left. Machines monitored her heart rate, which increased as she watched. Crap. Oliver had been planning an escape. They hadn’t made it out, had they? Those A-holes were taking more of her blood or—
“Kayla.”
Startled, she looked to her right.
Nick sat beside her. His hair stood up on one side as though he’d run his fingers through it one too many times. And his eyes glowed faintly.
Something squeezed her hand.
She glanced down. His long fingers were curled around her hand where it rested on the bed.
And it was a nice bed. Comfortable mattress. Cushy bedding. Definitely not hospital grade.
She glanced around. Yet they appeared to be in some sort of infirmary. “Where am I?”
“Network headquarters in North Carolina.”
Her gaze shot to his face. “We’re in North Carolina?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?” She and Oliver had still been in Houston when she’d passed out, hadn’t they?
Nick’s grip tightened. “Eliana, Seth, and I—along with some of my other immortal brethren—tracked you and Oliver down and freed you. You were being held by a man named Richard Roubal.”
Where had she heard that name before? “Is he the old man you told me about?”
“Yes. He’s the one who recognized me at the hospital. Roubal is dying. He has metastatic lung cancer that has spread to his liver. And he apparently saw in me not just a way to beat the cancer but a way to reverse the aging process so he could remain young forever.”
“He told you all that?”
“No. Seth read it in his mind.”
“I thought you said that had been taken care of.”
Regret flooded his handsome features as he brushed her hair back from her forehead with his free hand. “We all believed it had. But Roubal found a way around it. Because he’s aware of the dementia and mental confusion he suffers, he sometimes writes himself little notes to remind himself of things he doesn’t want to forget. And he did that after seeing me in the hospital. He did it again before he went to see me at my home. Then again before he sent those men to capture me. Seth didn’t find any memory of those notes in Roubal’s mind because of the dementia, so neither he nor the network erased the trail Roubal left himself to follow.”
“Where is Roubal now?”
“Dead.”
She swallowed. “You killed him when you rescued me?”
“No. The network cleaned up and erased all traces of what went down at Brightwood Industries. When Seth took Roubal home, another network crew met him there and eliminated every note and piece of evidence Roubal had gathered in his quest to capture and use me to cure himself. Then Seth put him to bed and stopped his heart so everyone would believe Roubal died peacefully in his sleep.”