Page 2 of The Prodigies
An earthy odor permeated the air, indicating rain was about to pour down from above. I could use a good soaking rain to wash away not only the sweat from my body but to wake me from the hell that was suffocating me.
“I was too busy keeping you from doing something stupid,” he said. “So, what names did you and Layla decide on for the kids?”
I looked at him like he had ten heads despite knowing he was trying to distract me. I couldn’t think about names. I was having a difficult time keeping air in my lungs.
Biting a thumbnail, I paced like a madman. “We’ve gone back and forth on a few.” What was I saying? We had a list as long as my arm full of names and meanings. I liked Liam for a boy, and Layla adored Luna if we had a girl. “But we decided only last week that we would wait until we saw their faces before picking names.”
You will see all four of your children, a small voice whispered in the back of my mind. Fuck, I wanted to believe that. I had to believe that. I also had to believe that this wasn’t the end for Layla. We’d just gotten married. I wanted to fulfill her dream of living by the ocean and give her everything she’d ever desired.
My pulse sped up as I waited for another voice in my head to tell me I would see my beautiful huntress again. But none came.
Tripp lingered next to the entrance into the infirmary as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.
I stabbed a thumb at the door. “I need to know if Layla is alive.” My voice cracked in several places. I wasn’t a medical expert, but I knew that the doctors only had a small window of time to revive a human without any complications, like the patient becoming brain-dead.
I hated to even think that, and in that moment, I would give my soul to the devil to turn Layla into a vampire. Of course, that was impossible unless I wanted her to become a monster like her cousin Noah. He’d been injected with his cousin-in-law Carly Aberdeen’s serum that had turned him into a god-awful creature—a cross between a vampire and shifter.
I came to an abrupt halt directly in front of Tripp when a screwed-up idea flashed before me.
“What’s your brilliant mind thinking?” Tripp asked.
I guffawed, zeroing in on my best bud and superior officer. “There’s nothing brilliant about changing Layla into one of us.”
He reared back, almost hitting his head on the metal door. “Are you seriously thinking of a serum like your uncle’s or Carly’s? That’s suicide.”
I fisted my hands, ready to punch a car, the building—fuck, anything—which was my way of dealing with my emotions. I was angry, helpless, and gutted.
“I know.” I pushed out an exasperated breath. “But like Matthew Costner, she has vampire blood running in her family. Look at him. His transformation from human to vampire was seamless.”
Tripp tucked his hands into the pockets of his cargo pants. “Sam, Layla would cut off your gonads and stuff them in your mouth if she woke up like Noah. And her vampire bloodline is probably several generations removed, whereas Matthew’s isn’t. His grandfather Victor is a vampire. Therefore, you can’t compare apples to oranges.”
I hated that he was right. Laylawouldcut off my nuts if she woke up as a monster. Besides, I would never take that chance or make a life-changing decision for her.
I’d lost my humanity and not by choice. I’d been on my deathbed, thanks to my uncle Patrick. When I woke up, I was a crazed vampire. I’d been furious with my sister and father for turning me. But if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be alive. But none of that mattered because we didn’t have a way to turn Layla.
I clenched my teeth. “I will die without her.” I was 100 percent certain my heart would stop if she didn’t make it through this.
Tripp’s phone rang as sirens blared and began wailing every two seconds, signifying we had a threat.
Motherfucker.
Tripp yanked his phone out of the side pocket of his cargo pants. “What?” he snapped as he answered.
I jogged to the end of the building and scanned the area. The road to my left led to military housing. The road directly ahead wound around for about a half mile to the main gate. But all was quiet.
I ran to the front entrance, where Petty Officer Dawson was standing guard outside the lobby doors. I glanced up toward the roof. Two more sentries, one at each corner of the building, searched the compound.
Less than two minutes since I’d left Tripp’s side, a military Jeep careened around the corner and skidded to a halt.
“Sam, get in,” Tripp ordered through the open passenger window.
I hopped in. “What’s going on?”
He slammed the gas pedal, and the Jeep jerked forward. “Someone drove through the south gate. Petty Officer Allan said the driver seems drunk and disoriented and looks like a woman, but he couldn’t tell for sure. He thinks someone was chasing her. We’re checking the security cameras.”
The south gate was locked and chained and only used by military personnel and for deliveries. When Layla and I left and returned from Maine, I had to use the south gate to bypass the media crowd at the main entrance. Since the hospital incident months ago when Roman and his men had kidnapped Layla, I’d had my fangs on display for a parking lot packed with humans. Not intentionally, but I couldn’t react fast enough to tuck them away. Videos and pictures were taken. Not only of me but of my SEAL brother Hawk and a few of Roman’s men. Yet somehow I’d become the celebrity vampire. Nevertheless, someone had leaked my whereabouts. Now news stations, paranormal junkies, and curious humans camped out along the road leading into our main entrance.
Cocking my head, I leaned into the passenger-side window as Tripp sped around a curve. “As in, barreled down the electric gate?”
