Page 46 of Pixie Problems
I looked around. The hospital was actually pretty cool. The furniture was top-of-the line. I had a big screen TV mounted to the wall in front of me, nice sheets, blanket and pillows, and a comfy bed that could move up or down for the doctors and nurses with the touch of a button. There was a comfortable looking couch and chair just over by the large window that told me it was late afternoon now by the direction the sun was coming in. There were a few pretty paintings of landscapes on the walls, and the walls were a soft teal with teak colored wood furniture.
Wow. So this was what happened when the town chipped in each year for a nice hospital and staff. Excellent staff, and amazing accommodations. I’d been in hospitals before in the human world and they werenothinglike this. I still maintained that those who chose the medical field were angels on earth, but they were weary angels. Angels who worked in understaffed and underfunded hospitals.
“Nice room,” I said. I didn’t know what to say to Rhys. I was still angry about the new voice in my head, but I also knew it wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t done anything more than kiss me to keep my mind off Ben sewing me up.
And the kiss hadn’t been unwelcome exactly. Just surprising. And then of course the stow-away afterward had been a shock. I was still working through my emotions on that. Mostly anger and grief. It might be unreasonable to some, but the fact that I would no longer be alone in my own mind for the rest of my life wasawful.Thankfully, the parasite—I would have to give him a name at some point—knew when to keep quiet.
I guess, since he’d borrowed Michael Clark Duncan’s voice, I might as well call him Michael.
“Name accepted,” he said, and I hissed.
“Obviously you’re not ready for me to talk yet.”
I don’t think I wouldeverbe ready for him to talk.
“I’ll stay quiet for now.”
I scowled.
“I’m sorry,” Rhys said, and I didn’t know whether he was apologizing for the sentient magic that was now in my head, or for the fact that he wasn’t there to help in the attack this morning. Both were ridiculous.
His magic had made it very clear to me that it had chosen me of its own free will, and as far as the attack went, Rhys couldn’t be with me 24/7. He just couldn’t, no matter how much he wanted to keep me safe. Besides, I wasn’t a helpless damsel in distress. I could throw a dagger and shoot a moving target with ninety percent accuracy and knew several different forms of martial arts. I could handle myself well in most cases.
But it was just . . . pixies were relatively weak in the paranormal food-chain. I would never be as strong as a shifter, or as fast as a vampire. And I would never have as much magic as a warlock, or be as kick-butt as a dryad. I justwouldn’t.So, while I could defend myself reasonably well against humans and some paranormals, there were some that would always be stronger or faster or more powerful than me. It was just the nature of being a pixie, or one of those on the bottom of the food-chain.
It made me angry, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Other than possibly carrying a cast-iron skillet in my bag. Those things weretough.
Draven walked in. I felt suddenly guilty seeing him. I knew that Mia was worried about me but wasn’t sure—because those on the council were sworn to keep the secrets of those that came before them in council—what was going on with me. This was further complicated because Draven was trying to help me for both Mia’s sake, and for the council’s sake. He was the rope in an epic game of tug-of-war.
And Draven, being incredibly intuitive, said, “Don’t worry about Mia. She knows I’m helping you, but she doesn’t know the reasons.” He looked at Rhys. “I think it’s slipped her mind that you’re on the council and that you know what’s going on with Dice as well. It must be because you’re such an upstanding citizen.”
Rhys looked uncomfortable, which made me feel worse.
“I’m so sorry, guys. Do you think we should tell her?”
Draven shook his head. “Mia can handle a lot. She’s capable. That’s not why I think we should keep this to ourselves. It’s just . . .” He looked away, overcome with emotion of some sort before he turned back to us. “She’s just come into this world. There’s already someone that I assume is from my past, gunning for both of us. She’s already been hurt in the cross-fire. They’re now exclusively targeting her and none of my very capable employees have been able to find anything on the person we’re dealing with. I’m afraid that with the extra worry about you, Dice, that she won’t be as on her guard as she needs to be because she’ll be distracted. And she needs to be focused on her own safety. I can and have assigned my best people to her, but this person or persons keeps slipping through our net and getting to her.” He winced slightly. “I’m sorry, Dice. I know it sounds cold.”
I shook my head. “No, I completely understand. I know how she gets. Right now, she has a vague notion that I’m running from someone, and she feels comforted by the fact that you have people guarding me. But if she knew all of the details of what’s been happening with Hux and his pack, she would probably try to climb through my window and refuse to leave my house.” I smiled. It sounded like a Mia thing to do. “And as we’ve just seen this morning, my house isn’t exactly super safe at the moment.”
“You can stay with me,” a voice said from the doorway.
I looked up to see Finn, who looked like a dozen firecrackers had been sewn into his clothing and someone had lit every fuse. His eyes were bloodshot, there were dark circles under them, and he was more slumped than an alpha shiftershouldbe considering they had impressive stamina and strength. “Would it help you sleep better?” I asked him, feeling bad for all the early morning and late night calls that I had dragged him out of bed for.
He nodded.
“Then offer accepted.”
“Wait, what? You can’t sleep atFinn’shouse!” Rhys objected.
I gave him the evil-eye. “Why not? Finn and I are friends. And it’s him my poor wolf keeps dragging out of bed to help me. If I stay with him, he can protect me better and get more sleep. It’s a win/win.”
Rhys let go of my hand and folded his arms over his chest. “Then I want to stay too.”
Draven, who was standing in the darkest part of my room, gazed out the window with a suspicious twitch to his lips. Finn slumped into the chair by the window and closed his eyes. Poor alpha kitty.
“I’m okay with him staying as well,” Finn murmured. “More protection for you. And I’ll assign more officers inside my home at the entrances and exits. That’ll help me sleep better at night.”
