You guys ROCK! Thank you so much for your wonderful comments on Chapter 10! Managed to submit while I'm away so hope you enjoy this chapter as much :-)
WorldHistoryBuff, thank you as always. You're the best! To the Guild too!
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Loretta felt crap. She didn't just feel crap, she felt like she was going to die. She threw up noisily and leaned wearily against the toilet bowl. She had been perfectly fine this morning and even into the afternoon but come dinner time she had suddenly started to feel a bit shaky, first a light temperature forming and then the nausea.
Maybe she had been too exuberant with her morning workout with Andrei? He had run her ragged before they'd made love twice. Add to that the shock of him biting her. It was obviously more than her body could take in one day.
She felt a moment of fear as she remembered the bite. It had been the most amazing and terrifying moment of her life. Amazing because she experienced the most intense orgasm she'd ever had and terrifying because she had been waiting for her heart to stop beating as Andrei's venom flooded her system.
Maybe her sudden illness had to do with the venom? She should go to see Luke and get checked over but that would involve her telling him why she was worried and he'd tell Jared instantly. There would be none of this patient/doctor confidentiality crap when it was something that could affect the pack adversely..
She had promised Andrei she would give him two days. She had also promised she would be at the club tonight but there was no way she could go feeling the way she did. She had two choices. Either ride out the sickness on her own and call Andrei to let him know she wasn't coming over; or she could call him to come pick her up and he'd just have to deal with her illness along with her.
She knew which one she wanted to do. She wanted to be with Andrei so badly at the moment it was almost crippling her. She wanted his arms around her, soothing her while she felt so ill. The fact that he probably would come looking for her at the compound if she bailed on him two nights in a row also played a part in the decision she came to.
Dragging herself back into her bedroom she grabbed her phone and called Andrei, silently cursing the fact that her new telepathic bond with him didn't stretch much past a mile. She had hoped it would reach further because vampire mates could contact each other at much greater distances but it proved to be the same as Were mates' bonds.
"Hey Rose," Andrei said softly when he answered.
She could hear the smile in the softness of his tone and she smiled too, feeling comforted just hearing his voice. She also felt suddenly very weak and fragile, not something she was used to. "Andrei," she breathed quietly, a slight tremor escaping her along with a sigh of relief.
"What's wrong?" he asked instantly, sounding immediately alert. "Loretta, are you alright?"
"I'm not feeling too good," she admitted slightly hoarsely. "I feel feverish and I've been throwing up a bit. My entire body is aching at the moment. I don't think I can go to the club tonight, Andrei."
His breath hissed out loudly. "Of course you can't," he answered a bit sharply, his concern evident. "I'm on my way over."
She felt her heart start to sink immediately. She really didn't want him coming onto pack lands. It would just create unnecessary issues. "Wait for me just outside the compound," she urged quickly. "I'll meet you there."
"I'll come and get you. You stay where you are." Andrei's tone brooked no arguments but she still argued with him anyway.
"I'm fine enough to meet you, Andrei. Please don't enter the compound. If you do so it will only attract attention and piss Jared off. Please, Andrei." She heard his breath hiss out angrily and she fought down a sigh.
Maybe meeting up with him tonight wasn't such a good idea after all, not when she was feeling so crappy. If she was this low he would easily be able to dominate her and she wouldn't have the strength to fight back and keep him in check.
"Fine," he finally answered his tone much gentler. "We'll do this your way. Keep your phone close though and call me back if you have any trouble making it to the compound boundary."
Andrei hung up immediately and raced upstairs into the club. His heart was pounding with fear at the thought of his wolf being ill. Her voice had sounded so weak, her breath so shaky. It was so out of character for Loretta to sound so vulnerable that he was instantly concerned.
"Pietro, I'm out for the night," he told his bartender. "Do the necessary with closing up."
Pietro smiled widely. "Let me guess, Loretta again?" he teased lightly. His boss's current relationship with the feisty little Were was an endless source of amusement for him. Andrei appeared to be like a chicken running around with his head cut off most of the time these days.
Andrei managed a weak smile and nod of his head as he hurried outside. He couldn't shake the gnawing fear which was starting to settle deep within him. Was this his venom just starting to take effect? Was Loretta slowly dying? Why the fuck hadn't she gone to her doctor straight away?
He was speeding recklessly towards the compound, his heart thumping painfully hard in his chest. If anything happened to her because of his actions he would never forgive himself. He silently prayed she would be okay, that this was just some normal human or Were type illness and nothing to do with him biting her this morning. Never getting sick himself he had nothing to compare it to and it was that lack of knowledge which was increasing his anxiety levels even further.
Loretta was waiting for him, resting against a tall tree on the forest floor, just outside the compound boundary. Her face was so pale that for a moment he thought the unthinkable and was flying out the car and was at her side in an instant.
Her eyes opened and she smiled weakly at him. "You took your time," she managed to get out weakly.
"Why didn't you go to Luke?" he demanded, his tone so sharp because of his concern. He picked her up gently, cradling her tenderly against his chest as his eyes intently roamed her pale face, his heart thumping painfully hard in his chest as she rested weakly against him.
"I didn't want him asking if anything out of the ordinary had happened recently," she murmured softly, closing her eyes and sighing with relief that he had her safely in his arms. She felt so much better just having him close. She shamelessly leaned on her mate's strength feeling calmer that he was there to protect her.
"Of all the stupid, idiotic reasons I've heard for not going to a bloody doctor," he ground out through clenched teeth. "Fuck, Loretta, you should have gone to him the moment you started feeling unwell!"