Surrogate for My Brother-in-law - Chapter 86: Chapter 86

Ethan came to the hospital, alone. I knew immediately that something had gone wrong. I just didn’t realize how wrong.
“Where’s Leo?” I asked. “Where’s Sable?”
Ethan shook his head. “They didn’t bring Sable. Leo was taken.”
Ice filled my gut. Taken? Leo was taken?
“What? How? We have to go after them!” I yelped.
I jumped to my feet. Who knew what the Rogues would do to Leo? We were wasting time.
“Tessa, wait,” Ethan called, racing after me.
I skidded to a stop at the end of the office hall. Why was Ethan asking me to wait? Why had he come back at all? He was supposed to be with Leo!
I said, “I thought you had a plan!”
“We did,” Ethan said, “but things didn’t work out like we’d hoped.”
“So you just stood by and let Leo get taken? That’s not like you,” I said.
Ethan winced. “It was a back-up plan. I don’t like letting them take him, but it’s our best chance to find your baby.”
“You and Leo came up with a backup plan and didn’t even tell me?” I asked.
I couldn’t hide the hurt in my voice. I shoultn’t be so shocked to be left out of their full plans. I was always left out, I was just a half-blood after all. But somehow it still stung, coming from them.
I thought they trusted me. I understood why Leo might not, sure, but why would Ethan treat me like that?
“Well, it kind of happened on the fly as we went to the site,” Ethan admitted. He looked at me, and then winced. “Oh. No, Tess, we weren’t trying to leave you out.”
“You weren’t?” I asked. Because it sure felt like they were.
“No. It’s just that Leo and I are used to making plans last minute, mostly making it up as we go.”
“Right, yeah, that makes sense,” I said. “Okay. I don’t like it, but I get it. So what, exactly, is the new plan?”
“Well, it’s not much of a plan, really,” Ethan admitted. “Leo mostly just bought us time to get in place, and when I saw that they hadn’t brought Sable, I was going to signal for him to get clear.”
“But you didn’t?” I asked.
Ethan shook his head. “No. They got him with a tranquilizer before I could. Which is fine, because it means they want him alive.”
“That is not fine,” I growled. “I can think of a lot of really bad reasons they’d want him alive.”
I could, too. He’d defeated the last Rogue King. Maybe they wanted him to fight the new one, to prove he was stronger. But somehow I doubted it would be a fair challenge.
“Okay, that’s fair,” Ethan said. “We planted a tracker on Leo, and before you ask why we didn’t just follow it, we did.”
Ethen held up a tiny device. “They found it,” he explained. “I’m not sure how, it was well hidden.”
“Not well enough,” I muttered. “So we don’t know where they’ve taken him.”
He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Guy’s in pretty rough shape, after fighting Leo and all, but he’s alive. I need you to heal him.”
“You want me to heal one of the Rogues who attacked Leo?” I asked.
Ethan nodded. “Yup.” He shrugged. “Guy can't tell us where their base is if he's unconscious.”
“Oh,” I said.
Would a Rogue be willing to cooperate with Ethan? What could we offer one in exchange for the information we needed so desperately?
“You don't have to be involved,” Ethan added. “Just get him awake and able to talk. I'll handle the rest.”
What did he mean, I didn't have to be involved? We were trying to find my child and the father of my child. I couldn't be more involved if I tried.
“I'll heal him,” I said. “And I'm involved. No more planning things behind my back.”
Ethan winced, and nodded.
“If you're sure,” he said.
I was sure. Whatever bargain we had to make with the Rogue would be worth it to get Leo and Sable back.
I walked into the Rogue's hospital room. He was restrained to the bed by both wrists even though he was out cold. I checked his chart and winced at the list of injuries. Leo had not been gentle with his attackers.
“Can you heal him?” Ethan asked. “I know you exhausted yourself saving my siblings.”
I nodded. “I can do it. Well, I can get him stable and conscious. Fully healing him will take a while.”
“I just need him able to stay awake long enough to answer a few questions. Don’t worry about anything else,” Ethan ordered.
I wasn’t comfortable with that. I was a healer. I was supposed to heal my patients all the way.
But we needed to know where they’d taken Leo. And I could always finish healing him once we had the information we needed. It could even be part of the bargain. The Rogue didn’t d need to know I would heal him either way.
I placed my hand on the Rogue’s chest, and focused. I healed the worst injuries, and stabilized the rest. My wolf grumbled in the back of my mind. She was unhappy healing someone who’d hurt Leo, and unhappy leaving a healing unfinished.
The Rogue gasped awake. He struggled with the restraints for a moment. His eyes darted from me, to Ethan and he slumped, giving up.
“Hey, there, buddy,” Ethan said. He leaned on the bed rail.
“I won’t talk,” the Rogue snarled.
“You’re talking now,” Ethan said.
The Rogue snarled.
“Look,” Ethan said, “You know why you’re here. You know what we want.”
The Rogue looked away.
“Yeah,” Ethan continued, “and you probably have a good guess what’s gonna happen to you if you don’t tell me what I want to know.”
The Rogue shrank back, pressing into the pillows as if a few inches would protect him.
“I won’t talk,” the Rogue repeated.
“Yes,” Ethan said, “you will.” He patted the Rogue’s knee. “We both know you will. The question is how much of my time are you going to waste first? And, perhaps more importantly, how much of this fine healer’s time are you going to waste?”
The Rogue glanced up at me. I stared back. This wasn’t what I’d expected, but I wasn’t backing out.
“She healed you once,” Ethan continued. “And she’ll heal you when I’m done. And we’ll start all over again. How many times, I wonder, are you going to make her bring you back from the edge?”
The Rogue swallowed heavily. He looked down.
“You can’t defeat the new King,” he declared.
“Then it doesn’t matter if you tell us where to find him, does it?” Ethan asked.
The Rogue shook his head.
“Please,” I said, “I just want my baby back.”
The Rogue and Ethan both looked over at me.
“Your baby?” the Rogue repeated softly.
“Sable. She's mine, my little girl. I already lost her once. She was taken from me when she was born. I barely even got to hold her.” I took a deep breath so my voice wouldn't shake so much.
The Rogue looked down, and wrinkled the edge of the blanket in his hands.
“And now you've taken her, and I don't even know if she's okay,” I said.
The Rogue paled. He took a deep breath.
“They took the alpha back to our base. The baby’s there, too,” he said. He paused. “She was okay, the last time I saw her. No one's gonna hurt a baby.”
“And where is your base?” Ethan asked.
The Rogue gave us the location, and closed his eyes in defeat.
I reached over and put my hand on the knee Ethan had touched. I used a little extra power to heal it.
“I saw you flinch,” I said. “The ligament was torn, but I’ve fixed it. You’ll walk without a limp.”
“You’re not gonna kill me?” he whispered.
“Only if I find out you lied to us,” Ethan said.
“I didn’t,” the Rogue said.
“Then you’re fine,” I promised. “And thank you.”