of her and then gave her a push forward toward the other man.
“I’m Dr. Michaels,” he said, his voice muffled through the mask. “I’ll be performing your procedure today. Come this way.”
She didn’t want to. She looked back at Silas.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Then he turned and was gone.
The two guards remained in place. She didn’t have anywhere to go. “What procedure?” she asked, but the doctor had already turned away. She peered down the corridor, but one of the guards drew his weapon and pointed at the door, and she took the last steps through.
At least she might find out what this was all about.
Inside was some sort of reception room. Two more men in scrubs approached her, and before she could move, one took her arm and the other stabbed her with a needle, injecting something.
For a few seconds she felt nothing, then a fog crept over her brain, dulling her senses. From then on, the world took on a distant feel as though she were outside her body looking on.
They undressed her, then put on a pale blue gown that tied at the front before leading her through another door into a bigger room. There were two gurneys, and a lot of equipment. She knew what this was, but her brain wouldn’t cooperate and come up with the word.
A man lay on one of the gurneys. He was already anesthetized. His eyes closed, a breathing mask over his face. Dr. Michaels leaned over him, doing something with the needle leading into his arm. He didn’t look up as Destiny came in.
They led her to the second gurney and pushed her down, straightened her limbs. She wanted to get up and run, but she didn’t think she could even if they would let her.
Then Dr. Michaels was leaning over her. “Count backwards from ten,” he said.
And the word came to her. She was in an operating theater. They were going to operate on her.
Then it was too late to think anymore. She breathed in and the gas flooded her mind and the darkness closed in. Then nothing.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“I can assure you of one thing, — the more men you see die, the easier it becomes to die yourself; and in my opinion, death may be a torture, but it is not an expiration.”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
“Dr. Yang?”
Where the hell was the woman? The comm link was still open, but she wasn’t answering.
“Dr. Yang?” Milo could sense the panic rising inside him and he didn’t know why. There was no reason to believe they would harm Destiny, so why couldn’t he shake the sense of foreboding?
“What’s happening?” Rico appeared in the doorway, a bottle of whiskey dangling from one hand. He wandered into the room and sprawled on a chair. “Did you get hold of this doctor?”
“She was there and now she’s fucking gone. Or not answering.”
“You told her?” Dylan asked, coming in behind Rico.
“Yeah, I told her.”
“She understood what you were saying?”
“Of course she fucking understood.” He took a deep breath and forced his mind to calm down. But that sense of foreboding sat in his belly like a weight.
“We need to move,” Rico said. “We have a limited time frame here, and it’s running out.”
“We can’t go without Destiny.”
Rico studied him through narrowed eyes, and Milo resisted the urge to snarl or hurl a fire bolt at the smug bastard vampire. He took another deep breath. “She gave herself up for me.” Rico understood loyalty and paying debts.
“Mierda,” Rico said, shaking his head. “This is a really bad time to fall in love.”
Milo did snarl then. He did not need lecturing about love from a fucking cold-hearted vampire. Rico had never been in love. He hadn’t loved his wife—that was what had made him feel so guilty about her death. He hadn’t been there for her. But Milo doubted that argument would get him very far. “I have not fallen in love. I don’t believe in love.” Even as he said the words, he sensed the lie. He believed in love, he always had, he’d just decided that he would never give in to it again because it always ended badly.
But he cared about Destiny; he had almost from the start. She pulled at something deep inside him, something he’d believed lost centuries ago. She made him believe he could be a good person. Just like Maria. “She saved my life. I owe her. That’s all it is.” Dylan snorted, and Milo swung around