"Ask her - it's something she could have developed."
"Baby, major allergies?"
Another shake of her head, this one slow, heavy. Faint traces of blue edged her lips.
"Nothing," he repeated, before a memory flickered awake. "But she used to have a small pollen allergy. Used to make her sneeze."
"How's her heartbeat?"
He pressed his fingers to the pulse in her neck, his control growing ragged with each erratic beat. "Too damn slow."
"Turn the phone toward her so I can see her face."
Clay did as ordered, then brought the phone back to his ear. "Tammy?"
"Do you have the kit?" Her tone was calm, assured.
"Yes." He opened it.
"There's a small preloaded pressure injector on the top left-hand side of the lid."
He saw it at once. Sliding it out of the built - in slot, he flicked off the cap. "Where?" He didn't ask what it was, what it might do. There wasn't time.
"Wait. Make sure it's the right one. Has it got 'epinephrine' on the side?"
He saw Talin's eyelids flutter down. Her hand dropped off his wrist. The leopard scrabbled inside his mind, trying to get out, get to her. "Yes!"
"Do it. On her thigh. Clay - I have to warn you, this is a wild guess. It could be the absolute wrong thing, could hurt her."
"There's no choice. We don't do anything, she'll die." Using his claws to tear a hole in her sweatpants, he pressed the injector to her skin and pressed the button. The transparent tube cleared of the medicine in a flash. For three of the longest seconds of his life, nothing happened. Then Talin jerked and her eyes flashed open. Another second and her hand reached blindly in his direction.
He gripped it, held on tight. "Breathe, baby. Please, Tally, breathe. Breathe."
Fingers clenching around his, she sucked in a deep breath. Then another.
"Is it working?" Tamsyn asked.
"Yeah," he whispered, a fucking fist around his heart. "Yeah."
"I'm coming over to check on her. Keep her warm, give her fluids."
Clay was barely conscious of closing the phone and putting it on the floor, his gaze locked with Talin's. It ripped him apart to see the single tear that leaked out of her eye. When he broke his hold on her, she made a small vulnerable sound. "Shh. I need to hold you." Settling himself with his back against the wall beside her, he pulled her into his lap.
She didn't complain when he crushed her to him, her head tucked under his chin, his embrace this side of bruising. Neither of them spoke. She breathed, slow and deep, and he just held her, making wordless sounds of comfort. Finally, one of her fists spread on his chest. It burned, as if she'd branded him. "I can breathe."
"Good." It was hard to talk with the leopard fighting to get out.
"What did you give me?"
He wrenched back control as his claws threatened to erupt. "A shot of epi."
"I've become that badly allergic to something?"
He wanted to kiss her, take her, convince himself he hadn't lost her. "This the first time you've had this kind of a reaction?"
She nodded. "It doesn't make sense. It has to be connected to - "
"Tammy's coming to check you out," he interrupted, not ready to talk about that fucking disease after the terror of the past minutes. "We'll see after that."