Shouting in surprise, he fell back. She rode him to the floor, where Wyatt landed hard on his back. The wind was knocked out of him, but it could have been worse if she hadn’t grabbed his head in both hands. Elspeth had saved him from what would no doubt have been a concussion, but it was just blind good luck for him. That hadn’t been her intention. At least, Wyatt didn’t think it was when she used her hold to turn his head to the side and bent to sink her teeth into his neck. This explained the earlier bit he’d heard about biting, he supposed as he felt her sharp fangs scrape against his throat. Unable to free himself, Wyatt closed his eyes, bracing against the coming pain as they started to pierce his skin, and then her weight and teeth were suddenly gone.
Blinking his eyes open in surprise, Wyatt glanced around to see two men dressed in black leather dragging Elspeth away from him. One was a tall, dark-haired man with golden-brown eyes. The other was blond, with piercing silver-blue eyes like Elspeth’s. Both were straining to hold the woman between them and not succeeding very well. They were barely managing to hold on to her arms. She was jerking them about like they were a couple of toddlers.
“Thank Christ.”
Wyatt glanced around at that relieved growl to see G.G. dragging himself to his feet with help from Sofia. The man was holding his ribs with one hand as he straightened.
“We need chains,” the dark-haired man snapped, struggling to hold onto a thrashing Elspeth.
“This is a nightclub, not a bondage shop,” G.G. growled.
“There are some in our SUV. Key’s in my pocket,” the blond said urgently. “There are padlocks there too. We’ll need a couple of them.”
Leaving G.G. leaning against the wall, Sofia rushed to the men, reached into the blond man’s pocket, and retrieved his keys and disappeared. She moved so fast, Wyatt couldn’t even track her. One minute she was there and then she became a blur of motion and was gone.
Giving his head a shake, Wyatt got to his feet. He briefly watched Elspeth struggle and writhe in the arms of the two newcomers, and then moved over to G.G.
“You okay?” he asked, looking him over quickly. He didn’t see blood anywhere, but judging by the way G.G. was holding his ribs, he’d guess one or two were broken.
“Fine,” G.G. sighed.
Wyatt didn’t believe him, but didn’t argue. Instead, he asked, “Who are these guys?”
“The blond one is Valerian. The other is Tybo,” he answered through gritted teeth. “They’re good guys. They work with Elspeth. They’ll take care of her.”
“They’re with the police?” he asked with surprise. Dressed all in black as both men were, he’d been thinking mafia or motorcycle gang, not cops.
“Police,” G.G. echoed and smiled wryly. “Yeah, the immortal version. They’re Enforcers, or rogue hunters. They hunt rogue immortals. Criminals mortal police wouldn’t be able to handle.”
“Oh,” Wyatt said blankly. He supposed that was a special division as Elspeth had told him. Probably one the mortal police didn’t know about, but she hadn’t exactly lied.
“What happened to her?” Tybo asked.
Wyatt glanced toward the men, and frowned when he saw that Elspeth appeared to have passed out. She was sagging in their hold as they carried her to the stainless steel table she’d escaped just moments ago.
“She was run over by a car,” Wyatt said, helping G.G. when the big man started to limp toward the immortal police.
“Out front,” Tybo said with a nod. “Mortimer heard about an accident on the police frequency, recognized the address, and suggested we stop in and check that it had nothing to do with The Night Club.”
“She’d just left here,” G.G. muttered. “I’d just finished locking the door behind them and was watching from the window when some guy pushed her in front of a car.”
“Someone pushed her?” Wyatt turned on the man with surprise. He hadn’t realized. One minute they’d been talking, and then she’d flown out into the road and—
“Yeah,” G.G. said, his expression grim. Turning back to the men then he continued, “By the time I got the door unlocked and got out, he was gone and the car was stopped on top of Elspeth. I figured it was more important to get her inside before the ambulance came than to chase after the guy.”
“You did right,” Valerian assured him as they lifted Elspeth onto the stainless steel table.
The clank of chains announced Sofia’s return as she hurried to join the men around Elspeth.
“Why did she go crazy like that?” Wyatt asked as Tybo took the chains and the two men began to wrap them around Elspeth and the table.
“The healing,” Sofia explained quietly. “She should have been chained down before you gave her blood. The minute it hit her system the nanos would have started the healing and . . .” She grimaced. “It’s painful. The worse the injury, the more painful the healing is, and she was hurt pretty bad.”
Wyatt thought that was one hell of an understatement. Elspeth was a mangled mess, basically hamburger in torn clothes. If she were human, she’d be dead for sure. Or if she were mortal, he supposed, since G.G. claimed she was still human. Hard to believe, though, after seeing her fangs and how strong she was. But Sofia had said once the blood hit her system the nanos would have started the healing. What the hell were nanos?
Before he could ask, G.G. said quietly, “Sorry. I didn’t know she needed to be chained. This is my first time dealing with an injured immortal.”
“Not your fault,” Tybo assured him, sliding a padlock through the ends of the chain and snapping it closed. Tugging on the chain to test their handiwork, he added, “Someone should have thought to tell you things like that. With immortals for customers, we should have figured you’d run into something like this eventually. Truthfully, it’s lucky you haven’t encountered it before this.”
“Yeah, maybe,” G.G. said wryly as they watched Tybo grab a bag and slap it to Elspeth’s mouth.
Turning away from Elspeth, Valerian eyed G.G. with concern. “You need a hospital.”
“Nah,” G.G. said with a grimace. “It’s just a couple of cracked ribs. I’ve had them before. I’ll survive. Just tape me up. It’s all they’d do.”
Valerian and Tybo exchanged a glance, and then Tybo pulled out a phone and turned to walk to the other end of the kitchen, punching in numbers as he went.
“What are nanos?” Wyatt asked finally and found all four people looking at him. Even Tybo paused and turned, the phone pressed to his ear.
“Mortal,” Valerian grunted, his gaze narrowed on Wyatt.
Wyatt eyed him warily back, vaguely aware of a small ruffling sensation in his head.
“Yes, he’s mortal. He’s Elspeth’s friend,” G.G. said, and then added solemnly, “She couldn’t read or control him.”
Valerian’s head went back slightly and his eyebrows rose. “Well, hell, that makes things more complicated.”
“Why?” Wyatt asked sharply, and then glanced to G.G. and asked, “And what do you mean she couldn’t read or control me? They can read and control us?”
“Elspeth didn’t tell him a damned thing about us,” Valerian said with exasperation.
G.G. shook his head, a permanent wince on his face now. “I think she only realized today while here that she couldn’t control him and he was her LM.”
“What is an LM?” Wyatt asked now, recalling G.G. mentioning that earlier.
The four of them glanced at each other as if each hoped one of the others might volunteer the answer.
“What the hell was Elspeth doing bringing an uninitiated mortal to The Night Club? She knows better than that,” Tybo groused, slipping his phone back into his pocket as he returned to the group.
“She didn’t bring him. He followed her,” G.G. explained wearily, and then muttered, “I need to sit down.”
Tybo and Valerian exchanged another glance and then Tybo nodded. “Let’s move this conversation to your office so you can sit while we figure out what to do.”
“What about Elspeth?” Wyatt asked at once, his gaze sliding to where she lay. She was still silent and unmoving, he noted, and the blood bag at her mouth was now a dehydrated and wrinkled wad of plastic.