Master Alpha

Lincoln stood by the couch with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Sam organize his supplies on the dining room table. Sam said that his reputation at the hospital had helped him convince them that he was going to be on assignment. He had managed to get the thirty-day supply of medication, a microscope, a few IV bags with tubing, and some syringes. Rhea was ordered to walk Nathan home after they had returned, which left Lincoln responsible for Sam. Sam had settled his belongings into a corner of the living room and was now organizing the essentials.

Lincoln was slightly surprised that Rhea had left him behind to accompany Nathan home, but all Decants were on lock down. Lincoln could not leave if he wanted to. He rubbed a hand over his face and walked to the refrigerator. When he had brought hearts over, he made sure to stock up on blood for Rhea. He was not sure how much blood she was going to lose during administration of the cure, so he had just filled the refrigerator. He withdrew a mason jar with a heart inside. His jaw cracked as it expanded for its meal, both sets of his canines descending. He tilted the mason jar over his mouth and the heart dropped into his mouth. He growled softly as he tore into it. He had eaten before the trip, but he felt the need to eat again.

Whatever peace his wolf had offered him at Sam’s house had vanished the second that they had left in the car. His wolf’s possessiveness had returned, as well as his pride for knowing that the human feared him. Eating seemed to be the only way to calm his wolf down without Rhea. He closed his eyes as he relished in his wolf’s peace while he ate. He opened them and set the empty jar on the counter. He retrieved one of the mason jars full of blood and began drinking. He had satiated his wolf before they had left but had forgotten about his vampire. Out of the two beasts, his wolf was the loudest and the dominant one. He did not realize that he even needed blood until his wolf had finally calmed down. He returned the jar to the refrigerator and closed it. He ran a tongue over his canines before sliding them away.

Rhea opened the door and entered the house. Lincoln growled lowly as he saw streaks of blood trickle down her throat. “What the hell happened to you?” Sam asked in shock.

“I’ll fucking kill him,” Lincoln threatened.

“Relax, it wasn’t Nate,” she soothed him. “We needed Lillian’s blood, so I got some.” She held up a mason jar full of the red liquid and handed it to Sam. The human took it from her and just stared at her. “I’m fine,” she assured Sam. “If I had showered before coming back, you wouldn’t even know.”

Lincoln walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her deeply as his hands cupped her face. He felt her lips smile beneath his as she returned the kiss. He growled lightly when she pulled away to look at him. “I know you’re strong, but I hate this,” he whispered.

“I’d be worried if you liked it,” she teased. “Try not to worry about me, Linc.”

“I will always worry about you,” he said and kissed her again. He inhaled deeply as she placed her hands on his arms. Her touch forced him to deepen his kiss.

Sam cleared his throat. Rhea pulled away from the kiss, which elicited another growl from Lincoln. “I have to get to work, beast,” she said softly. “I don’t want to leave you either.” She looked over at Sam. “I’m going to wash this blood off and change. Depending on how long this takes, I don’t want to be in jeans for hours.”

“Good thing I’m used to long hours,” Sam said as he took a drink from the energy drink on the table. Sam settled into one of the chairs. Lincoln released his hands from Rhea, and she walked down the hall.

“You really care about her,” Sam stated as he opened the jar with Lillian’s blood.

“Did you think that I was lying about that?” Lincoln asked.

“I didn’t know if you truly cared for her, or if you just saw her as your property. You really care about her.”

“Yes,” Lincoln answered. “I love her.”

“Then I owe you an apology, for my actions earlier.”

“No, you don’t. You care about her, too. You wanted to make sure that she wasn’t trapped with some possessive asshole,” Lincoln said. After remembering how Sam had interacted with him, the human had actually impressed him with his gumption. The human stood up to a half vampire, half werewolf, without hesitation, because he was worried about someone that he cared about.

“Well, you are a possessive asshole, but she’s not trapped,” Sam said. He sucked up some of Lillian’s blood with a dropper and gently spread it out on a glass slide for the microscope. He slipped the slide under the microscope directly, then looked at Lincoln. “She’s happy. Trapped people can’t fake the level of happiness that she has with you that well.”

Lincoln nodded at him. “Thank you. You didn’t need to apologize.”

“Yes, I did. I basically insulted the prince of two immortal races and could kill me without blinking or eat my heart before I die.”

“Oh, I was serious,” Lincoln said. “And that courtesy will extend if you try to take Rhea from me. Her leaving of her own accord is different, though.”

“You don’t think she’d leave you for me?” Sam joked.

“Boy, I know that she wouldn’t.”

“Relax, man,” Sam chuckled. “You don’t have to worry about that. If she’s happy with you, that’s all that matters to me.”

Rhea came back into the dining room. Her long hair was wrapped in a loose bun, blood no longer visible on her skin. She had changed into a pair of black sweatpants and Lincoln offered a low growl of approval. It reminded him of the night that she wore his sweatpants during the moon. Rhea smiled at him and walked over to him. He kissed her softly, then released her to walk over to Sam. She sat in the chair beside him, and Lincoln stood behind her. Sam pressed his eyes into the binoculars of the microscope and began adjusting the zoom settings. “Fascinating,” Sam murmured. “The infection appears to have bonded with her blood. She’s not fighting it anymore, she’s adapted. She would have died, had she been human.” He raised his eyes to Rhea. “I think that antibiotics will work, but it will need to be the entire thirty-day dose.”

“All of it?” Rhea asked.

“The whole bottle,” Sam nodded. “If her entire body is like this little sample, we need to purge it to cure her. Even to a vampire, a thirty-day supply of medication in one dose will probably hurt like hell. That actually leads me to a different solution.”

“Which is what?” Lincoln asked.

“Instead of the medication being diluted through Rhea’s body, I honestly think that the best option would be to fuse all of the medication into blood directly. It would bypass the harm to Rhea and be a more direct administration of the cure. I could take Rhea’s blood, vampire blood, and mingle the medication in with it. That will still be her best chance, but I think that allowing her to feed off you with the medication would take too long.”

“If this works, would you be able to engineer a cure?” Lincoln asked.

“We wouldn’t need to. The cure would just be vampire blood with the medication. You wouldn’t need anything else,” Sam shrugged.

“It would be that simple?” Lincoln asked skeptically.

“Not quite,” Rhea sighed. “Medication to fight off infection is one of the medications that cannot be bought over the counter. It’s kept under lock and key in the human world because the medication is so valuable.”

Lincoln clenched his jaw and raked a hand through his hair. We can cure this child, but we cannot guarantee a cure for the future ones that get infected, he thought. “There are some natural remedies that can be used instead of amoxicillin if the symptoms aren’t too severe,” Sam pondered. “I could mix all of ingredients together for those who may become infected after the child and test the natural remedy on them, as long as it is early enough.”

“And natural remedies can be bought in stores,” Rhea added.

“Exactly,” Sam nodded. “Certain foods, herbs, oils; rather common household items, actually.”

“And you would do this for us, even if we don’t turn you?” Lincoln asked.

Sam looked at him in surprise. “Well, yeah. I’d hate living with the knowledge that my refusal to help killed someone, even if it is a creature. After I perfect it enough with the natural remedy, I could show you the method of preparation to continue on after I die.” Lincoln studied the man before him. Sam’s face showed that he was serious, and his heartbeat remained calm and steady. He’s telling the truth, Lincoln thought. Turning this particular human was looking to be a better idea the more time that Lincoln spent with him. “Linc?” Rhea asked softly, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Sam will extract blood from you and fuse the medication with it, but you will still have to administer the treatment, Ray,” Lincoln said.

“Of course,” Rhea nodded.

“The fridge is stocked up on blood for you, too; so, any time that you feel hungry while Sam works on you, just say the word,” Lincoln added.

“Let’s get to work,” Sam said.