Jordan's Desires [Brac Village 9] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove), Lynn Hagen [sight word books .TXT] 📗

Bailey quickly moved to Jordan’s side. “Should I call an ambulance?” He could hear the worry in his mate’s tone.

Jordan shook his head. “You can never call an ambulance for me. If I need help, you should always call the pack doctor.”

“Right,” Bailey said and then scratched at his jaw. “And who would that be?”

Jordan began to pant heavily as he gripped his side. Something definitely wasn’t right. Maybe he needed to give the doctor a call. He grabbed his cell phone and handed it to Bailey. “Dr. Sheehan.” Jordan gritted his teeth as a wave of pain blasted through him.

He could hear his mate talking on the phone as Jordan curled up into a ball. His insides felt like they were on fire. He didn’t understand what was happening to him. He had never felt anything like this before.

Bailey knelt down next to him. “He’s on his way. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No,” Jordan answered between gritted teeth. How could his mate help him when Jordan didn’t know what the hell was wrong with him? The pain was increasing, making him sweat until his clothes were saturated.

“You’re burning up.” Bailey pressed his hand over Jordan’s forehead. “I don’t like this.”

Neither did Jordan. He just wished—Jordan rolled to his knees and emptied his stomach contents. The fire inside of him was burning hotter and Jordan feared he would combust.

He barely heard the knock on the front door. Bailey got up and answered it. “Are you Dr. Sheehan?”

“I am.” The doctor quickly moved inside the house, hurrying over to Jordan. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” Jordan managed to say.

The doctor turned to Bailey. “Tell me what happened leading up to this.”

Bailey shook his head as he wrapped his hands over his stomach. “Jordan picked me up for dinner and we ate at the Lucky Clover. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.”

The doctor began to examine Jordan. The only thing he could do was lie there like a helpless kitten. Jordan just wanted the pain to go away.

“I’ll have to do further testing, but from your symptoms and the rash spreading on your neck, I would have to say that you were poisoned.”

“He what!” Bailey shouted. “How can you tell just from examining him?”

The doctor turned to Bailey. “Wolfsbane has very distinct characteristics. As I stated, I’ll have to do further testing. But if he was poisoned with wolfsbane, I need to treat him now.”

Jordan felt himself slipping in and out of consciousness, barely grasping what the doctor was saying. His mind was hazy and his body was growing heavy. He felt his head being lifted up and something hard-pressed against his lips. Jordan opened and then gagged when the foul-tasting liquid passed over his lips.

“Drink it down, Jordan.”

It was a struggle, but Jordan drank until the hard object was removed from his lips and his head was lowered back to the floor. “It’s going to take you a while to recover. Wolfsbane is some nasty stuff. You’re not going to bounce right back on your feet even if you shift.”

Jordan closed his eyes, feeling the haze take him under.

* * * *

Bailey had no clue what to do. The doctor had said to make Jordan comfortable. It had taken both of them to lift Jordan’s heavy weight and place him on the couch. He brushed his hands over Jordan’s damp, raven hair. He hated to see the strong panther so weak and Bailey was angry beyond words that someone tried to poison Jordan—had poisoned Jordan.

Why would anyone want to do that? Jordan may be intense and didn’t speak a lot, but he was the sweetest man Bailey had ever met. He even knew why Jordan had killed those two men, and Bailey did not look at him any differently.

Jordan had done what he needed to do in order to keep both him and Bailey safe. He would be forever grateful that Jordan had stopped that vampire from attacking him. Now if he could only find out who poisoned Jordan, he just might be the one who was killing somebody.

Bailey found where Jordan kept his washcloths and soaked one of them in cold water before returning to the living room and placing it on Jordan’s heated forehead. The doctor said he would be back to check on Jordan, but until then it was up to Bailey to ensure that Jordan wasn’t in any pain.

He essentially had become Jordan’s caretaker for the moment.

The doctor also told him that he wasn’t sure what kind of lasting effect the wolfsbane would have on Jordan. That worried Bailey. Someone had tried to kill Jordan, and Bailey was going to find out who the culprit was and make sure he was brought to justice—even if he was brought to shifter justice.

They weren’t going to get away with what they had done.

“Water,” Jordan croaked out a few hours later.

Bailey quickly got Jordan some water, helping him hold his head up while he drank. Bailey hated how weak Jordan had become. Someone had taken a strong man and reduced him to rely on someone else for his basic needs.

Bailey inhaled deeply as he set the glass on the coffee table. “How do you feel?” He brushed aside Jordan’s long black strands, mustering up a smile.

“Like someone ran me over.”

Removing the washcloth from Jordan’s forehead, Bailey held it in his hand as he studied Jordan. “You scared the hell out of me.”

Jordan opened his eyes, the amber deep and intense as he gazed up at Bailey. “So you really do care?”

How could the guy joke around at a time like this? A smile was tugging at the corner of Jordan’s lips and Bailey felt something deep inside of him stir. His feelings for Jordan were growing by leaps and bounds. The man was so gorgeous that Bailey could just sit and stare at him for hours. But beyond that, Jordan was simply a nice guy.