She swallowed again. “Now I can see him. Hear him.”
“And he’s...annoying?” Hunter said, walking slowly toward her, his head tilted as he watched her keenly.
“Yes. Distracting.”
“You left out sexy,” Zane reminded her.
“Shut up,” she hissed, then bit her lip when Hunter halted directly in front of her.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean you, I meant...” She trailed off, gesturing toward Zane.
“You can see him now?” Hunter narrowed his eyes as he followed the direction she indicated.
“Yes,” she said, her lips turning down. “And you can’t.” She wanted to cover her face, hide from the reality of admitting her condition, her mind’s weakness. “I think either the lycan poison is coming back, or I’m going mad,” she said in a whisper.
“You think I’m a figment of your imagination?” Zane said, his tone incredulous.
Hunter sank to his heels in front of her so that their gazes were level. “Those would be obvious possibilities,” he conceded softly, and her heart sank at his words, and she saw sympathy spark in his eyes.
“I need to figure out what is wrong with me,” she said, trying to hide her fear.
“I’m not something ‘wrong,’” Zane said as he walked around the chair to face her, his expression troubled. “This is why we’re here? You think I’m driving you crazy?” Surprisingly, there was hurt in his tone, but there was also something else...she’d almost think it was concern. “I hate to break it to you, vamp, but I’m not some latent memory of yours. We never met before—” the muscle in his jaw twitched “—before I died. And I’m not a damn poison.”
“I need to fix this,” she said, her voice stronger. She was looking at Hunter, but her words were intended for Zane. “I can’t lead Nightwing if I’m losing my mind.”
“And it’s all about position and power with you, isn’t it, Vivianne?” Zane said, his deep voice rumbling in a snarl.
“You’re worried about your colony?” Ryder asked, and she looked beyond Hunter’s shoulder to meet his gaze.
She nodded. “A prime can’t hold their position if they’re non compos mentis. Only the strong can lead, and mental deficit is a weakness. There will be a leadership stoush, which would weaken Nightwing among our neighbors, and our enemies. Fighting from within, fighting from without—it will be a bloodbath for my people.”
“What about Lucien? Can’t he take the prime position?” Ryder asked.
Zane’s lips curled back at the mention of Vivianne’s brother’s name.
Vivianne shook her head. “No. He’s taken a leave of absence from Nightwing, and so has surrendered any claim to the Nightwing Prime position. He would have to fight for it, just like anyone else, and after what my father did to his wife, I don’t see him wanting to be Prime.”
“I can’t believe your brother and I have something in common,” muttered Zane. “We both hate your old man.”
She frowned. She was already divulging more information than she was comfortable with. “Can you help me?” she asked Hunter.
He gazed at her for a moment, assessing her. He shrugged. “We can run some tests, and find out what we’re dealing with,” he told her. She settled back into the chair, relief lessening the strain in her shoulders. She would have preferred a “yes, we can fix you” response, but she appreciated he wasn’t prepared to make false promises. She could respect that.
“Okay.”
“You agree to the tests?” Hunter asked.
She nodded. “I do. When do you want to schedule them?”
He smiled. “No time like the present,” he said, touching her forehead lightly.
Darkness descended across her mind, and the last thing she saw was Zane’s concerned face as she slid into unconsciousness.
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