“I’ll go,” I said.
David had brought the baby into their bedroom so they could have him close. David stood over the portable crib, looking miserable. When he looked up at me with scared eyes, my heart sank.
“He’s so sick, Angus,” David said, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Nothing I do helps. He still has a fever, and he feels so miserable, he’s not even crying anymore.” He sobbed into his hands.
“Now, you listen here, David. That baby is going to be just fine. But you’ve got to let Maddox get some food into you. And into himself.” I sent Maddox a look that told him I’d noticed he hadn’t eaten more than two bites earlier. “You go do that and I’ll stay here with little Oliver. He loves his Gramps. If he gets restless, I’ll rock him and sing.”
That produced a small smile from David, probably because he knew I had an awful singing voice that wasn’t likely to soothe the baby. That was the result I was hoping for, and I was gratified when Maddox and David left for the kitchen.
Looking down at little Ollie, my heart turned over to see the tyke so listless. He was awake and looking at me with eyes wise beyond their few months of living.
“And you,” I said softly to him. “You are going to get better, you hear me? No worrying your dads anymore.” He whimpered, and with atsk, I picked him up with his blanket and carried him over to the window, settling in the rocking chair. His little face and hands were much too warm to the touch, and as I sat there watching him, too weak to cry, his tiny hand spread out on his cheek and eyes drooping, worry and fear overtook me.
Lucy, please watch over him. We need him. Don’t let him give up.
I hadn’t been hearing Lucy in my head lately, which was probably a good thing, considering what I’d been spending my time doing with my two new mates, but I thought I heard a whisper of her voice in the dark room.
Get Ben.
Shaking my head, I told myself I was imagining things. Pulling Ollie up onto my shoulder, I rubbed his back while I rocked him, telling him what a good boy he was and how much we all loved him.
Get Ben, Angus.
I stopped rocking.What the hell?
Okay, assuming Lucy was telling me that, why would I need to get Ben?
Not long after that, David and Maddox returned.
“He’s asleep,” I said, handing the baby over to Maddox. “Didn’t cry a bit.”
“He’s too weak to cry,” David said miserably. “And he won’t eat. This is bad.” Sitting down on the bed, he began to cry again.
I looked at Maddox and was alarmed at the defeated look on his face.
“Dammit, we can’t just give up,” I muttered, striding out of the room. “There must be something we can do.”
Ben, I distinctly heard Lucy’s voice again.
“All right, all right, woman. I’ll get Ben.”
Chapter fourteen
Colt
After Angus went to help with the baby, I retreated for a while into the bedroom I now shared with my mates. Angus and Ben were worried about Ollie. I was worried too, now that it appeared we were stuck here and couldn’t reach a hospital if we needed to. Could I possibly pull the truck close to the front door so Maddox could climb in without exposing Ollie to the driving rain? Maybe. But the roads around here tended to wash out, and we could find ourselves stuck or washed away by the flood. I couldn’t risk it.
Was there anything else I could do? I couldn’t think of anything, other than trying to keep my mates’ minds occupied. I felt useless, and I hated that. Grabbing a book off the nightstand, I tried to distract myself for a while.
The title of the book wasThe Omega Dilemma. On the back cover, the blurb said that the author, Doctor Stephen Mandrake, had been studying biological character classification for twenty-five years. Angus must have bought it.
I was on page five when Angus walked in.
“I thought maybe Ben was in here. I wanted to talk to him,” Angus said.
“I think he’s in the sewing room with Jackson,” I said.
Angus sat on the edge of the bed and gestured to the book. “That’s Ben’s book. It’s pretty interesting, though I haven’t gotten very far into it. Ben told me Jackson’s mother said that the author is a member of the SOS.”