“No.” Faith twisted the cap in her hands. “It looks like he’s in a coma. I want to do another MRI to make sure, but it’s like…” She shrugged.

“My cells put him in a coma?” Grace’s voice rose.

Benny planted an arm over her shoulders. “Now calm down, Gracie. He’ll be okay. He’s Adare.” Then Benny winced, lifting his arm, where a spreading red rash had appeared where he’d touched her. “Oops. Forgot you’re freshly mated and dangerous to my pretty skin.”

Grace scratched at the skin on her shoulder. The mating had taken, obviously. Or Adare wouldn’t be in a coma. “Do immortals even go into comas?”

“Rarely and only to heal themselves,” Emma said, emerging from the trauma room. “But he’s not healing himself.”

Grace’s legs wobbled, but she kept upright. “What now? What do we do?”

Emma and Faith shared a look.

Grace fixed them with a glare. “Knock it off, you two. I want to know what we do next.”

Emma shuffled her tennis shoes. “I have an idea, but it’s a risk.” She exhaled. “If your blood is causing the coma as we think it is, then maybe we could create antibodies from your blood to give to him. That might save him or give him more fighting power for the war that’s going on inside him on the cellular level.”

“Or,” Faith said quietly, “Giving him those antibodies from your blood might kill him. Right now, in a coma, maybe he can fight. We just don’t know, Grace.”

Melted snow from Benny’s boots was spreading all over the floor. “Let’s give him more blood. More is always good.”

“Agreed,” Ronan said.

Grace took a deep breath. “When do we have to decide?”

Faith reached for her arm and rubbed it reassuringly. “Not tonight. We don’t have to make any decisions tonight.”

“Not true.” Looking pissed, the king of the Realm strode down the hallway, his gaze an intense silver.

Grace took a step back out of pure instinct. Dage Kayrs wasn’t somebody you wanted mad at you. Ever. She’d only met him a couple of times, but the guy was as intimidating as anybody could ever get.

He stopped near his mate. “Ronan and Benny? Would you care to explain what you were doing in an unsanctioned Realm op this morning that pretty much blew up an entire Kurjan compound?”

“Wasn’t us,” Benny said, moving slightly to shield Grace.

“We don’t work for the Realm,” Ronan added, also shifting his weight to protect her.

The king watched the interplay without expression. “Yet here you are, asking for help.” His voice was so low and silky that the room chilled several degrees.

Ronan straightened. “We’re family, whether you like it or not.”

Dage stepped right up to him, toe-to-toe, just as big and broad. “Then you be the king, Great Uncle.”