The sudden rush of footsteps and carts from across the hall aimed at Nina’s room had everyone sitting up straight and holding their breath.
Cormac squeezed her hand and she squeezed his back as sheer terror made her tense up.
So she closed her eyes and kicked her prayers up a notch.
Please, whoever does whatever when running this big ol’ place we call the universe, get the person in charge. Tell them not to let Nina die. I’m begging you. I’ll do whatever you want, give you whatever you want, but she’s here because she was helping us. If it wasn’t for us, she’d be at home right now eating chicken wings and slugging one back in her kitchen.
She has a baby. A small, beautiful baby who needs her mother. She has friends who need her. A husband. She counts. Her selflessness counts. Please, after everything she’s done for everyone else, please, don’t let her die.
Amen.
The silence from Nina’s room left Teddy the closest she’d come to breaking since this had begun. She clung even tighter to Cormac’s hand, squeezing her eyes shut and willing someone in that room to come out and tell them everything was going to be all right.
And then the door swung open.
“I said get the hell off me, Dr. Frankenstein! Jesus. That damn thing is cold. And would it kill you lot to bring me some food? Marty, stop touching my hair! And quit your blubberin’. It makes you look like a blowfish, all puffy and red—”
Everyone jumped up at once, cheering so loud, the nurse from the station down the hall came running and warned them to simmer down.
There was hugging, noisy tears, noses blowing, but most importantly, there was gratitude.
And Nina. Alive. Well. Mouthy as always.
Cormac gathered her in his arms and hugged her tight. “The ex-vampire, she lives to snark another day.”
She let her head fall to his shoulder and smiled. “Isn’t it amazing?”
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he rested his chin on top of her head. “Just as amazing as you.”
“I’m pretty average. Also, I’ve never come back from the almost dead. Or even the undead. Nina wins.”
“A very fair point. You know, you were pretty badass in that bar last tonight, Teddy Bear. I gotta give it to you for taking on two of them at once.”
“Dennis is dead,” she croaked, still unable to believe it.
Cormac stiffened against her. “I had no choice. He would have killed you. No way was I going to let that happen.”
She shivered when she remembered what Dennis would have done if not for Cormac’s interference. “Thank you. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for saving my life.”
“Well, you helped save mine. Fair is fair, and remind me to never make you angry. The way you were reaming Carmine a new one, waving that gun around? Impressive stuff, honey.”
“I was so angry at feeling so helpless, I got overwhelmed. It just knocked me for a loop.”
“It’s over now. All of it is finally over.”
For the first time in what felt like forever, she took a deep breath.
Cormac nudged her. “So what are ya gonna do, now that you’re free from a murder rap, Theodora Gribanov?”
“Go to Disneyland. Duh.”
“How about maybe we just do coffee over some breakfast? I don’t think I’m up for the Harry Potter ride after last night.”
“Are you asking me out, Cormac Vitali?”
“The first of many times.”
She chuckled against his dirty flannel shirt. “You’re kinda cute, ya know? Wanna be my life mate?”
“Only if it means I get the right side of the bed. Oh, and that I can leave the toilet seat up.”
She leaned back in his embrace and tweaked his beard with a grin. “Better hit Craigslist for a new life mate, buddy. Toilet seats are deal breakers.”
“They have life mates on Craigslist? Shut the front freakin’ door. All this time I thought I had no choice in the matter. I thought it was you or nothing,” he teased, cupping the back of her head to tilt her face upward.
Pressing her palm to Cormac’s jaw, she winked when she ran her thumb over his beard. “Oh, you have a choice, mister.”
“Is it ‘bend to my will or die while I dance in your intestines’?”
Her laughter rang out in the small waiting room. “Well, that’s a choice, isn’t it?”
Brushing his lips against hers, he whispered, “Then I choose you, Theodora Gribanov. I choose you.”
And that was all Teddy, the soon-to-be ex-bounty hunter, needed to hear.
Three months later
Teddy, Toni, and Cormac sat in the hushed courtroom where Cormac and Toni were preparing to testify at a grand jury hearing to prosecute Stas Vasilyev and Carmine Ragusi for the murder of Mauricio Benneducci.