Breaking Boundaries (5th in Breaking Series)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Aiden could smell the coppery scent of blood as he entered the doctors home. It was thick in the air and it hung in the back of his burnt throat causing his stomach to roll. He had never been here before but it wasn't hard to find Nick and Brody.

He just followed the sound of the worried whispers and the grunts and moans of pain. His legs nearly buckled when he walked into the tiny room off the side of the sitting room and took in the scene. The doctor was standing over Nick with his shirtsleeves rolled up and his forearms drenched in blood. Brody was holding down Nick with a frown on his scarred face and Nick......

Nick was pale, nearly colorless and he had a strip of leather held between his teeth while the doctor fished around in a wound low on his chest. Every muscle in Nick tensed. His tendons popped and his face contorted with pain as he clenched his teeth down on that leather as hard as he could. Blood fell with steady drips into a pan on the floor beneath the wooden table Nick was lying on.

"Nick....?" Aiden managed to whisper hoarsely, both smoke and emotion constricting his voice.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Brody snapped as Nick nearly surged off the table at the sound of Aiden's voice.

"He needs to get out of here. This is no place for a gathering!" Doctor Montgomery ordered as he shoved his forceps into the hole in Nick's torso. Aiden had never much liked the sight of blood... as a matter of fact a simple cut that bled caused his head to swim and his vision to blur. This room and the men in it were coated with the sticky red substance that had the power to nearly render him unconscious.

"Aiden, answer me! Why are you here and why are you covered in ash?" Brody asked again.

Aiden met Nick's gray eyes. Nick's eyes were glazed over with pain but Aiden knew that he saw him. Somehow his legs carried him toward the table and Nick's eyes followed his movements. Aiden was certain he saw Nick's body relax slightly but all Aiden could concentrate on was the blood—there was too much of Nick's blood in this room; there couldn't be much left in Nick.

"Aiden!" Brody yelled but it was at that moment that Elizabeth came bursting in. Her eyes were wide and then she saw her husband and let out a cry of shock before grabbing the wall for support.

"Brody, thank God it's not you....." Her face reddened as she looked over to Aiden, "Sorry, Aiden! I didn't mean that the way it sounded."

Aiden simply shrugged and took Nick's hand that was reaching for him.

"Everyone needs to clear out!" Doctor Montgomery ordered again. "This man is close to death and I need to be able to concentrate."

"I got him, Brody," Wendell said as he stepped into the room and took Brody's place holding Nick down.

Brody instantly rushed to his wife's side, "What the hell is going on?"

"The ranch was attacked," Elizabeth whispered, "But everyone is okay... no one has anything life threatening wrong."

"What do you mean attacked?" Brody asked, his voice smooth and full of a deadly ice that made Aiden shiver.

"They set fire to the house while we were all asleep. It's gone, Brody," Elizabeth replied, a tear dangling on her lashes.

Nick let out an extra loud grunt of pain and the doctor swiped his blood stained forearm across his brow, "Everyone out except Wendell!"

"I'm not leaving," Aiden countered as he stooped lower, looked deep into Nick's eyes and squeezed his hand.