Free Marius by Madison Stevens Page B

this.”
    Titus snorted. “You could be full of shit. Actually, I'm sure you're at least somewhat full of shit. We just need to dig through all of that, and I don't want to be shoveling for the rest of my life. You're saying that they kept us ignorant of what was going on, but you could just go in and read all these books and documentation?”
    Rem scrubbed a hand on his face and leaned back. “Well, most of it.” He sighed. “I’ve made my way through a good portion, but there are restricted areas that they keep a close eye on.”
    The three exchanged looks. Whatever was in those books had to be something that the Group didn’t want anyone to see, which meant they wanted to see them all the more, assuming Rem wasn't, in fact, totally full of shit.
    “I still don't understand how this could have been going on for thousands of years,” Titus said. “I—“
    Marius turned when Rachel burst through the door of the room. She turned and grabbed his arm.
    “I need you,” she said quickly. Her breathing was off as if she was out of breath and ran part of the way. “Hurry,” she said and tugged on his arm.
    Despite the urgency in her voice, when her little hand slipped into his larger one, he couldn’t help feel a sense of completion. Marius wrapped his hand around hers and followed closely behind.
    When they reached the patient wing, his heart pounded in his chest as worry took over. What if something bad had happened to Hannah?
    Rachel pushed open the door, and she released his hand as he walked through the door. There, by the bed, Lucius sat slumped on the floor.
    “I thought he might have just fallen asleep sitting on the floor,” Rachel said. Her voice was slightly high and panicked, something he wasn’t used to from her. “So I didn’t bother him at first. But after I’d taken her vitals, I went to wake him, and he’s burning up.”
    Marius walked over to Lucius and could feel the heat radiating off of him.
    “Is it the same thing?” He turned to look at her and was surprised to find Rachel pulling out a few syringes.
    Titus and Rem stepped into the room and helped him place the large hybrid on the other bed.
    “I think it has to be the same thing,” she said and stood next to him.
    Titus stood across from them next to Rem. “Is it spreading?”
    Rachel shook her head. “I don’t think it’s an infectious agent, but I can't be sure.”
    Titus frowned at her. “Then what is it?”
    She shrugged. “I just don’t know. I’ve got to keep doing research if I’m going to figure it out.”
    Rachel pulled out Lucius's arm and pumped it with the syringe.
    “What are you giving him?” Marius asked.
    “Something to help with the fever, an antibiotic and a little adrenaline,” she said. “I have to cover some of the bases while I get this figured out.”
    Titus frowned. “But won’t that boost his heart?”
    She nodded. “It will, but he’s going to need the boost.”
    They watched as his breathing slowly moved back to normal. Marius breathed a sigh of relief.
    “It’s good you knew what to do,” Rem said.
    Marius frowned. She didn’t need compliments from that bastard.
    “Thanks.” She gave a quick smile before pulling out the charts and making some marks.
    “Things aren’t improving,” Titus said finally.
    Rachel nodded. “I agree.”
    “So what do we need to do?” He sighed.
    Considering the situation, Titus was taking things about as well as could be expected.
    “I need help,” she said. “I need people to aid me in my research.”
    “I can do some research,” Rem said with a smile.
    Marius frowned and glanced to Titus, who seemed to be thinking the situation over.
    “You can’t seriously be considering letting him do research for us when we don’t even know his intentions,” Marius said.
    Rachel turned and glared at him.
    “At least he wants to help,” she snapped.
    “You’ll both help,” Titus said, he glanced between both of the men.
    Marius snapped his attention