Free Wrath of Hades by Annie Rachel Cole Page B

Pauline.
    Ethan shook his head.
    “Just be on alert. Something or someone is out there.” Raven’s eyes narrowed as she tried to look through the darkness. “I’m absolutely positive of it.”
    The group kept walking and was almost to the front door when Ethan yelped. He stopped and spun around like he was expecting to find someone standing behind them.
    “What’s wrong?” asked Raven. Concern fi lled her voice. She moved toward Ethan. “Are you okay?”
    “Stay where you’re at.” Ethan scanned the area. “Yeah, I think I’m okay. It just felt like someone stabbed me with a knife.” He rubbed his left side. “Strange,” he muttered. “I expected someone to be standing behind me when I turned around.”
    “You sure you’re okay?” Raven asked again. She saw Ethan rubbing his side but she didn’t see any blood or even a hole in his shirt.
    “I told you I was fine. Just drop it. We need to get inside.” He walked into the hospital in front of everyone else. Ethan didn’t even both er to hold the door open for Raven or anyone else.
    Raven frowned, but tried blo wing off the idea something was wrong with Ethan. He said he was okay, but his actions said something totally different. She opened the door for herself and went inside. Raven didn’t see the frowns on Pauline’s and Billy’s faces, or the questioning glance that passed between them.
    But Diane did. She didn’t say anything, just followed the others toward the elevators.
    Ethan stood off to one side while Billy and Pauline took up guard positions on each side of Raven. As soon as the doors opened, Ethan pushed past Raven in his haste to get on the elevator. Raven could only stare at him.
    The ride to the fourth floor was awkwardly silent. Ethan stood next to Raven but ignored her as if she were a stranger. As soon as the doors opened, he exited. Diane watched him walk off. She turned back to Raven and raised an eyebrow. Raven shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
    Raven hung back, letting the others walk in front of her. Ethan’s sudden change in behavior had her worried. People didn’t change that quick. It was like someone had suddenly flipped a switch. But what was wrong? What had done it? Raven had a strong hunch that whatever it was causing his odd behavior had something to do with his complaint of being stabbed in the side. There wasn’t any other explanation.
    “We need to go to room 4305. It’s down the hall, on the left.” Diane’s voice broke into Raven’s thoughts.
    She looked around and realized they had actually walked a long way and they were now at a nurse’s station in the center of a hub. Three more hallways, besides the one they had walked down, branched out from the nurse’s station. Men and women, wearing green scrubs, moved in and out of the desk area, while others moved up and down the halls.
    Diane waved at one of the nurses sitting behind the desk. The woman, who was talking on the phone, waved back and motioned for them to go on.
    Ethan was already standing in front of a door halfway down the hall by the time Raven and the others enter the hall.
    “What’s his problem?” asked Pauline in a low voice.
    “I don’t know.” Raven shrugged her shoulders. “But it started just after he said if felt like someone had stabbed him with a knife.”
    “Did you see anything?”
    “No, but it’s a weird coincidence.”
    Pauline nodded but didn’t say anything else.
    “Billy, Pauline, I want you to wait out here. Ethan, I want—”
    “I’m going in,” he interrupted Diane. The wave of energy coming off of him set Billy and Pauline to moaning.
    Raven just stared at Ethan.
    Diane looked at Ethan for a few seconds. “All right, you can go in, but remember this. Sam requested to see Raven, not you. You’re here to protect her from any harm because she is the Guardian and your mate.”
    Ethan frowned. His face turned red and his muscles contracted. It looked like he was fighting something. He sniffed the