Page 79 of Claimed By the Guardian

In panic, she realized. The scent came from panic.

“Breathe!” she ordered, but it was too late.

He collapsed down onto one knee, then two. Then his body went rigid and he dropped.

Heart attack. She was sure of it.

She tried to catch him, but he was too heavy. Hank was there, too, flipping the man creature over so that he lay slightly twisted on his back. Cecilia felt for his pulse.

None.

She pushed forward to start chest compressions.

“One, two, three…” she counted as she pushed on the man’s chest. But when the time came to give him breath, she didn’t know how to get her mouth in the right position. He still had a cat face and the smell this close made her light-headed.

Oh shit. It was worse than that. She reeled off sideways, scrambling for a waste can before she retched. Hank helped her, supporting her body as she heaved in choking gasps and convulsions.

Initially her mind remained on Dr. Oltheten. He was dying and without CPR there was no hope. But once her convulsions started in earnest, she lost track of the dying hybrid. Every part of her was consumed with the ravage of expelling everything inside her. And gratitude that Hank stood with her. That he helped her when her mind was whited out and her body was rejecting the very air she breathed.

Until it was over. Until her body quieted, and she sagged against Hank. She clutched his hand where it wrapped around her torso and she dropped her head against his chest.

“You. Hurt?” she asked.

“Bruises only. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

She closed her eyes. What was one more fight in a day that started with violence? “Dr. Oltheten?”

“Gone.”

“You should have helped him.”

“It was too late. Ever try to give CPR to a cat? It’s impossible to get a seal on their face. Not when it’s that size.”

She didn’t want to think about it.

“And with the smell, I probably would have ended up vomiting all over him.”

Like she had. Or had been about to until Hank helped her.

“This is insane. It’s all…insane.”

He didn’t argue with her. He just held her. And what could he say? In two days she’d been introduced to shifters, attacked multiple times, and witnessed more violence than in the average Bond film. Well, that last part wasn’t true, now that she thought about it. But she’d been up close and personal with it, and she was shaken to her core.

“We should get out of here,” she murmured. Escape. That’s all she wanted right then. To just escape.

“We will. Travis didn’t have any keys on him, but we should be rescued soon.”

She frowned as she looked up at him. “Rescued? How?—”

The doors released with a loud thunk, cutting off her words. A second later, Alyssa poked her head inside. “You okaaay?” The last word slowed down as she took in the scene. “Ambulance?”

Hank shook his head.

“Dr. Lu?” she said, her expression excruciatingly sympathetic. “I know this is a lot?—”

Her words cut off as Simon came striding in.

“We breached the minute the doors locked,” he said. Then his gaze cut to her. “How are you doing, Dr. Lu?”