The Vigilante & The Dragon - Book 1 of the Guardians Saga [COMPLETED]

Bonus Chapter - Flu

"I'm sorry I said anything. I'll be fine. Just go." Alex shivered again.

Cale trotted in with the towels and offered them to Gabe. He threw one to Rile and kept one for himself.

"Cale, fetch some water. There's a danger of dehydration," Gabe said.

Cale darted out of the room, tense with worry.

Who did they know who had died of dehydration?

Gabe patted the towel up against her back. Rile patted her brow and face, but she clamped her hand on his wrist when he tried to pat down her chest. Her ferocious expression made him give up.

"We are excellent absorbers and retainers of heat. We'll keep you from getting chilled." Gabe lay down and curled along her back.

"But," Alex said.

Rile lay down and jammed his back against her chest. Cale walked in with a pitcher and glass of water.

"No buts. Drink and sleep," Gabe said.

It was nice being ordered to sleep, Alex decided, but her body had other ideas. "Let me get up and take a sleeping pill first."

"You have pills to make you sleep?" Cale asked.

"Are they safe?" Gabe jumped in.

"Are they safe when you are ill?" Rile added.

Alex sighed.

What a bunch of mother hens.

"They're perfectly safe. A doctor prescribed them for me."

"A doctor? Why did he prescribe them?" Cale asked.

Alex's sigh this time was more exasperated. "It's a long story."

"We have nothing but time," Rile said.

Alex growled and covered her head with a pillow.

"You're not going to take it until we know more." Rile assumed to speak for his brothers.

Gabe hissed, but didn't contradict him.

Alex groaned and spoke from beneath the pillow. "After I first escaped from Morgan, I would wake up at night having flashbacks of what he did. I went to a doctor and told her. I was still beat up, so she prescribed sleeping pills. I take them when I need them. Satisfied now?"

"That wasn't a long story at all," Rile accused.

Gabe reached over and tried to punch him but his youngest brother effectively blocked him.

"Stop you two. You'll squish me. It's an expression when someone doesn't want to talk about something," Alex said.

"That makes no difference to Rile," Gabe said.

"Can I get up now and take it?" Alex asked.

They all shifted slightly to give her room and Alex shuffled out of the room. When she came back, she dove under the covers and put the pillow back over her head.

"No talking," her muffled voice declared.

Her response was three soft bodies curling against her.

Alex found they were as good as Gabe described. When she burned with fever, their bodies soaked up the heat. When she began to chill, gentle hands dried her off and their bodies warmed hers. It was almost worth getting sick.

Almost.

***

When Alex awoke, she had to admit she felt better, if dry. She sat up and became light headed. She put a hand to her head and swayed, but Gabe caught her and lowered her back down.