I open my mouth, but no words form. Only a chasm of pain, as wide and deep as an ocean, opens and threatens to swallow me.
“We need to leave,” Xavier urges, his voice breaking through the fog of shock. “I’ll explain everything later.”
A knock sounds at the door, but I hardly register it. Xavier’s face goes hard, his gaze flickering from me to the entrance of the room. “Declan, take your bride and leave.”
I can’t comprehend what’s happening, my mind is moving too slowly, the shock of Ben’s death is paralyzing. My heart pounds louder than Xavier’s voice, louder than my thoughts, so deafening that I can’t do anything except stand there.
Agony slices through my chest, so intense it’s as though I’m being split open and someone is digging into my ribcage. I clutch at my heart, my breaths coming in short, ragged gasps. The room spins, and Xavier’s voice sounds distant, like we’re underwater. Everything is fading, the colors and sounds blurring into darkness.
“Delilah!” Xavier’s voice pierces through the haze, filled with panic. I can barely see him through the spots dancing in my vision.
“X—” I try to speak, but the effort sends another wave of excruciating pain through my chest. It’s all-consuming.
“Declan, help me! Now!” Xavier’s hands are on my face, trying to keep me focused on him. “Stay with me, Delilah. Please, baby, stay with me,” he pleads.
I want to respond, to hold on to him, but the darkness is enveloping, comforting in its absence of pain. There arefootsteps, voices, and chaos swirling all around me, but it’s receding. The last thing I feel is Xavier’s hand gripping mine, an anchor in the swirling dark. Then, even that fades, and I surrender to the void, the pain slipping away, leaving nothing but darkness in its wake.
Chapter 46
XAVIER
“Drive faster, Declan, or I swear I’m going to skin you alive.”
The recruit, no, thecrow, simply nods, ignoring my threat. It’s probably for the best. I’m losing my shit as Delilah remains unconscious, lying in my arms. Possibly dying.
Fuck.
The words reverberate in my head, making my body go cold. She’s dying. My reason for living is dying.
“Faster, damn it!” I shout.
“X, calm down.” June places a hand on my arm, but I shake it off. “She’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that,” I snap, my gaze trained on Delilah. Her features are slack, her lips parted, and her face ghostly pale. She looks peaceful, but it’s a facade. I swear I can feel her slipping away from me, her pulse weakening with every heartbeat.
Declan makes a sharp right turn, and I pull my girl closer, shielding her with my body. She moans, a tiny, broken sound, and my very soul fractures.
“Delilah, please fight this.”
She doesn’t respond. The car lurches forward, and we speed up, the headlights of other vehicles blurring as we pass them.
“Where the hell are we going?” June asks Declan. “You’ve passed two hospitals already.”
“I have to go to the clinic on Mayberry so X won’t be found. The staff there is loyal to me,notmy father.”
“How much longer?” I ask.
“Two minutes.”
“Make it one.”
Before I completely lose it, we’re at a small, private hospital on the outskirts of town. As soon as we arrive, a nurse and two orderlies wheel out a stretcher, and I take Delilah to them. When they reach for her, I jerk back, ready to fight them. My instinct to protect her is hard to override.
“It’s okay, X. They’ll take care of her,” June says softly, placing a hand on my arm. She’s either really brave or very stupid.
Reluctantly, I hand Delilah over to the medical staff, my fists at my sides shaking with the urge to snatch her back. I follow the nurses inside, watching as they transfer her from the stretcher onto a gurney. She looks so small, fragile, her features too pale, her breathing too shallow. If possible, she appears worse off than when I stabbed her.
One of the orderlies turns to me. “You can wait here. The doctor will be right with you.”
