Well, Robert, I hate it too.
Her stomach growled, shocking her back to the present as her nerves eased throughout her body. Norah let go of the dagger and grabbed her head and squeezed.Don’t lose it.
The image of Stryker’s form appeared in her mind. Norah squeezed harder.
“Norah, what’s wrong?”
She looked up to see Robert kneeling before her. Not Stryker.
“I don’t know,” she cried.
“We’re going home tomorrow. Think about that. Lindsey would be so happy to see you, and your family is waiting for your return.”
“I don’t want to leave.” Tears formed in her eyes.
“Yeah, well, we don’t always get what we want.”
“Norah, are you okay? Look at me!” The voice changed and she blinked the tears away. “You’re bleeding.” Her vision returned with every tear she shoved away. Strong, heavy hands captured hers, an inferno built to fight the awful chill. The head of a snake appeared in her eyes.
Handsome and oh-so-wrong. With silver that sparkled with a thousand minuscule beads of water.I love water.She leaned forward and kissed the sparkling metal. “Yes.” Her lips coated with warm water.
“No.” The snake jerked back. A cloth appeared under her nose. It wiped her skin and she saw the smear of crimson before it vanished within the chemicals.
Norah grabbed the cloth and stared where her blood had been. “I think,” she trailed off.
“You think what?”
“I think I’m losing my mind.”
The cloth was torn from her hands and she let it go without a fight. “Look at me! Norah, stop.”
She was pulled inside the molten lava as she continued to focus on what the voice was saying. Bands of steel encircled her, and her head was tipped up by a hand that felt like heaven against her skin.
“Open your mouth,” the voice demanded, fading from her co-worker to a snake over and over. “That’s it.” Something entered her mouth and caught in her throat where she tried to cough it out only to be foiled by a stream of water.
Norah choked and coughed and swallowed only to cough again.Drowning.
DROWNING.She saw the water cascading around her before she realized she was pinned within a jail of limbs. She struggled but the things in her throat went down and spittle caught at her lips to trickle down her chin.
“Relax,” it sounded like a shriek. A shrieker. But it was low and so close to her ear.
Something pinned her arms. Her senses came back. Not all at once, but one-by-one. The discomfort of her body eased.
“Relax,” the voice repeated.
Norah leaned into the comfort it created, feeling so very tired, and so very protected. She felt warm and safe and strangely so very in love. In desperation.
She found oblivion within the thunder.
***
Norah’s eyes shot open and darkness surrounded her. She tensed with fear and looked every which way her trapped body could. Her memories came back with a flash of lightning illuminating her chaotic surroundings.
Everything swayed around her, controlled by the storm that continued to rage overhead.
But she was warm and she was dry. And it felt like heaven, so she settled into the nest that held her tight. She had forgotten what it was like to feel dry. Her body relished it. She found a strange sort of bliss in it.
She wiggled her toes. She swallowed and felt the tingles return as her mind came back to her with fresh clarity. Stryker held her, his arms wrapped around her body and she laid against him as he laid against the Giant.
