I jolt, my whole body flinching. The movement yanks at my IV, and I suck in a breath.
Her eyes flick up immediately. “Easy,” she says. “You try to rip that out, the nurse will yell at both of us.”
For a moment I just stare at her, my brain trying to catch up. Bathroom. Elena. The crack of something against my skull. Black.
Then everything else rushes back all at once.
Lily.
I push myself up on my elbows, panic spiking. “Lily, where is she? Is she okay? Where is she?” My voice comes out rough and too loud.
Selene is already standing, one hand coming up, palms out. “Hey. Hey. Look.” She steps aside so I can see the other bed.
Lily is there, small and curled on her side, an IV taped to her hand, cheeks pink instead of scary, fever red. She’s sleeping, mouth open a little, hair a mess. Breathing. Alive.
My shoulders drop. I let out a shaky breath that’s almost a sob. “Oh thank God.”
Selene watches my face, then sits back down. “She’s fine. Fever broke a while ago. They want to keep her for observation, but she’s fine.”
I sag back against the pillow, every muscle trembling with relief. My head still hurts like hell. When I touch the side of it, I feel a tender lump and a bit of bandage.
“Elena,” I whisper. The bathroom, her smile, then that flash of pain. “She hit me.”
Selene nods once. “Yeah. She did. Aleksander found you in the parking lot. You got a piece of her before she ran, though.” A small smile touches her mouth. “He was very proud.”
Her words pull up another memory. Not sharp, more like pieces of a dream.
Cold asphalt under my back. Blood somewhere, warm and sticky. Someone shouting my name. Aleksander’s face abovemine, pale and wild, his hands on me like he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he lets go.
His voice breaking.
You can’t leave me.
I need you.
I love you.
My cheeks heat. I blink up at the ceiling, trying to separate what really happened from whatever my head made up while I was half-conscious.
Did he actually say it, or did I imagine the one thing I wanted to hear right before everything went fuzzy?
I swallow, my throat suddenly tight. “How long was I out?” I ask.
“Couple of hours,” Selene says. “Concussion, nothing worse. They checked.” She leans back, studying me. “You gave him a heart attack, though. For free. You really should charge for that.”
I try to smile, but my mind is still stuck on that moment. On his voice, raw and terrified. On that word.
Love.
I remember the way it felt in my chest when I heard it, like something snapping into place that had been crooked for years. But now, awake and under these bright lights, it feels fragile, like a soap bubble that will pop if I poke it too hard.
“Where’s Aleksander?” I ask, once my heartbeat finally slows down. I try to sound casual and fail. My voice comes out thin.
Selene doesn’t answer right away. She looks at Lily, then back at me. “He’s out,” she says. “Handling things.”
That vague answer makes my stomach pinch. “What things?”
She exhales through her nose, like she’s trying to decide how much to give me. “He’s running out of time,” she says finally.
